Philippians Series Pt. 3 - Pastor Greg Addison - September 22, 2024

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.

Thank you for listening.

We are so grateful for Miss Joe sharing her testimony.

Want you to pray with me this morning.

Lord, we thank you for today and we thank you for what the blood of Jesus does in the life of a person who comes to you and makes you our Savior.

We thank you for Miss Joe's testimony.

We thank you for the testimony of that song.

We thank you for the baptism and the new brother in Christ that we have that we've seen this morning.

And Lord, we pray as we turn to the book of Philippians and we talk about the gospel of Jesus and what that means to us in our lives.

Lord, I pray that if there's someone whose heart has been stirred, if they want to know what it means to be forgiven and changed, that today they will meet you, they will hear from you, they will be drawn to you in a special way.

We pray these things in the saving name of Jesus on all God's people said.

Turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

We're continuing our study in the book of Philippians, and what a beautiful picture we've seen this morning in so many ways.

From giving Bibles to first graders to build that foundation of the gospel and where it comes from and what it means and why we know it's true, to the testimony of a new believer and the testimony of someone we know loves Jesus.

Just all of those things working in concert, God's people singing praises to the Lord this morning.

How do we know that that's true?

Well, we know that because the Bible tells us.

But does that mean that everything, you know, you get saved and all of a sudden life is great and everything's perfect and all of that?

No, actually, this book of Philippians was written from a man who was beaten, shipwrecked, put in jail, beaten, put in jail, ran out of town, and he actually writes this letter about the gospel literally from a prison cell.

And so you think there must be much more to the gospel than just some idea that somehow makes life better.

And so what I want to show you today from God's Word is what has been expressed in every different way this morning.

And that is the joy that the gospel brings.

That is an eternal joy.

It is a joy beyond any circumstance that you might find yourself in or that you might face.

It is a joy that fundamentally changes the picture of life.

It is a joy so powerful that a man could write about it with joy from prison.

I want you to look with me in your Bibles again this morning at our theme verse from Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

It's found in verse 27.

Up to this point, Paul has been sharing testimonies.

He's been doing greetings, as we'll see in a moment, in all of that, he has been laying a foundation, pointing people to this thematic statement right here.

He says, just one thing.

Just one thing.

Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Then whether I come and see you, if I'm able to get out of prison and come see you, Paul says, or whether I'm absent and hear about you, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith that comes from the gospel.

For the faith that comes from the gospel.

What is that?

You've heard it shared this morning.

You've seen it sung about and illustrated.

The faith that comes from the gospel is this.

All of us are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice.

Most everyone who's old enough to be watching us or online or by television or if you're here in the room, then you have a conscience that has been pricked.

There are things that you know you've done wrong.

There are things for which you know you must be forgiven.

And you have searched and tried and figured out that even if you wronged someone and they forgive you, it still doesn't fix that thing inside.

And that is how God points out to us what's right and what's wrong.

And what's wrong, the Bible calls sin.

And the Bible teaches that sin must be punished.

That's why death enters into the world.

That's why that is a thing that everyone has to face and everyone always has.

If you go to a museum like we'll spend a little bit of time in the British Museum in London at the end of next week, it's one of the most premier history museums in the world.

And every culture, in every epoch of time, in every place, every continent, every country, every people group, everywhere you go throughout the end of time, man has always faced the struggle of what does death mean and what happens afterwards.

Again, it's the power of the truth of the gospel because Jesus says this the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The good news, the word gospel means good news, and the good news is that Jesus stepped out of heaven, lived a sinless life.

When we sang about the power of the blood, Jesus literally shed his blood on the cross for us.

He died for us a life, a human life that had no sin, no judgment, no punishment attached to it, so that when he died and he rose again, he could come and offer us my life can pay the price for your sin.

I took your punishment on the cross, and if you will place your faith in me as your Savior, the good news is I will forgive that sin.

And I will answer that question: what happens after you die?

I will prepare for you a place in heaven where you can live for eternity because of what I did on the cross.

But you must surrender your life to Him.

That's the faith.

Bible says by faith we're saved.

It is God's grace that does all of this.

We don't deserve, and we have never deserved, and we never will deserve, for Jesus to come and to die for our sins.

By grace are you saved.

It is God's mercy, as Eric and the choir just sang about, as Miss Joe shared that testimony.

It is his mercy that has created the good news of salvation.

For by grace are you saved through faith.

Faith is how we come to Jesus and we acknowledge I cannot do anything to fix my life.

