I ran into a beautiful woman today. She asked for my name and my phone number and my insurance information. That didn't happen, okay? All right, as we begin the book of Philippians, I want to sort of give you some introductory remarks. Talk first of all about the city of Philippi. Here's a map that you perhaps recognize the landforms there. You've got Italy there on the left. To the far right, you've got, and you can't see much of it, but that's Israel. and then the Mediterranean Sea. And Philippi there is in Macedonia, as you can see at the top middle. So that's sort of where Philippi was located. It was named after Philip of Macedonia, who happened to be the father of Alexander the Great. So interesting little connection there. Philippi was a major city of Macedonia on the road from Rome to Asia, and it became a sort of a retirement colony. for retired soldiers, where they could live and enjoy the full privileges of Roman citizenship, and then it served as well to maintain a military presence in that area. Now, the church at Philippi, You probably know the story of how the gospel came to Philippi, and during Paul's second missionary journey, which was around 49-52 AD, Paul and his traveling companions, which at this time was Timothy and Silas, they were making their way across Asia Minor, which is basically Turkey, and now. And Paul received a vision at Troas, and in the vision a man of Macedonia was pleading with him, come over to Macedonia and help us. During apostolic times God often used visions like that to reveal his will to the apostles. Remember, Peter had a vision at Joppa with the unclean beasts and so on, and it was symbolically picturing that the gospel was to go to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. And so, anyway, this vision came to Paul, and so Paul and his companions believed that the Lord was calling them to go to Macedonia, and so they went. If you remember the map, Macedonia was a ways away, but the man said, come over into Macedonia. It was not their present surroundings. But they had to go over to Macedonia, so they sailed from Troas, and Luke apparently joined them there. And eventually they arrived at Philippi. And you know about the conversion of Lydia, the seller of purple. And it's the start of a big revival there in Philippi. And then when they were put in jail, God caused the earthquake to come down, come around, and released all the prisoners and it concluded with the conversion of the jailer there at the town and his household and that was the beginning, that was the establishing of the church at Philippi. The fact that there was no synagogue in Philippi, remember Paul's when he went to a new city was to go into the synagogue. And he would spend several weeks there on Sabbath day reasoning with the Jews, even though he was a primary and apostle to the Gentiles, but he would go to the synagogue. But Philippi didn't have a synagogue, and so there probably weren't many Jews in that area, and the church probably consisted primarily of Gentiles. From the conversion of Lydia and other references in the letter, it's evident that a number of women played a role in the growth of the church. You say, well, that's unusual. I don't think it's as unusual as you seem because ladies had a big role in the beginning of this church back in 1899. The church was an outgrowth of a Sunday school. that some ladies had begun and that grew and God sent some men and the church here was established. Then when it became necessary for Paul to leave Philippi, Luke stayed there to probably strengthen the Christians there and get them grounded in the faith. And if you read the book of Acts, and you've heard this before, it's not new, You can tell when Luke is with Paul, or whoever is traveling, and when Luke is not with him, because the pronouns change from here. And so we know by the pronouns as they're used in the Book of Acts which tells the story of the establishment of the church at Philippi that this is where Luke stayed for a while and no doubt helping and grounding those new Christians in the truth. After Paul left of Macedonia, the church at Philippi became a significant source of support for him. I've got some verses here. Well, I didn't get the whole thing in there, but in Philippians 4, it talks about Paul said, no church communicated with me at that time. No church communicator helped me financially except y'all. Now, you know, Paul was a, Paul does use that phrase, y'all. Of course, it says you all, but we that are from around Kentucky, we know that's y'all. And then in 2 Corinthians 11, nine, and what's happening is between the computer and switching it to the iPad, this put the whole thing in one line. So we're not able to read the entire verse. But again, he again talks about how the people of Macedonia had supplied his needs. And so Paul is using the occasion, not only to thank them in this letter, but to comfort them concerning his situation as a prisoner for Jesus Christ. And it's sort of an unsettling thing, I would suppose, when your spiritual leader, the man that won you to Christ, ends up in jail. and it's where the letter was written from, but he's writing to them, and we'll see as we go through the chapter that God used the imprisonment of Paul for the furtherance of the gospel. Well then, thirdly, we have the