Hello and welcome to Hackberry House and welcome to God's Word. Father, in the name of Jesus, we bring the writings of Paul before your people today and ask that you give us grace to understand what's being said to us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hackberry House is a website and you can get there by typing myheartcry.net into your keyboard of your computer. When you get there, find the library page and scroll down today to Lesson 47. Lesson 47, we're doing Philemon and Philippians and maybe a little of 1 Timothy today. Lord willing, next time we'll finish it up with the rest of 1 Timothy and Titus. There are other things on the website for those who are interested. I just encourage you to browse through it on your own, find the things there and download them. It's all free and you'll get no contacts from me at all unless you ask for it. You can send me an email at aservant at myheartcry.net if you want to talk to me about anything. Let's get into today's lesson. We're going into the book of Philemon, probably not pronounced that way in the Greek, perhaps Philemon in the Greek, not sure either way on that, but it doesn't matter. We know how we say it in America anyway. And just a one chapter book, 25 verses, and yet very interesting, very insightful into the ways of this apostle. A runaway slave named Onesimus has wronged his owner named Philemon. Now that's hardly politically correct stuff for today's sophisticated church. But the keeping of servants and the differences in classes, it's all the reality of our world and Paul's world in the Bible times. The early disciples applied the gospel to their present culture and it worked. There's a way to show the love of Christ no matter how extraordinary the circumstances. We don't try to overcome the culture and overthrow the culture. We live the life of Christ right in the middle of the darkness. Paul makes an appeal for that love of Christ in this very wise note. We met the man Onesimus in Colossae. We're not sure where Paul met him, but this letter was probably sent out in the same mail as Colossians, as you'll see some of the same kinds of things at the end of it especially. It's from a Roman prison in A.D. 60 or 61. Let's go through this. He starts out with his normal greeting, except he's put the word prisoner now. Again, there are four New Testament letters, four letters of Paul that are written from prison. We've had Ephesians and Colossians already. Lord willing, we'll do Philemon and Philippians today. Those are the four so-called prison epistles. So he's saying, Paul and Timothy, Timothy's there at the jail, not in the jail, not as a prisoner, in his hired house with him, as you see at the end of the book of Acts. And he's writing to Philemon. We're not sure where they met, but he is a brother in the Lord. It looks like he may have been a convert of the Lord, from what we will read in just a minute. A convert of Paul, that is. Also to Apphia, evidently the wife of Philemon. And to Archippus. There he is again. We found him first in Colossians 4.17. where Paul was giving a note of encouragement to this dear brother, and here he calls him our fellow soldier. Not a soldier of Rome, but a soldier of the Lord. These two men working together. And I believe Paul is trying to build Archippus up by calling him this, I'm not sure. But he really seems to love this brother and want to encourage him in the Lord. He thanks God for him. He does this in all of his letters, doesn't he? He always finds something to praise the churches about, or the individual Christians about, before he has to tell them the rest of the story, or before he asks them a favor. It's called wisdom, right? But he thanks God for Philemon, heard about his love, and hears that he loves all the saints. And you can see he's building a case already. Since you love all the saints, You know, I've got something to ask you about, Onesimus. He says, In every good thing which is in you, in verse 6, he talks about every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. You've got so much good in you, now I'm asking for something here that's going to make it come out of you. Verse 7, We have great joy and consolation in your love, your love. So, I won't say buttering him up, but he's reminding Philemon of who he is in Christ, so that when he asks what he's about to ask, it won't seem unusual to him. Verse 8, he says, I could command you. I could order you to do what I'm about to ask you because I am an apostle. But I'd rather just ask you. And I'd rather ask you as though I were just an old man who loves the Lord, who's now sitting in jail for Jesus. I want you to just think of me that way. And would you do this favor for me? Your slave, Onesimus, has run away from you. You know that. But you didn't know he's come to me. I found him. And I don't know why he came to me first or whatever, but I've been able to talk to him about the Lord, and he's gotten saved. He's a brother now. And so, I know he was unprofitable to you because he ran off, but now he's profitable to you. And he's profitable to me too. I didn't even want to send him back, verse 12, 13. I wish I could keep him with me because he's doing so much for the gospel already, but I wouldn't do anything without your permission. Now it sounds like he is asking that Philemon will send Onesimus back to Paul so that he can be a servant to him. That's what it's asking. It seems like it's asking, but I'm not sure about that. We do know that he's sending him back and I want you to I want you to take him back. I want you to accept him. I want you to understand that the reason that this all happened could have been for something good. Maybe he left you just for a short time, verse 15, that you could receive him back forever. You see, we're talking about eternity now. He's not just an ex-slave, verse 16. He's now a brother. He's a brother, especially to me. I found him to be a brother in Christ. But now, much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. He's going to be like a brother to you when he comes back. Sure, he's going to be your servant. He'll come back and he'll serve you. But he's going to be a brother in the Lord. And like a brother in the flesh, because he'll be doing things around the house as though you were his father. So if you count me as a partner, verse 17, if you want to be friends with me, please do. this thing. Receive Him just like it were me standing there. If He has done anything bad, if He owes you money, if He costs you money, I want you to write me the bill. I'm going to pay for it. Now, I don't even want to mention that you owe me your whole life. This is where I think that maybe Philemon