I cannot do anything to remove this stain and struggle of sin, but you did that for me.

You believe in your heart that he really did that, that he did that for you.

You take your life, you repent of your sin, and you give him your life and you surrender it to him because he gave his life for you.

And then you enter into that relationship with him, where he walks with you, he forgives you, he changes you, he makes you become like him.

And then when that moment of transitioning from this life to eternity happens, you do so immediately, knowing that you have a place in heaven because of what Jesus did for you.

The faith that comes from the gospel.

Now that faith is about heaven, but that faith is about here.

Because you see, the life we are walking through, there is still struggle.

Old time preachers used to say all the time, there are three types of people in the world: someone who's in a struggle, someone who is about to enter a struggle, and someone coming out of a struggle.

It's part of life.

Paul found himself in prison, but we all find ourselves in difficult circumstances.

Sometimes those are things of our making, and sometimes they're circumstances around us.

Sometimes they're what someone does to us, like Paul, for example.

But what we understand about the faith of the gospel is that it brings a joy that is eternal and supernatural in its power, and it changes how we view life and how we walk through these circumstances, and it creates an opportunity for us to be where we know we will never be alone or forsaken because of what Jesus did for us, that He died for us on the cross.

We have helped folks, and a lot of you have gotten these little booklets.

Um, this is the uh notebook, scripture notebook that has the book of Philippians in it, and it has places to write in the margins, and then it has a place where you can write notes and all of that.

What do you do with that?

We talked about that a little bit in the front end.

But here's what happens: when you're reading through a chapter like this, you begin to recognize that there are certain themes that crop up.

And in this chapter, there are three themes that crop up.

One is the gospel.

As you're reading, if you just write in your notes or you circle on there, just how many times the word gospel is used.

That's used twice in this one verse alone.

How many times is the gospel used?

You also see the word joy, a rejoice, multiple times in this chapter.

And as you continue to work through the rest of the book, you'll see it multiple times in other chapters.

Joy.

How do you know that's a theme of Scripture?

Because it's repeated like the word gospel is.

And then you have this idea of us living out that gospel, of God working in our lives, using these moments in life to transform us and turn us into his image.

Those three themes you see all throughout.

If you're making notes in your notebook, those are things that should be writing.

You should be writing on the side, you should be circling those words.

And here's the big idea for this morning.

How can someone in prison write joyfully about the joy of being saved?

How can someone who is in prison for Jesus on behalf of preaching the gospel feel like Jesus is with him and not forsaken him?

Here's the big idea for today.

Joy in times of struggle, that joy comes because the gospel of Jesus Christ creates a life lived in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Our joy, it comes because when I have placed my faith in Jesus who died for me, that creates a hope and a presence of Jesus in my life that I know I'm never alone.

Now you've got to think about Paul writing in prison.

It's not the first time he's been in prison.

In fact, as you read the opening sentence in this letter, it says Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons, he's writing this as a letter that they intended to read in church.

And they actually know about Paul in prison because one of the times he was prison, in prison, was in the city of Philippi when he came to plant that church.

In fact, you can imagine somebody new in the church who doesn't know Paul yet, and they come to church and they're all excited.

Hey, we're getting a letter from Paul today.

We're so excited, we're getting a letter from Paul, and somebody says, Who's Paul?

Oh, he was our former pastor.

He helped plant our church.

We love Paul.

You're going to be so excited.

You get to hear us read this letter from Paul.

And Paul begins to read that letter, and then he talks about in verse 12.

He's been saying, Man, I love you, and man, I'm rejoicing.

And then he says in verse 12, I want you to know what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel.

And this new person leans over and goes, What happened?

Oh, he's in prison.

Listen to this part.

And then he says, So it has become known throughout the imperial guard to everyone else that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ.

And most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence from my imprisonment.

Somebody's like, He's in prison?

Like, he's in prison?

And he's excited about that?

I mean, can you imagine a new person reading that doesn't know that?

They're like, yeah, Paul spends a lot of time in prison.

He kind of likes it.

It's kind of home for him.

Like, what do you mean?

Oh, well, you remember this last time he was here when he came, he was planting our church.

Man, he was walking around telling people about Jesus, and you'll find this in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

There's some little girl who has a demon, and she's because she's demon-possessed, she can predict things in the future.

And so she's walking around, and these guys are using her as a slave girl, and they're having her like a modern-day, you know, soothsayer, or you go and read the crystal ball, or have your palm read, or whatever, and that's what they're doing.

