Before most of us begin a journey, we check the road maps and the road conditions and we map out the trip. And usually we adopt some sort of a strategy for the trip based upon the terrain that we're going to cover. For example, whenever we drive up to the San Francisco Bay Area and we know we're going to go on Interstate 5 all through that San Joaquin Valley, normally I plan to get a lot of things done on that trip. For example, I might dictate many letters on the trip. I might write notes while I'm on the trip. I've even been known to read a book or two on the way to the San Francisco Bay Area while I'm driving up Interstate 5. My wife does not appreciate that when I do that. But normally, I get some things done along the way on that type of a journey. Now, if we were going to get in the car and go up to Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear or somewhere up in the San Gabriel Mountains, my approach to that trip would be considerably different. In fact, I would be quite a bit more focused and cautious as we went on a trip of that nature. And normally, as you start up into the mountain areas, you see some signs that say something like this. Slow for the curves. Or you might see a little snake with an arrow at the end of it that tells you to be careful and cautious as you come around those curves. And it is a fact that certain journeys in this life require more caution and more discernment than other journeys. In fact, the Christian life is a journey that also has many twists and turns along the way. And if we're not careful and if we're not discerning, we'll become a casualty to those terms and we'll find ourselves in desperate straits if we do not learn to exercise spiritual discernment in the way that we live and in the way that we serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is why the Apostle Paul was praying so much for this church at Philippi. You see, though the Apostle Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote this book, though this is one of the prison epistles and Paul was awaiting his sentencing while he wrote this letter to them, he wanted these Christians to know that he was really in a spirit of prayer for them. Because they had just begun their Christian journey and Paul, the seasoned Apostle, knew that they would be facing some of these curves. Some of these times where they needed to slow down and be careful if they were indeed going to reach the destination of glorifying God. And so the Apostle Paul writes to them and he shares with them the three prayer requests that he had prayed for them in their Christian life. Notice what he says in verse number nine. And this, I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more. Here we see the prayer of the Apostle Paul. First of all, he's praying for these people that they would have an abounding love. He says, In this I pray that your love will abound yet more and more. The word love here is implying, of course, that attribute which God intends to be very evident in the life of every Christian. But I want you to notice also the word here, abound. He says, I want that love to abound. Speaking here of a gushing love, or like a river that gushes out or flows out. Not a love that just trickles out. But He says, I want your love to abound yet more and more, like a river pouring down the mountainside. Christian living begins with love. The Christian life begins with love. The Bible says in 1 John 4, 19, we love Him because He first loved us. You know, most men and women in America today, they're not going around trying to find a relationship with God. They're not the beginners of the relationship. It's God who first loves us. and then we respond to that love. But once someone responds to the love of God and is saved, the Bible says in 1 John 3, verse 14, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. In other words, God's love in us becomes the characteristic that distinguishes Christian people. The Bible says we know that we've passed from death to life, or we know that we're saved, we know that we belong to the Lord, because we love the brethren. In other words, love is to be the distinguishing characteristic of God's people. It is the love of Jesus Christ that is to be the characteristic distinguishing God's people. In fact, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13.1, as Paul the Apostle tried to get things in perspective for the Corinthian church, he said, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. In other words, he says, if I can do all these spiritual things and all of these outward manifestations, but I do not have love, then it means absolutely nothing. We have churches today and Christians today who have everything but the love of the Lord evident, and we are missing the main thing. We have churches that are filled with dramatics and organization of every kind and the lights and the cameras and the action. But if there is no love, then the work of the Lord is not going to go forward in the power that it needs to go forward in. Paul says, I want you to know, I'm praying that you'll abound more and more in love. A Bible College president recently gave a devotion to the Dallas Cowboys football team. And by the looks of their first game, I think it really helped them. Emmett Smith tuned right in and ran four touchdowns next game. But they were having the devotional time and that Bible College president shared some truths with them and so forth. And afterwards, the