came to Christ because of Paul's ministry. Not to mention that you owe me your whole life, verse 19. However, let me have joy from you, Lord. Refresh my heart, will you? Now, I have confidence, verse 21, But you're going to do this. I just know you're going to do this. In fact, I think you're going to do more than I say, verse 21. However, verse 22, this is how wise this apostle is. However, not that I don't trust you or anything like that, but I want you to get a room ready for me because I'm probably going to be getting out of this situation soon here in jail and I'll be coming by you and I want to have a room ready there where I can stay. And not only that, Philemon, you're going to be praying that I get out of here and that I come to your house and stay. So that's verse 22. Very, very wise letter. Very carefully worded. And I think Philemon got the message and loved his runaway slave. The greetings that, or the farewells that come in 23 and 24 should sound very familiar as I talk about Epaphras Mark and Aristarchus and Demas and Luke, the same men who are mentioned in the book of Colossians and that's why we think it was just all sent in the same mail. Remember Onesimus was mentioned in Colossians, he's not mentioned here. Why is that? Because in Colossians we find out that he's sending Onesimus with Tychicus over to Colossae. So when, by the time he gets this letter As I say, maybe the letters and the men are going at the same time. The letters and the men are going at the same time, so perhaps Onesimus even has this letter in his hand to give to his owner, or maybe Tychicus took care of that for him, and then he just appeared shortly after that. But these men are already on the way, so he cannot say, Onesimus greets you, and I don't think that would be appropriate here anyway. That's the book of Philemon, just a wise little love letter from a loving man who has won a man a slave to Jesus Christ there while he's a prisoner. God does wonderful things, doesn't he? The questions from my question sheet then that I hope you've already downloaded go like this. How does Paul praise Philemon? He tells him of his love, his faith, the hearts of the saints have been refreshed, and so on. Number two, how could Paul deal with Brother Philemon? Well, he could have said, do this, I'm an apostle, but he didn't. Number three, how did Paul desire to use his son, Onesimus? Well, perhaps as a personal servant, to help in the Gospel, he would have liked to keep him himself. Number four, so why send him back? Well, he wanted Philemon's consent and blessing, and he wanted these two men to be reunited, reconciled in the Lord. Number five, how confident is Paul that Philemon will obey? Well, he is preparing to visit just to check it out to be sure. So there's the book of Philemon. Let's go on to Philippians now. Right there on the sheet you'll see the intro to Philippians. This also is a note. It's a little longer note. It's a thank you note, Philippians is. And it's an appeal to humility. and an appeal to the peace of Christ, and I've noticed in there too it's an appeal for unity. Written about AD 62 from Rome, probably the last of the prison epistles, as Paul is awaiting the verdict of the imperial court, the Roman Empire. Paul had first come here to Philippi after the Macedonian call, you remember, in the Book of Acts as we studied that. That was in A.D. 51, so he's known these brothers about 11 years. He visited later on his third journey. You'll see that in Acts 20. The Philippian church sent Epaphroditus, not to be confused with Epaphras of Colossae, but Epaphroditus. The Philippian church sent Epaphroditus to Paul with a gift when they knew that he had been imprisoned. See, they stayed with him. They stuck with him this whole time. Remember how the churches of Macedonia, Paul used to praise so much that they had given first? And so they're giving here too. The same brother was used to deliver this letter to the church. So Epaphroditus is the messenger here. You'll see him mentioned and you'll see him praised as this letter goes on. Let's get into the book of Philippians. Only four chapters in this book. Let's see how quickly we can go. Not that we're in a hurry, but we want to be sure to get this Bible survey finished so you can really get back into detail work in the Scripture. Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus to all the saints. Notice he addresses his letters often to the saints. He mentions the bishops and deacons. The bishops, by the way, are not what they are today. Bishops were just local elders of a local church. Notice he calls it plural. However, there could have been, when he talks about the saints in Philippi, we could be talking about several congregations, each one with an elder that leads it, or with elders that lead it. It's hard to pin it down exactly here. It's hard to pin down exactly what's being said. And we don't want to be dogmatic about things like this. But usually, in fact, I think every time that the word bishops or elders It's used in the plural. So I find it difficult sometimes to see one man ruling a church if there are several people there who are being called elders. Now every once in a while you only have one man who's qualified to be an elder. And so he has to kind of lead. But the idea of that elder is to get somebody else on his side real quick. We need more shepherds. We need more people guiding the flock. A one-man rule was never what God had in mind, except the one man, Christ Jesus. He's always thankful like he does in most of the beginnings of his epistles. He's thanking God for them, always praying for them, being confident that God is working in them. Verse 6, so confident that he who began the good work will complete it. That's good for us too, isn't it? God started a work in you. You need to be confident, along with Paul, that whatever God started, He's going to finish. Why do you think He called you to Himself if He's just going to throw you out? No, He's going to finish this thing. You stay with Him. Hold on to His hand. He talks about how He has them in His heart. Inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense You are partakers with me now. This is in the light of the offering He's just received. You're partakers with me. Everything that I'm doing, you're doing now, because you cared enough to give to me. And I want your love to get greater and greater and greater, not just for me, but for all things. I want you to have all knowledge and all discernment. I want you to approve excellent things the rest of your life. I want you to be filled with the fruit of righteousness. And all these fruits come by Jesus Christ. I want you to