Take God's Word tonight, please. Open to the book of Philippians, the book of Philippians chapter number 1. And I want to speak tonight out of chapter 1 verses down from 1 to verse 11 and talk about the theme of joy, because the book of Philippians is a book of joy. In fact, joy is the major theme of the letter. Someone said when you open the book of Philippians, you can kind of feel the fresh breezes of heaven swirling about its pages because it's such an upbeat book. And this letter, really, this whole book is just 104 verses long. And out of that, the word rejoice is used nine times in the letter. The word joy is used five times, and to rejoice is used two times. Now, keep in mind that when Paul wrote this letter, he wrote this in 61 AD at the end of a two-year Roman imprisonment. And also keep in mind that before that, Paul was in prison in Caesarea for two years. So add that up, that's four years in prison. Imagine that, one of God's greatest preachers spending time in prison for four years total. But it was from the prison that Paul wrote this letter. And when you read Philippians, it kind of brings a smile to your face. And we have to ask ourselves the question, how can a man have such joy in these circumstances? And where does this joy come from? You know, people all over are looking for joy. And when we talk about joy, we're not talking about happiness because there's a difference, right? Happiness is outward. Joy is inward. Happiness is dependent upon your outward circumstances, your happenings. But joy is something that you can have no matter what your circumstances are. It is a deeper work that God does in the heart of a person. And so, again, the question is, where can joy be found? Well, let me tell you some places where it cannot be found. It's not in unbelief. Voltaire was an infidel and he said this, he wrote, I wish I had never been born. Doesn't sound like a very happy person. It's not in pleasure. Lord Byron lived a sinful life of pleasure and he wrote, the worm, the canker and grief are mine alone. Joy is not in money. Jay Gould, one of the billionaires in America, had a lot of money. And when he was dying, he said, I suppose that I'm the most miserable man on earth. But again, where is real joy found? Well, the answer is simple. It's in Christ. And this is something that we will learn as we study the book of Philippians. But in a nutshell, Paul could rejoice because he had learned to see things from God's perspective. He had learned to see what God was doing in his heart, in his life, and he learned to see things through that lens, through the work of God, what he was doing. He learned to view things from kind of an eternal perspective. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was an eminent Russian historian and he spent some time in prison and this is what he said, he said, the only way to survive in prison is to abandon all expectation in this world and to live for the next. And really that applies to what Paul is going to write about, because Paul's focus is an eternal focus. He thinks about the eternal, what God's going to do in the life of every believer. And so Paul was able to find joy because he saw things from heaven's perspective, and that's why he was thankful in all of his circumstances. Look in verse number four where he says this, Actually, verse 3, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, verse 4, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy. And then this is a key phrase, I thank, and we see this over and over again. We see the expression, I will rejoice, I rejoice, and I will rejoice. And so we see this over and over again in this letter. Now what I want you to see tonight are three perspectives for joy, or we could say three sources of joy. And here's the first thing, write down the word reflection. Reflection. Looking back at what God has done. Paul is remembering, as he writes this letter, he is remembering what God has done. And he is looking and remembering three things in particular. First of all, serving God's people. Look at verse number one. Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and the deacons. And so Paul here introduces himself, him and Timothy, as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know the story of Paul. He was saved on the road to Damascus. His life was changed by meeting the risen Christ. And the apostle Paul had the equivalent of two PhDs in Old Testament studies. He was a brilliant man. And yet, Paul, when he talks about himself, he never mentions his education. All he says is, I'm a servant. And actually, the word servant is doulos, and it's really the word slave. I'm a slave of Jesus. In fact, Paul and Timotheus, the slaves of Jesus Christ. Now, most people, when they hear the term slave, they don't like it because it has a bad history, a bad connotation, and we certainly understand that, and for good reason. But the apostle Paul loved this term. And he used it all the time to refer to himself. I'm nothing but a slave. I'm a slave. Now let me tell you something. Slavery is not a bad thing if you have a good master. And Paul had the best master. He had Jesus. And so he was not a slave to the church. He was not a slave to the ministry. He was a slave to Jesus Christ. And he gloried in that. And he boasted in that. James Boyce points out in his commentary that in antiquity there were three ways a person