Children, y'all can go. Those who go, those who stay, y'all can stay. And if you're here, you have your Bible with you this morning. I ask you to open to the book of Philippians chapter 1. And if you're able, stand with me this morning as we read God's Word together. We'll start our theme verse. Short one, hopefully everybody's got it memorized by now, but let's say this one together. Philippians 4, 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I'll say rejoice. In our text this morning, Paul says, 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 proclaimed 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. Father, I ask this morning for your help, for your guidance. Give us strength. And Holy Spirit, help us to understand that we might give proper application to this text in Jesus name. Amen. Now, in the mid 1800s, the Protestant Reformation was really in full swing by that time. You had the Reformers that came on the scene in the 1600s, 1500s, into the 1600s. 1689 came the first Baptist confession of faith, the London Baptist confession. And so the Baptists were growing and beginning to spread across Europe, in particular in Britain, and even coming across to the United States. So the faith was growing well during that time. The mid-1800s, the Baptist faith would have been over 100 years old at that time. Prominent preachers were growing. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield in the mid-1700s had come on scene and had left a great legacy. You had men like James Broadus who would found Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, was preaching during that period of time. So there was lots that were going on as far as proclamation of the gospel and those studying the word of God. But then in the 1850s to 1860s, there was another prominent preacher. It was becoming quite well known. His name began to pop up here and there. And he was labeled as a reformer, one who was changing or doing things differently and had had several theological arguments with some prominent preachers of the day. And a London paper called The Saturday Review, this is what they wrote. They said this young preacher is coarse, stupid, irrational and a bigot. They also said that he was conceited, ignorant and a fanatic. In 1855, another paper, the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent Quoted another preacher, a fellow preacher, as saying this, this young preacher at Exeter Hall is a religious demagogue. He was no more than just a nine day wonder. And he has gone up like a rocket, but he will soon fall like a stick. Later on, about a year later, in October of 1856, another paper called The Illustrated Times said this, Will his popularity last? We more than doubt it. Now, who is this coarse, stupid, irrational, bigoted preacher whose name would soon be remembered no more? Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It seems there was a streak of envy or jealousy that was running deep in the streets of London. Spurgeon's ways were unorthodox. They were not in traditional lining with the prominent preachers of his day. The way he approached the Scriptures and the way he proclaimed from the pulpit, it was often said that Charles Spurgeon would get and wander in the church. And that was totally uncalled for. The preacher was to stand behind the pulpit, never to move. And so that was unorthodox for him to actually move around. He was guilty of breaking the traditions of the preachers of his day, so much so that on September 9th of 1856, the Daily News accused Spurgeon of pulpit buffoonery. This is published in the paper. How would you like to open the Sunday paper next week to find my name plastered all in there? Your pastor down at Camp Branch is an idiot. He's a bigot. He's stupid. He's conceited. He knows not the Word of God. He's a buffoon in the pulpit. How would that make you feel? How would it make me feel? What made these fellow preachers and citizens so angry? Why did they dislike Spurgeon so much? Spurgeon, was he not preaching Christ crucified? Of course he was. Was he not exalting the risen Savior? Was he not leading many people to Christ? So why is there so much opposition to Charles Spurgeon? You see, thousands were coming to hear him preach. In his first year and a half at Newport Street Baptist Chapel, People had to be kept out because there was no room for them to come in and listen. You know, there's there's one story of him preaching at a very prominent auditorium in London, and the place was so packed, they couldn't let anyone else in. And someone in the audience yelled fire. And several people died that day were trampled to their death. Can you imagine the burden that Charles Spurgeon felt on that day? Knowing all I wanted to do was preach the gospel and I got people killed. He was faithful to the Word. Spurgeon would later go on to rent a public exhibition hall because the churches he was preaching in couldn't house the people. So they go into London and they find Exeter Hall that would seat about 5,000. And one man is noted as saying this, that if Exeter Hall had seated double that at its construction, it would not be enough to hold Spurgeon's crowd. Tens of thousands of people trying to hear Charles Spurgeon preach the gospel. Now, as Spurgeon rose in popularity, so