Philippians chapter 1 tonight, beginning at verse 19, and considering through verse 26. Philippians 1, beginning at verse 19. I remind you that the joy that is referenced in the Scripture is always particular, like the joy when angels witnessed much of creation week, when David defeated Goliath, and when Nehemiah and Ezra restored worship in Israel. Matthew chapter 2 and verse 10 reveals the particular joy of the Magi in seeing the star to guide them to the newborn King of the Jews. Matthew 25 and 21 is the parable where the faithful servant is bidden to enter into the joy of his Lord. And Matthew 28, 8 records the joy of those women on resurrection morning having received the witness of angels at the empty tomb. Those are but three more of the 155 joy references in the scripture that leads us to the particular joy in reference in this New Testament book of Philippians, namely the joy of Christ as is represented to us by the Apostle Paul. Paul was indeed joyful in relationship to what he knew of Christ and what he knew from Christ. Paul's particular joy was Christ. And I trust that you and I will share in that joy with Paul. Philippians 1 verse 19, 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 shall I choose? I want not, I don't know. For I am in a straight betwixt two, having the desire to part and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Father, tonight we thank you for this marvelous expression of the Apostle Paul. It takes us to the very pinnacle of the peak of expression. And we are glad tonight and next week to work in that which is phenomenally familiar and honestly beyond the commitment of almost all of us. As Paul expresses his unquestionable commitment to Jesus Christ in all matters of life and death. We do pray tonight that you would help us to understand. We do pray tonight that you would help us to embrace. And we pray that this very, very beautiful tender, loving, deep expression of commitment on Paul's part to the Lord Jesus would stand in a great testimony to us all. And for that, we will praise you in Jesus name and for his blessed sake. Amen. Roger Bennett. I don't know if you know that name or not, but Roger Bennett was the pianist of my favorite gospel quartet back in the 1990s. His health seemed to rebound after his first round of chemotherapy, and he was able for a while to maintain his aggressive musical ministry. But soon thereafter, the cancer surged again, and Roger found himself facing the inevitability of his own physical death. Just months before Roger died, He wrote a gospel song of testimony called The Ultimate Healing. The perspective of that song is really something to hear. In it, Roger likens his own physical death in the will of God to God's ultimate healing. In physical death, Roger anticipated being just fine in the arms of the Almighty. And being confident of his relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, Roger viewed his death as the healing that his body most assuredly craved. I heard him testify of his confidence personally, and I tell you that his perspective deserves the word extraordinary. Roger Bennett had a perspective extraordinaire. Commentator Kent Hughes calls chapter 1 verse 21 the most famous aphorism in the letter to the Philippians. I read that in his commentary and then I had to go to the dictionary and remind myself what an aphorism is. because I didn't have it immediately at the top of my head. But an aphorism is a terse saying that embodies a general truth or astute observation. An aphorism summarizes and encapsulates a truth in a very few words, certainly 121. in the middle of the paragraph under study stands as not only the core of this section, 19 to 26, but really it stands as the spiritual core of the entire book of Philippians. The opening words in verse 19, I know, immediately manifest the conviction and the confidence of Paul in his assertion of truth being made right here. Paul is convinced of Christ. He is sure and firm in his relationship to the Lord. Paul wrote in his last letter to Timothy saying, For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed. unto him against that day, 2 Timothy 1.12. Such bold conviction and expressions of confidence are hard won in the life of any Christian. We know from the biblical record that Paul had times of personal fear and doubt. He was no stranger to weakness. But in the whole, As a man and a servant of Christ, he lived in the realm of conviction and confidence. There is a direct connection between godly confidence and walking with God. There is a direct connection between godly confidence and talking with God often in prayer. you cannot separate godly confidence from walking with God and prayer. In this set of verses that get us up to the expression in 121, I'm talking about verses 19 and 20, we find a list of three things in which the Apostle Paul was absolutely confident. His conviction, His sense of confidence surged and there are three clear