Philippians 1:7-30 Mobilization and Battle Stations

Sue Fellers from Cherokee, Oklahoma has been diagnosed with multiple tumors and is undergoing chemotherapy. It's a new treatment and she needs prayers for her bad days. The book of Philippians has military references because the majority of the people in Philippi were retired military officers. The church in Philippi is well-organized and Paul is grateful for their support. Paul prays for their love, knowledge, and discernment so they can approve excellent things and be filled with the fruits of righteousness. Good morning to you all. Hello, okay? Alright. You seem a little solemn. Everybody okay? I'm checking on your attitude. You just kind of look solemn back there. Ah, you're smiling, that's better. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Sue Fellers in Cherokee, Oklahoma, Burlington, Oklahoma, has been diagnosed with multiple tumors in her body. Oklahoma City University Hospital. And they are going, they started last Thursday morning. They put a report in last Tuesday, started last Thursday morning with chemotherapy. She was in chemotherapy for five hours last Thursday. And she will be going every other Thursday for treatment. And they are telling her that the tumors are inoperable, so they can't get to them, so they're going to do it with chemo. As our good friend Scott Cates in Dallas over the last year and a half has had five tumors shrunk and removed from his body by chemotherapy with no surgery. So we're just thanking God because of Sue's age, and Sue's about that big, if you all remember. She is just about the size of my little finger. Very thin, very frail, and so please pray for her when you think about her. But on Thursday, whether it's the Thursday or not, do pray for her when she's having the chemotherapy because she's fighting a real battle. Our friend Scott Cates fought it for nearly 18 months, and about two months ago he was declared cancer-free. So it appears that what they're doing now, this is a new chemotherapy that Medicare has just approved. And so it's kind of experimental, as are most everything that we take nowadays experimental. So you pray for her. You pray for her bad days because they are coming. Those of you who have had malignancy know that there are good days and bad days, and some of the bad days seem to outnumber the good ones. So you pray for her every day. Think about her. When her little face comes up in front of your mind, pray for her. And thank God for her wonderful love for the kingdom of God. She was the minister of music of her church for 46 years, and still does a great deal of work with the choir program in the church. She and Kenny have been members of that little First Baptist Church Cherokee forever. And just pray for them. They're wonderful. He's a good old farmer. Every time I call him, he's either on the tractor or working on the tractor. One of the two is happening. It's not working. He's working on it, or it's working, and he's on it. So if it's working, he's on it. If it's not working, he's working on it. So every time I call him on his cell phone, I get him on the tractor. So you all pray for him, and pray for Sue. Okay? Thank you. All right. Today we're going to try to finish Chapter 1 if we can. We're hoping. And Jim, if I don't quite get finished with it, can I have 10 minutes to thank you? No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding with you. I don't think I will need it. Perhaps we'll be able to work through it. Now, let me help you come to understand something again. As I mentioned last week, in this particular little book, there are a number of military expressions which kind of appear in and out through the book. And as I was studying it back in college, in the original language in Greek, I ran into these quite often and began to kind of think about it. I didn't know whether I was the only one, Jim, that even found that out. But I have a little commentary here by Wiersbe. It's part of his Be series. He has a commentary on all the books of the Bible under the title Be. And this one is Be Joyful. I think the one for Ephesians is Be Graceful. And so he has a number of these commentaries. And so I said to myself, I wonder what Warren Wiersbe thinks about this particular book. So I started looking at his book, and I ran into Chapter 1, and he named Chapter 1 Forward Observers Wanted or Pioneers. Actually, he put it here, Pioneers Wanted which are forward observers. Pioneers are those who go into places where no one has been in order that other people can follow them. And in military, we call those people forward observers. And we call them forward advisors. I'm sorry. So that's what he's talking about. So he's talking about it. Then I looked over here in the last part of this chapter, and in the last part of this chapter, the four we're going to be talking about today, he titled it Battle Stations. So evidently there must be something about this little book of Philippians that has to do with a good deal of the military, and it's because that's his audience. The people in Philippi, as you remember from last week, the people in Philippi, the majority of them were retired military officers who were given property there many, many years before, about 44 BCE, before the Common Era, about 44 BCE when Augustus and Mark Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius on the plains of Philippi, and all of the officers who fought in that particular battle, as they retired, if they wanted property in Philippi, which was a glorious place to live in. It's kind of a resort area, it's a beautiful area on the Aegean Sea, beautiful mountains in the backdrop, the Aegean Sea down in front of you, I mean, how can you go wrong with something like that? And many of these officers then did take opportunity to go there, and were living there, and it's kind of interesting, as you begin reading this book, all of a sudden you begin to see a lot of wonderful administration. You see a lot of really strong planning. In fact, I don't remember reading any of Paul's other epistles where he starts talking about how grateful I am for your elders, how grateful I am for your pastors, how grateful I am for your bishops, how grateful I am for your deacons. Now, this church, evidently, was very, very well organized, and I can imagine why. I had the privilege with Barbara, Barbara and I spent a year in Germany at Faith Southern Baptist Church in Zahnzigerhof, the largest Southern Baptist Church in Europe, and we spent a year there on sabbatic, and I preached to those people, and 92% of the church were military. They were either from the concerns that were around, there were a number of major concerns around Kaiserslautern, but the big thing was Ramstein Air Force Base that was only about 17, 18 kilometers from the church, and the majority of our people were military. I want you to know, that was the best organized church I have ever been in. I mean, it was right down the line, and you could see military from the front door all the way to the back, and when you did something, you did something. I mean, they had a constitution that was a constitution, and they had a background that was a background. I mean, they were military, and we enjoyed it. In fact, we had some folk who, you know, they call it PCS, Permanent Changes Station, Ed, you remember that? And we had some officers who were getting ready to PCS from Germany to Japan, and we had a colonel who was an attorney, and he was our chairman of deacons, and he came to me, he hugged me, he said, Dr. Jack, the only reason I don't want to go to Japan is I don't want to leave you. I wish I could take you with me to Japan. I wish I could take Miss Barbara and leave you here. Okay, I understand that. I understand that. Anyway, that's the kind of people they are, but I'm saying to you all, that church was very well organized. And you look at this church, and all of a sudden Paul says, I want to thank you in Philippi for the bishops and the deacons and the presbyteros, for the presbytery, the elders. This was a well-organized church. And Paul is very grateful for their organization. So as we come to verse 9 and 10 in the first chapter, Paul goes to prayer for these people. Now, he's given them a number of things to think about. He gave them another military statement in verse 7, where he said, in my chains I am here for the defense of the gospel. And there you pick up another military term, the defense of the gospel. And he says, I'm going to make a confirmation of the gospel. So I'm here to defend the gospel. And I want you to know that's why I'm here. And then, after he says that, if God be my witness, I greatly long to see you again. So Paul was really wanting to see the... Paul loved these people. By the way, these people were the ones who supported him probably most fully than anybody. They probably sent him more contributions than any of the other churches, because every time he talks to them, he thanks them for their support. So evidently, there were a number of military people who had retired there who were pretty wealthy, and they were helping the Apostle Paul after Lydia, who was pretty wealthy and had a home there. So you have a lot of wealthy people here in this city, and they're all supporting Paul. And in verse 10, he goes to prayer. In verse 9, he says, And this I pray. And now here's what he's going to pray. I pray that your love abound, and that your knowledge abound, and your discernment abound. Now, I'm going to pray for three things. I'm going to pray for your love. I want your love to abound to the people. I want you also in the same time to understand that I want God to increase the knowledge that you have of the kingdom of God and of the gospel, and by increasing your knowledge, I want him to give you a better opportunity through discernment to be able to use it. And so he's praying for them, and he prays those three things. And he says, I'm praying this in order that you may approve the things that are excellent. He said, I want you to have these three things so you can approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere without offense in the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness. Now, Paul is talking about Galatians 5:22-23. For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, generosity. You know the fruit of the Spirit. And he's saying, I'm praying for you that you will be filled with the fruits of righteousness. Righteousness is all of the fruits of the Spirit. And Paul is reminding himself about Galatia in Asia, according to Lister and Derby, those three churches that he organized, and he's telling these people, I'm praying for you the same thing that I've said to them. I want you to have all of them