did the jealousy, envy, and rivalry grow among the local preachers. Now, this is not far removed from the situation that Paul finds himself in here in Rome. Now, consider the illustration that Ed just showed. It's a really good refresher of our text last week. Paul is in prison. He's in house arrest. He's jailed and he's guarded 24 hours a day. But I want you to understand this as we move into the text. Jealous words spread rapidly. Jealous words spread rapidly. Look back at Philippians 1, verse 12. Paul says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Now, there must have been some concern for the church at Philippi. For Paul to say, hey, don't worry about my situation. It's really served to advance the gospel. Why are they so concerned? It's clear that the church at Philippi had already received word of Paul's imprisonment. But how exactly were they told? What was the attitude? What was the motive of the news about Paul's imprisonment? What's the attitude? What's the news? Can you imagine when they find out, when people come to Philippi and say, hey, you heard about Paul? Yeah, he's in jail. How do you think churches would react if they got word that their pastor, while away on a mission trip, you get a phone call and say, hey, your pastor's in jail. What'd he do? Well, he was preaching the gospel. Amen. But what if he was a very prominent pastor? What if there were a lot of people coming to hear him preach and listening to him preach? You think there might be one pastor out there that might take that as an advantage and say, he couldn't even keep himself out of jail. He shouldn't have been over there to start with. I mean, look, here I am doing what's right. I'm obeying the laws. I'm being a good citizen. But evidently, your pastor was not. Don't know exactly what was said and how it was said, but obviously there were things said that Paul perceived as an attack on his ministry. Think back and consider what was taking place in Rome. Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner and he begins preaching the gospel boldly in his house while he's on house arrest. Look back at 2830 of the Book of Acts. He says, he lived there two whole years at his own expense, and he welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Remember, we talked about that last week. There's no hindrance. The Lord had given him, you know, free reign to preach the gospel even though he's in prison. And these guards, Mr. Potato Heads, as Ed would put them, you know, coming and listening and going back, coming and listening and going back. We also know Roman soldiers were being saved and the news of Christ and Paul had spread throughout the whole Imperial Guard, according to verse 13 of the text. And even some of Caesar's own household had been saved, according to Philippians 4.22. But think about this for just a moment. Paul writes this letter And somewhere around AD 61-62, Paul wrote his letter to Rome, the book of Romans. That letter was written around 55-56 AD. So, six or seven years before Paul finds himself in this Roman prison, he had written to the Roman church. Now that tells us that there was a Roman church there a long time ago, right? Well back. So what we also have to understand is this, is that if Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, the church had been there for a little while at least. So here we have a group of preachers that Paul was not one of in Rome, and they had been preaching there and teaching there, planting churches there. Perhaps some of these were some of the first elders to be ordained there in Rome. We don't know. But what we know is there were obviously preachers there. They were preaching the gospel there. Paul writes to them in the book of Romans and later finds himself joining them in his house arrest and imprisonment in A.D. 62 or somewhere right there at it. So gospel work had been going on in Rome 10 to 12 years before Paul got there. You follow me? But now, Consider the text of Acts 28. In two years, in two years, Rome is being turned upside down because of Paul being there. How do you think these preachers in Rome feel? I've been preaching for twelve years in Rome, and now this This young guy is going to come in here, and he's in jail down there, and all these people are going to go following after him. Don't listen. He's in jail. Don't listen to him. Listen to me. I've been here with y'all. I've walked with y'all. I've ministered to y'all. And now y'all are going to leave me and go follow Paul. Philippians 1.14, most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear now. So evidently these preachers weren't doing a very good job. And Paul says now that they've come and they've met with me, and Paul's not saying, hey, I did this. Hey, I changed them. Paul's saying my imprisonment brought glory to Christ because people were strengthened in their faith through something that happened to me. Can you imagine the sense of jealousy that rises out of this situation? Local preachers forced to watch as this newcomer lights Rome on fire for Christ, and they've done nothing for 10 or 12 years. Matter of fact, under their ministry, the people were afraid to share their faith. The people were scared at how they ministered. But under Paul's ministry, the word began to