could become a slave. One was by conquest, another was by birth, or because of a debt. And then he goes on to observe that we all are slaves of sin by the same three causes. Now think about that. Sin has conquered us. so that we're not free to do the thing that is right. We are sinners by birth. We're born with this sin nature. And also, we are sinners by debt. We have a debt that we are unable to pay, a debt towards God because of our sin. Only Jesus Christ can rescue us from all of those things. And so, and by the way, friend, you're either a slave to sin or you're a slave to Christ. Everybody's a slave to something. You just have to make your choice. What do you want to be a slave to? I don't know about you, but I want to be a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, a slave, he serves, some slaves serve out of fear and intimidation, but not Paul. He serves out of gratitude, and out of desire for intimacy and fellowship with his master. And so we see there was a kind of joy, I think, in Paul to serve his master, the Lord Jesus. But notice who he's serving again in verse number 1, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi. To all the saints. The word saints, we see this, Paul, using this in the Bible a lot. It's the word hagios, means to be set apart, to be holy. and you've heard me talk about this before, the Catholics think that they have cornered the market on making people saints. I read an article called On Making Saints, and it talks about the process that's used by the Catholic Church to make people saints, and the author wrote about Pope John Paul II, who was a pope years ago, but he says this, he's been sainting more men and women than all his predecessors in the 20th century taken together. And then he goes on to explain the lengthy process behind naming someone officially as a saint in the church. He said, you have to know who to contact, you have to know what steps to take, and then you have to have a lot of money. So think about that. You want to be a saint? Anybody here with the church? You're already a saint, right? And you don't have to have a lot of money. Thank God for that, right? The Apostle Paul is saying here, you know, these believers were saints. The Catholic Church doesn't make you a saint. Paul doesn't make you a saint. You are made a saint the moment that you put your faith in Jesus Christ. You are set apart by God. You belong to him. And you become one of God's holy ones. Saints are special people because they're the people of God. And let me just tell you that it is a privilege to serve the saints, because you are the people of God. And so Paul, he talks about serving God's people, but then also seeing God's providence. Look at verse 3, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. So, think about this. Just picture Paul sitting in a prison and he's remembering what God did at this church at Philippi. You know, it's good to remember the works of God. It's good for us to do that at times. You know, it just blesses us and encourages us when we remember back. What God has done, and we experience joy when we think about the works of the Lord. It just brings joy to our heart. Some of you know that Crystal Turner, who was Crystal Mabe, we had a service for her brother. Tony, who was taken to heaven unexpectedly. And Crystal came up with her family. And it just got me to remember her beginning here at Grace. And I shared it yesterday at the service where, you know, one day when I was 16 years old, I was out visiting down here in Baltimore City on the corner of Mount and Pratt Street and saw a beautiful little blonde-haired girl with no front teeth. And I said, you know, what's your name? And she said, my name is Crystal. And I said, would you like to ride the bus to come to Sunday school? And she said, yes. I said, well, is your mother home? Can you take me to your house? And she took me right down the street, and her mother allowed her to come. And she began coming to church on that bus. And you know what? You all know Crystal because you loved her, you taught her, you nurtured her in the Lord. She graduated from this school here, when we had a school, Grace Christian School, and then she went to Pensacola, and she graduated there, and she now is one of the key featured teachers for that ABECA program, and she's on their live stream, and she teaches from the live stream to children all over the world, and she has influenced the lives of thousands of children. Now think about that, a little girl from Baltimore. And you know what? When I think about that, you know what it does? It just gives me joy. because I'm just seeing what God has done. This was the works of God. And this is what Paul's doing. Paul is sitting in that prison and he is remembering back about the work of God and the lives of people at that church at Philippi. And boy, he's just having a wonderful time and rejoicing and reflecting on the work of God. The old evangelist Gypsy Smith said, remembrance is a paradise from which we need not be driven. And Paul is in that prison, but to him it's paradise because he's remembering back. And again, in verse 3, he says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. His heart is just overflowing with joy as he looks back and he remembers the work of God. And look at verse 4, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy. So as he thinks about what God has done, he begins to pray for these believers. And as he prays, he's just praying with joy, praying with joy for what the Lord has done in their life. I want to tell you something, friend. Take time to remember the providential works of God. because that is a source of great joy. And the Bible tells us to do this. Write down Psalm 77, verse 11. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also all thy work and talk of all thy And so Paul is making requests with joy as he prays for these people. And so Paul then, he is serving God's people, he is also seeing God's providence, but also he's sharing God's partnership. Look at verse number five. For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. And I think Paul developed a particular fondness for this church at Philippi. It had been 10 years since he had been with them, and he was there and preached among them for a time, but it had been a while. And the Philippian believers, they loved Paul, and they just continued to support his ministry. They just continued to give him monetary gifts and to help him however they could. And in doing this, you know what? They had become partners with him in the gospel. And anytime you support God's work, you are a partner with that person. And the Bible calls it the fellowship of the gospel, koinonia, to have in common. You're joining with them in this burden and this desire to minister to people. And Paul uses this word koinonia often in this letter. He talks about the fellowship of the Spirit, chapter 2, verse number 1, meaning we all share the same Holy Spirit. That's why there's a oneness in the body of Christ, because the same Holy Spirit that lives in me lives in you. He talks about the fellowship of suffering, chapter 3, verse number 10. This is where Paul talks about knowing Jesus and suffering. Paul says that I might know him, that's his person. And the power of his resurrection, that's his power. And the fellowship of his suffering, that's his partnership in suffering. And there's a different level of intimacy. You can know the person of Christ and the power of Christ, but there's a sense in which you can know the persecution of Christ. And there's a closeness, there's an intimacy there in the fellowship of suffering. You ever notice that when people suffer together, they become bonded in a way that no other way you can become as close than when you go through suffering. And the Philippian believers had become one with Paul in the fellowship of the gospel. They supported him, they prayed for him, they were partners with him, and they had stayed faithful to Paul's ministry all through those years. And Paul didn't have to ask anything. this church. They always just took the initiative, and they just gave, and they supported him. And so Paul is just thanking the Lord for them. He was thanking the Lord for a church that just takes the initiative, and he didn't have to ask anything from them. They're just doing it. I heard of a pastor of a small town who went down to the train station every day and watched the trains go back and forth and just roaring through. And one day his deacons asked him, why do you do the same ritual every day? Why do you watch those trains? And he said, well, he said, it's the only thing moving in this town that I don't have to push. Paul didn't have to push the Philippians, they were self-starters. And if you're a believer in Christ, you shouldn't have to be pushed either. You should do what you do because of your love for Christ. And so, we see there's joy in reflection. Paul looks back at what God has done. But then write down number two, perfection. Look forward at what God will do. Look at verse number six, being confident of this very thing. Now Paul was supremely confident that what God began in the believers at Philippi so many years ago, he was going to finish. Now, the question here is that what good work is Paul referring to here? I have read commentators and New Testament scholars that debate about what work that Paul is referring to here. So, what is the good work that God began in the heart of the Philippian believers that he's going to continue? What's Paul referring to here? Now, some scholars argue that Paul is referring to their financial support because, again, this church was so faithful to give to Paul's ministry. And so Paul means then their monetary gifts and partnership. That's what a lot of commentators argue. But I don't think Paul's referring to money, all right? If he was referring to money, that would kind of be very awkward. In fact, later on in this letter, Paul will talk about, I've learned to be content in whatever state I'm in. Actually, the book of Philippians is a thank you letter for their gift, and Paul says, look, I'm not writing this because I desire more from you, or I want more from you, because I've learned to be content in whatever state I'm in. I'm rejoicing because this is fruit for your account. This shows your heart, and that's what Paul rejoiced in. And so I don't think he's talking about money, because if he's talking about money, Paul says that this could work, God will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Did Paul expect for them to support him until the second coming of Christ? You know, until the day of Jesus Christ? I don't think that that's what's in view here. That would put a pretty big financial obligation on them. And