household were baptized, she begged us saying, ìIf you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.î And so she persuaded us. We want to pick up at verse 16. And now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us who brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. But when her master saw that their prophet or their hope of prophet was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and they dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. and they brought them to the magistrates and they said, these men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city and they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe. And then the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were amazingly praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. and the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice saying, ìDo yourself no harm, for we are all here.î Then he called for a light and ran in and fell down, trembling before Paul and Silas. and he brought them out and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And so they said, believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. And then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them that same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all the family were baptized. And now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all of his household. And then turn, if you will, to Philippians chapter one. This is the context again in which this church was started in the city of Philippi. And now sometime later Paul's writing from prison and he is writing to these believers who are living in that environment there and are now followers of Christ, many of them saved out of paganism. And now Paul writing at the end of chapter 1 verse 27 says, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is in me." And so reads God's holy word. Would you please join me in a word of prayer? Our Lord, and look at this passage where Paul begins to give some exhortations to the believers at Philippi. So there's a little bit of a new direction or a change of direction at verse 27. Up to this point, he has been giving personal greetings to the believers at Philippi. He's prayed for them. He gives them a mission update as to what has been going on in his life. And now there are practical instructions that are being given to the saints there at Philippi. Epaphroditus has come to him in prison, kind of giving him an update about the condition and what's going on in Philippi. And now he's writing back. And among his writing is these exhortations. And much of the rest of the book will have to do with this exhortation that is given to these believers. and areas that they need to be working on. And so, it's a reminder of this epistle of the fact that we are to be growing in grace and that we always have ongoing spiritual needs. And there's a need for spiritual maintenance in our lives just like our car. We just had our car in the shop and had a lot of, a number of things to be fixed. And so it is spiritually, there is the need for us to have ongoing maintenance, if you will, and instruction. And Paul does that for these believers to help them in their journey of grace. In verses 25 and 26, Paul had the hope and the expectation of coming to them. It was his desire to come. He said, you know, I don't know how these things are going to turn out, but for me to live as Christ, to die as gain, but I think it would be better for me to remain, even though I desire to go to heaven and be with the Lord, that would be better for me. But to remain on would be better for you, for this church and others. and I believe this is what God has for me and I have a desire to come and to be with you. So that is my plans. But in the meantime, he says, until such a time comes, verse 27, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So now, Until I come, I have some things I want to share with you, some exhortations. And we have Paul here giving an exhortation to them. First of all, to let your conduct as citizens of heaven be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let your conduct as citizens of heaven be worthy, appropriate for this great gospel that you have come to hold to. And he says here, let your conduct Your conduct, this word in the old King James is the word conversation. And the conversation is not talking about a dialogue, but it was talking in the old English about your manner of life, your behavior. And the New King James has the word conduct. Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. But it's an interesting Greek word that is used here by Paul. It's a word from which we get our word political. And it has this idea, it carries the idea of citizenship. you're a part of a citizenship as the people of God. Just as the city of Philippi under Caesar Augustus had been made a Roman colony. And as a result of being a Roman colony, there were privileges that were granted to them as members and citizens of Rome. And just as we have as citizens of America, we have privileges that are ours. as American citizens. And as Christians, we have a citizenship and it is, our citizenship is in heaven. If you look over at chapter 3, verse 20, the same form of this word is used here. For our citizenship, is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thankful to be a citizen of the United States. I didn't have anything to do with that other than my parents lived here and I was born here and I'm a citizen of the United States. And anytime I travel outside of the United States, I'm always very thankful to come back home, very thankful to be here. And I appreciate being a citizen of the United States, especially when I've traveled around. There's no place like the good old USA. And I'm thankful to be a citizen here. But something far greater than that is that we, if we're a Christian and if we're in Christ, we have a citizenship in heaven. We are part of this kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ. And how do we get into this kingdom? Well, in John 3, Jesus says we are birthed into it. the new birth. We've been born again by the Spirit. Colossians 1.13 says that God has delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear beloved Son. That's how we got in there. God did this. He delivered us and He brought us into this kingdom. And again, we were the enemies of God, weren't we? As we read in Romans 8, we were alienated from God and we were His enemies. And God by His grace has delivered us and brought us into this kingdom of His own dear beloved Son and we're united with Him. Hebrews 12.22 says that we have come to Mount Zion to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. But there's more to this. Notice the emphasis that we are to have conduct that corresponds with this citizenship that we have. We are part of this citizenship. We're part of this kingdom. And Paul says, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. One translation translates it this way. Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven conducting yourselves worthy of the gospel of Christ. So these Philippians are being reminded by Paul of the great privilege that they have of being in this kingdom. and that the grace of God has brought this about with all of the privileges. Every spiritual blessing is ours in Jesus Christ. We have union with Christ. We have forgiveness. We have been reconciled to God. We have propitiation. Christ has made propitiation for our sins. We have the first fruits of the Spirit, the Spirit of God living within us. We have a glorious hope, a glorious inheritance. We have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous. So these are privileges that we have as citizens of heaven, but there are also obligations that go with this. to be a part of this family, to be a citizen of this country, if you will. It has obligations. Your life is not your own. You are bought with a price, Paul says. And the verse that we were looking at last month every Sunday is from 2 Corinthians 5, 14. It is the love of Christ that constrains us. For we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And if all died, then all who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one that gave himself for them and rose again. So our life is not our own and there is now this responsibility we have and really it's a privilege to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. There was a chaplain who served the queen in England and he remembered one time hearing the queen speaking to the children before they were going to go into a public event. And the chaplain was eavesdropping and he heard the queen mother say to her children, remember children, royal privileges mean royal behavior. Royal privileges mean and demand royal behavior. And I think that's what Paul is saying here. only let your conduct be worthy. Let it be worthy of the gospel of Christ, this gospel that you have come to know. You need to behave as citizens, perform your duty as citizens, and live in ways that will honor and glorify the Lord. And notice, he says, to live in such a way that is worthy of the gospel. The word worthy here is a word that means to be suitable to or something that corresponds to or something that is appropriate to. If you are trading baseball cards and I came up to you and I said, hey, will you trade my Joey Votto rookie season baseball card with your Mickey Mantle 1951 baseball card? What do you think you'd say if you had that card? Are you kidding? That card, by the way, went for $162,000. Joey Votto's card, you might get a buck for it, I don't know. The way they're playing, you may not get anything for it. Another loss today, 13 in a row, I think it is now, so good old Reds. But the idea is that doesn't balance out, does it? That's not equitable. That's not equal. And it's the same word Paul uses in Romans 8, 18. The sufferings of this present world are not worthy. They're not worthy to be compared to the glory that is going to be revealed to us. It's used in a negative sense there or a contrasting sense. But here he's saying you need to live in a way that is worthy that is comparable to this gospel that you hold dear. This gospel is a weighty gospel. We've been talking a lot about that in the last couple of weeks. The name of God is, it is heavy, it is full of weight. And children honor their father and mother that retreat them, not lightly, but as the authorities that God has placed in their life. And this gospel that we have come to believe in, Paul says, it's a weighty gospel. And there is to be this corresponding comparable lifestyle to live worthy of this gospel that we have come to know by the grace of God. And so, there's need, I think, implied here for some changes in the lives of these believers. And he says, let your conduct be appropriate to this great value that you've come to know, the weightiness of this gospel. And so, he's gotten word from Epaphroditus about some things that are going on there and now he's writing back and he's saying, hey, listen, You need to live and conduct yourself in a way that corresponds to this gospel. Chapter 2, he's going to talk about some self-centeredness that's going on. Chapter 4, he's going to talk about some women that are fighting with one another and he's telling them that they need to work these things out and live in harmony with one another. And these all tie into living in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so there is a need for some changes. This gospel is a glorious gospel, and we need to live in light of that. There's a story told of Alexander the Great, and it goes like this. A soldier in the army of Alexander the Great was frequently charged with misbehavior. And one day, the young Greek general faced the soldier about his disorderly conduct, and we asked him his name. The trembling voice answered, My name is Alexander, sir. The second time the general said, what did you say your name is? And he replied again, my name is Alexander, sir. And Alexander the Great shouted at him and he said, then change your life or change your name. You're bearing my name and you're serving in my army. and you better change the way you're living or you better change your name. Well, in a sense, Paul is saying that here we bear the name of Christ and we need to walk in a worthy manner. Ephesians 4.1, some other verses where Paul says this, I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering bearing with one another in love." Colossians 1.10 in Paul's prayer for the saints at Colossae, he says, I pray that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work. 1 Thessalonians 2.12 We exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. He's called you in His kingdom. Now live in a worthy manner of this calling. Let your conduct be worthy of this gospel. Let it be appropriate to this good news that you've come to know this weightiness of this Gospel. The very Son of God came into this world and He went to a cross to bear your sin. He's going to bring that up in Chapter 2. This is the Gospel that we hold, this glorious Gospel and what Christ has done and now live in a way that will reflect that, that will be a life that is worthy of such a Gospel that we hold. So, when we are self-willed, when we are self-willed, how does that correspond to the glory of Christ who humbled Himself and came into our world and bore our sin upon the tree? When we are unforgiving, how does that correspond to Christ and the abundance of forgiveness that we have come to know in Him? When we are impatient, and unkind, how does that reflect the patience and the long-suffering and the kindness that God has shown to me? When we are unloving, how does that correspond with the Bible telling us that we have been loved with an everlasting love? Think about that. If you are a Christian You have been loved with an everlasting love. God has had His love upon you for all eternity. It's an amazing thought. If we are fearful, how does that correspond to the one who said to us, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you? When we are full of pride, how does that correspond to the One who came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many? He humbled Himself in doing that. So what conclusions would people around me draw about Christ and the Gospel as they observe my conduct? As people witness my life, am I communicating something to them that would express the glory and the weightiness of this Gospel by the manner in which I am living. Am I living in a holy way that would reflect something again of the character of God who has redeemed me? And we think of parents and children. We were talking about that this morning. What kind of perceptions do my children have of God as they see me, as they observe my life? What kind of impression am I making upon workmates or friends as they observe my life? Am I conducting myself in a manner that corresponds, again, to the great worth and value of Christ and what He has done? So, let us remember that royal privileges call for royal conduct, behavior. And so, Paul exhorts them in this. Now, he goes on and gives a call for an exhortation, a call to steadfast unity for the gospel. So he says that, whether I come to you or am absent, that I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit and one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. and not in any way terrified by your adversary. So, we might read into this that there was some things that were happening there and Paul's concern from what he's heard from Epaphroditus that their conduct has not been reflecting the gospel well in some areas and that also that they were not standing fast together in one spirit. There was some division among them and this seems to be behind this exhortation that is being given here. There was a problem with steadfastness relative to the gospel. They were being terrified by their adversaries. We read about some of that in Acts 16 and we can only well imagine that that has continued for many of these believers. And so there's maybe what we might say a loss of camaraderie among the saints there at Philippi in serving the Lord and the gospel. And so he gives a call here to stand fast, hold your ground, persevere, don't give up, don't be intimidated by your adversaries. You need to pull together, not apart. You need to work together. You need to strive together to be of one mind, to be of one spirit, striving together. The word striving together here comes kind of from athletic events, has the idea of working together in an athletic competition. So this wouldn't be golf where you're just playing by yourself. This would be baseball or basketball where you work with others. It's a team effort. And so you need to strive together. And so, don't be intimidated by your adversaries and don't be preoccupied with your own interests, but you need to work together for the sake of the gospel. You need, as Jude says, to contend earnestly for the gospel, for the truths of the gospel that have once for all been delivered unto the saints. And don't be terrified by your adversaries, he says in verse 28. And adversaries are real, and they were real for these believers there in Philippi. And they didn't like it when the pagans were being converted. And some of these men were losing their income from this girl who was demon possessed. And it got Paul into trouble. And when we preach Christ, sometimes there's going to be opposition. There's going to be difficulties. There's going to be adversaries. especially when we preach Christ and Christ alone. He is the only way to God. It is an exclusive message and it is often opposed. I was reading this week a letter from Andrew Smith and it was encouraging to see in Morocco they just recently were baptizing five new believers and they were in some ocean somewhere doing this. But he said of these that some of these are going to go home and one in particular when he's 18 if he doesn't renounce His Christianity, he's going to be kicked out of his house. He's going to be disowned. And others, the difficulties that were going to come as a result of their identifying themselves with Jesus Christ. So Paul says to them here, I don't want you to be terrified by your adversaries. He says, this is a real threat to these believers and to stand for Christ. You know, if we seek to live godly, we will be persecuted, Paul says. There will be opposition to us. And so he says, you need to pull together. You need to be of one mind and one spirit as you stand for the gospel and as you seek to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, Paul himself knew this. Paul knew what it was to be intimidated. He writes to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7 and 5, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest and we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts and inside were fears. You know, we sometimes think of Paul that, you know, he was just tough. never struggled, never