categories of confidence that are herein stated by the Apostle Paul. Number one, Paul is confident of God's salvation, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation." Now, 90% of the time when you and I speak of salvation, we are speaking about being saved from the penalty of our own sins by faith in Jesus Christ. However, in Scripture, salvation is quite often the term used to speak of the ultimate sins of our deliverance. in the coming day of Christ's return. And other times in Scripture, the term salvation refers to a personal or physical sense of deliverance that is indeed desirable. Paul, of course, was saved. He wasn't looking to be saved from the penalty of his sins. He was saved from the penalty of his sins by faith in Jesus Christ. So verse 19 cannot be referring to that. The word salvation cannot be referring, in verse 19, to being safe from your sins. Because Paul already was safe from his sins. And yet he's talking about a future time when it will turn out to his salvation. What Paul does have in mind is ultimate deliverance. The ultimate deliverance of every believer as connected to the Lord's return. If you take that simple truth as we quite often present it in light of the tenses of salvation, I am saved, I'm being saved, I will be saved. Paul in verse 19 is talking about, I will be saved. He's talking about the ultimate deliverance that comes indeed either by death or by rapture as we often say it. Paul does have in mind the ultimate deliverance of every believer in Christ. as connected to the Lord's return. We might call this ultimate salvation or ultimate deliverance or as Roger Bennett called it, ultimate healing. When you know you're dying of cancer, the ultimate healing is with the Lord. And when you are saved and you're looking forward to the completion of God's work, the ultimate of salvation is with the Lord. Paul also had in mind, of course, in this context, although not in verse 19, Paul has in mind in this context his physical release from prison. But the word salvation in verse 19 is Paul's certainty of ultimate deliverance by death or ultimate deliverance by rapture. This is the deliverance in the long run. And it serves as the rational, logical, thinking man's basis of Paul's confidence in life and ministry. Just like Roger Bennett looked death in the face and developed an attitude, a perspective concerning the ultimate healing, so Paul here views the ultimate sense of salvation as absolutely sure, as absolutely great, as absolutely the best life ever. My daughter-in-law and family in Ohio have easy access to P. Graham Dunn. Ever heard of it? P. Graham Dunn. Ever heard of it? You own something from them in your home, I bet. But P. Graham Dunn is the largest producer of inspirational plaque. making in the world. If you have a verse of scripture hanging in your home, if you have a plaque of some particular statement or saying, inevitably, it may well have come from P. Graham Dunn. When Sherry and I go back to Ohio, one of the things we do is I take a little bit of my pastoral expense money and I go to the outlet at P. Graham Dunn and buy up some things that I can pass along among people as I need to when they're sick or going through difficult times. But nonetheless, they make all these sayings, and most of them come out of the Bible, but some of them are just popular among the inspirational crowd, if you know what I mean. Not terribly serious Christianity, but, you know, a little corny, but usually it's okay. Well, my daughter-in-law bought me a plaque for my bathroom. And you know that she got it cheap. She didn't pay full price for it. She went to P. Graham Dunn to the outlet center, and they probably had the thing for a buck. And when she gave it to me, she smiled and she said, Dad, this is for your bathroom. And so I said, okay. And so I'm not going to invite you over to check me out, but this is the truth. If you go up into the bathroom upstairs, that's my bathroom. Sherry's bathroom's downstairs. It's luxury, I know, but that's the way we operate. But if you go upstairs in my bathroom, and you're not welcome, and you're not invited, but if you go upstairs in my bathroom, there's this little plaque that Mandy bought me, and it says, the best is yet to come. And of course, she intends with that what I would definitely have in my mind, and that is the fact is that when I think that the best of life is right here with you in Elto, I could puke. It has nothing to do with anything bad about you. It just has to do with the realities of sinful life, this side of glory. But when I read that little statement, the best is yet to come, I say in my heart, amen to that. There's a better day coming. than the day that I'm living. Thank God for that. Now, in that same kind of way, Paul is in prison. He didn't have a daughter-in-law to get him a plaque to put in the bathroom in prison, but the Apostle Paul had, as it were, a slogan. over his life that motivated his