And she walks around behind Paul and his couple of people with them, and they're trying to share Jesus, and she's going, These men are so-and-so, these men are so-and-so, these men are God who sent them.

And they're trying to make money and use her as an advertisement off of Paul trying to share the gospel.

And I love Paul.

The Bible says he got mad and had enough.

Literally, that's what it says.

He turned around and he goes, Demon, be gone! And he casts out the demon to get her to leave him alone, and then he goes on about what he's doing.

Well, the guys that own her as a slave got mad because she couldn't do that anymore, and it cost them all kinds of money, so they go and they complain and they say, This guy's a Jew and he's creating all this havoc, and they go, the Bible says, Arrest Paul and who's with him.

They strip them, they beat them, they put them in jail, and then they tell the jailer, listen, you need to be careful with this one, because we're not sure about him.

And so the Bible says that they put them in shackles and put them in the inner prison.

Think rats, cockroaches, disease, and whatever else.

And then the Bible goes on to tell that Paul begins to sing praises to Jesus.

Prisoners are listening to him and they're like, they have knocked that guy crazy.

He's singing in prison.

Bro, do you not know where we are?

And as he is singing praises, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit comes and shakes the foundation of the prison.

His shackles fall off, the doors come open.

The Philippian jailer, the guy in charge of this, he thinks, oh no, everybody's gonna escape.

This is my head, and he begins to take out his sword and he's literally about to kill himself.

And Paul says, Stop! We're all here.

Why are you here?

The doors are open.

Because God's given us an opportunity to tell you about Jesus.

He leads him to Christ, he leads his family to Christ.

God does an incredible testimony in that moment.

And this new person sitting in church going, did that really happen?

And they're like, the jailer's right back there with his family, four rows back.

Go ask him.

There's a different perspective when you have truly met Jesus and you're walking with him.

That you sing in prison, that you find opportunities to share Jesus in these incredible struggles of life.

There's three ways this big idea happens.

And it all flows from the gospel.

The faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul said we're to live up to, that we are to model to people around us.

That is the faith that bonds us together.

The gospel promises a deep personal connection with Jesus.

It was incredible to hear Miss Joe's testimony as she talked about, yeah, I'd heard that, yeah, I'd heard that, yeah, I knew about Jesus, but it was a different thing when she met him in person.

And the gospel promises a personal connection with Jesus.

The Bible says here in verse 21, for me, living is Christ.

For me, living is Christ.

You read on, he says, Living is Christ and dying is gain.

Now, if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me, and I don't know which side I should choose.

I'm pressured by both.

I have the desire to depart and be with Christ.

When you give your life to Jesus, this is not a religion or a club you're signing up for.

It's a relationship.

The Bible says, for God so loved you that he gave his only son.

That whosoever believes in him, this is not believing something a preacher says, it's not believing something that is represented by the sign in the yard on the front of the church or whatever.

This is you've come to Jesus and you have trusted him because he died for you.

The Bible says in that moment when you trust him as your Savior and you give your life to him, your sins are forgiven, and the Holy Spirit comes literally to live inside of you.

He speaks to you.

In Romans chapter 8, Paul wrote, The Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am an adopted child of God.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Listen, you've got to know who you went to prison for to be willing to do that and write about joy.

It's awesome that it's football season again, right?

I was watching games yesterday, and there's a moment where, this is a common moment, where, you know, it's like third and two or whatever, and this lineman just trucks some linebacker.

He runs over and throws out of the way the defensive tackle in front of him.

He trucks this linebacker, and that running back has a hole as wide as this middle aisle in our church, right?

First down and more.

And the announcer, y'all have heard things like this.

Announcer says, that's a grown man right there.

Y'all heard that moment, right?

And what he's trying to describe is this is somebody who lives out something.

He's bigger, he's stronger.

This is a grown man right here.

He is a grown man playing football in college.

One of the commentators I read this week when I was looking at this, he said, for Paul to write this in prison, that's grown man faith.

You don't just make this up.

You've got to think there are moments when Satan says, dude, you are in prison.

It's cold in here, and all those broken bones in your leg and back and your scapula and collarbone that they broke when they beat you, and the arthritis is set in, that cold is making you miserable.

You renounce Jesus, and I'll get you out of here.

You know, there have to be those moments in prison where there's that conversation that goes on, and yet Paul has such a deep personal connection to the person of Jesus that he writes, No, to live is literally Christ.

He is literally my life.