this is not Paul's character. He's not concerned about money. So how do we know what he's talking about? We have to determine that by the context. So look now in verse number 7, where he says this, So that's what Paul's referring to. Paul is referring to the work of grace in their lives, just as God had worked in his life, just as God had given Paul grace. God had given these Philippian believers, he's talking about salvation, saving grace. And Paul was confident that the work of salvation that God began in them, God was going to continue and he was going to complete that work. God always finishes what he starts. And so God had converted them. It was God that saved them. It was God that birthed this church into existence. In fact, hold your place here. Just go back to Acts chapter 16. Just look at this with me quickly, the book of Acts chapter 16, where we see God's work in bringing this church into being. This is Acts chapter 16. Now, Paul is on a second missionary journey. He wants to go back and visit the churches that he helped to start on his first journey. He wants to encourage them to check their progress. And along the way, he picks up Timothy. But as Paul and Silas and Timothy start on the rest of the journey, the Holy Spirit kind of leads them on where he wants them to go next. Look in verse number 6 of chapter 16. Now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia, and of the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia." So here, perhaps Paul wants to go to Asia, maybe he wants to go to the chief city there, which is Ephesus, but the Holy Spirit said, no, that's not where I want you to go. He didn't want him to go to that Western province just at that time, so the Holy Spirit said no. And so, So we see this in, and then look in verse seven. After they were come into Mysia, they assayed to go into Bethania, but the Holy Spirit suffered them not. So again, they were prevented by the Holy Spirit to go there as well. Now, how these hindrances are accomplished, the Bible doesn't tell us. It might have been providential circumstances. It could have been a prophetic word from the Lord. We're not sure how the Holy Spirit made it clear, but it was made clear that Paul wasn't to go to Ephesus. He wasn't to go to these other places. That was not what the Holy Spirit wanted. So, Paul had to learn. And by the way, this is a lesson for all of us to learn. We need to learn the restraint of the Spirit. There are some times where God will say, no, he'll shut a door. He'll say, this is not what I want. It might be the right place, but the wrong timing. And we have to get in harmony with what God is doing. We need to learn this as believers. When God closes a door, it's foolish for a believer to try to push on through that door because you surely will fail. You will not have success there. We need to just submit to the restraint of the spirit. This reminds me of when I first learned to drive a car when I was 17 years old. I did all the classes and then I had a driving instructor, it was a woman driving instructor, and we didn't get along very well in that car, I'll just tell you that. She had one of those special cars that had a brake on her side, the passenger side. I was constantly hitting the accelerator, she was constantly hitting the brake. And at one point she just stood on that break and she refused to go anymore until I would look at her and listen to what she had to say. And I was, you know, I wanted to go. She wanted to say no, you know. And so we're kind of like that as believers. We're interested in the accelerator and God's showing us the break. And we need to get in harmony with what the Lord is doing. So there was the restraint of the Spirit, then there's the release of the Spirit. Look down in verse number 9 of chapter 16, And verse 10, and after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them. And so there is the Holy Spirit leading Paul to go to Macedonia. And so when he goes, he eventually gets to this city of, the chief city of Macedonia at that time, Philippi, the historic Greek city named after Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, and just a very important Roman colony there, and home to many pagan influences, the population of the city about that time was about 10,000. But the Spirit of God led them to go there. And when you obey the restraint of the Spirit, and then you get the release of the Spirit, you know what you're going to have? You're going to have the results of the Spirit. Look down at verse number 12, where it says, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. And we were in that city abiding certain days, and on the Sabbath, We went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Now, normally when Paul would go into a city, he would look for a synagogue. But here at Philippi, there was no synagogue because there wasn't enough Jewish men to form a synagogue. You had to have at least 10 men to do that. And so when there was no synagogue, people would go by the river to pray and have their worship service there. And so Paul went to that river with the people that were there, and already God had put people there whose hearts he had touched. And look down in verse number 14, and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, watch this, whose heart the Lord, what? Opened. that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. You