perspective in that moment. And that perspective has to do with absolute confidence in ultimate salvation. That the promises of God have yet to be fulfilled in me. And on that basis, the Apostle Paul said earlier in Philippians 1.6 that he was confident that whatever God started, he would finish. The reality is Paul here views the ultimate sense of salvation as being absolutely sure. Nothing is more sure for Paul in prison than God's finished work concerning him. This is that long run view that must be embraced by the child of God if he or she is to live here and now with a sense of joy and confidence. Have you noticed, don't look around, but have you noticed how many sad Christians there are? Have you noticed how many sad Christians attend our church? Have you noticed how often sadness and gloom overcomes our souls as we navigate the path of life? Listen to me. If you don't have the thought of Christ's return and a better day stuck in your mind and stuck in your heart, You will never get to the part of the song we sang tonight. Hallelujah! You'll never get there. You'll never get there. You'll never get there. But indeed, if you have, as Paul had, this sense of ultimate deliverance, ultimate healing, ultimate salvation, Well then, you know how to figure the aspect of today in light of the bigger, broader picture. Some of you have heard me say it with my own lips. I say it often, especially the other preachers. When they say to me, how you doing? I say, having a good day. And then I say, I had a bad day once. And haven't had any bad days since. They say, oh, come on. And then I explain, no, it's not that my circumstances are any better than yours. In fact, I think today my circumstances might be worse than yours. But I've learned, and I've learned the hard way to get to God quick in the morning and to refresh the perspective of my life in light of His promises. And in light of that kind of a process, then, like Paul, I can live in confidence. Not because it is going good. It's not. For me. Right now. But it's good. Because the Lord is good, and I am God's servant, and I live under the banner his promise confidence joy because of God's promises Paul was confident of the promise of God regardless of whatever happened with him before Caesar That's what's next on the agenda, as Paul knows it in that moment. He's gonna have to stand before Caesar. Who knows what Caesar might do? Caesar might be having one of those nose-picking days, and as a result of that, just decides, get that guy out of here and take off his head. Who knows what Caesar might do with Paul? But Paul was confident, regardless of what happened with Caesar, because Paul was confident in the long run concerning Jesus Christ. Paul's confidence and joy was connected to Jesus Christ. Now, ahead in verse 25, I say ahead because we'll be getting to it next week, Paul talks about confidence, as we will see, in the sense of a short-run deliverance. But for now, we are dealing with the surety and the certainty of Christ in the end. Back in verse 18, Paul spoke of a present rejoicing and a rejoicing in the future. A present rejoicing and a prospective rejoicing. Verse 18, he said whether I am indeed Christ is preached, I rejoice now and I will rejoice. A present rejoicing and a future rejoicing based upon the continuity of the gospel being preached. Herein the joy of future salvation. Paul was bringing to bear and the completion of God's promise to all those that are in Christ Jesus. Paul was absolutely confident of God's work with him and how that work would end up. Thus, he possesses joy in the joint. That would be the good title for the sermon. Joy in the joint. Now, of course, you'd have to know something about English and street lingo. Joy in the joint. in order to understand what was being talked about, about him joining the prison. But we sang a little street language tonight. Have you noticed that? By the way, how many syllables are in the word going, going, going to? How many notes did they afforded in that last song? One. And so what do we all do? Going. You know, one syllable for, or two syllables said in one, I can't do that very well. I know people that don't share my shade color that are very, very good at that, but I'm not so good at that. But nonetheless, we did it. And the reality is, is that here we have this marvelous expression of joy in the joint. why I printed for you Paul's expression to his protege Timothy 2nd Timothy 418 on your study outline and the Lord shall deliver me from evil every evil work now when shallow Christians read just that much of that verse they think that Paul never had any trouble in his life because the Lord removed it all from him And therefore they foolishly think that they shouldn't have any trouble in their life. And then they whine and they cry and they throw a tissy fit because they got trouble. Because it's not easy. And the truth of the matter is, it isn't easy. What Paul was talking about in 