communication to Philippi. This letter, Philippians is one of four one of Paul's four prison epistles, the others being Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, which were written from Rome during his first imprisonment there. Now, 2 Timothy was also written from prison in Rome during the second imprisonment. It's usually designated as one of the pastoral epistles rather than a prison epistles. But those are the ones written from the prison. And the thrust of the letter seems to be devotional and exhortational rather than doctrinal. Now, Galatians and Ephesians both contained a whole lot of theology and a lot of focus on doctrinal issues there, whereas Philippians, It takes more of an exhortation type of attitude. And one thing that stands out is found in the word joy. This book was one of Brother Hensley's favorite ones, one that Sister Betty would preach on. He loved to preach from Philippians. Things that will rob you of your joy. Things will rob you. and circumstances and people. I don't remember what the fourth one was, but always, always good stuff. And he always emphasized joy. Well, the word joy is used five times in the book and rejoice is found 11 times. And so for that reason, the epistle to Philippians It's often called Paul's hymn of joy, in which the theme is rejoice in the Lord. In fact, some count commentators maintain that the key verse is Philippians 4.4, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. So with that background in mind, we need to get on to the actual exposition, if you will, of the chapter. We'll not read the entire chapter just in the interest of time. I've got a lot to say and not much time to say it, as I sometimes allow. But let's begin with verse one, and we'll read down through, I don't know, we'll stop when we get done here. Paul and Timotheus, or Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's just halt there for a minute and get into the outline. The first thing we want to notice concerning chapter is Paul's entreaty for the Philippians, his prayer, what he prayed for them. The first thing we see is for whom he prayed. And in verse one it talks about all the Christians that were in Philippi, but he also mentions specifically the bishops and the deacons. Now don't let that word bishop throw you for a loop. And if you're new to the New Testament, which I don't think any of you are, but I mean the Catholics and the Anglicans and the Episcopalians and others have used the title of bishop to refer to someone in the upper echelons of their hierarchy. Well, the true church, which I believe is us Baptists today, we have no such structure, at least independent Baptists don't. We don't have a diocese or an organization somewhere dictating how we run our affairs. We believe in local church autonomy. As they say, that means we have the right to conduct business as we are led by the Lord. And bishop, the word bishop is the same office that we commonly refer to as pastor. Now, some of our Baptist brethren have a habit of addressing a pastor or a preacher as elder. I receive mail sometimes that way. Elder Steve Kittle. It's all the same office. You've got a pastor, a bishop, an elder. It's all the same thing. And then he mentions the deacons. The deacons. Now, I think that this verse, along with many other passages in the New Testament, establishes that there are two ordained offices in the church, one being the pastor, or the bishop, or the elder, whichever you prefer, and there are the deacons. These are the only two that are mentioned in Scripture as being ordained, or when they would be put into office that they would lay their hands. on them and that's you maybe hopefully observe an ordination service and either of a pastor or of a deacon and that's how that goes. So that's who he's praying for, the bishops, the deacons, and all of the Christians at Philippi. Now notice when he prays in verse 3, he said, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. He said, every time I think of you, I pray for you. Hey, you know what? That's a good habit, isn't it? It really is. When you think of someone, pray for them. Pray for their provision. If they have a need, pray for their protection. If they are undergoing a temptation or a particular trial, and whatever the need may be. If you say, I don't know of a need to have, pray for him anyway. And that's a good habit to get into. Notice how he prays in verse four. says this, always in every prayer of mine for you all, there's that, you all, making requests with joy. He prays with his heart filled with joy when he thinks about these Philippians. I hope that when other people outside of our church think of Addiston Badness, I hope they do so with joy. May we never become a church that is known primarily for its negatives, for its sour attitude, for the things that we of others. Now, yes, we have to be against some things. So there's going to be some negative aspects to our stand for the Lord. But let us focus on the positive. Let's have a good attitude And again, that's what Pastor Hensley used to preach from this very book about having the proper attitude. And we should be able to pray with joy for our church and for others. Why he prays, first of all in verse five, he says, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. And then in verse seven, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart, in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace. What were they doing? They were supporting Paul in his ministry, just like we read the mission, the missionary list this evening. We support these men and help them in their work. They're going places that all of us can't go, but they're going, they're doing, and we are helping them and supporting them. And that's, What the Philippian believers, the Philippian church was doing with Paul, they were helping him look at verse 8. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you in the bowels of Jesus Christ. Now you may be thinking, why does the Bible talk about bowels? You know, that's not something we normally talk about in a polite conversation. But the bowels were used as a representation of our innermost feelings. Now, you probably noticed, when you get bad news, a loved one has died, perhaps, you feel that inside. I mean, I think you've all probably experienced that. And that's what it's talking about, our innermost feelings, our emotions, our yearnings. In the Old Testament, in particular, it talks about the reins, which literally means the kidneys. And it talks about the reins being the seat of emotion. And so it's our internal self represented by the word vows. Why is he praying? Because he's yearning after them. He has a great affection, a great emotional connection with these Philippian believers because they've helped him out. And not only did they help him financially, but they prayed for him as well. What he prayed, what is Paul praying for them? Well, verse 6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So Paul's praying for them that God's word would be carried to completion in every believer. This is a very well-known verse. When it says, he which hath begun a good work in you, of course, that's the Lord. If you wanna narrow it down to the Holy Spirit, that's fine. He which has begun a good work in you will perform it. That word perform can also be translated accomplished or perfect or he will finish it. God has begun to work in us and he will finish it at the day of Jesus Christ. Then in verse 9, and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. So he prays that they might be filled with love. Now, note that Paul's desire for them does not end with more and more. He says that your love may abound yet more and more. Oh yeah, we gotta have love. We gotta love one another. That's good. But it's not without clarification because the verse goes on. He says that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. While we are commanded to love one another, we're to love our neighbor, we're to love our enemies, that should not override our knowledge and our judgment. We have to keep those things, keep everything balanced. I mean, just because I love my enemy doesn't mean I'm going to allow him to break into my house and, you know, take everything I've got and harm my family. I've got a persuader that I keep in near vicinity, and I probably shouldn't tell that. We're on video in this tonight. I mean, a baseball bat, of course. Go ahead and laugh, that's all right. But anyway, the point is, we don't love indiscriminately. We love based on knowledge and judgment. Love should never cause us to abandon common sense. And then in verse 10, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, or that they might He says that you may approve the things that are excellent. In 1 John 4, 1, and I wish I had the whole verse there, but it says, Beloved, try the spirits, or test the spirit. I don't think he's just talking about demons. I think he's talking about the spirit of teaching, the spirit of knowledge, Try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. So what he's saying is, in other words, not everything that looks good, sounds good, or feels good is good. There are things that'll make you feel wonderful and warm inside, and it feels good and it looks good, but it may not be of the Lord. There are many that I consider absolutely to be false. Prophets, they're very captivating speakers. In fact, I'm envious of some of them. They have the ability to hold an audience spellbound. The only time I hold an audience spellbound is when you all go to sleep. But no, they can grab you with their rhetoric and their persuasiveness, and yet, We're told in 1 Thessalonians 5 21 prove all things and hold fast that which is Good not everything that seems to be of the Lord is of The Lord and that's why we need the spirit of discernment and we need to try these things and be like the Bereans Remember, they heard these things and then they went home and they studied them for themselves. Not because they were skeptical, but because they needed to know these things in their heart. You shouldn't believe something just because the pastor believes it or just because it's in our statement of faith. You need to believe things because you know what it says from the Word of God. And then in verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God. So he wants them to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. In my way of thinking, I don't think this is any different than the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. I believe that would pretty much encompass the fruits of righteousness. And this is Paul praying. for the