know, brothers, verse 12, that everything that's happened to me, though it seems so very negative and ugly, everything that's happened to me is turning out for good. The Gospel's going everywhere because of what's happened to me. That's verse 12. The whole palace guard. Now, the Philippians knew about Paul and jail. That's why they're blessing him so much now. He's been in jail in their town. That's how his ministry there began. So he's got a captive audience here. When he talks to them about jail, they're understanding this a lot, because their city started this whole thing with him, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard. People around him in the jail there are getting saved. And they're all understanding, this man's in jail for Jesus Christ. They understand that, verse 13. And the brothers are starting to become confident when they see me in jail. Now some of them are doing this because they're envious. They're glad I'm in jail. And they're beginning to take some of my people away from me. and my reputation away, and they're building themselves up and doing it in the name of Christ. That's sad, but Christ is being preached to those men anyway, and so I'll rejoice in that. There are others who see me in jail and are preaching a different message. This is what happens to brothers and sisters who go all the way for Jesus Christ. They end up in jail, so they're preaching another message. Some are doing it because of goodwill, some from envious strife, some selfish ambition, hoping to hurt me in some way. But Christ is preached, verse 18, and that's what matters to me because for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now, all of this is going to turn out toward my salvation. They're not going to take my salvation away from me. This is all, in fact, a part of the plan that God had from the foundation of the world. And I don't have to worry that my salvation's in danger because of all these things. Oh, no. No, I'm not ashamed of anything that's happening. Even though I'm sitting here in jail, I'm not ashamed of that. I glory in that. And with all boldness, I magnify Christ. Even if the verdict comes down that I'm going to die, well, so what? He didn't know at that point. So what? If I die, that's gain. I'd like to stay on in the flesh. If I have to decide, I'd rather stay with you, verse 24, because you really need it. You need me to stay. You need somebody to help you. Now, it's good when you get to a place in your life when you realize there are people who really do need you to stay. and that you really are really producing good works and the Word of God in your life, and that people will be blessed if you hang around just a little longer. It's good to know that, isn't it? Verse 27, let your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. I'm willing to do all these things for you, but I want you to start walking a little closer to the Lord. Now, be strong in Him. And be in one spirit. Notice in verse 27 and following, there's a lot of stuff about unity. One spirit, one mind, striving together. Get on the same page. Get on the same page with those that know Jesus. Get on the same page with those who love Him, who are born again. Don't be fighting all the time with those people. Stay with them. And don't be terrified by your adversaries either, verse 28. Don't do that. All these nasty things happening. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. And when you're not afraid, that witness is to them. Verse 29, it's been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Jesus, but to suffer for Him. Rejoice in that. Rejoice in that. So if you have any comfort in Christ, chapter 2, fulfill my joy by being like me, like-minded. Be united with me and with each other. Same love, one accord, one mind. Stop the selfish ambition. That's just going to cause divisions. lowliness of mind. Come on, guys, come down. Come down. You need to be humble. You need to walk like Jesus walked. In fact, you need to have in you the mind that was in Jesus. What kind of a mind was that? Well, even though He was God, He didn't think it was something that He had to grab for all the time. Oh, I'm God. I'm God. I'll have all these privileges. No. He walked like we walk. Made Himself of no reputation. He acted like He was a servant. He came just like us. humbled himself, in fact, all the way to the point of death. Not only death, not a quick exit from the earth, but the death of the cross. Horrible, horrible, unimaginable suffering. You need to be like this. You need to have that mind in you that says, I'm not worthy in my own flesh. I've hurt an angry God. I've come against Him. Everything in me now is by the grace of God. And I am not worthy of anything. Just humble yourself and let the Spirit of God work through you and speak through you and do what He wants to do through you. Because when Jesus was done with all that He did, God raised Him up. And God will raise you up too. But remember that at the name of Jesus, every knee is going to bow. Everything. Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus is Lord. Anyway, you've obeyed me so far. When I was there, you obeyed me. I want you to obey me now, too, in my absence. And I want you to do what I'm doing. Understand that everything you're doing is working towards your salvation. Christ is in you. Now work that out. Find out what Christ is in there for and do that thing. Because God's working in you. God worked His salvation in you. You work it out. Work it out with fear and trembling. Go before God. Fearfully, trembling, God, what do you want me to do with this life that you've given me? You've shown me great mercy. You've shown me great power. You've shown me great love. How can I turn all that around and give it to somebody else? That's the question that you ask before God. And don't be murmuring about it, verse 14. Don't be arguing about it. Be blameless, harmless children. Stop hurting people. Put the Word of Life in front of you and hold it fast, verse 16, so that I'll know I haven't spent my ministry in vain. And I don't mind, verse 17, being poured out for you. I don't mind that, but I would mind being poured out if it's all vain, if you don't follow through. Okay, verse 19. I'm going to send Timothy over to you, because I want to report from what's going on. I don't have aphrodite, but Timothy. Timothy. I have nobody like Timothy. Timothy is one of a kind. What a wonderful man he is. Everybody else, 21, is seeking their own thing. They're all selfish. They're all going after what they want. But not Timothy. Oh, he's been like a son to me. And I want you to respect him and love him and honor him. And, of course, I'll send