2 Timothy 4.18, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Paul is again expressing his joy and confidence that God's work cannot be thwarted. That God began a thing in me and God is going to finish that thing in me. And that on that basis, I live another day. I take another step. I breathe another breath. I drink another cup of water. One day at a time. Joy in the joint. That's what we're reading about. That's what we're hearing about right here. Secondly, Paul was confident not only of God's salvation, but he was confident of God's supply. Verse 19 is actually primarily about God's supply, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit, capital S, Spirit, Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. This joy in Christ, even in the joint, is dynamically linked on the vertical and horizontal plane. This joy in the joint is dynamically linked to saints. This joy in the joint is dynamically linked to the Spirit. No child of God can be joyful apart from the Holy Spirit. Did you know that? No child of God can be joyful apart from the Holy Spirit. One of the particular elements of the Spirit's fruit is joy. You may recall that Paul told the Romans that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Romans 14, 17. Paul told the Philippians that their prayers would ensure the needed supply of the Spirit in time and space. Now I've talked about in previously in our Roman study, I talked about the grace of God, like a river that is constantly flowing towards us that we must drink it in and drink it in and drink it in as we live life to the glory of Christ. And here I'm inclined to use that same illustration as it relates to the depiction of the spirit, the supply of the Holy Spirit. Paul here tells the Philippians that their prayers Their prayers for him while he's in prison would ensure, their prayers would ensure the needed supply of the Holy Spirit in real time and space. That Paul would experience in prison a certain joyful experience that directly resulted out of the prayers of God's people. What if they didn't come to prayer meeting? What if they didn't pray? Paul wouldn't experience it. There are things that God has ordained will not be to the fullness in my life or yours apart from the cooperative prayers of God's people. Paul was confident of God's supply because in part he was confident of those people in Philippi that they would indeed be praying for him. He would need to experience the Spirit's fullness and power for life in chains. Even as he had need previously to experience the Spirit's fullness for a life being free to preach. and plant churches. There's a certain supply that comes from God that is necessary for freedom and joy in service. And there is indeed a particular sense of fullness from the Spirit and power of the Spirit that is necessary by way of supply when indeed you're restricted and living with a great sense of limitation. The linkage here between prayer And the experience of the Spirit's fullness and power within difficult circumstance ought to drive all of us to do what I write every week in my little Shepherd's View email that comes out on Sunday afternoon now. Pray one for another. I've heard you complain about each other. I wonder what would happen if you prayed one for another. You see, praying for one another, praying for me, sweetens my experience as your pastor. Paul says here plainly that his joy and confidence in the midst of difficult circumstances is bettered by the prayers of God's people. Now, some that are among us that are very theological and very analytical and very student-oriented will say, well, I don't know how that works. Well, let me just tell you, I don't either, and I don't care. What I care about is that the Bible says that if you pray for me, it makes a difference in my life. That's what the Bible says. If I pray for you, it'll make a difference in your life. Now, all the time, all the time, all the time, I have dull Christians say, oh, we'll be praying for you. It don't mean a thing. As the old jazz singer sang it, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that sting, do what, do what, do what, do what. That's Baptist theology from a jazz singer. But nonetheless, the reality is, it don't mean anything when most people tell me they pray for me, because I know they really aren't meaning it, and they really don't do it. But according to the Apostle Paul, his confidence was indeed impacted by praying people around him who loved him, who appreciated him, who knew where he was coming from, and prayed for him accordingly. God's people are not wise, peaceful, and fit apart from prayer. They're just not wise. God's people just aren't peaceful. God's people just aren't fit apart from prayer. There's wisdom from God for the asking. There's peace by means of letting our requests be made known unto God. There's strength commensurate to every God-assigned task by prayer. If you're not a praying Christian, you certainly aren't a confident Christian. If you're not a praying Christian, you're certainly not a joyful Christian. And according to verse 19, there is the maintenance of joy and confidence in Christ in part a result of praying saints, other people that pray for us. You must pray for your own joy and confidence regardless of your life condition and circumstance, and you ought to be praying for joy and confidence in the life of others. Paul was confident and expected to stay so because of the loving support that he was receiving by means of prayer. Prayer for Paul, I should say prayers for Paul, brought that fresh supply of the Spirit. Paul was experiencing that ever-flowing sense of the grace of God, the love of God, being shed abroad by the Holy Spirit of God, in part because of a praying community in the local church behind him. Oh, believe me when I tell you that we have much to learn about laboring together with God in prayer. Oh, believe me when I tell you that that idea that you and I can do it alone and be okay with just our own family and divorce ourselves from the church family is going to be good for us. It just doesn't work. It's never worked. It won't work at all. And very frankly, you're going to be a grumpy Christian until you submit to God's way. Pray for me. Pray for one another. We ought to be praying about the joy and the confidence of our missionaries in Christ. They might be in a moment of gospel prospering. And as we pray for them and their joy of confidence, O Lord, keep them true. Help them in this moment of prospering, not to get full of themselves or to think that they don't need to walk with you and pray, lest they fall, desperately fall. Or they might be in a moment of gospel discouragement. And we might pray for them and their joy and their confidence. But regardless of how it is going, our missionaries ought to be able to depend upon our prayers. So that they will continually experience joy and confidence by means of the Holy Spirit indwelling them, regardless of their experiences and circumstances on the field. I do believe that God has given to us a role in the life of our missionaries that directly impacts the experience of their joy and confidence in Christ. And when you think about that, far more important to that missionary than our dollars are our prayers. Our actual prayers matter. in the lives and ministries of our missionaries. Far more important than our financial support to missionaries is our prayer. By the way, the word supply here in verse 19, it's an interesting word. Epi means upon, like epidermis, your skin. Epi choreo. Choreography is the people and the stuff, the props and all the things that go into the supporting of an actor or the supporting of a musician in performance. What is choreography? Choreography is all the stuff that is brought together in support of an actor or a musician in performance. The pianist who accompanied the men's chorus this morning supported them in the presentation of that song, be an example. You do not need to know how to play the piano. for your brother or your sister in Christ. But you do need to know how to engage in such a way so as to provide for your brother and sister in Christ that sense of choreography, that sense of support, that sense of being propped up in ways that are hard to define and to explain. Paul wasn't shy about asking for prayer. I haven't been shy tonight to ask you for your prayers. I need you to pray one for another. Joy and confidence in Christ is not a common thing in Western Michigan. I have found that joy and confidence in Christ is not a common thing in Western Michigan. One of the reasons why I really didn't want to come to this area of the country was because I knew coming in that joy and confidence in Christ, not a common thing in Western Michigan. Theology, oh yeah. Big books, yeah. Great things to buy and put on your shelf, you betcha. Joy and confidence, no. Debate all day long. Spirit of controversy, every time you turn the blue in corner. Joy and confidence, rare to be found in Western Michigan. It is my prayer that that might be found among us right here. I'll tell you if we were to become, we're not, but if we were to become a people of joy and confidence, we'd stick out so badly in Western Michigan, they'd either love us or hate us. We'd either be greatly loved or greatly hated, and I don't think you really care which, but I'll tell you, it'd be a great thing if we became known for our love and confidence of our joy and confidence in Jesus Christ. Paul was confident about God's salvation. Paul was confident about God's supply to him in the ebb and flow of life. And Paul was confident about God's service. He says, verse 20, according to my earnest expectation, my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed or disfigured, or I say for the benefit of Bill Moss in his illustration of a nicked-up dime, disfigured, in nothing I shall be marred, ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body. whether