spread quickly. And can you imagine when these preachers get word, hey, Pastor, you know, Paul's ministry is spreading so quickly and rapidly that even members of Caesar's household have now been saved. Wow. Wow. So Paul gives us here two types of preachers. In verse 15 he said, some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. So here's two types of preachers here in Rome. The first is the preacher who preaches from envy and rivalry. I want you to take note of what the text says here. He says, some indeed do what? They preach Christ from envy and rivalry. Brothers and sisters, I want you to realize that although a man may preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, the fact remains he is preaching Christ. So we're not talking about a heretic. We're not talking about one who is disingenuous to the faith. We're not talking about when I stand and I call out the name Joel Osteen, or I call out one of these guys, these charlatans that are on TV trying to get you to buy certain snake oil stuff, and it blows my mind. It absolutely blows my mind. Remember, several years ago now, I was sitting home on a Sunday, and I was going through the text, and I was preparing my lesson for Sunday night, and I wound up watching this guy, and I can't remember his name to save my life, but it's Mike something. And he's got a beard. He obviously dyes his hair. He's got rings all over his finger and gold jewelry everywhere. And he was telling people, if you'll just sow that thousand dollar seed, Even if you can use your credit card, just call now. And if you sow that thousand dollar seed, if you'll sow that seed, the Lord's going to bless you tenfold according to His Word. And I'm like, where is that? And he's throwing stuff out there. He says, oh, the operators are standing by, waiting on your call. And I changed my message that night. I said, you know what, I'm not going to talk about it. I came in and I talked about heretics. And I talked about charlatans and their intentions and their motives. And see, it's okay for us to call them out. People say, well, who are you to judge what somebody else is doing? If it's in accordance with the Gospel, I've got all authority to call them out. But Paul, notice he doesn't call these men heretics. He doesn't say they're disingenuous to the faith. He says they are preaching Christ. So it's not their message that's the problem. Sometimes the message is the problem. Galatians, for example. In Galatians, they're telling the Galatian churches, hey, you've got to be circumcised. You've got to become a Jew before you can become a Christian. And Paul says, no. That's heresy. He calls them out. He says that's disingenuous to the faith, but that's not what he does here. He says the message is not the problem. He says their motive is the problem. It's not the message, it's the motive. These men had been there long before Paul was there. Perhaps some of them had helped found the church at Rome. Perhaps some of them were some of the first elders to be established at Rome. Now, suddenly, in less than two years, they find their fame in danger. Their name is not being mentioned as much as it used to be. Instead of coming to them, the people are flooding to visit with Paul and learn from him. So that's the one who preaches from envy and rivalry. Now, the other type of preacher is the one who preaches from goodwill. Verse 16 of the text says, the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. These men preach for the love of God, and they preach for the glory of Christ. They understand that they're not in a popularity contest with Paul. Paul wants Christ to be known, and they want Christ to be known. Amen? Paul wants to preach Christ crucified, and these men want to preach Christ crucified. It's not about how many people are attending. It's not about how many people are coming. It's not about how many times your name gets mentioned. It's that Christ be preached. And there are men who have a love for that. And as I said, I have to look at myself and I have to ask myself the question which is the title of this sermon. Preacher. What are your motives in preaching? Do I preach to be like the famous preacher on TV? Do I preach to be like the famous preacher in town? Or do I preach that Christ might be made known? Remember, I shared with you some words from the men's conference that stick dear to me that Christi often reminds me of, my precious wife. When a man went to found a church in a particular area, They got everything ready to go and it was the first day and he goes in and he preaches and nobody shows up. Nobody. And so he says, you know. God's word is worthy of being preached, even if no one's here to listen. And so he preaches his sermon to nobody. And after the message, he gets up and he walks out the door, this is a true story. He gets up and he walks out and there's a lady on the street corner outside the building and she's just looking at him like he's nuts. And she says, sir, what were you doing in there? He said, well, I was preaching. She said, I know that, but there's nobody there. And he said, yes, ma'am, I know. She encouraged him and said, well, if you'll stick with it, I'll come here again next week so you don't have to be here by yourself. And so she came. Months later, another