Philippians (Lesson 1)

And a very pleasant good day to each and every one of you.

I'm Brother James, and I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

And I welcome you one more time to the preaching of the Cross Radio broadcast.

We're going to start a brand new study today.

We're going to take a look at the four chapters of the book of Philippians.

Philippians, all 104 verses, 2,022 words, will be the subject of our study for who knows how long.

Philippians probably the most enjoyable reading in all the New Testament.

It's a happy epistle, it's an upbeat epistle.

There are no problems discussed in Philippians.

There's no sin corrected in Philippians.

All one or two minor issues dealt with, but nothing of great consequence in the negative side.

There's no heresy rebuked in Philippians.

The theme of the book is joy and rejoicing, and those two terms in some form or another are found sixteen times in the four short chapters.

That's pretty good.

Now Philippians 1 6 says, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Then verse number fourteen of the same chapter, chapter one, verse fourteen, and many of the brethren of the Lord waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Then, verse 25, having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.

So three times in the first chapter, the introductory chapter to Philippians, we have confident, confident, confidence.

And I believe God intends his people to be confident, not self confident, not confident in man or in men or in things of the world, but surely we ought to be and have every reason to be confident in God.

And then we ought to be joyful, as the book says.

We ought to be rejoicing, as Philippians tells us, because we are certain in uncertain times that God is going to supply our every need.

We'll see that in chapter number four.

We are certain as we struggle along through life that we're going to end up where God and God alone can take us.

That's chapter three.

We are confident and we are certain that whatever happens in this life, in relationships with the brethren or relationships with family members, we are certain of the love of God, confident in His love, and that's the theme of chapter two.

You know, so many of God's people are hoping or wondering or praying to see whether or not God is going to come through.

Many of God's people are viewing the promises of God and looking at their life, and they think it's kind of a roll of the dice thing.

Maybe the right numbers will come up, maybe they won't.

He might help and he might not.

But the book of Philippians says that we can have joy as a Christian, and we can rejoice as a Christian, because the things that God has done in our life and the things that God is doing in our life are grounds for confidence.

They are grounds for certainty.

Now this is why every religion, whether it calls itself Christian or not, that teaches salvation by works, leads to an approach to Christianity that is one of worry, one of fear, one of doubt.

How can you be confident in God if God has left salvation up to you?

How can you be confident of your place in heaven if whether or not you get to heaven is still in doubt?

But if God, who has begun a good work in you, has promised that He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, then we can have confidence.

I didn't save me.

God did.

I'm not the author of my new birth.

God is the author of my new birth.

And Philippians 1 6 says, the one who began my Christian life, the one who began my new life in Christ, he is the same one who promised to see that thing through to the end.

So I can be confident.

Look, that's not self-confidence.

That's confidence in God.

But we can be confident.

Now there's a sister word to confidence.

Have you ever had a confidant?

You know what a confidant is?

It's someone you confide in.

The person you confide in, whether it's two girls on the telephone telling everything, I mean things that even haven't even happened yet.

Things that will never happen, but telling everything, and they get off the phone after about an hour and a half and you say, What were y'all talking about?

Nothing.

Nothing.

It took an hour and a half to say nothing?

I don't believe it.

Now, you know why that you're the best friend knows everything and mom knows next to nothing?

They are confidants.

Boys stand around the parking lot outside the church house forty five minutes after church.

Everyone of the mouth moving nonstop, jawing, laughing.

I'll walk up and say, hey, what are you guys talking about?

Nothing, nothing.

All of a sudden none of them were talking.

They were all just moving their mouth.

It looked like they were talking.

Every now and then they'd uh they'd laugh.

Oh they weren't really laughing.

Nobody really said anything funny.

Now you know why they got silent when I walked up?

They're not going to confide in me.

You know why they were uh talking like they were before I walked up?

Because they have confidence in one another.

They confide in one another.

Now, you know something.

You'll never know the joy and rejoicing of the Christian life.

You'll never know the confidence that can be yours as a Christian until God becomes your confidant.

Until you learn to confide in God, there'll always be something lacking in your life even though you are saved.

You've got to confide in God.