I know that he is here.

He has walked this walk.

He's been in prison before and seen God let him out of prison.

He's seen God use being in prison for people to be saved.

That's why he says, It is my joy here, because I know this Jesus, and I want them to know Jesus too.

Praise God he's used this moment for other people to be bold enough to share the gospel.

Look at what he says in the beginning of this book.

He says he loves them and he's excited.

It is right for me to think this way about all of you because I have you in my heart, and you were all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and defense and establishment of the gospel, for God is my witness.

How verse 8, I deeply miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

You got to know Jesus to use a phrase like that.

He's spent time with him, he's seen him work, he's placed his faith in him.

And if you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, you have never had the opportunity to have the most incredible relationship that you will ever have.

And that's to know Jesus and have him walk with you in life.

He promises what he promises from the gospel because he loves you.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

God loves you.

And when you place your faith in the gospel, it creates a deep personal connection with Jesus.

The gospel goes even further than that.

Not only is it a deep personal connection with Jesus, but it gives you the hope of a relational eternity with Jesus.

Three times.

In this one opening chapter, he refers to heaven and the return of Jesus.

Look at what he says in verse 6.

I am sure of this.

He is sure, confident of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

That is a reference to when Jesus comes.

In other words, he says, Jesus is coming back, and he's going to walk with you and be in this relationship with you, but he's going to come back and he's going to take you home.

And when he comes back, I want you to be found this way.

He refers to that again.

And then he gets to this passage, this day of Christ returning.

And then he gets to this passage again.

For me living is Christ and dying is gain.

How would you say that?

It's not because he's hurting and he's sick of being in prison and just get it over with.

It's because he is actually looking forward to an eternity with Jesus.

Listen to what he says in verse 22.

If I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful ministry for me.

I don't know which one I should choose.

One version says hard-pressed.

The word picture in this is you are literally crushed from both sides.

Like you can't go anywhere.

These are equal forces putting you in stasis where you can't move.

And yes, he loves the church, and he's told them how much he loves them and he's willing to stay, but I'm telling you, he is pressed into where he can't move because his desire to be with Jesus in heaven is so great it equals anything going on in this earth.

Man, you got to think about what it means for us as believers.

And it's not vogue a lot of times in churches to talk about hell and talk about heaven.

We're talking about God will save you this, he'll change this, he'll do this for you, and all that.

But let me tell you what, every Christian must learn to live in light of eternity.

And if you have a deep personal connection with Jesus, you're having your quiet time, you're spending time doing things like studying his word, learning who he is, you are going to long to be with him.

Look at what he says.

He says, I am pressured by both sides.

That picture, that pressure.

I have the desire to depart and be with Christ.

That's an incredible word picture.

It would be used of a captain who has filled his ship, and the sea is calling his name.

And they unanchor that ship and they set out on the ocean.

Depart.

He says, Man, I want to be free from this.

I don't want to be anchored to this life anymore.

Jesus saved me.

Jesus died for me.

I'm going to see people that I led to Christ who are already in heaven, then I'll be there with him.

I'm taking an entourage of people to heaven with me, and all of that is because Jesus did this in my life, and I desperately want to be in heaven.

It should be what every Christian feels and desires in their life.

I remember when I first went in struggling with the call to ministry, and I went and found a minister who was a mentor, and I started talking about it.

I was in a secular career that I had always dreamed about doing.

I'd always wanted to be what I was doing.

Some of you may not know my testimony.

I was a lawyer.

You think, how in the world would you want to be a lawyer your whole life?

Well, mom said she dropped me on my head when I was a baby.

But it's what I'd always wanted to do.

It was great.

I was flying around the nation doing all this stuff, and I began to struggle with this.

And I began to think, you know, I'm teaching Sunday school and I could do so much more if I'd have to do this.

And I and I really could spend more time at church if I didn't have to do this.

And man, this is taking 50 hours a week in my life, and I'd like to go serve in another area.

I'd like to go on a mission trip, but I'm but I can't because I got like these deadlines, and I'm struggling with all that.

And I go into this guy and I say, listen, as God called me the ministry, and he says, Well, you don't know anything yet, you're just growing as a believer.

Greg, every Christian should be stuck between the conundrum of I could do more for Jesus if I wasn't in the middle of this.

That's not the call to ministry, that's called being a follower of Christ.

You should always be frustrated that you can't do more for eternity.

You should always be struggling with, if I could just set this aside, I could do that.

That should be where we live.