see, friend, we have to do the work of sharing the gospel, but God is the one who opens the hearts. And God had opened her heart. She heard the gospel. She was saved. Verse 15, she was baptized and her household. And she besought us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful unto the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. And there is the beginning of the Philippian church. I think it started in the home of this wealthy woman, which at that time, a lot of churches started in households. Some of those households were very big, started there in that household. And this was the forming of that church. The key is God began that work in them. And again, Paul's remembering back, and he's saying, you know, he which begun a good work in you will perform it. God was conforming them. Look again in verse 6 where he says, being confident. We could say it like this, being fully persuaded. The word means to believe something with total certainty. He which begun a good work in you will perform it. Paul's saying, I know when God started this work in you, he will complete it. Now, I'm sure that those who are Arminian in their theology believe you can lose your salvation would probably say something like this to Paul. Hold on now, Paul. Hold on. These folks, they could lose their salvation. I mean, you can't be that confident. I mean, after all, if we don't do our part, we can lose our salvation. That's not what Paul thought, evidently, because he says, God who begins the work is the God who completes the work. Friend, if holding on to my salvation depended upon me, I'm in big trouble. But it's not me holding on to God, it is God who is holding on to me. God who began that work of grace will continue that work of grace. The God who converts us will conform us and then he will complete us. Look down at verse number six. Again, where it says, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Will perform is an interesting word, epitaleo. This is translated in other places, perfect. God will perfect that word. Travel back in your mind to the cross of Calvary, where Jesus was crucified. And you remember that one of the things that Jesus said was, before he died, it is finished, to telestai. And that, it comes from the root of the Greek term here, telos. It's the same word here for will perform. Or we, again, could translate it perfect. And here a preposition is added to the beginning of it, epitaleo. It intensifies the verb. You see, just as Jesus finished the work of propitiation on the cross, Christ will finish the work of salvation in you. He will perform it. When will He finish it? Well, in the day of Jesus Christ, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. That is, if we're alive when Jesus comes back, that's when we're going to be made completely like Christ. If we die, guess what? We become just like the Lord Jesus Christ. But friend, God will complete His work of salvation in us. And so Paul, he didn't have to really be too concerned about these believers in that respect. He knew that what God began, God was going to complete. And so we see here reflection, look back at what God has done, perfection, look forward at what God will do. God will perfect every one of us. We all will be made like the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll be so grateful when I'm no longer a sinner. Where I'm battling with sin every day in my life. Where that holiness is just part of who I am in my whole being. We can look forward to that. But then also write down number three, the word affection. Look within at what God is doing. What God has done, what God is going to do, what God is doing. Look down at verse number 7. Now again, Paul loved this church and he prayed for them. He had a deep bond with them. We see this in two ways. In verse number eight, he says this, for God is my record. Verse eight, for God is my record, how greatly I long after you all. So when he says for God is my record, this is kind of an oath. Paul is calling God to the witness stand. The Philippians could not see Paul's heart, but God could. And Paul says, God is my witness. God sees my heart. He knows my heart. And he knows the depth of the love that I have for you. How greatly I long after you. And then he says in verse number eight, in the bowels of Jesus Christ. Today we would say it like this, I love you with all of my heart, from the core of my being. The word, the Greek word there, splatina, talks about your mid, inner, midsection, because that's where they would feel deep emotion. It seemed to come out of that section there. And so, Paul would say, you know, from the innermost being, I long for you in the bowels of Jesus Christ, or we can say the affections of Jesus Christ. And here what he's saying is that the love that he has for these believers doesn't really, it's not just of him, it comes from Jesus himself. Jesus gives Paul this great love and yearning and longing for these believers. And of course, this is what the Lord does in all of our heart when He saves us. He gives us a love for the church, a love for believers. This again shows our unity with Christ, our oneness with Christ, that Christ is able to love the church through us because we're so united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul, you know what he missed about this church? He missed their fellowship. He missed just being together with