players were leaving. But one player just sort of sat on the bench and the pastor went over and the Bible College president put his hand there on his shoulder. And the player looked up at him. He said these words. He said, Doc, I can't tell my friends from my enemies. It would be wonderful if I had a friend whose primary concern was not my number or my name, but just me. Not my number, not my name, but just me. And there are people throughout our area who are simply saying today, I wish there was someone who would love me, not for what they could get out of me, but just because of me. And by the way, we have an answer today. Jesus loves you just the way you are. Abounding in love. Now, some of you might say, well, Pastor, that's pretty basic. God loves us. His love is in us. We're supposed to love others. Now, first of all, it's basic. But secondly, we don't always practice that. But let's see something else He says about love. Notice what it says in verse number 9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more, here it is, in knowledge and in all judgment. Now we're going to see that true biblical love has restraints. As that rushing, mighty river of love comes barreling down the side of the mountain, He says, I want you to know there's two walls that need to be set up. I want you to know that Christian love has some restraints and it needs to abound more and more in knowledge and in judgment. You see, God says to His children, I don't want you to just love everything. I don't want you to set your affection on everything. I want you to love with knowledge and with wisdom. Now, notice here, controlled by knowledge. That means spiritual truth. In other words, I am to set my affection on those things which the Word of God allows me to set my affection on. I am to love the things that God loves. I am to hate the things that God hates. Someone says, well, I don't believe in a God that hates anything. You haven't read your Bible, then. The book of Proverbs gives us seven things that God hates. And you can study that out sometime. But the Bible says we're to love more and more, and yet with knowledge and judgment. Knowledge meaning scriptural truth, and then judgment meaning scriptural or spiritual discernment. To discern between good and evil. Paul says, now, I'm praying for you that as you're a new Christian and as you're growing and abounding in love, that you'll just keep abounding in love, but that you'll abound in that love with some restraint, with some perimeters set up. You see, Satan has his eye on a believer who's abounding in love and just having a spirit of love for everything and everybody. Now, by the way, that's the way we ought to be. But let me say to many times a new Christian or someone who's abounding in love without discernment, without restraint, Satan's going to bring something into your life as a way of temptation that might look good. It might look religious, but if you're not using knowledge and discernment, it may not be something that God wants you to love. It might be some false doctrine. And by the way, the devil's very tricky. He doesn't come right away and tell you, hi, we're from such and such church. We deny the deity of Christ. We deny that Jesus Christ is a part of the Godhead. Could we come in and study with you? That's not what they say. They say, hi, we'd like to come in and have a Bible study. They don't tell you it's a different Bible. They don't tell you they don't believe in heaven or hell or Jesus Christ or whatever the doctrinal differences might be. You see, the Bible says, let your love abound and abound, but let it abound with knowledge and let it abound with judgment or discernment. And we need to be careful today about putting our affection into some false teaching that is not according to the Word of God. We need to be carefully about putting our affection on some parachurch type of a ministry that has no government of a local church. No accountability in any sense or form, doctrinally. And we need to realize that not everything in the name of God or religion today is worthy of my love, worthy of my sacrifice. Love and abound in love, but have some discernment and some restraint. I want you to realize from God's Word that we need to have a love that's a discerning love, that's a love with restraint. Not everything in the name of an ecumenical gathering is deserving of my devotion and deserving of my full attention. If there's the admixture of false teaching or false teachers, then I need to be very careful not to give my whole heart to something that is not in accordance with the fundamental teachings of the Word of God. We need to abound more and more in love, but we need to abound in knowledge and in all judgment. And in the 1990s, in the church today, this is the attribute that is missing in so many churches and Christians lives today. Yes, we have love, but we're missing the attribute of discerning love. Know that we would be careful to have a discerning love. That's why Paul said in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 14, that it is only as you exercise your senses that you can discern good and evil. And that's why many times it's good to have some godly brothers and sisters in Christ who've been down the road and seen some things who can help and guide in the sense of discernment, because many a Christian Coming around those curves of decisions in life, failing to slow and failing to yield and failing to make the right