young man, under that man's ministry, went to plant a church out in a different part of England, in a rural area, and he goes out into the village, and they had been sowing seeds and inviting people and preparing, and the day came, and he opens the little building that they had rented, and he goes in, he gets things set up, and he's there all by himself, and the time comes, and guess what? Nobody shows up. And he says, well, brother so-and-so, the same thing happened to him. So he preaches. He gets on his knees and he prays, and he walks out, he looks, and there's no old lady. He's there all by himself. Four months. Every Sunday for four months, he preached to nobody. To nobody. And I have to think, is he trying to be the popular preacher on the block? Is he trying to get the crowds to follow him? Obviously not. So what is this young man's motive over in England that today, likely today, will be preaching? He seeks to see Christ glorified. He seeks that the name of Jesus might be made manifest among men. And so I have to ask, what is my motive? Do I want thousands of people hearing me? Or am I satisfied if no one was even here today? Let me give a warning to preachers, teachers, and all Christians in general. Brethren, let me pass along a stern warning. See, there's a group of Christians in the New Testament that lived in the city called Corinth, and Paul wrote two letters to them, possibly three, the book of 1 Corinthians and the book of 2 Corinthians we have. They had come to the point where they thought that they had heard it all and knew it all. They felt like they could go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted, even if it borderlined along sin. Hey, food sacrifice to idols. Yeah, no big deal to me. I don't care about those idols. I'll go down there and I'll take that food. It's no big shakes to me. Okay. Sexual immorality. We read in Corinthians that sexual immorality was running rampant in the church. And that nobody in the church would deal with it. The elders wouldn't deal with it. The leaders wouldn't deal with it. Nobody would deal with it. They had become a group of know-it-alls. Do you all know any of those? They had become a group of know-it-alls. You can't tell them anything and you can't teach them anything because they already know. And you sit down and you say, hey, brother, hey, sister, you know, the Scripture says, don't tell me what the Scripture says. Well, do you know what it says? Because you're doing this. I've studied the Bible longer than you've been alive. But I don't think you get it. And here's Paul just a few years into his Roman imprisonment, and all of these people are coming to him and they're not going to their preachers anymore. It was this type of situation in the church at Corinth that drove Paul to say this in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, Therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Church, where has our humility gone? I want you to strongly consider this because this is a warning to you. This is a portion of the message that applies to you. Where is your humility? Proverbs 15, 33, the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom and humility comes before honor. Philippians 2, 3 is the chapter away from where we are. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. And most of all to the preacher. To the pastors and to the preacher, Paul tells the young preacher Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 16, he says, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for doing so will save both yourself and the hearers. Now, take note of what Paul told Timothy. Preacher, he says, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. The preachers at Rome, they had not forsaken the teaching. They were preaching Christ. But they had failed to look at themselves. And Paul warned Timothy, don't, don't ever forget to keep a close watch on yourself. Because see, the message of Christ will never change. But if you're not careful, you can wander right back into that state of sin, you can succumb to the flesh, and you can be fighting against yourself, fighting against God's people. This is where these envious Roman preachers fell short. They failed to keep a close watch on themselves. Then in verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says, for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. Church, I have known in my short career in ministry, I have known many men who wanted to be the next great well-known preacher. When all they should have desired was the privilege to preach Christ. But see, for many of these men, preaching Christ is not enough because preaching Christ does not exalt their fame. And so in an attempt to exalt their fame, they began to put out websites, put out books, print T-shirts, put up billboards with their picture on it. Print signs and advertisements and newspaper flyers. Come here so-and-so preach. Come here so-and-so preach. Can you imagine? Do you think Paul had a PR crew in his house trying to figure out a way? You know, what's the best way we can get people to come listen to me? You know, This shame doesn't rest with the preacher only. How many local church members and lay people are guilty of posting that creature up and exalting him over Christ? You know, while