them, being in their company, in their presence. I think that sometimes we take that for granted. I'll be honest with you. And you've heard me harp on this before, but I think that since COVID, there's been a danger to the church, and that is where everyone is getting used to live stream everything. And it's happening now all over the place. It's happening in seminaries where students don't want to come and study in the classroom. They just want to sit home behind a screen. And some of our faculty at Faith sat in a seminar from one of these national accrediting agencies where they were all talking about how all seminaries now are turning to AI. And they're having an avatar doing all the teaching. And you know what's being lost in that? That fellowship, that personal attention that you get. We could just get an avatar of me here every Sunday night and I could stay home and just let the avatar do all the speaking and do all that. I don't think I would like that. Maybe you would. But I'm just simply saying a lot of this is getting in the way. And there's a purpose for live stream. I understand that there are some people that can't come to church, and I understand that it's their only outlet, their ability to hear the word of God. I get that. But I think with a lot of Christians, however, it gives them an excuse to be lazy and not be in the fellowship of God's people. Because do you know that the fellowship, being together with God's people, that's all part of your sanctification process? And you encourage other believers. You say, how do I do that? Just by being here, you encourage other believers. And talk to other believers. There's a warmth, there's a grace that's imparted, there's a strengthening, there's a dynamic that takes place when you're here in person that you can't replicate on a screen. You know, I tell you what, next time we have a church dinner, all those of you that watch my live stream, we'll live stream it from the fellowship hall. See how much you get fed from that. Or the next time you're cold, I tell you what, just pull up on YouTube the picture of a fireplace and see if it warms you. It just doesn't work. But I'm telling you that God, in the scripture over and over again, God says, when you come together, when you come together. You know how many one another verses there are in the Bible? There's over 50 of them. Love one another, encourage one another, forgive one another, exhort one another. All of that, and you can't do that behind a live screen. A live stream screen, whatever I'm trying to say. You gotta be here. You got to be with people and encourage one another. And here, Paul, who's in a Roman prison, would love to be able to be with these believers. I mean, he was genuinely hindered. And he missed the fellowship with these believers, but he says this, he says, I'm thinking about you. Notice what he says, I have you in my mind. And verse seven, even is it mean for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart. First of all, he's thinking about them, the word phroneo. Paul says, I'm thinking about you, I have you in my mind. They were never far from his thoughts. Someone said, love in action is thinking. And then he says, I have you in my heart. And verse number seven, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace. Paul is expressing the bond that he felt with his church. Paul said, I carry you around in my heart. The bonds he's referring to here is just being in prison. Paul is saying, I'm sitting here in this prison, but I want you to know something. I have you here with me. You're with me. You're in my heart. And you're with me in my defense and confirmation of the gospel. These are official legal terms for a formal defense. Paul had to appear in a court case before the Roman officials and before Nero himself. Why? He was going to give a defense of the message of the gospel. Rome was wondering whether the gospel message was a treasonous message, whether it was dangerous. And Paul had to give an account for the gospel. He was going to be asked questions about the gospel. And Paul was going to make a defense. And Paul knew that Nero could choose to put him to death. Or he could look at the message of Christianity and deem it to be something that is not a threat and let Paul live. Paul didn't know whether he was going to live or whether he was going to die. But Paul said, I do know this, while I'm here in this prison, you all are with me. And when I go to defend the gospel and make a defense before Caesar, I'm going to have you all with me. because we're partners. You all are partakers of my grace." There was that oneness there. And then he says, I have you in my prayers. Look down in verse 8, for God is my record. How greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, verse 9, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent, that you might be sincere without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God." So Paul prays for this church. Paul said, I want you to know I'm constantly praying for you. And he lists out exactly how he prayed, for them to abound in love. Now, the Church of Philippi was already a loving church. And they were giving so much to him already. But Paul says, I'm praying for your love to increase more. And by the way, that's a mark of true salvation. The Holy Spirit sheds the love of God in our hearts. That's a mark of being a genuine