it be by life or whether it be by death. I do not believe that we could or should call Paul's confidence self-confidence. Paul's confidence was in Christ. Paul's confidence surges in verse 20 based upon his watching expectation and hope of Christ. Paul knew that in Christ there was not a sliver of possibility that Christ would fail to do exactly as he had said. Therefore Paul knew that he would not be ashamed or dishonored or nicked or marred at all in Christ. He knew that he was on the winning team and that the gospel would prevail even if he had to endure the very worst outcome after trial before Caesar. Therefore, Paul gives again a further explanation of what I introduced to you last week about this godly attitude of Jimmy Crackhorn and I don't care. Paul did not care, ultimately, whether Christ was magnified in his life or Christ was magnified by his death. Paul cared only that Christ be magnified. Paul had freedom of mind even in the midst of change. His only desire was Christ and that Christ would be glorified whether he lived or whether he died. Life or death were present possibilities for Paul. He wasn't just speaking with hyperbole. And all Paul cared about was that Christ be magnified or made out to be great. The Greek word is megaluno and it means to make great. As I was thinking and praying this afternoon after first returning to the church this afternoon to take care of a few things before tonight's hour. I was reminded of a wonderful memory with one of my mentors when I was just about to take the responsibility, the reins of responsibility in leading the Bible College down at Spurgeon. After I'd agreed to go to the school as their new president, the school flew me down there to engage in a series of meeting to plan for the next fall when the students were coming. And they said to me, you have been, your time here has been reserved by request. And I said, what do you mean my time here has been reserved by request? And they said, well, you remember Doc, Betcha I do. Best theological teacher I ever had, Doc. You remember Doc, yeah? Well, he's asked if you could stay in his home for these days when you're having these meetings at the college. And I said, that'd be great. I look forward. to spending two, three days in Doc's home. Doc, for me, had always been that theological guy on the pedestal. I had always held him in the highest of esteem. And just the fact that he wanted me to come and stay in his house and eat his bread. and sleep in his extra bed. Just that alone was a real blessing to me. But as long as I live, as long as I live, as long as I live, I will never, I will never forget the late night conversation I had with Doc on night one. I was exhausted. I had spent all day meeting with people from the college. And believe me when I tell you that professors and administrators are exhausting people. I love them, but they are exhausting. And when finally I was able to say amen on that day and head back to Doc's house for the evening, I was so glad to be out of there. I had thoughts that maybe I'd made a bad mistake, but nonetheless, I was glad to be going home for some rest and spend a little time with Doc. We got there, and Doc said to me, are you tired? And I said, yeah. He said, I knew you would be. But he said, sit down, I need to tell you something. Okay. So I walked over into the living room chair and he had moved in such a way that he gave me the best chair, the big chair, the lazy boy that I knew was usually the place where he sat down. But he gave me that chair and he went over and sat on the couch. And I thought as I watched him, you are the most uncomfortable man at this moment in all the world sitting on the couch, talking to me in your chair. Number one, you come to my house, you're not getting my chair. But Doc gave me his chair. And here's the essence of what he said to me that night. He said, Timothy, you probably have never thought about this, but I am a man of terrible lust. And my thought was, I don't want to be here. I want to get on an airplane and fly back home to Waterloo, Iowa. I don't want to be here. Doc said, I'm a man of terrible lust. And knowing myself to be a man of terrible lust, I've really had to do business with God. I was so fearful. that I would fail God morally in the days of my ministry, that I prayed every day about this, and still do. I was shocked. Here's a guy that I could not have a higher esteem for, a man that built so many wonderful things into the context of my life, and yet it feels like we've built some kind of a confessional booth, and I'm on the wrong side of this thing. Instead of me confessing to him, he's confessing this to me. But it wasn't about confessing. And eventually, though it was way too slow, and I mean way too slow, I mean way, way too slow, He eventually got to the point, and the point was to tell me about how he prayed every day, a prayer that basically said the same thing over and