Now it's wonderful to go to church and we and we should, we must.

It's wonderful to hear the Bible, we should, we must.

It's wonderful to sing praise to God.

We should and we must.

But to do all that and still lack confidence in God renders those other exercises almost of none effect.

Now confidence in God's people grows out of a confiding in God.

Joy and rejoicing in God's people grows out of a confiding in God.

Isn't it amazing how much easier it is to talk to a friend or complain to a friend or pour out your heart to a friend than it is to have that same type relationship with God?

Why do we lack confidence in the only one who is always proven his willingness and ability to help?

Not enough time with a confidant?

Could that be why we lack joy in rejoicing?

Because we don't spend enough time with the one who can give it?

Then the Bible says as a result the Philippians teaches, we'll see this as we go through the book, as a result of this confidence, that joyful believers are the ones to whom the Holy Spirit can speak concerning the gains of the Christian life.

Ephesians is written about believers seated in heavenly places.

It really zeroes in on what God has done for the believer in the past when he saved he or she.

Hey, uh, don't you know what you have?

Look at all God did for you when he saved you.

That's that's Ephesians.

Colossians speaks of the believer seated with Christ in heavenly places and says, Hey, look, look at what will be yours forever, because Jesus Christ is your Savior.

But Philippians speaks of a man who is saved and born again, washed in the blood, possessing eternal life, who has a home in heaven, but he knows surely God is not through with me in this life.

Surely this is not as good as I'm going to get.

Surely this is not as victorious as I'll ever be.

And the book of Philippians is written to say, no, no, you're saved, but God has a lot more he's going to do in your life between here and heaven.

You're born again, but God is far from through with you.

Look at what is still going to happen.

And we joy and we rejoice as those who are dressed in the book of Philippians, because I know it may be tough right now, I know I may be going through something right now, but I'm gaining through this.

In fact, chapter 1, verse 21 says it this way for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

He's confident.

See, not wondering what's going to happen to me at the judgment seat of Christ, not wondering whether I'll get to heaven or whether I won't, not wondering if I'm going to get through this trouble or this trial or not.

I know, says the Holy Spirit, written down by Paul the Apostle, I know as good as it is to be saved, as good as it is to be a Christian.

I know that if I died tonight I'm going to gain, I'll be better off.

I'll be better off after I've drawn my last breath in this body of flesh than I am right now.

So every day for the Christian gets better, and yet at the same time, every day for the Christian, uh every day the Christian as his life is getting better, he knows that the very, very best is yet to come.

Shows up again.

Chapter three, verse seven.

What things were gained to me?

Those I counted loss for Christ.

Ying doubtless that I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

Verse fourteen says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

So the writer has received eternal life, he has been born again, but he looked at his condition, saved, new birth, sins forgiven, home in heaven, but reversed his accounting procedures thereby.

See, what he used to consider gain, he now puts that on the minus side.

And what he used to consider unnecessary and unimportant, now he's got that on the plus side.

And so in Philippians 3 10-14, the Holy Spirit says, I am not yet everything God can make me, I am not yet everything God wants me to be, but I'm gaining on it.

I'm confident that I'm gaining on it.

See there.

Now I travel a lot.

I I'm on the road so much, and so many of these are the same trips.

Get in the car, five hundred miles, driving up the road, and I'll tell you what, I you just watch those mile markers, the side of the highway, you watch that old donometer as it goes around, four hundred and eighty miles to go, four to fifty miles to go.

You start figuring if I can keep this speed, don't run into bad traffic, no troubles in the road, I could be there by such and such a time.

You know, I I'm not home, I'm not home, but I'm gaining on it.

I'm not in the driveway, but I'm getting closer.

The journey, all the journey may not be pleasant, but I'm nearing the destination closer than I was a half an hour ago, closer than I was a few miles ago.

And so that's the Christian life.

Heaven, heaven awaits, and today might be a great day, it might be a difficult day.

Today might be an easy day, it might be a tear-filled day.

But I'm one day closer, one day closer to pulling into that driveway of heaven and parking that old car and getting out forever in our heavenly home.

Now, everything the Holy Spirit's going to do in our life isn't done yet.

