Perseverance of the Saints Pt2 - Philippians 1:19-30

We are going to finish our journey in chapter one of Philippians. There's a lot to really

cover through this entire book, a lot of doctrine. We will be hitting some more doctrine today.

If I was to exhaust this, you can't exhaust it, I'll say that. So we will stick with where

God has taken us in this conversation and again we'll get to it another day. But this

is part two of the perseverance of the saints and the importance of the perseverance of

the saints is the reason why we should persevere. Okay? The reason why we will persevere and

I want to thank the Lord for this amazing doctrine, the perseverance of the saints that

not only will we persevere when it's all said and done, we persevere every single day of

our lives. So he keeps us. That being said, we're going to go back a little bit into verse

15. I'm going to read that so that when we get into verse 19, you kind of understand why

it reads the way it reads. Okay? I'm not a real big fan of subtitles. I get why they

do it, kind of gives you an idea of what possibly is being said. But it kind of takes away from

really the continuance of the conversation that Paul is using here. You guys know already

we talked quite a bit about Philippians and this is the one church Paul has nothing bad

to say. He doesn't rebuke them for anything they've done wrong specifically. He actually

exhorts them, encourages them to continue. It's one of the things I love about this letter

and you will hear today again if God calls you to be a good Berean, study the word. He

also calls you to be a good Philippian, to preach the word. So be a good Berean and a

good Philippian. Verse 15, some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from

goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the

gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict

me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,

Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice for I know that through

your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance

as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with

full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by

death. What do you see? There's this constant clear message that Paul starts, not really

starts, he's clarified throughout this entire chapter that the gospel is our purpose. The

gospel is our mission. The gospel is what we focus on. I know it's going to bother you

a little bit, I don't care. You're like, yeah, that's mean pastor. No, there is no other

purpose for your life besides gospel. Okay, as you guys know, I don't like Rick Warren,

to say the least. Why? Because there's no such thing as a purpose-driven life in a purpose-driven

church. God does not have a particular purpose for you and a particular purpose for our church.

Every church and every believer has a single purpose. What is your purpose? Gospel. That's

your purpose. There is no other purpose. Now there are things that we do, right, that we

participate in, but the whole purpose of those things is the gospel. If you look at spiritual

gifts, the purpose of spiritual gifts is the gospel. The whole purpose of our existence

is to proclaim the goodness of God, the gospel. That is what we do. If we don't focus on that

truth, then we will try to find other reasons to find purpose in our lives. And people wonder

why, well, I can't figure out what my purpose is. That's because you don't like the purpose

that you've been assigned, instead of just doing the gospel. If you do the gospel, you're

going to find joy, contentment, happiness, excitement. But pastor, you're preaching every

Sunday morning about the gospel. That's my purpose, right? If you're a dental hygienist,

it's gospel. Clean teeth with the gospel. You know what I mean? If you do other stuff,

it's about the gospel. If you're a teacher, it's about the gospel. Every opportunity you

have is about the gospel. You're like you're a Jesus freak. That's the point. That's the

point. And Paul clarifies this over and over again. So I have three principles that we're

going to learn specifically through the rest of this chapter. Okay? First principle, whether

we live or we die, Christ is our ultimate prize. Christ is our ultimate prize. If I

live, I live for Christ, and he's my prize. If I die, I die to Christ, he's my prize.

Either way, Christ is the answer, right? Whether we live or we die, Christ is our ultimate

prize. In life, all you should want and need is Christ Jesus. In death, all we will have

is Christ Jesus if you know Christ. So if you're going to live, all that you should

want and need in this life is him, and when you die, all you'll have is him. Because you

won't need or want for anything at that point. What more do you need? We were like, well,

I want more. If you want more, then Jesus isn't going to be enough for you. And this

is what it says, Philippians chapter 1 verse 19 and 21. And yes, I will rejoice for I know

Philippians 1:19

that through your prayers and the help of the Holy Spirit and the help of the Spirit

of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. As it is, my eager expectation

and hope, I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ

will be honored in my body by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is

gain. Everybody knows this Bible verse. If you're a Christian, you've heard this. Probably

have it on your desktop or somewhere in your house. For to me, to live is Christ, to die

is gain. Though that is true, are we going to miss the point of why Paul gives this statement?