him as soon as I know how it's going to go with me, as soon as I get my verdict. Hey, eventually, I'll be coming over there myself. Now, he seemed to have faith, although I told you a minute ago he didn't know the verdict yet. He seems to have faith here. that he is going to be released. He says, I trust in the Lord. He says, Lord willing, I'm going to be there. I feel like I am. I'm not going to say this for sure, but I trust in the Lord that I will be seeing you shortly. I'm also sending you Epaphroditus, your messenger. What a brother he has been. What a soldier. He's been here. He's been here at the jail ministering to me. He's been taking care of my knees. He was so worried about you. He was distressed about you. Why? Because you heard that he was sick. And he was sick. Oh, was he sick. He almost died. Did you know that? The Philippians didn't know that their messenger had almost died because of his service to them. I'm so glad that God spared him. Now, here was a case where God could have healed him at the beginning and didn't. We know Paul would have prayed. Others prayed. that God didn't heal him. Didn't heal him, didn't heal him, didn't heal him, and almost dead. And then God healed him. We don't know how God's going to work in various situations, but we do know God's going to work. God will do what He wants to do, but we've got to yield it to Him. We've got to ask Him. He really wants us to ask for things. Go ahead and keep asking Him to do these things. So sometimes a miracle will happen. Other times it will be grace and providence of God that will just fill your heart. The peace of God will fill you and you'll know it doesn't matter that I didn't get exactly what I wanted, but I have His peace. Either way, either way, God wants to be magnified and when you ask Him, He gets magnified that way. He came close to death, not regarding His life to supply what was lacking in your service toward me. I don't know what that means. Somehow the Philippians hadn't given either enough money or enough people to Him enough prayer, and Epaphroditus was taking it upon himself, following Paul, who did the same kind of thing. Paul bore the burden of the whole church, and worked for a living, and we don't know what Epaphroditus was doing, but he was working himself silly, because somehow the Church of Philippi hadn't worked enough. He worked so hard that he got sick. You say, well, that doesn't bless anyone. Sure, if the work has to get done and that's the only way to do it, then go ahead and do it. Sure, it blesses somebody. Look how blessed Paul was here and how he praised this man. Sure, he criticized that church, but he didn't criticize the man for working more because Paul knew what it was to work more. We get all fleshly and thinking we have to protect our flesh so much, don't we? We shouldn't really work that hard because God's not impressed with that. Well, maybe God is impressed with people who give themselves totally to the work of God, no matter what it costs them. Let's go to chapter 3. Finally, brothers, he's already winding down his book. Rejoice in the Lord. You know, I don't want to I don't like maybe saying all these same things over and over again. I say these to all the churches, but you know, it's all right and it's safe for you. I got to say this and I want to warn you like I've warned other churches. Beware of dogs. He gets this from Isaiah 56, I believe, where the false leaders of Israel are called dogs and there are false teachers coming into the church especially those of the circumcision. And he says, we are the circumcision. We're the ones who worship God in the Spirit, not these false teaching dogs who are barking and biting and trying to hurt you and intimidate you with their teachings. You stay away from the dogs. Beware of them. Watch out for them. We don't trust the flesh at all, because if we start trusting the flesh in one area, we're going to have to trust the flesh totally, and we've already found out that the flesh won't save us. So, we're not that kind of circumcision. You know, I could trust in the flesh, Paul says. Hey, I was circumcised. I'm an Israelite. I'm a Benjaminite, same as King Saul. That's who I was named after. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I'm a Pharisee. I was so zealous that I tried to kill every Christian I could see. I was blameless according to the law. I kept the law as perfectly as I could. But I found out that all of that was nothing but rubbish to Jesus Christ. And I gave it all up, because He asked me to. And Jesus put me into the ministry because of that. And I've found in Him now my righteousness. Not mine, really. It's really His righteousness. It's not from the law, me trying to do it. And I'm just paraphrasing verses 8, 9, and 10. The thing that I want to know is Jesus and His power. and His resurrected life. That makes the difference in my life. And because of Him being raised from the dead, I'm going to attain to that resurrection too. I'm not going to earn it, but I'm arriving there eventually. That's what attain means. I'm going to arrive at that resurrection too. That's where my eyes are pointed. That's where my life is pointed. I want to go to the resurrection. I want to go where Jesus is. And I'm on my way there. And I haven't made it yet, verse 12. I'm not perfect yet, but I'm going on. And I'm not thinking about those things that are behind. I'm thinking about the things that are ahead of me. I'm pressing on for the prize. And if you're mature, verse 15, if you're a grown-up person, that's what you're after too. That's what Paul said, isn't it? Verse 15. As many as are mature, are perfect, have this mind. That's all you're after, is the Kingdom of God. Now, if you haven't got there yet, then just walk in the light that you already have. Sure, there's more light. But walk in what you have. Now, don't worry that you don't have all the light. Don't worry about that. What you do have, walk in it. To the degree that we've already attained, walk in it. Alright, walk and follow me. Verse 17 and 18. Follow me. Follow me inasmuch as I'm following Christ. You have us for a pattern. Oh, what a blessing to be able to say that. Now, there's a bunch of other people I don't want you to follow. They're the enemies of Christ. Stay away from them. They're the enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly. Their glory is their shame. Now, don't follow them. They've got their minds set on earthly things, but my mind is set on heavenly things. Why? Because my citizenship's up there, verse 20. I'm a citizen of heaven. I'm not a citizen of Rome, even though I use that to get out of trouble. until I'm still alive, because