That's the point in Philippians.

But we can be confident of God's continued, blessed and best work in our life, and we can be confident that we are going to reach that heavenly home, not by our merits, but by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then chapter four.

The Bible says in the nineteenth verse, My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Now the word gain doesn't show up in that verse, but think about something.

I don't know how much grace I'm going to need between now and the end of my life.

But God has already promised if I don't have it, I'll gain it.

I don't know how much patience, how much understanding, how much peace, how much help, how many friends to prop me up I'm going to need between now and the day I enter heaven.

But I know I am confident that God has already promised me if I don't have enough now, I'm going to gain it along the way.

I don't know what my needs will be between now and the day I enter the presence of the Lord.

But I know this what I need God will supply.

Didn't say what I want, didn't say what I lusted after, he said my need not my greed, but he promised, he promised that I could live confidently knowing that all that I had to have he would provide.

Philippians also has four sketches, little biographies scattered throughout its pages.

In chapter two, verses one through eleven is the condensed biography of Jesus Christ, and what a grand time we will have studying that passage.

In Philippians 2, verses 19 to 24, we have a sketch of Timothy or Timotheus.

Philippians 2:19–24

And look at the words that show up.

219, good comfort, 220, care, 222, hath served with me, 224, trust.

These are great words.

Timothy is associated with Paul, who is confidently serving, but he's also confident in his right hand man.

Paul is confident in his young under study because they have the same heart, the same purpose, the same desire for God and for his people.

So that'll be a blessed study, and we'll enjoy that when we get to it.

Then in chapter 2, verses 25 to 30, the man who for one reason or another, you've not met anyone that bears his name.

I've known a lot of Paul's in my life, but I've I've not met anyone named Epaphroditus.

Maybe I'm in the wrong culture, wrong country, maybe it's just too hard to pronounce, too hard to spell.

But what a great man, great man.

In fact, he may be the greatest man in the Bible you've never heard of.

Every church, every church could be strong and vibrant and accomplishing much for God if it had a Paul and a Timothy and a lot of ephroditus.

I don't I don't know if that's a proper way to use his name or not, but if you had more than one epaphroditis, take a look at this man, two hundred twenty five, yet I supposed it necessary to send you ephroditus, my brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier.

Wouldn't you like to have a guy standing by you like that?

How about two?

How about three?

How'd you like to go into a prayer meeting with a brother who is a companion and a fellow soldier?

How about knocking on doors or preaching in a public place with a companion, a brother, a fellow soldier?

What if you had a dozen of them?

What if the church had twenty or fifty of such great Christian soldiers?

In verse twenty six the Bible says he's a messenger, he ministered to my wants, he longed after you all, and was sick nigh unto death.

Not for anything he'd done of an evil sort, not because of some medical difficulty.

But verse twenty uh twenty-seven and twenty-eight tell us he was sick nigh unto death because he was doing so much for God and for God's people that he just worn himself to nothing.

Worn himself out.

And verse twenty seven of chapter two says that God had mercy on him for the sake of other Christians, God raised him up because he was so necessary to the work of God.

Now that's the kind of man we're going to enjoy studying about, and that kind of man I hope and pray we can all become.

Bible says in two twenty eight, I sent him therefore the more carefully that when ye see him again ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

So this is a man that when he showed up the church rejoiced.

As far as we know, he didn't sing, he didn't preach, he didn't bring a pile of money.

He just went from Paul and said, Hey, Paul wanted to know how y'all were doing.

He asked me to come by this Sunday and check on things, and people were glad.

They were happy that he was there.

Incredible.

Incredible.

And that's how it ought to be.

The church should be glad to see you coming, not fearful, not troubled.

I don't want to be the source of unrest and turmoil and conflict in the church I attend.

I want to be like Epaphroditus.

I want to be a man the church is happy to see.

Verse 30 says, Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life.

Isn't that amazing?

To supply your lack of service toward me.

He you know, people say, Well, you know, it's better to uh don't want to rust out, you want to burn out, you want to burn out, you want to rust out.

Uh Paphroditus didn't didn't have any of those little catchphrases.