We talk about to live is Christ and to die is gain. And then we read a book by a gentleman

who tells you, now you have a different purpose. See, if we really focus on what God calls

us to do, which is gospel, then to live is Christ and to die is gain is everything that

Paul says it is. But if we're trying to find more, then you're going to miss the wonderful,

beautiful, majestic God of all creation. So I want you guys to think about that. Is really

living to be alive, is it really Christ? And if I was to die, am I really going to gain?

Or am I really trying to find something else? Second principle. If in life, make the most

of every opportunity for the sake of the gospel. We all have a ministry. It's called the ministry

of the gospel. So give it away. Yes, there is no other purpose for your life but the

gospel. Whether you're going to work doing anything else, the whole purpose why you're

there is for the sake of the gospel. That's your mission. We all have the same mission.

There is no other mission given to man, given to mankind who belongs to the body of Christ

than that one mission. We all have a ministry. That's called the ministry of reconciliation,

called the gospel. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 2 through 5 says this, preach the word,

2 Timothy 4:2–5

be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and

teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching and having

itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and they

will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always

be sober minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Pretty clear. So not only does Paul clarify this in the reality of Timothy's life to

the church in Ephesus but he also deals with this in Philippians. What's amazing about

the Philippian church is they understood what their purpose was. All of them were committed

to this one purpose, this one goal. But we know, because we live in the days that we

live, there are all kinds of stuff going out there. All kinds of gospels. Philippians chapter

Philippians 1:22–26

1 verse 22 through 26 says, if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for

me. Yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I want you to think about that. Paul's saying,

if I'm to live in this body, then that means fruitful labor. Christ is gained. Which one

would I choose? I'm having a hard time with that. I'll be honest with you. I think we

all would say that. I mean, if I could be with Jesus now for all eternity, then I think

I'm in with that, right? I mean, we would say that, I hope. And that's what Paul says

here. I don't know what I would choose. I mean, I get Jesus or I get Jesus, Jesus is

wonderful labor. Either way, I get Jesus. Verse 23, I am hard pressed between the two.

I want you to get that. He's so torn between the two that he's like, you know what? One

or the other would be great. My desire is to depart and be with Christ. And that is

far better. Why? Because he doesn't have to deal with sin, he doesn't have to deal with

being persecuted, he doesn't have to deal with suffering, he doesn't have to deal with

pain, he doesn't have to deal with any of that stuff. Along with all the other stuff,

it comes along with people. He won't have to deal with any of that. But then he says

in verse 24, but to remain in the body, to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your

account. So if I was to stay, it's more important that I stay because it's necessary for you.

And verse 25 says, convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all.

I will finish the work that God has for me to do. And for your progress and joy in the

faith. In other words, me staying is for your growth and for joy in the faith. I find joy

in the faith because of you. So that in me, verse 26, you may have ample calls to glory

in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again. In other words, I'm going to stay around

because I have a purpose to stay around. I'm going to give you the gospel. You notice he's

giving the gospel to a church that's already been gospelized. Why? Because we should be

reminding ourselves all the time of this wonderful gospel. It's important. It's our purpose.

When you wake up, do you think about gospel as soon as you wake up? Is Christ on your

mind when you wake up? Are you worried about all the other things happening? Have you reoriented

yourself to the purpose by which God has called you? Or are you reorienting yourself to another

purpose? Principle number three, the highest motivating factor of all believers must be

the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the one thing that should keep you going and get you going

in the morning. Wake up, gospel. So I have three questions for you. This will help you

to see if the highest motivating factor for you is the gospel. How are you living? Second

question, how are you in Jesus? And then third, are you living in a manner worthy of the gospel

or living a life of excuses and compromise? Well, that's for you, pastor, because you're

a pastor. Nope. Listen, my responsibility to God is much higher than yours. But there's

one thing that motivates me every single day, Jesus and his gospel. Nothing else matters.