I said I was a citizen of Rome. But that's not where my true citizenship is. My citizenship is up there, where my whole body is going to be transformed. I'm going to be totally changed. I'm going to have a body just like his. And so, brothers, chapter 4, verse 1 actually concludes the argument. My brothers, because of all this, stand fast. Stand fast. Now, he's got a couple of personal things to say. There's a couple of women in the church They're talking again. These women just need to keep silent, right? We'll talk about that in 1st Timothy. These two women, I know men have this problem too, but these two women were arguing about something. He says these two women are fellow workers in the gospel. I don't know what that meant. I do know what it did not mean. I know what it did not mean. It didn't mean that they were pastors, teachers, deacons, officers in the church. It didn't mean any of that. Because Paul would not have any of that. Fellow laborers. There's a lot of works that women can do. Now, women who have children need to realize that's their work. And so those children are gone. But women that don't have children, there's plenty of things to be done in the church. All you have to do is go talk to the pastor. And if he's a godly man, he won't ask you to teach and he won't ask you to lead other men. But he'll give you something to do. Oh, there's so much work to do. And these were workers with Paul. And he mentions some other people and he says, their names are in the Book of Life. He wasn't anti-woman. Oh my goodness. He had women all over his ministry. But he was anti-leadership of women. That's clear. Right in the middle of all this he says, Rejoice in the Lord, verse 4. Twice he says, Rejoice. And let your gentleness be known to all men. Let the life of Jesus that's in you, let it be known to everybody. I think maybe the last part of that verse should go with verse 6. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing. Tie that together. But in everything by prayer, give thanks. You don't have to worry about anything. Just give thanks. Give thanks. Give thanks. And ask God about it. And then stop worrying. It's going to work out. It's going to be okay. And the peace of God that bypasses all your understanding, all your head knowledge, That peace of God will just settle into you. It'll be in your heart. It'll be in your mind. Because Christ is there. It's not that Jesus takes a little piece of himself called peace, P-E-A-C-E, and puts it in your mind. He himself is our peace. That's what it says at the end of verse 9. The God of peace will be with you. The God of peace gives you the peace of God. Those two things go together. You want something to think about that'll keep your mind and your heart in Jesus? Just think about something that's true. Well, that's the Word. Noble, just, lovely, pure. All these things that He says to think about are things that are in the Scriptures. Think about these things all the time, and you'll start seeing how you're turning into His image. Verse 10, I'm so glad that here at the end, in these last few days, you've been caring for me again. Now, you cared all the time. You didn't always have a chance to help me. but you've always cared. You cared from the beginning. And I want you to understand that when I talk about you guys giving money to me, I'm not talking about me needing money. God's going to supply all my needs and I can do anything. If I have to go down to the very bottom of the barrel, I go down there. I can be abased. Verse 13, I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. I can do anything through Christ. I don't need your money in that sense. God will give it some other way. But I want you to know that it's not the gift, and not the need, but it's the fruit. When I see you giving, that tells me these people are growing. They are loving. They are caring. If they don't give to me, they must not care about me. Well, you've done well that you shared in my distress. You Philippians know that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me but you. That's from 2 Corinthians 11. Remember that? 2 Corinthians 11, 8 and 9, Macedonia supplied what they needed. This is a church in Macedonia. You can read that for yourself. We've talked about this before, how these Macedonian churches in poverty were giving, giving, giving constantly. He's reminding them of that right here. Even in Thessalonica, you sent help to me. time and again when I was in need. I thank you so much for that. I thank you for that and I thank you for the gift you've given me now. And I've received from Epaphroditus what you sent this time. What a sweet smelling aroma is this sacrifice of yours. It's an acceptable sacrifice. God's pleased with what you did. I can see you just didn't put put a whole bunch of junk together and send it over. You have some of the stuff left over around your house. You gave me good things. I'm just rejoicing in God for what you did. I thank you so much. God be blessed forever." Then he gives his farewell. Verse 22, all the saints greet you, but especially those in Caesar's household. Isn't it something? People in Caesar's household are getting saved through Paul's ministry. Some of them have been saved anyway. So he's got a church around him. Everywhere he goes, the church is. Let's look at the questions on our question sheet to cover all the Philippians now. Number one. Who led the Philippian church? That was the bishops and deacons. What was Paul's thanksgiving, his confidence, his prayer regarding the Philippian church? Well, for fellowship that he who began would complete and that their love would abound, that they would approve things that are excellent. Number three, what good came from Paul's imprisonment? Well, he was witnessing to the palace guard, for one thing, and people were getting saved. Number four, what was Paul's dilemma? Well, he wants to go on to heaven, but he knows the people here need him, so he's opting to stay if he has a choice in it. Number five, what example did Jesus set for his followers? He wants them to be servants, and he wants them to be humble. Number six, explain where it says, work out your own salvation. It means God works it in, but you live it out. You've got to be sure it's their first though, don't you? Number seven, how was Timothy different than the others? Well, they wanted their own, but not Timothy. He wanted what was best for the Gospel. Number eight, why had Epaphroditus merely died? through the work of Christ, because something in the Philippians taking care of him was not what it ought to have been. Maybe they didn't give him what he needed for his trip. 9. How valuable is religious zeal? Unless it's for Christ, it's not valuable at all. Verses 1-9 of chapter 3. 