He just got up in the morning, went as hard as he could for Jesus all day long, did as much as he could for other people all day long, and was just about dead.

That's what the Bible says.

Just about dead.

Because he just wanted to serve Jesus with everything everything he had.

And then the fourth little biography we have is that of Paul, chapter 3, verses 1 to 17.

Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord, and ends verse 17 Brethren be followers together of me.

And so Paul here, he's a joyful, happy man.

His testimony begins with rejoicing and ends with encouragement.

To follow along, be part of this.

And so they're supposed to rejoice in the Lord.

How do you do that?

You follow the Lord.

A life lived in the footsteps of Jesus will be a life upon which God pours joyful blessings.

How about that?

Now I've gotten down before.

You probably have too.

I've been discouraged.

No doubt you have.

I've gotten really, really, really down to the dumps.

Sometimes it'll last for days.

I thank God.

I thank God when I when I do get down occupied with cares and troubles and heartaches and burdens, I'm glad that I know that my God will come along.

Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe in an hour, maybe in a week.

But I know my God is going to come along and provide me with the joy and rejoicing that I need to keep on doing if I am walking in his steps, if I am following him.

And we'll see that.

We'll learn all about that as we consider the testimony of life of Paul in this book of Philippians.

Then chapter 2, verses 1 to 11, maybe, maybe one of the four or five key passages in all the Bible.

I know in my Bible study, in my Bible study, I usually end up in Genesis 3, Isaiah 53, Philippians 2, Ephesians 2.

I know those four chapters show up more than any other in my Bible study.

The fifth would possibly be Hebrews chapter number 10.

Those those chapters just it seemed like everything in the Bible runs through those chapters.

But in two verses 1 to 11, there are seven steps downward that Jesus took from the throne to the cross.

There they are seven steps.

He made himself no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, he was made the likeness of men, is found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

That's a long way down.

Look where he was, in the form of God, verse six, equal with God, verse six.

Look where he ends up in the verse eight, the death of the cross.

That's a long way down.

Man, when you look at that, realize it was for you.

Realize that was God himself taking that downward journey to lift your soul out of sin, to deliver you from death, to save you from hell.

That'll put some joy in you.

That'll put some rejoicing in you.

Praise God.

Well let's see what else we got here.

Jesus Christ is set forth as our very life in this book.

Chapter 1, verse 21, for me to live is Christ.

He, he is He is life.

He's the life.

If you have Jesus Christ, you have life.

You don't have Jesus Christ, you don't have any life.

This modern, these modern catchphrases and slogans, these little advertising sayings that have kept crept into the church, let Christ come into your life, you don't have any life.

Jesus is the life.

Man, until Jesus Christ is your Savior, you don't have any life for him to come into.

You are dead in trespasses and sins, lost, alone in this world without hope and without God.

Oh, but once you meet Jesus, He gives unto you life, life more abundant, and eternal life.

And we're just we've not even gotten to verse one yet.

All of this just quickly trying to overview, to survey the scenery and see what lies before us in this book of Philippians.

I hope you can be with us for every one of these radio broadcasts.

We have available for you thousands of hours of recorded sermons and Bible studies.

We still have the old cassettes, we have the new MP3s, and we have a number of books in print as well.

All of this is available by visiting our website at JamSNOx.com, or you may write to us at 872 Glenwood Road.

DLAND Florida 32720.

That's Jamesenox.com.

That's the website address or the mailing address 872 Glenwood Road.

DLAN Florida 32720.

And that mailing address is in the United States of America.

It is our great joy to bring you these radio programs, our gift to you, without solicitation, without fundraising, without letters in the mail asking you for contributions.

We greatly appreciate the help that so many of you send, and I'm sure you appreciate that we do not ask for it.

It would never take radio time to solicit funds from you.

We're workers together in the gospel for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we hope and pray that this program's been a blessing to you.

The announcer will be on in just a moment to let you know when the preaching of the cross radio broadcast will air again on this particular station.

And it's our prayer that at that time you and a friend that you invite to listen with you will join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast.

Until then, I'm Brother James.

May the Lord richly bless you, and good day.

Join us every weekday.