was terrified. And he says here, there were fears within me. Paul was one like us, of like passion. And he is one who knew what it was to fight for faith. Paul is now saying to these believers, fight the good fight of faith. He knew what it was to fear and he knew what it was to be intimidated. He knew what it was to be in pain and to be ridiculed for the name of Christ and persecuted for the name of Christ. But notice the conclusions that he gives to them. As you do this, as you stand fast, Verse 28, "...and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition." Alright, for these who are your enemies, this is a sign of perdition. This reveals two things. It's a sign of perdition for them. Destruction and ruin and eternal destruction is theirs. God's only Son, the only Savior who is your hope is not their hope and their trust is not Him. They are an enemy of Christ. And this is a sign of their certain perdition. But for you, notice He says, for you it is a proof of your salvation. This is a sign that you belong to Christ. As you stand with Christ, as you are faithful to Christ, and as you suffer for the name of Christ, this is an indication of God's grace to you. It is His fingerprints of grace upon your life. when you're able to say, I'm going to follow Christ even when it means being opposed and being resisted against by others, I'm going to be faithful to Christ. And so, one of the marks of a true believer is a persevering attachment to Christ, isn't it? You know, the parable of the sower and the seeds, there are those seeds that it seems like it's bearing fruit but it's only short-lived. But there is the one that has found fertile ground in the heart that produces an abundance of fruit. The mark of true saving faith is not that they begin well, but they continue and they remain steadfast come hail or high water being faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a sign, that's an assurance to you that you belong to Christ, that you are His. One commentator said that the steadfastness of the believers in strife and affliction is an indication and sure sign of their own deliverance and salvation. For only saints, the truly saved, are capable of such perseverance. A persevering faith comes from God and is the fruit of His grace. It bears witness to the fact that it is God Himself who graciously strengthens and keeps. Do you ever wonder why am I still a Christian today? Why have I not thrown in the towel when I face difficulties and discouragements, you know, and why isn't that I haven't just been able to throw in the towel and just say, forget it all? Many have. Others who have professed faith in Christ have done that. Why have I not done that? Well, Paul began this book, didn't he, by saying that he who began the good work in you will continue that work even into the day of Jesus Christ. We don't brag about anything we've done. We recognize it's all of His grace. God is the One who is at work in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And notice what He says in verse 29. For to you it has been granted, in contrast to these who are your adversaries, for to you who are persevering in your faith, it has been granted on behalf of Christ two things. not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. The word here, it has been granted, is the word from which we get our word grace. You have been graced by God in two ways. You have been given the privilege and His grace is given to you in Christ to believe in Him, to believe in Him. Believer, do you know this, that even your faith is a gift from God? I think that's what Paul is saying here. That even your faith is a gift that God has given to you. It is a grace to you. We read in Acts 15, or we read in Acts 16, sorry, of Lydia, how the Lord opened her heart to believe the gospel. Acts 18.27 says that when Paul came into Achaia, he greatly helped those who believe through grace. This grace, again, is a gift that God gives. It is something that he works into the heart. It's our faith. We believe that God is the one who has granted, the one who has changed our heart to bring us to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice he also says that it has been granted to you to what? To also suffer for His namesake, to suffer for the cause of the gospel. He has even graciously given you that privilege to be identified with Christ in His suffering and to suffer for His namesake, to suffer for Him. And Paul looked at that as a privilege. All that he went through, this was a grace that God had given to him to embrace this as a gift that God has given to him. 1 Peter 4.16 says, Let everyone who suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. And so, even in suffering, this is a gift that God has given so that we can bring glory and honor to Him, be identified with Him. Verse 30, having the same conflict which you saw in me and you hear and now hear is in me. You're in the same battle I'm in. You're in the same conflict. And again, This is a part of what it means to be united with Christ. So as we close tonight, we might ask ourselves here at Bible Chapel, are we living as citizens of another kingdom? Are we living worthy of this gospel that we profess? Are we living in a way that is aligned with that, that shows the weightiness of that by how we are living? Are we standing fast? Are we seeking to promote the gospel and working together? Are we contending hard to be faithful to Christ even when it's hard? No doubt, as with the Philippians, we have room to grow in God's grace here. But we can be grateful if we belong to Christ, that as we die to ourself, we live for Christ. And this is an indication of His grace to us, that He pours out His grace to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, and we receive one grace after another. And we are thankful that we are held in His hand, aren't we? Left to ourselves, we would all flee from Christ. John MacArthur says, if you could lose your salvation, you would. And I know that about myself. Left to myself, I would. But it is God who began that good work and it is God who's gonna continue that work until the day of Jesus Christ. Well, let's stand and we'll be dismissed with a word of prayer. Lord, tonight we thank You for Your grace to us in Christ. We were aliens, we were strangers, we were enemies of our