decision is going to find tragedy just around the corner. Folks, we need to slow down at those times of decision in our lives to make sure that we're exercising godly discernment. We are preaching a love that abounds more and more. And we're not just preaching it, we're practicing it. But it needs to be practiced with knowledge and with discernment. Someone says, why do you run all those buses all over town? And why do you support those missionaries? And why do you have all these ministries? Because of a love for people that God has placed in our hearts. But we need to abound with knowledge and with discernment. We need to know that God is placing that in our hearts according to His will. So we are to abound in a discerning love. Paul says, I'm praying for you that you will live an abounding life, abounding in love, but a love that is a discerning love. Notice, secondly, his prayer for them was that they would live an approving life. that they would live an approving life. Now we've seen the abounding love. Now we're going to see the approving life in verse 10. That ye may approve things that are excellent. That ye may approve things that are excellent. Boy, I tell you what, back in the late 80s and even the mid-80s and early 90s, there were books everywhere on excellence, and in search of excellence. And all of the different books came out, and the teams adopted that motto that they were going to strive for excellence. And by the way, it's a good motto. We should, in all things, please the Lord Jesus Christ and strive for excellence. But here the Bible says that we are to live an approving life, or that we may approve things that are excellent. The word approve here means to test with the sense of approval or to assay material. Some of you have been up into the gold country or you've read or studied about the gold rush days and the gold miners and so forth. They would go up into the mines and they would chisel out that gold. Some just out here in the Mojave Desert. Boy, they'd bring that ore into the Wells Fargo office and there would be the assayer. And he would take that ore and that rock And He would determine the value of it. He would determine the weight of it. And He would let them know as to His approval or disapproval on what they had brought. And thus, He would give them a value for what they had brought into Him. Now, the Bible says that we are to have that same spiritual exercise. that we are to approve things that are excellent. And in this ever-changing culture in which we live, we must constantly examine the decisions that we make. And we must be careful in the exercise of our individual soul liberty. Yes, we have liberty to enjoy certain things in this life, but we need to make sure that we understand that as the culture changes, the Word of God does not change. The standard for approval does not change. Oh, I would say 20 or 30 years ago, you could watch prime time television and not really have to exercise this verse as much. You didn't have to approve things that were excellent. Most of the shows lifted up family values and they weren't cursing and swearing at you and involved in homosexuality and lesbianism and all types of anarchy right in your living room. That wasn't a problem. You and I had better approve things that are excellent. We had better say, is this something that's excellent? I need to exercise spiritual discernment as to what comes into my mind and in the mind of my family. And the Bible says approve things that are excellent according to the word of God. We need to make sure that what's coming in through that cable television is excellent. We need to approve it as excellent. You know, we need to say today as we live a spiritual life, we need to say, Lord, show me what is primary and show me what is secondary. Show me what's important to you, Lord. Show me what's eternal and what's temporal. I want to approve, Lord, of what You would have me to hold on to. And if it's a temporal thing that will not bring eternal reward, then Lord, help me to get involved in the eternal things today. Lord, teach me the difference between good, better, and best. You see, folks, I want to help you with something today. There are a lot of things in the Word of God that are definite right and definite wrong. But you're going to find some things that are not so much the right and the wrong as they are this. Good, better, and best. And we need to say, Lord, what is the best thing for my family? What is the best thing for my life in this sense? Help me to approve not the things that are okay, not that I can live as close to the world and get away with it, but Lord, help me to know what's best in your eyes, approving things that are excellent according to the Word of God. Now, some of you might say, well, Pastor, how can you know what is excellent? Isn't it different for everybody? Well, let me have you turn over one page in your Bible of Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Let me give you a scripture verse to help you approve things that are excellent. But there are a lot of areas of our lives we need to use discernment, our friendships and so forth. Philippians 4.8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. You know, sometimes a teenager says, well, tell me what's wrong with that music. No, no. Tell me what's right with that music. And sometimes moms and dads are almost as rebellious as the teenagers, you know? Well, so what's wrong with it, preacher? No, we don't