putting together a Bible conference several years ago, I went to a brother for some guidance and I asked him about Some certain things with this Bible conferences, hey, this is I've got some brothers, we're going to have them come and preach and talk about this. And and he shared with me, he said, well, I don't see brother so and so on the list. And I said, well, you know, I. Considered this pastor is well known. He's prominent. He's a great speaker. He preaches the word of God. But he's at every event that we have in this area. He's always there. And I figured maybe give some of these other godly men a chance to preach. And he said, you know, I hear what you're saying. He said, but the people in this area. If they can't hear him, they won't hear anybody. How do you think that made me feel? Any message I might bring from the Word of God is of no value. Any message any of these other brothers that I was going to invite to come speak, they couldn't preach the Word of any value. Only this one man in this area could preach the Word with any value. That's the mentality that's been drilled into the minds of people. I'm not blaming this pastor. I'm not blaming this preacher. I'm saying that people have exalted him to that position. You know, I explain this to the brother. In church, that flat out screams that we are living in a society that exalts men over the preaching of God's Word. Yes, this brother might preach the Word and he might preach the Word. Well, this one over here, yeah, he preaches the Word. You did well to invite him, Pastor. Yes, this one over here, he preaches the Word. You did well to invite him, Pastor. But they're just not worth listening to like this one. Have you lost your mind? Have you lost your mind? Shameful is what it is. To say that one man has a greater proclamation from God over another who is opening the Word of God. The problem is not with the speaker. The problem is with the hearer. So, selfish ambition or Savior glorification? Which is it, Pastor? Which is it, preacher? Do I seek to make myself known among men or do I seek to glorify Christ? Verses 17 through 18 of the text, the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. How are they going to afflict Paul and his imprisonment? Well, they're preachers. So they must afflict him in their preaching. Perhaps they talk about him. Maybe in their sermons they point out how he's a terrible role model. Well, he's in jail. You want to follow somebody that's in jail? You want to follow somebody that's in trouble all the time with the law? I've never been in trouble with the law. Yeah, that's why Rome's in a pitiful state. Because you wouldn't stand up for the gospel. So here this man comes in preaching Christ crucified and the place is lit on fire. It's emboldened with the power of the Gospel. Maybe they declared themselves as a better example because they're out free working around. How can he minister to you? He's in jail. I'm right here. I'm your neighbor. It shames me to say that I used to be of the mentality that I would try to sell my church on what we had to offer that wasn't even the gospel. Why don't you come and visit my church? We have a great children's program. We have a great youth program where we get all of this stuff and we go all these places. You'll love it there. And they might come. And they might love it. But they love the place. And they hate the Christ. And so now the pulpit's been compromised. Because now the day that the pastor stands and says, thus says the Lord. The cool youth group falls away. The prominent children's ministry flourishes and just dwindles because the parents now take their kids to the next big church down the road. Because there is no love for the Word of God. Perhaps they made fun of Paul's appearance or his speaking abilities. Now, I don't have the appearance problem. I'm a good looking man. I don't have that problem. Is this about pride? Probably about lying too somewhere. But listen to 2 Corinthians 10, 10. For they say his letters, that is Paul's letters, Paul's letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily appearance, his bodily presence is weak. And his speech is of no account. Now, Paul is challenging men who claim to be apostles in 2 Corinthians. But I think the similarities are likely the same and that these pastors in Rome, how were they afflicting them? How were they challenging him? Maybe they said some of the same things about him. He's weak, he's feeble. He's not capable. How can he minister to you when he's in a wheelchair? And I've seen some of the godliest preaching come from a wheelchair. Well, how can he minister to you when I mean, he's just a small. How can he take you into these dangerous places and protect you when he he's just such a small, feeble man? Or better yet. Well, I'm a much better speaker than he is. I've preached to thousands, and I've preached to hundreds of thousands, and I've got simulcasts and TV shows, and I do writings, and I've got books. Surely you would much rather listen to me than this old country preacher down here who has no clue about what's going on in the world." Maybe they afflicted him in that way. Despite whatever it was they were saying, despite what they were doing, their motives were clear. They sought to afflict Paul. for