We are people, our citizenship is in heaven, our passion is for Jesus, and we should always be trying to struggle with.

I gotta pay the bills, I gotta do this, but I want to do this.

That, he said, that's not the call to ministry, Greg.

That's just what it means to be a believer.

That's what it means to be hard-pressed.

My eyes are on heaven.

My desire is for heaven.

I want to be with the one who saved me.

And so there is a hope of a relational eternity.

And you think, how in the world can Paul have joy in prison because he knows, man, if I stay here, more people are sharing Jesus, and if they kill me, I'm with Jesus.

If you think that's, I'm making that up, go read 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

He writes to that church about another time he's in prison and a difficult they went to, and he said, Listen, I need you to know how this was.

We were so hard-pressed, we knew we were gonna die, we knew life was over here, but that's okay because we serve the God who raises from the dead.

That's why you can say die is gain.

Hey, it doesn't matter to me.

My Jesus raises from the dead.

I serve the God who raises from the dead.

And when you have a relationship with Jesus and you know he's the one who conquered death and sin, and then you're facing some difficulty, and you know, who cares what happens, I serve the God who raises from the dead, there is a joy that carries you through that because you know nobody can do anything to impact you.

Because you serve the God who raises from the dead.

If this doctor's appointment, if this riff in my company, if this difficulty with my family, whatever it is, hey, I serve the God who raises from the dead.

And eternity changes your perspective, and it allows you to be able to experience a joy beyond your circumstances.

Finally, you see, the gospel promises that we'll have a personal relationship and a connection with Him.

And then it promises that we'll be in heaven.

Sometimes I hear people say this about heaven.

Pastor Gregor, are we gonna know our family in heaven?

Well, praise God.

I'm gonna know my brother and sister, and there's some cousins I'm not gonna have to know.

What about my wife?

Am I not gonna know my wife?

Heaven's gonna be worse if I can't know my wife.

Listen, you're with Jesus.

It's all awesome.

The Bible says there's no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears.

I understand we get bound up in these relationships or these other things, but listen, if there's no more sorrow, there's no more grief, there's no more tears, heaven with Jesus is incredible.

And we should long for it.

The gospel finally promises a confidence that there is purpose and impact in our struggle through Jesus.

He says again in verse 6 He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

He tells them his prayer for them in verse 9, I pray this, that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can approve the things that are superior and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ.

There's that reference again.

How is it that we can have joy in this circumstance?

He can say, I am joyful I'm in prison because this has advanced the gospel, because he has been through this journey and he has seen God's faithfulness, and God has worked in him to transform him to be like Jesus, and he has the same thought process that Jesus has.

People are dying and going to hell, and they need to be saved, and this is advancing the good news of the gospel.

In your life, there is a joy that comes because you know God does not waste circumstances.

It is scripture that tells us all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

It is scripture that says, yet in all things we are more than conquerors.

Paul will continue to write throughout this book that he is calling people to work out their salvation and understand what happens to them.

In chapter three, he'll talk about pursuing and understanding what it means, the power of the resurrection and the knowledge of who Jesus is in our lives.

And when you have the promise of the gospel, you have the promise that Jesus will continue to work in your life every day until that eternity that you look forward to.

And it changes every perspective of life.

If you're in a struggle, let me encourage you to find some time to get close to Jesus and reconnect.

That connection.

Take a minute and just worship and think about heaven and what it'll mean, and remind yourself that you serve the God who raises from the dead, and eternity is your reality.

And then say, Lord, what do you want to do in my life in this deal?

You're here.

I know, I trust.

Show me what you want me to do.

There will be a joy above circumstances that only the gospel can bring.

We've shared the gospel in so many different ways.

I did it at the beginning of the sermon.

Miss Joe did it incredibly eloquently.

The song that Eric and the choir sang, boy, it just described the gospel and the power of the blood of Jesus and how it changes.

The testimony of a new brother in Christ being baptized this morning.

It all is there.

If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to pray.

God's paper are going to stand and sing a testimony of what it means to be saved.

And if you need to be saved, I want to invite you to come.

If you're watching online, if you're watching on television, we're going to invite you to give your life to Jesus Christ.

I'm going to pray, we'll have pastors in our aisles here.

This morning, if you need to be saved, you come.

Lord, we love you and we thank you for the faith that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I pray this morning you'll draw folks to you.

Give them the freedom to respond.

In Jesus' saving name we pray, and all God's people said.

We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.

Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.

Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.

Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.