10. What alone is valuable? The knowledge of Christ. Knowing Him. Knowing the power of His resurrection. Knowing His suffering. and so on. Number 11, had Paul reached sinless perfection? No. Had he reached perfection of any kind? No. Had he reached maturity? Yes, he had reached maturity. He was definitely grown up. Number 12, describe the enemies of the cross of Christ. Well, there are people who live for themselves, whose God is their own belly, whose glory is their own shame, who love earthly things. Now, if you're really in love with this world, you need to repent because you're on the side of the enemies of Jesus Christ. You may be saved, but you might as well be with the enemies. It's time to repent. Give away all that worldly stuff. Get rid of it. Repent of it. Come back. Cut it back. Cut it out. Let Jesus be Lord. Do believers ever argue? Oh, yes. Number 13 is definitely yes. 14, what's a good rule for asking God for things? Well, always ask, with thanksgiving, that God's will be done regardless of what that will is, you're thankful. Number 15, is our thought life even described by the Lord? Oh, yes it is. We're to think about things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. Well, if Paul did not need their gifts, why does he commend them and us for giving A gift means that the Word of God in you is producing fruit. So he rejoices in that. Well, we're moving on then to our third book for the day. Can you believe this? Our third book in this lesson is 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy. And you've got time to get over there while I'm reading to you. In the first of the epistles, that's labeled pastoral. Now, we're going to label it pastoral. It doesn't really say that in the Scripture. But this is a letter of the pastoral side of Paul. He was not a pastor. Not in the sense we think of it. But he's shepherding Timothy now. He's writing to a fellow worker. Now, that fellow worker, Timothy, was presently overseeing the work at Ephesus until it was established enough for him to get his next assignment. Now, I've got to say, Timothy's not a pastor either. I don't know where we get this idea. Nowhere in Scripture is Timothy called a pastor. We like to talk about that young Pastor Timothy. In fact, he was Paul's traveling companion most of the time. Left behind here and left behind there to establish the church and then to come back to Paul for his next assignment. He's not a pastor. Well, he's a far cry, as I said in my notes here, from what is usually considered pastoral experience in our culture, where a man moves into a church and stays there the rest of his life, builds up his little kingdom right there, and becomes the only pastor. I think that's sad. I think not as much gets done. You see people leaving churches like that by the droves, and they go to other places, and those other places could have been established to begin with. That was the point. You don't need huge churches, do you? What if you said your church is only going to grow to be 50, and then you're going to split it up into 225s and start over again? What if you did that all over? How many more people would get to come to Christ? However, there wouldn't be a whole lot of big, big people in the church. There wouldn't be these heroes that we worship in the church. There'd just be little men with little churches, which is how it was supposed to be, I think. I see thousands of people coming to the Lord in some cities in the Bible. That's true. Did they all stay in one congregation? I don't think that's true. Well, in Philippians is the first clue that Paul expected release. We just read it in Philippians that Paul expected release. This has evidently happened by the time we start reading 1 Timothy. It's happened. He's out of jail and he's resuming his work. And he leaves Timothy in Ephesus while he continues to travel and establish. We believe that he wrote 1 Timothy for Macedonia in about AD 62 or 63, shortly after his release from jail. Well, let's go to 1 Timothy then. Let's start it anyway. We can't finish it all today, I don't think. But Lord willing, in the next lesson we'll finish it and finish the book of Titus also. 1 Timothy 1, his regular greeting, and it's addressed in verse 2 to Timothy, regular greeting there. And then he starts talking about the way he had left him in Ephesus, and what he wants him to tell the people that are in Ephesus. Here's what I want you to tell them. Stay away from other doctrine. Is doctrine important? Yes, doctrine's important. Don't let some false teacher tell you differently today. Doctrine is so important. Don't give heed to fables. And they're all around us in the church. Sometimes fables come in to explain one of our doctrines, and it's all explained away in just a breath. Endless genealogies. They start fighting over the genealogies and trying to prove something there. Verse 5. The purpose of the commandment, the law, is love. Remember this when you're teaching the law. If you ever teach the Old Covenant, he says, There's a reason for that. It's to teach them love. It's not to start fights about it. Teach them love from a good conscience. Some people have turned away from this, and they just go around talking idly. They just talk about whatever comes into their mind. They call themselves teachers. They want to be teachers of the law. They're teaching the Old Testament, but it's in such a way that nobody's really profiting from it because they don't know what they're talking about. And the end of what they're doing is not love, but just information, and some of it's not true. The law is good now, or say, you can teach the law, Timothy, but you've got to use it rightly. Remember this also, the law is for lawbreakers. Some of these godly and spiritual and holy people that you have in your church, they need to go on from Moses. They need to go on to better things. They're already keeping the Word of God. They need to know some other things about what God has provided for us. And he lists all the kinds of people that the law has swapped with through verse 11. Well, I want to thank God, Paul says, that He counted me faithful and put me into the ministry. He's given me a trust, according to verse 11, the gospel, which is in opposition to the law here. The gospel's been entrusted to me. And thank God, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was a violently arrogant man. But God's grace was so abundant in me. He saved me. I'm the chief of sinners. And I don't want anybody arguing about that. He's saying, I am the chief of sinners. It's worthy of all acceptance, what I'm about to say. I'm the worst. There's nobody that's ever been worse. I persecuted the church of God. I killed God's people. But I obtained mercy. You can imagine him crying during this recitation of his past life. And then quickly wanting to praise the Lord. That's why there's like a break in this chapter after 17. Because he's so excited about what God has done for him. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible to God, who alone is wise, be honoring, glory, if he just wants to praise God. And he goes on and on and on. He ends his book right here in one sentence. The definite break whenever you see the word Amen. But he gets back. Notice he started out with the charge in verse 3. Well, he's finally back to that in verse 18. He got off. He does this quite a bit because there's so much in his heart, so much on his mind that he knows about the Lord. But back on track here. The charge, the charge. I'm committing it to you because there were prophecies, Timothy, that led the way up to you. And you're God's man. No question about it. God knew about you. And with all these things that I'm giving you, I want you to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. You have faith. You have a good conscience. A lot of people have turned away from this, Timothy, but don't you do it. You know Hymenaeus. You know Alexander. I took them and I delivered them to Satan. What's that mean? Excommunicated? Yeah, that's still a Bible idea. That's good, even though Rome has done it wrong and thrown the wrong people out, you know. They should throw a whole bunch of people out today. How many people would be left in Rome if all the heretics were thrown out? How many people would be left in the Roman church if all the false teachings and those who believed in them were thrown out? Oh my! Wouldn't be a lot left, would there? What about your church, though? What about your congregation? If all the falseness was gone, if all the hypocrisy was exposed, where would you fare at that time? But he says, I took these two men and I delivered them to Satan and they won't be blaspheming any time soon. Now he's ready to start his main exhortation. He says, I'm delivering the charge to you. That's all he said in chapter 1. Here's the charge. Here's the commission. Now, the commission itself, chapter 2, verse 1. First of all, pray. Pray, pray, pray. This whole chapter, except for a side thing that he has to go on about women, is about prayer. I want you to pray. There's different kinds of prayers. Supplications. Oh God, help me, help me. Prayers. Just general prayers. An intercession for other people. And Thanksgiving. All of that. He says, I want you to do that for all people. Include everybody that you possibly can include in your prayer. I want you to pray for kings and people in authority. I want you to pray for governments so that you can continue preaching the Gospel. We in America, here in in July 4th, that's today, July 4th of 2002. I don't know yet. The day hasn't ended yet, so I don't know if we're going to have an attack even today. But I've asked God that we won't. I've asked God that He spare our nation, though we are evil, evil people in this nation. I've asked God that He spare us for Paul's reason here, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in godliness and reverence, so that the Gospel can keep going out. I'm praying that that will keep happening. Because God wants everybody to be saved. And he's got to have somebody being sent out to do that. And you need a people at peace to do that. The people under persecution and suffering, they're not going to be sending out their missionaries so much. We who are in prosperity are the ones who are being called upon to God bless the world that's hurting and suffering, knowing that this hurting and suffering can come to us at any time. And certainly America deserves this. God wants everybody to be saved. There's only one truth, there's only one God, one mediator between God and man, and that's Jesus. So, let's get the Word out. Pray. See how he starts with prayer, but then he goes off into other things here. He says, this message of Jesus needs to be testified about, needs to be preached about. And that's why I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I'm telling you the truth, Timothy. I am a teacher of the Gentiles. That's why I want everybody to pray, everybody, Jews and Gentiles, because this Jesus is so wonderful and He's the only way to salvation. And we've got to get Him out to everybody. So men, pray. Notice He puts the burden for prayer upon the men. I'm sorry if I'm just reading you what it says. Ladies, bear with me. We love you and there's so much, as I just said in another book, for you to do. But in this book, he's stressing that the men pray. Let's lift up godly men. When the men are lifted up to pray, the women will pray too. Men, lead your women. Lead your wives and lead the single women in the church into prayer by you praying. He doesn't have to tell the women to pray. Because they're going to pray when they see the men praying. Lift up holy hands though. Not unholy, not unclean hands. Get your hands out of the dirt, men. You can't be playing in the dirt all day long and then lift up holy hands to God. It won't work. You've got to repent of the sin that's in your life. Anti-like manner. You know, in the same kind of holy lifestyle, I want the women. I want the women to be holy. I want the women to dress properly, for one thing. I want them to be modest in the way they dress. They don't have to look ugly, but they don't have to look pretty either. You can look pretty for your husband. Why do you have to look pretty for somebody else's husband, women? Why do you have to have all these other things on you and the makeup? Why do you have to do that? I didn't say every piece of it's evil, but I ask you why? Who are you trying to impress? If your husband has told you, and I hope that godly husbands have told you, look, those things don't impress me. I'm looking for godliness inside of you. If your husband's already told you that, why do you still do these things? And your true adornment, your true adornment is godliness, verse 10. Good works, doing holy things. And that leads him into another subject. The same subject, but not quite the same. He's talking about how the woman must learn. I want you to be submitted to your husbands. I want you to be submitted, and not just at your house, of course, wherever your husbands are. you must learn from them in silence. Some people say, well, this is all about the home. No, it's all about husbands and wives, wherever they are. Of course, if they're in church, it's even more so because there's