And that motivates my love for you, that motivates my love for others, and motivates why I do

what I do, gospel. And this is what he says in Philippians chapter 1, 27 through 30,

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So I put some parentheses

here. I want you to hear this. Your life should only be lived in a manner that is worthy of

the gospel of Christ. How do you conduct yourself? How are you living? Because you have a name

by which you represent. I remember when I was a kid, my mom would say, you know, you

carry my name. My dad would say the same thing. You carry, you're a cane. Listen, cane don't

mean jack. There's a name that I carry that has a much higher value than cane, and it's

not cane enabled. It's Jesus. Jesus' name is on my life. And the gospel which he has

given the mission, the purpose of my life that he has given to every believer is on

my life. And how am I living? How am I representing him in my life? Am I living in a way that's

just full of excuses and compromise? Or am I really living in a way that honors him and

lifts him up and makes him known? Look what it says here. So that whether I come and see

you or I'm absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one

mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. This is what he's saying to the

Philippians along with what he said to the Ephesian church. We have one Lord, one faith,

one baptism, one spirit, one mission, one God. That's what he's saying here. We have

churches all over the country who have their own gospel, their own Lord, with their own

faith. Well, that's not my faith. I really don't care about your faith. I care about

his faith. This is his gospel. It's not yours. That's what he calls it here. So that you

will strive side by side for the faith of the gospel. It's his gospel. It's his faith.

It's his church. I wonder how many times we really think about that. I have a tendency

to think sometimes we don't because we're too wrapped up in our life, living a life

of excuses and compromise. Verse 28, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.

So if I am standing in one spirit with one mind striving side by side for the faith of

the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents, this is a clear sign to

them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. So I want you to kind of

get that. If we are committed as a church, as a people of God, to the attitude and the

mind of the gospel, if we're committed to the one faith, the one gospel, and we're striving

side by side, working side by side for the sake of the gospel, everyone who is an opponent

of ours will fear. And they know that they're going to be destroyed. Why? Because we have

salvation in Christ. Notice what he says in verse 28, but of your salvation and that salvation

from God. There it is again. You can't outrun it. The doctrine of election is all throughout

the scripture. You can't outrun it. He even clarifies it again. For it has been granted

to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for

his sake. God has granted to you for the sake of himself, for the sake of Christ, that you

should believe in him. He granted it to you. It's a privilege. And if it's a privilege

to know him because he has made himself known to you, then why would we live in a way that

contradicts that gospel? Verse 30, parentheses. Here's what I want to say. The parentheses

are my words. If we are living for him and we are suffering for his sake, engage in the

same conflict, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still

have. In other words, we are all engaged in the same conflict. We are at war. Have we

really thought about that? That every day you wake up and you're at war. You're battling

every single day. You're contending for the gospel. You're fighting for the gospel every

single day. Where does the war start? It starts with you. Why do I do the things I do not

want to do? But the things that I hate doing, I keep on doing. So guess what? You're literally

at war with yourself every single day you wake up. Every single day you're at battle.

Why am I doing this stuff? I don't want to do this stuff. And what do you continue to

do? The same stuff. So you're at war with yourself. Not only are you at war with yourself,

you're at war with the culture. Just because there's wars happening overseas doesn't mean

there's not a real war happening in your life right now. All of us are at war. Just because

you sit at home, you're able to make, on a cold day, make some grilled cheese with tomatoes,

have a bowl of soup. That doesn't mean you're not at war. If we wake up and we go out into

the day and we realize, you know what, I need to gird myself today. I need to be ready for

battle today. Something's going to happen today that I need to be ready for. That's

a war mentality. Have we really thought about this? You're at war with false doctrine. You're

at war with culture. You're at war with yourself. You're at war with politics. You're at war

with everything that's contrary to God. And that's why Paul says in verse 30, engage in

the same conflict that you saw I had. If you are a contender for the gospel, you will be

at conflict. It will be a battle. How important is that conflict? You see, if my highest motivating

factor is the gospel and the most, and I take the most of every opportunity for the sake

of the gospel, whether I live or die, Christ is my ultimate prize, I'm willing to go to

battle every single day. We're at war. Everyone else knows they're at war with you. You experience

it every day. We sit behind our televisions and we go, well, see, and you point out all

the things that the culture's doing and you're angry and you're frustrated. They're at war

and they're winning the war. Do you know why? Because they understand their mission. And

the world culture does the same mission all the time. They're one spirit and they're one

mind. That's to destroy Christian value. Let's be honest. We're losing the battle. Why? Because

we got churches creating their own gospel and creating their own God and creating their

own doctrine because they don't like the gospel and they don't like the God and they don't

like the doctrine that God has. They want their own doctrine, their own ways and their

own things and their own ideas. I can do it better. And that's what Paul's reminding the

church of Philippi. Continue to contend, continue to fight, continue to be at war, continue

in the gospel. That's the point. I want to close with this last statement. Turn to Revelation.