Philippians, that they would constantly strive to be like Christ, to serve Christ, to not be led aside by false teachers and false prophets. Go on to point number two, and that's all we got tonight is two points. Paul's explanation to the Philippians, and there should be a number there, which is 12 through 30. So let's get into this. First of all, the report in verses 12 and 13. Paul says, but I would, ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. That's providence. That's God using the circumstances of life and molding them and arranging them so that the gospel is furthered. Verse 13, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. So he reports to advance the gospel. I mean, as I said a minute ago, you can imagine these Philippian believers, their spiritual father is in jail. And I mean, did he do something wrong? I mean, why would he end up in jail? And Paul is telling them, look, the fact that I'm in jail has not stopped the advance of the gospel. But these things have fallen out. or they have turned out to the furtherance of the gospel. And so, he said, starting in the palace, probably his guards, and then spreading from there, the gospel was being furthered even while he was yet in prison. Paul Bunyan, a great man of God, wrote Pilgrim's Progress while he was in prison. And many great things have been done by godly men as they were incarcerated. A second thing we see is the reaction. Verses 14 through 17, and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds. He said, I don't know how this worked exactly, but he says, because I'm in prison, they've gotten confidence. They are much more bold to speak the word without fear. If Paul can go to prison, then I'll be willing to go to prison, but I'm gonna speak the word boldly. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some 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. So two things we see here. First of all, Paul's reaction, or the reaction to Paul's imprisonment concerning his friends and also concerning his foes. First of all, there was his friends. Paul's imprisonment His chains were encouraging others to increase their effort in the proclaiming of the gospel. Maybe they thought, we need to take up the slack. Paul's in prison. He can't be out preaching like he wants to. But we can. We're still free. And they were encouraged by Paul's imprisonment. But then there was also his foes, those that didn't like what Paul was saying. The way I understand this is they were spreading the gospel, hoping to make the apostle jealous. See, we can get along with that shit. So they're preaching the truth, not sincerely. They were preaching out of contention. They were preaching on a pretense. And yet God used that word. I'm gonna say more about that in just a second. Now they're rejoicing in verse 18. What then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Paul says whatever the motive these people have for preaching, whether it's the right motive or the wrong motive, you say, well, how can someone preach the truth with the wrong motive? Go back and read the book of Jonah. Jonah did not want the people of Nineveh to repent. He got mad when they did, remember that? Yeah, he was preaching the truth with a superbly bad attitude. And God still blessed the message. God's word does not return void. Now, there have been preachers and evangelists who have turned out to be real scoundrels. I mean, people found out they were in it for the money. They were in it for the fame. They may have been in it for the women. Who knows? And yet souls were saved under their preaching. Does that negate the salvation? No, because it's not the messenger. It's the message that God uses to save lost souls. And let us remember this. We can't judge another man's heart. We really can't. He may be legitimate, and we're thinking, you know, that guy, I just don't think he's on the up and up. I don't think he's sincere. Well, we really don't know. Listen, other ministries may not look exactly like ours. And I have to fight this in my own judgment as I'm thinking about things. Because I'll see churches that do things differently than we do. I'm not talking about a different message. They still preach the gospel, but they have different methods than we do. And they have different music, perhaps, than we do. And it's easy to look at something like that and say, well, that must not be of God. Even though it doesn't look exactly like our ministry, that doesn't mean that God can't use them. In Mark chapter 9, when I turn to it, but the disciples, some of the disciples came to Jesus and they said, hey, we found a guy out here who was casting out devils in your name and we forbid him to do that. because he didn't run with us. He didn't follow our group. He wasn't part of our congregation. And they said, didn't we do good? And Jesus said, no, you did not do good. He that is not against us is for us. So be careful about criticizing others. If their message is right, leave them alone and let God deal with them. All right, let's go on. Letter D, the resolve in verse 19. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation or my deliverance from what I, not his salvation of his soul, but his deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. And we'll read some more verses here in a second, but there's something you want to see here. First of all, it's Paul's dilemma. Look at verse... Well, let's read verse 20. According to my earnest expectation, 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. Great verse, everyone knows that. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what I shall choose I want not." He said, I've got a dilemma here tonight. I don't know how I'm going to choose. For I am in a strait. He's being pulled in two different directions. I'm in a strait betwixt two. having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, he says. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. So that's his dilemma. Should I Stay or should I go? Now, I don't think Paul was going to commit suicide so that he could go to heaven to be with Christ. But he, you know, Paul perhaps would have had the opportunity to just quit defending himself, quit fighting and say, look, just go ahead and kill me. That's what you want to do anyway. Go ahead and kill me so I can be with Christ. He said, nevertheless, he said, I have to consider this, that to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. People here need me. And Paul was not being boastful at all. I don't think he was being factual. And so in verses 25 to 26, 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. So Paul's decision And he's just recounting this whole thought process. Paul's decision was, I'm gonna stay here because you need me. Folks need me. You need my comfort. You need my teaching. You need my encouragement during this time. Now there's a request that he makes in verses 27 and 28. Only, he says, remember this, only let your conversation You know, conversation, when you see it in the Bible, generally refers to your manner of life. It's not just a vocal or written exchange between one person and another. It is the way you conduct yourself. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. And you know what it means to become something. It's talking about that it's fitting that your life mirrors the message by which you were saved, the gospel of Christ. That whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Then it goes on, verse 28, 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. Whatever happens to Paul, he says, whatever happens to me, You go on conducting yourselves in a manner that is worthy of the gospel. Hey, he says your spiritual leader may not be able to get back to you anymore. I may die here in prison. And we can extrapolate on this and say, you know, sometimes spiritual leaders let you down. They flame out, they just quit or they get scandalized and they leave or whatever. And he says, no matter what happens to your leader, you keep on being faithful. He said, that's my request. He says, don't worry about me. I'm all right. If I live, I'm fine. If I die, I'll be with Christ. That's even better. Don't worry about me. You just be faithful in your manner of life. And then lastly, there's the reminder in verses 29 and 30. 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. The Philippian believers have been granted two wonderful privileges. First of all, there was the privilege of trusting in Christ. It says, unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe on Him. What a privilege that is. That's a gift of God. Our faith is a gift of God. It's a little unsettling to think about the fact that Jesus could have come, lived his life, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose again, ascended to heaven, and salvation is offered to all people, and then nobody received it. And that's what would have happened if it were not for the gift of faith. God gives us repentance and faith to turn from our sins and to believe and trust in Jesus Christ. That is a real privilege. But not only was it a privilege for them to trust in Christ, but it was a privilege for them to suffer for his sake. I think it's Peter that talks about this in his epistle, how that he says it's counted all joy that you are able to partake in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. None of us have suffered much for the cause of Christ. Now, we might suffer. We might suffer because of our own bad choices. We may suffer because just the world is a sinful place in which to live. We suffer because of disease, which is part of the curse upon the world. But we haven't really suffered much for the cause of Christ. But when it comes to that, when it comes to that time, and it may happen in the lifetime of some of us sitting here right now, that we have, it comes time to suffer, suffer persecution for Christ. Let us count it as a privilege. Knowing that Jesus was persecuted, Why should we expect to be any different? He said, if they've called the leader Beelzebub, he said, what do you think they're gonna call you as well? So it's a privilege to suffer for Jesus Christ. And well, there's a lot of good stuff coming in the book of Philippians. I wish I had the chance to teach the whole thing, but I'm just glad I got the chance to speak about the chapter one of this great book of Philippians. Let's bow for a prayer. Father, thank you for our study tonight, and I pray, Lord, that you would just grant us, like the Philippians, that we would take on suffering and persecution gladly, knowing that it's for the cause of Jesus Christ. Blessings we dismiss tonight in Jesus' name, amen.