believer. But then he also prays for their discernment. He says that your love may abound in all knowledge and in judgment. And I think he's referring to the knowledge of God's Word and discernment, we could say, the ability to apply the knowledge, to approve, verse 10, the things that are excellent. I think the idea here is that he wants them to grow in their spiritual discernment. There's a lot of Christians that abound in love. They're loving. But one area is where a lot of believers are weak is in their ability to discern spiritual things, truth from error. And if you're a believer that's very loving and giving, it'd be easy for someone to come along and take advantage of you. You could be giving to the wrong cause. Or you could be supporting the wrong ministry or teaching if you don't have the ability to use discernment. And this is especially dangerous in Paul's day with all the heresies going around, all the traveling preachers that were not of God, that were using the hospitality of Christians. that were not preaching Christ the way they should, didn't believe that Jesus was the Son of God. And this is why John wrote 2 John, because he was warning a woman in that letter of taking on traveling preachers that were not preaching a pure gospel. And he basically said, when they come to your door, don't even bid them Godspeed. Don't help them out. Don't be partakers of what they do because you could lose your reward if you do. So here, Paul is praying for these Philippian believers that they would grow in their discernment. As they grow in their love, they would grow also in their discernment. And also he prays for them that they would, for them to be without offense. Look down again in verse number 10, that you might approve things that are excellent, that you might be sincere without offense till the day of Christ. And here, he just, it means living a life with integrity. To be sincere means to be unmixed without hypocrisy. Blameless is the idea that you might grow in your integrity, no hypocrisy, live a blameless life before the Lord. And then in verse 11, he prays for them to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. Again, this is an evidence of someone who's genuinely saved. What will happen is, even though we have been positionally given the righteousness of Christ, that's our position before God, if you're truly a believer, there's a sense in which righteousness is going to begin to grow in your life. There's going to be the fruit of righteousness in you. And again, this doesn't mean you're going to live a perfect life from here on out. No, you're going to struggle. You're gonna struggle, but what'll happen is, as you grow in the Lord, you're gonna begin to practice righteousness more and more. What there'll be is a decreasing pattern of sin in your life, and an increasing pattern of righteousness as you grow in the Lord. And I'm talking about years and years and years of walking with the Lord. The only problem is that you won't feel good about yourself as you grow in the Lord. You know why? Because you're gonna desire holiness more, and you're gonna learn how sinful you really are. So while you might be growing in your sanctification, you're going to feel like the worst rotten sinner there is. But what there'll be in your life is there'll be this fruit of righteousness that is there, that is growing, and Paul's praying for them, that they would manifest that fruit of righteousness. Why? Why is this so important? Well, because it glorifies God. It makes God look good to the world. When they see a person who is such a wretched sinner converted by the power of Christ, and then they see righteousness, flowing out of that life, a person living a godly life. You know, that glorifies God. That puts God's glory on display, and this is what Paul's desire is. being filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ." And again, here's the thing, any righteousness you see in me, it's by Jesus Christ. He's the one who does it. He's living it through me. But it's unto the glory and the praise of God. And so, Paul might be sitting in a prison. but he has such joy. And you know why? Because of reflection. He looks back at what God has done. Perfection, he's looking forward to what God's going to do. And affection, he looks at what God is doing. He has a genuine love for these believers and what God is doing in their life. Let's bow for prayer together tonight. And Father, we just thank you so much for your word, Lord, how it ministers to our heart, encourages us. We can say, like Paul said about these believers, he which begun a good work in you will perform it under the day of Christ. Lord, that is our joy. our cause of rejoicing to know, Lord, that the work that you began in us, you're never gonna give up on that. You're gonna continue to work in our life and complete this wonderful salvation that you began. We live in a challenging world, and Lord, if we're not careful, we can look in the wrong places. We can be looking in the wrong direction and lose our joy. Help us, Lord, to have the focus of the Apostle Paul, this heavenly focus of what, God, you are doing, what you have done, what you will do, what you are doing. Lord, give us this joy, this inward joy at seeing your providential hand, your mighty hand at work in every heart that knows you, that names the name of Christ. And we pray in his precious name.