And this is what Jesus reminds the church in Ephesus. It's interesting when you read

Revelation chapter 2, you have the church of Ephesus, the church of Smyrna, the church

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

of Pergamum, the church of Thyatira, the church of Sardis, the church of Philadelphia, and

the church of the Laodiceans. Guess who's not mentioned in this list? Philippi. So everybody

looks, oh, there's the seven churches. But Philippi still existed. Do we forget that?

Why aren't they mentioned in this list? Because they had no issues. Not that they're perfect.

Look what it says to the church of Ephesus. The reason why I picked Ephesus to share this

with you is because it's the same kind of message that Paul gives the church of Ephesus

as he gives to Philippi. But church of Ephesus, it's a rebuke. Church of Philippi, it's an

exhortation. It says to the angel of the church, to the pastor of the church of Ephesus. That's

what that word angel means, messenger. To the messenger of the church in Ephesus, the

words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven

golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how

you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles

and are not, and found them to be false. We can assume, first of all, this is the church

that Timothy was overseeing. He did a pretty decent job getting these people to this point.

There's one thing that's missing here. I want you to see this. I know you are enduring patiently

and bearing up for my namesake and have not grown weary, but I have this against you,

that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you

have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove

your lampstand from its place unless you repent. What have they stopped loving? I'm sure there

have been, I know when I first came across this, I kept having this idea that I had left

Jesus. I hadn't loved Jesus. And so I had this idea that I had to go back and do all

the things I was supposed to do as a believer in order to fall in love with Jesus more.

You know what they are, right? Prayer and studying the Bible. You get this list of do's.

But that's not what Jesus is saying here. What was the first thing you fell in love

with? When you came face to face with the living God, the Holy Spirit, not literally

face to face, what did you fall in love with about Jesus? Was it him? Did you love Jesus?

No, it wasn't Jesus. See, if you really look at Jesus, you would not want to love him at

all because he's an approach to me in the condition that I was before I came to the

realization of who he is. You know what I fell in love with? His gospel. I fell in love

with the story. I fell in love with this amazing, why would this man die on a cross, was buried

in the rose again? And how did I come to love the gospel? The Holy Spirit. And what happened

when I came to love the gospel? The Spirit came and dwelt in me and he illuminated me

to the truth of this wonderful gospel. And my response to that wonderful gospel was to

surrender my life to this King. And the only way I can understand that wonderful gospel

is that the Holy Spirit had to be present for me to understand this wonderful gospel.

It's the gospel and that's what he says to the church of Ephesus, you left the gospel.

You left the thing you loved at first. And do you remember what happened when you first

came to Christ? What did you do? You went and told people. Shouted from the mountaintops.

You went and told people. It's the first thing you're going to do. Jesus is Lord. You need

to know there's Jesus. You want an example of that from scripture? The woman at the well.

Did she say a prayer? Did she say, Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner and I know you died on

a cross for me, man. If you would, kid, if you would, would you forgive me? No. I'm not

a sinner. She came face to face with the living God and ran to the city and told the people,

come and see this man who told me all about my life. A prayer don't save you. God saves

you. And your only response to an awesome and living and loving God is to proclaim him

to everyone that you come in contact with. That is your responsibility. That's what he's

telling the church of Philippi. Contend for the gospel. Keep the gospel. Fight for the

gospel. We are struggling together for the gospel. That's all he keeps saying in chapter

one. Perseverance in the gospel. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is not just

that God God perseveres us when he returns. He perseveres us every single day in the gospel

and in Christ. Isn't that an amazing thought? Every day you're persevering in Christ. Okay?

Father, I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and goodness. Thank you, Lord,

for your word. Thank you for this wonderful gospel. Help us to love you supremely for

your glory. Amen.