need to say what's wrong with it. God says, if you want to approve things that are excellent, tell me what's right with it. What's good about this? How's it going to help you be a better Christian? How's it going to help you be a better husband or wife? approve things that are excellent. Paul says, I'm praying for you, young Christians, that when you come around those curves of decision in your life, that you'll approve of the things that are excellent, that you'll make the right decisions in your life. Now, I know someone might complain, well, you know, you Baptist preachers are always harping against things and preaching against things like this, and you're just a bunch of rebel rousers. Thank you. You know what the book of Proverbs says, faithful are the wounds of a friend. If I didn't love this church, I wouldn't preach messages like this. And someone that would never give you a message like this cares about maybe your tithe check or your attendance in church, but not about your standing before the Lord. And my responsibility is to help you live a right life before the Lord. And that's far more important to me than anything else going on here today. Why do we need to live a life that's approving things that are excellent? I'll show you why. Look in verse 10 once again. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 10. That you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. God says, I want you to live an excellent life, approving things that are excellent, that you might be ready when Jesus comes. Now, the word sincere means this. To examine by holding to the Son. to examine by holding to the sun. In Bible days, when they would make a vessel or a piece of pottery and someone would go to market to buy it, oftentimes they would take that vessel and they would hold it up to the sun. And in doing that, they would look for any flaws or any cracks. And if there were any flaws or cracks, then the value was taken away. God's Word says, I want you to approve of things that are excellent, so that when Jesus comes again, your life will be as a vessel of honor without flaws and without cracks, but pleasing unto the Lord Jesus Christ. God says the reason to have an approving life is because Jesus is coming again, and you want your life to be sincere when He comes again. Notice what else it says in verse 10. Sincere and without offense, by the way. Selfish living always brings offense. Someone who gets selfish and cheats on his wife. Someone who gets selfish and goes out and does drugs when the whole family's trying to help them stop. Someone who's selfish to go out and do things that are wicked and wrong. They are going to bring offense every time. But you know the greatest offense, if you're a Christian, is that every sin is against the Lord Jesus Christ. And God's Word says, I want you to prove of things that are excellent so that you'll be sincere and without offense when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. The Bible speaks of this in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 28. And John the aged apostle says in that book of 1 John chapter 2, And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, ye may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. That when He shall appear, you can have confidence and not be ashamed before Him that is coming. Man, I don't know about you, but when I've got company coming over to the house, I get ready. My wife and I, we get the house ready when company's coming. And I want you to know, Jesus is coming again. And we need to be sincere and without offense when Jesus Christ comes again. Let me give you two tests of how to live an approving life. I've given you one verse, Philippians 4a. Let me give you two questions that you can ask as you make decisions pertaining to your life day by day. The first question that you may want to jot down is this question. Will it make others stumble? Will this activity make others stumble? You see, some dads, they're like this. They'll say, son, do as I say, not as I do. I know smoking is bad for you. And don't ever smoke. By the way, go get me a pack of Camel at 7-Eleven. We need to ask ourselves, what I am doing, is it going to cause someone else to stumble? Is my action or my activity going to cause someone else to stumble? I try to help a lot of people get away from drugs and alcohol. The last thing they're ever going to find at my house is a can of beer ever, ever, ever. I'm not even going to discuss whether you believe it's right or wrong. I'm just saying I don't want to make someone stumble. I don't want to be a stumbling block to them. You need to ask yourself a question. Will my actions here make someone to stumble? If they see me doing this much, are they going to do a whole lot more? And the more you mature in the Christian life, the more you start to develop this concept of living relationally in that sense. The second question, will I be ashamed when Jesus comes? Will I be ashamed when Jesus comes? Now, the way to live an approving life is to always ask, is this something that will cause my family harm or cause them to stumble? Number one. Number two, if Jesus Christ came at this very moment and I was doing this, would it be something that I would be ashamed of if Jesus came? You see, we're not to live in fear of the preacher or the church or what someone else might think. What about what Jesus thinks, folks? That's what church is all about, to live our lives with Jesus Christ in mind. And so, we must approve things that are excellent so that we'll be ready when Jesus Christ comes. And I'm trying to say, as we take this fast-paced journey called life and we come to those curves and corners in times of decision, let's slow down long enough at those curves and use discernment enough to make the right decisions that God would have us to make. Paul says, I'm praying for you. I'm praying that you'll abound in love. I'm praying that you'll live an approving life. And thirdly, he says, I'm praying that you'll produce an abundant fruit. You see, if they were to abound in love and if they were to be approving in the decisions that they made day by day, then the product of that is going to be a fruitful life that is lived for the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness. He says, I am praying that your lives will be filled with the fruit of righteousness. Galatians 5.22 and 23 tells us of the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Those are the characteristics of someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit of God, as we spoke last week. And then, of course, another kind of fruit besides the fruit of the Spirit is just the fruit of good works. Colossians 1.10, that we would be filled with the fruit of good works. And then the third type of fruit is found in Romans chapter 1 and verse 13, and that is the souls of men. Paul referred to the souls of men as fruit. Listen, the life of the believer is to be a fruitful life. And that's why we need to recognize today that as we love others and as we practice a discerning approval of what God would have us to do, we will be able to abound in more fruit for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in verse number 11, if you'll notice, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ. Friend, you cannot produce an abundant amount of fruit in your life without Jesus Christ. The fruit is by or through or because of Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus said in John 15, 4, Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. Listen, I can't live the Christian life, and you can't live the Christian life, but Jesus Christ in you can live the Christian life. And so we must abide in Him, remain in Him, talk to Him in prayer, lead the Word of God, hear the teaching and preaching of God's Holy Word. And so we produce an abundance of fruit, because we are filled with the fruits of righteousness through a remaining relationship with Jesus Christ. Now, here it is, and we're done. Why in the world do we need to be so concerned about abounding in a discerning love? Why do we need to live an approving life, being so careful about all these things? And why do we need to be concerned with bearing fruit and helping others and witnessing to others and going forward in the work of God? I'll tell you why in verse 11. Unto the glory and the praise of God. It is all for the glory and the praise of God. The reason that we live today as Christian people is to glorify and to praise the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason I want to be careful in the way that I live and the reason I want to challenge you in the same aspect is because of the fact that you and I have the unique opportunity to bring glory and praise to God through our lives. It's not all about us. It's all for Him. and for His glory. And so we live an abounding life of love, we live an approving life of discernment, and we produce an abundant amount of fruit. Why? So that we can say together with the Apostle Paul, it is for the glory and the praise of God. We give Him glory for who He is. And we give Him praise for what He does. That's why oftentimes we sing the song, Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Or we think of the song of the great evangelist Charles Wesley when he wrote, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. You see, why? Because of all that Jesus Christ had done. You see, the destination of the Christian life today should be this, to glorify my God and to praise my God in everything that I do day by day by day. Folks, if we don't slow down and approve the things that are excellent, we may never bear the kind of fruit God wants us to bear. Why are you so old-fashioned, Brother Chappell? Well, you know, this church has a reputation of being pretty conservative. This church has a reputation now. You preach against stuff. Yeah, you know why? Because we're very interested in bearing fruit around here, and we don't want to do anything that would take away our potential to help other people come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want my life to be a stumbling block in any way. And so our destination is to bring glory and praise to God, and so that we might be discerning enough to bring fruit and to know that others are coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, if you do not know Christ in your life, you're going to find it very difficult to bear any spiritual fruit. You're not going to know that you're on your way to heaven someday. You're not going to know how to love the Bible way. And our invitation to you today is that you cannot abide with someone that has not moved into your life. And you need to come today and say, Lord Jesus Christ, I know that I'm a sinner and that only you can take away my sin. And I accept you today as my Savior and invite Jesus Christ to come into your life today. Some of you need to make that decision even this day.