Philippians (Lesson 27)

And thank you so very much for that kind word of introduction.

Thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in once again.

I am Brother James, and this is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, and we are going to spend the next half an hour studying the pure and perfect Word of God and enjoying together the Bible book of Philippians and chapter number two.

I hope that you can stay with us for the full half an hour.

I hope you can follow along with you in the Bible, with us in the Bible, if at all possible.

We are going to try our very, very best to consider together a goodly portion of Scripture today, and one that I trust will be a help and a blessing to your heart.

The Bible says in verse number, well, we really need to go all the way back to verse number fourteen.

Do all things without murmurings and disputing.

Murmuring is quarreling with God.

A murmur means I could have managed better than God.

Disputing is quarreling with men.

And so the Bible says, Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless.

I don't want I don't want things that go wrong to be my fault.

I don't want to be the cause of the trouble.

And harmless, I do not want to live my life in such a way as to cause harm to others.

And so blameless, harmless, the sons of God.

Now I'm a son of God, no matter how I live.

I am God's child not by works but by grace.

But in the context of the passage of working out our own salvation, in verse number twelve, the idea here is that it be evident to those who observe our conduct, evident to those who look upon us that God is our Father.

That's the objective and that's the desire.

Without rebuke.

Without rebuke.

I want to live a life that God does not have to rebuke.

Now He's a loving God and He will.

Correct me in no uncertain terms, with absolute clarity, when I am wrong so that I can be right, but I would rather live in such a way as to make that unnecessary, and that of course is God's desire as well.

He doesn't want to have to rebuke his children.

Then the Bible says in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

Now look very, very carefully, very, very carefully at what's set forth here, because it is important that we avoid, as always, two extremes, both of which are incorrect and both of which will lead into error.

We've got to understand that this nation is crooked.

This nation is crooked.

God wants men to be straight, make straight paths for the feet, said the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

God does not want us to be crooked, bent, twisted.

Rather he wants us upright, walking directly toward that mark, pressing toward the mark.

But the nation in which we live is crooked.

Secondly, the nation in which we live is perverse.

Now this speaks of the speaks clearly and certainly of the fall of man.

Now think with me for a minute.

The Holy Bible is written to all believers everywhere.

No doubt about that, no question about that, it is God's word to man.

And so the Lord, writing two thousand years ago, wrote that no matter who you are, no matter what year you were born in, no matter what country is your nationality, God has said that your nation, the nation in which you live, is by his standard perverted.

They have not, it is assumed by God, that they have not kept his word, they have not walked in his ways, they have not honored his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So wherever you are, wherever you are listening to my voice right now, the nation in which you live is by God's standard, crooked and perverse.

Now the reason you think things are getting worse and worse and worse is because you are observing them more carefully, and you as a Christian are now observing them in light of God's word.

They have always been just as bad as you now believe they are becoming.

You understand that?

Things aren't getting any worse.

Things have been this bad since the fall.

You are just seeing things now from God's viewpoint, instead of the viewpoint of an unsaved man or an unsaved woman, and when you view things as God views them, they look very, very different.

Okay, now having said that, take a look very carefully.

The nation is crooked, the nation is perverse, and the child of God is instructed to live in the midst of that nation.

How about that?

Jesus said, when he spoke to and prayed for his disciples, in the upper room in John chapter seventeen, he said, praying to his father, I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil that is in the world.

Now hear me.

God does not require, nor does God desire that any of his people flee into some mountaintop monastery whereby they may avoid all contact with other humans and thus preserve their purity, their sanctification, and their righteousness.

The reason for that is twofold.

First of all, the evil in your life does not come from without, it comes from within.

And no matter where you make your dwelling place, you must learn to wage war against your flesh, its lusts and imaginations, or you will live a defeated life and a carnal life regardless of your surroundings.

The second reason God has told his people to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and in this passage, in particular, we are to shine as lights in the world.

Now you can't do that if you are isolated from the world.

So here's what God desires separation, not isolation.

He wants us to be distinctly different as we live in the presence of those who know not God.

That's the objective.

So the world is crooked, the world is perverse, we are to go forth into live in the midst of that crooked and perverse world and show them that everyone is not crooked, some have been made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, some have been made pure by the Holy Spirit of God, some have been made righteous by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ given the believing Christian by God the Father.

That's the Lord's desire.

It is possible, therefore, it is possible to live a blameless life, to live a straight life, to live a harmless life, despite the fact that the world in which I live has gone terribly wrong.

I hope you see that.

I hope that that truth is clear to each and every one.

Now we move on.

Among whom ye shine as lights in the world, as we live in the world without being worldly, as we walk through the world without being defiled or influenced or controlled thereby, we stand as the great contrast to all the darkness, all the wickedness, and all the evil that is out there, and it is that testimony, it is that clear difference that God will use to draw men to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I realize the crooked and perverse nature of the generation, of the nation in which we live, has made its way into the church, and that the majority of ministers today are trying to see whether or not they can be just like the world, so that the world will embrace their false Christianity while the Lord is calling upon us to be separate from the ways of the world in which we live.

I I so it things are complicated.

Things are made more difficult by the perverted ministers who have given creed to the perversion by promoting perversion and calling it Christianity.

I realize that.

We still have clear truth to tell us in no uncertain terms what is right, what is wrong, what pleases God, what displeases God, and we'll continue to walk in that light, stay on that straight path by God's grace until He comes for us.

That's our objective, to press toward that mark.

So we shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.

Now watch this very carefully, watch this very, very carefully.

Holding forth the word of life.

We have the word of life.

It is God's word telling man how they might have life, salvation, and have life more abundant, godly living, with the Lord's blessing, we have that word of life.

In this passage we are not told to hold the word of life, but to hold forth the word of life.