their own personal gain. They wanted to put Paul down so that they could get themselves back up into the spotlight. And as I prepared this message. I couldn't help but reflect upon a situation in my life. Where all I wanted to do. Was preach. That's all I want to do. My wife knows the times that I struggle. Why don't I get the opportunities like all these other guys get the opportunities? I mean, this guy gets invited here and this guy gets invited here. What am I doing wrong? You see, my problem was what am I doing? God in His timing would put me where He wants me. Which is here. And in that I'm satisfied. I didn't think I'd be here. First sermon I ever preached here, I got called two days later, told me to never come back. True story. I got invited to preach at Association Revival. I didn't get invited back. Six months later, true story, I had selfish motives with my message. And a dear sister in the Lord, I won't name her, but her initials are Marilyn Gentry. But she called me and she said, I'm praying for you. And I trust you'll do the right thing. And I sat down that night and I rewrote my message from scratch. Because I had selfish motives. I preached that message. And six months later, Brother Bruce Graff called me out of the blue. Are you the pastor of Camp Something Church in Bibb County, Alabama? And I knew right then, I'm either fixing to be in a lot of trouble. Something's happened. And I said, well, I might be. He said, well, I want to talk to you about your doctrine. I said, oh boy. He said, did you preach a sermon at a revival at Four Points back in September? I said, yes, sir. He said, do you remember the title of that message? I said, I remember it was about pride. He said, that's good enough. I got the right guy. And he told me, do you know What kind of mess you stirred up down here? I said, I have no idea. I had no idea. But for six months. People had been talking about me. Behind my back. They wouldn't call me and say they had a problem with what I said or how I said it or how long I went. But it satisfied them to talk about me, degrade me behind my back. And as I prepared this message, I wasn't even in prison. How did Paul feel? When the very people who were in his own crowd, fellow pastors and elders, when they attacked him. Church, it hurts. It's not something I'm proud of to walk around and say people don't like me. But I've come to the conclusion that it's not about me. See, the fact of the matter is you can proclaim the truth of Christ just like these men in Rome are doing. And yet never even knowing. Matthew 7. One of the most terrifying passages in all of Scripture. Verse 21 through 23. If you've never heard it, hear it now. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. You can proclaim Christ all you want. You can say, I believe in Jesus and I love the Lord and this about God and this about God. But not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, that's who goes, that's who gets in. The question is not whether you say, Lord, Lord. The question is not whether you call Jesus Lord. The question is whether you do the will of the Father. On that day, that is the day of the final judgment, on that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did I not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, do mighty works in your name? Were not the preachers in Rome preaching Christ? But yet their motives were for selfish gain. You can do all kind of things in the name of Jesus. You can do all kind of good works in the name of Jesus. But if your motives are not right, it doesn't matter. You're not doing the will of the Father. You're doing the will of yourself. And Christ says, I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness. Can you imagine to proclaim Christ? Some, in fact, preach Christ. Some say, yes, I love God. Yes, I'm a Christian. Yes, Jesus. Yes, Jesus. Only to stand before Him on that day and Jesus says, no, just because you said my name, just because you preached me, doesn't mean that you are of me. And again, I must ask myself, preacher, What is your motive in preaching? And I must confess that my answer must echo that of John the Baptist in John 3 30. He must increase. I must decrease. I pray that my motives are pure. That I preach Christ from goodwill. alongside of those who are bringing a great number to the Lord, that I wouldn't look at another man's ministry and be jealous because of what God is doing through him, but that I would be satisfied in preaching Christ. May I learn from Paul's example, and when someone wants to talk about me, someone wants to badmouth me, or they ridicule my feebleness in preaching, then I might say what Paul said in closing this text. Look back at verse 18. The last words he says, I rejoice. Whatever they say, whether in pretense or in truth, I rejoice even if they slander me, that someone might hear Christ. Because they are indeed preaching Christ. Although the motive is false. See, God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. You heard that? He can take that wretch of a man who might not even be saved, but is preaching Christ, and He can use it for His glory. And it's my prayer, that as your preacher, that I might rejoice in that alone. Father, I thank You for Your grace and Your loving kindness.