more husbands there. So it's true all the time. Women, you've got to learn from the men. You can't be teaching. You can teach children. You can teach other women, but you can't teach the men. They've got to teach you, your husbands in particular. I don't allow, verse 12, he's an apostle of Christ. He says, I don't allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. It's all one sentence. I don't allow her to teach or have authority over a man. He doesn't say she can't teach, period, but she can't teach a man. Other places we're told about her bringing up the children. I don't allow it to happen. Why? Because we live in the first century and this is an evil time and it's going to get better later. No, he says that about some things, about certain people not marrying right now. They shouldn't marry because of the present circumstance, but he doesn't say that here. He could have. He could have said, well, you know, I don't want this to be a stumbling block for the rest of church history, so I'm going to tell you there's a reason why I'm... No, the reason he gives is eternal. It's not cultural. It's theological. It's permanent. It can't change. It hasn't changed. Ladies, listen. The reason is, Adam was formed first. Huh? That's theological. God made a man first for a reason. He made a woman next for a reason. They are to be a unit, a partnership, but only one of them is ahead. And that pattern is to be carried out in the church too. And when the woman rises above her head, either at home or in the church, she destroys the pattern that God has in mind for the whole human race at this time. Oh, I know that as far as your relationship to Jesus Christ, there are many more women in Christ than men. And there are many more women who have greater relationships, I believe, with Christ than men do. That's not the point here. We're talking about visible leadership only. and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived. Two theological, historical, biblical reasons Paul gives for women to stay submitted to a man at home, at church. He says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 14, and they've created a fable about that 1 Corinthians 14 church? They're saying that the women and the men were shouting out things to each other in the middle of the service, and, oh, there's always chaos in these churches. Okay, okay, fine. Doesn't take away from the truth of this verse. Doesn't take away from it. If they're not even allowed to ask questions of one another, do you think that they're allowed to teach the men? Paul says, no. No. However, she will be saved in childbearing. My Bible says, in. The New King James says, in. I think the Old King James says, through or by. Now, we know that salvation comes through the grace of Christ, through the blood of Christ. There is no work that we can do to be saved, please. We would never say that the only way for a woman to be saved in Christ is to keep having children. There could be many people in the world who don't even know Christ who would be saved. That's not what we're saying here. It could be that we're talking about a safe delivery because the curse was put on woman in general about the horrible pain she's going to have to go through. But Paul says a woman who's in Christ will at least have a safe delivery when she has a baby. Now, is that true in every case? Well, we've got to be careful making a law about that, too, don't we? Saved in childbearing. It could mean, and it's not specific what it does mean here, but he says, this is your ministry. This is the thing that God has called women to do. For the most part, it's not always true. But for the most part, generally speaking, throughout the world, that's what women do. And thank God for it. Where would the human race be without this ministry? You bring the children into the family. And because your husband and you are both holy, then your children are holy at least as long as they can be. Now, there'll come a time when they make a decision maybe against Christ. Right now, they're under you. They're from your seed. They're holy. They're holy in Christ. Bring them on up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and they'll come to Christ. They'll follow Him. So, you women are saved through this wonderful ministry of bringing people into the world. and sharing Jesus Christ's love and life and word with them for how many years? Many years. You women have more influence in a church than the men do. Now that's the fact. But what Paul is saying here is let's keep the pattern as it ought to be. Let's keep a man in front and the women submitted. That's how it was in the garden, even before the curse, and that's how it's to be now. Live that life, and you'll see God blessing it. Let's go to some questions, and we'll stop for today. What was Timothy's main job to be? To keep the church pure, doctrinally. Number two, for what purpose should Christians preach from the law? Well, to mirror the ungodly, and to produce love. Number three, how is Paul still displaying his humility? He said, I'm the chief of sinners, called merely to be a pattern of salvation to others. Number four, describe the posture and content of public prayers. Well, hands up. That's what it says. Supplication, prayer, intercession, thanksgiving. That's the posture. That's the content. It's all there. What should be the appearance of the wives? Modesty. not in costly clothing and jewels, but good works." Number six, is the context of Paul's famous woman comments the husband-wife relationship or a universal statement about all men and all women? I want you to note here that the Greek word gune is translated both wife and woman in the New Testament. And every time you see either word, it could be wife or woman, except Romans 1.27. So the context controls the meaning. The context here is husband-wife relationship in the church, in the body of Christ. Number seven, is it wrong to want a church? Oh, we didn't get there yet. We'll get to chapter three next time. So there you have the beginnings, anyway, of three books, completion of two. And Lord willing, we'll finish two up next time. God bless you as we zoom through the Word of God. And I don't think God meant you to do that in the long run. My job is to get you started, some of you, get you started and get you hungry for more. And maybe you disagree with something I say. Then dig into the Word. Don't go to men for this. Don't go to concordances and commentaries. Go to the Word and show me and show yourself And be convinced in your mind what is right and what is not right. Stay in the Word. Be strong in the Words. Be strong in the Lord. In the power of His might today. Amen? Amen.