That is, reach it out, reach out with it, and offer it, make it available, bring it within reach of others so that they too might be recipients of and participants in this wonderful life that is ours in and through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now the clearest, the clearest illustration that just sums the thing up so beautifully is when a man, a woman, a boy, a girl holds out there in their hand a piece of literature, a gospel tract tract, a pamphlet, a piece of literature telling how a man may come to know Jesus Christ as Savior, and look at someone holding forth that word of life so that the passerby might reach out, take it in hand, read it, be convinced and converted, and receive everlasting life.

That is a small example of how we may hold forth the word of life.

Too many saved people are holding the word of life, but they're not making any attempt to get it to others.

Many saved people have the word of life in their pocket, in their heart, in their bureau drawer, in their Bible that they search for when it's time to go to church, but very few of them hold it forth to others.

May God help us, may God help us to do more than possess the word of life, but to hold forth that very word to others.

Then the Bible says that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.

Here's what he says If those of you to whom I preach the gospel live Christian lives, I will be happy in the day when Jesus comes for me and I stand before him to receive my reward.

If those of you to whom I have ministered will then in turn go forth and minister unto others, I will have joy in the day when I meet my Savior face to face.

If you continue to live for Jesus, if you continue to carry on this gospel work, I will have joy because I will know that I did not waste my life.

I did not labor in vain when I sought to minister God's grace to you.

But rather, but rather my life was well spent because you and the world around you have benefited from the work and labor that I put into your lives and into the church there at Philippi, and I am certain that every true minister would echo those words and say, Amen, that is my desire.

No question about it.

Alright, verse number eighteen, yay.

And if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all.

There it is again.

The theme of Philippians, it shows up over and over and over again.

You know what he just said?

If I lay down my life, if I sacrifice my time, my talent, my wants, my desires, my fortune, and you are benefited, I will have enjoyed living that life.

That's what he said.

Now about you, my friend.

How much of this Christian life are you experiencing?

How much of this Christian life is real to you?

This self denial, self sacrifice for the benefit, the betterment, the well being of others.

It is this life that God desires, it is this life that God makes possible, it is this life that results in real joy and satisfaction, and every other life, every other way of living will just leave you longing for something you can't find, because the joy you seek is only found in serving Jesus and serving others.

That's the theme of this book.

And so he says in verse number eighteen, for the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me.

When I live for you, and you live for me, and I sacrifice my life for you, and you sacrifice your life for me, all of us experience a joy and a happiness that we could never know otherwise.

That's the clear statement of Philippians 1 several times, Philippians 2 throughout the chapter.

And I so want it to be true in your life, I so want it to be true in my life, verse 19, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state.

Now the Bible speaks of our standing, that is our unchanging, unchangeable position before God by virtue of what Jesus Christ has made us.

Now think about it.

I am saved when I am sick.

I am saved when I am well.

On my good days I have eternal life.

On my bad days I have eternal life.

When things are going well, as far as I can tell, I belong to Jesus.

When things are going terribly, as far as I can tell, I belong to Jesus.

That is my standing.

It does not change.

There are no conditions thereupon.

God has done it, and whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever.

That's my standing.

Now my state my state is very flexible.

It's very changeable.

It can change month to month, it can change day to day, it can change by the hour.

Now think about this.

You're saved.

You get up in the morning, you say good morning to the wife that loves you, you embrace the children that are your joy and delight, you head for the job that you thank God He has provided, and away you go with a song in your heart, a prayer on your lips.

As you head for that job, someone Filled with boobs, liquor, beer, whiskey, wine.

Some drunkard crashes into your car and changes your earthly life from now until the day you die.

Your state has been altered.

Your standing has not changed.

Your state has been dramatically altered in a moment of time.

So the apostle Paul here writes, and he says, I'm going to send Timothy not to find out if you're still saved standing, but to find out if you are still living a good Christian life state.

I'm going to send Timothy not to find out if you're still in Christ standing, I know you're in Christ, but to find out if you are still shining as lights in the world.

That's your state.

State would be the present changeable temporal condition.

And so he's concerned about that.

And he's sending Timothy to look in on that.

And he's hoping, he's trusting that when Timothy returns, he'll bring a good report and say that all is well with the believers at Philippi.

They are living as they should be living, they are doing what they should be doing, and souls are being saved, and lives are being changed, and they're loving one another, and that's the objective.

Verse 20, for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state.

Okay, here's the tough reality of all that we've been studying so far in Philippians about self-denial for others.

Here the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit has him write it down, says Timothy is the only man I can find who instinctively, who completely, who without being compelled or instructed to do so, loves you as much as he loves himself.

What this means, my friend, is the attainment of real, genuine Christianity is a rare thing.

Few people, few people ever come close to living in the way that Jesus Christ would have all of us who are saved to live.

Now that's a sad truth.

It's a challenging truth.

It doesn't make me want to quit and give up and say what's the use.

It makes me want to try and be one of those few who cared enough to please the Lord by living his life for others.

It also gives me a somewhat discouraging but necessary heads up.

It says to me, Don't be too surprised if people don't love you as they should, even though they're saved, or at least they claim to be.

So that's in that's in the passage as well.

So let's review.

God does not want us out of the world, but he wants us separate from the crooked and evil ways of the world.

He wants us to live a godly Christian life so that first of all the world might see what a godly Christian life really is, second of all, so that those saved people who have ministered to us and taught us and trained us will rejoice in knowing that all that time and effort they put into us was not a waste, but was very beneficial.

And then we find that our temporary situation obviously can and does change, but our our position in our our standing in Jesus Christ does not change, and it is that to which we anchor our soul, and it is that upon which we build all our hopes for time and for eternity.

All right.

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