over and over and over to God. And his prayer to God was, Father, in light of my lust, which you know requires your powerful hand to curb and to make righteous. I pray first that you would continue to grant me the strength to live a life of moral honor in ministry. But if you know the day is to come that I should fall, I pray in the name of my Savior, please take my life before you let me be a failure to Jesus Christ among these students. No wonder that old coot was such an impact upon my life. He was praying right along the idea of Paul. I'd rather die than live in moral failure. I'd rather die than live and people be able to use my name to curse Christ. Paul said that his joy and confidence was so construed in Christ, he so kept the honor of Christ and the coming of Christ so constantly in his mind that he was sure by means of his own sense of personal resolve in the Lord that Christ would be magnified either in life and living or in the hour of his death. Specifically, Doc said to me the thing that I have often prayed is that if my life, or I should say, if my death at any point in time would be more positively impactful, if my death at any point in time would be more positively impactful than my life before you, dear Lord, then please take my life. I'm sure it's not as impactful for you to hear it as it was for me to live that. But that was a night indeed that I will never, ever forget. A night in which I was treated to a commitment, to a resolve, to a tenacity in the life of a man to be all for Christ and to stop this namby-pamby, wishy-washy crap that is a part of Western Michigan Christianity. And to be a man for God, whether in life or in death, that Christ might be magnified. That's the heartbeat of Paul. That was the heartbeat of Doc. And I knew that he was serious about it. Back in my football days, sometimes my coach would use a megaphone. to make his voice great among the crash of pads and helmets. Paul wasn't interested in a big voice. Paul was interested in a big Christ. Paul wasn't interested in a megaphone. Paul was interested in Megaluno. He was interested in a big Christ. He wanted that Christ be made great. Regardless of how it went with him, the word boldness carries the idea of one's speech or testimony. And I do believe that in this context, Paul had specifically in mind his testimony before Caesar upcoming. Paul desired that by his on-reserve speaking of Christ, his frankness about Christ, that indeed Christ would be honored or glorified in his life or at his death. This is the purest motive in Christian life and service, that Christ be glorified. Paul was confident of his service to Christ, for he was committed to the glory of Christ. Above all things, Paul was committed to the glory of Christ. Listen to how one commentator summarizes these two verses. Paul, the veteran of hundreds of lashes and a thousand indignities, did not know what pains and humiliations awaited him. Yet there was no fear in Paul. Rather, there was an abounding, eager confidence that whatever happened, Christ would surely be glorified. That's good commentary. I'm not so foolish tonight to ask if any of you would like to have confidence like Paul. We'd all vote for that. But that's not the question of the hour. I know that you would have confidence in Christ. I know you'd like to be confident like Paul. But I also remind you that confidence like Paul's is rather rare. And the why of that is very simple. It's a matter of personal communication with God. Joy and confidence, it is a matter of personal communication with God. And it is a matter of personal commitment to God in connection to a local group of saints. This passage demonstrates those two things, that joy and confidence is indeed a matter of personal communication with God. And joy and confidence in experiencing the life of ministry is indeed a matter of personal commitment to God. It is about the practice of prayer and it is about the priority that is placed upon our relationship with God. Richard Sibes, Puritan, long dead, said this, we live not to live. Our life is not an end in itself, but the praise of the giver. Father, tonight, before your throne, I would recognize on behalf of this congregation that we do understand that our life is not our own, and that nothing is ultimately about our life, That our life is not, our earthly life is not an end in itself. But our life on earth here now and forever is about the praise of you as giver. O thou giver of life, shine on us as your people. Make your face to shine upon us. that we might find that promised wisdom, that promised strength, and that experience of peace, regardless of circumstance, that with the Apostle Paul, our testimonies would be honed and refined and uniquely construed in relationship to the honor and the glory of our coming Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This we pray in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Let's stand together as we sing,