fruits of the Spirit. And then he closes out by saying, which are Jesus Christ through the glory of God the Father. And then he completes the prayer. At this point, he turns to what Wiersbe calls battle stations. Actually, Wiersbe calls it two things. He calls it forward advance, and he calls it battle stations. He calls it pioneers. Pioneers are those who go before. Jesus Christ, by the way, on many occasions, was identified as a pioneer, because he came and pioneered the gospel with us. He came before the gospel. So now Paul is looking at himself as a forward observer. He's going into these places, and what's going to happen here, Paul is going to tell us about four battle stations that he has to take, and that these people who are in the church at Philippi must take as well. In fact, three of these battle stations are concerning his ministry with the gospel in Rome, in chains. Now you realize he's a prisoner. This is called a prison epistle, and it was written from Rome sometime around 61-62, and it was written from Rome, and it was delivered to these people by who? Do you remember his name? He was ill? Okay, I'm going to let you think about that for a while. Epaphroditus, in case you don't remember, okay, he was delivered by Epaphroditus, who, by the way, was from Philippi, and was going to deliver this message. He was going to get it to us. So he said, I'm going to send it by our good friend Epaphroditus, and later on, as we get into here, Brother Jimmy's talking to you. He's going to tell you about Epaphroditus' illness and how he almost died. And so this letter is not a letter of condemnation to the church, as were the letters of Romans and Corinthians and Ephesians. This letter is a love letter. In fact, the only thing in here that Paul says that has any downness whatsoever is that he warns them about the Judaizers. In fact, in this first skirmish that he has that we'll talk about in chapter 1, which is his first skirmish, he talks about the Judaizers being in Rome. Now, you do recall that the Judaizers were people who claimed to be Christian, but also retained all of their Judaism. And they still believed that you could become a Christian, but you needed also, at the same time, to be a Jew. Well, you can't be both. It's sort of like a mugwump. You know what a mugwump is? That's the bird that sits on the fence with a mug on one side and a wump on the other. You can't be a mugwump. And so Paul is trying to say to them, look, these Judaizers are coming in, and these Judaizers are all over Rome. These Judaizers were giving him a fit in Rome. They gave him a fit when he was in Corinth and in Ephesus. They were always trying to prove that it was okay to be a Christian, but you also needed to be a Jew. You needed to be circumcised, is what they were saying. And so these are the Judaizers. And the only real downer in this entire book is when Paul tells them to beware of the Judaizers, because he said, they're here with me in Rome. And they will be coming if you're not careful, so simply be aware of who they are. They are people who act as if they're Christians, but they really are Jewish, and they want to condemn, they want to somehow not let the gospel be as clear as salvation by grace through faith plus nothing. They want to make it salvation by grace through faith plus circumcision. And by the way, he refers in his talking to them to Ephesians 4, to Ephesians 2, where he says, for by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yours, it is the gift of God, not of works. And there's the Judaizers. They were saying, it's okay to be saved by grace through faith, but you've got to do some works. And the Apostle Paul is always saying, no works involved. Okay, let's go on. So now we come to the first skirmish that begins basically in chapter 12. The first skirmish is an interesting skirmish that he gives information about the Praetorium, which was the barracks of the elite Praetorian troops of Caesar. In fact, I'm going to say something to you, I want you to listen carefully. He's getting ready to tell you about a magnificent evangelist who is in Rome with him whose name is Nero. I didn't get any action. He said, I'm getting ready to tell you about a great evangelist whose name is Nero. You see, ladies and gentlemen, isn't God magnificently wonderful that he could take a despot like Nero and move into Nero's heart that Nero, knowing that he has a very notable prisoner in house arrest that Nero is going to send his elite troops to be with Paul 24x7 for two and a half years. Nero doesn't realize it, but he's becoming a pretty good evangelist. Right? Am I right or am I wrong? I mean, who sent the troops to sit with Paul? Nero. And so Nero now is actually going to be the major person in the city of Rome who is going to help the apostle Paul do that which he could not do himself, and that is to spread the gospel through the whole Roman Empire. Now, in here he's going to say, I want you to know, don't worry about my chains. My chains are not bothering me. The only thing that's chained is me. The gospel is free. And the gospel is going all over the kingdom. And these young men who come and sit with me 24-7, they hear the people who come and talk to me. They hear all of my guests who are born-again believers. They hear all of your friends that you know, that you have heard about. They have heard them talking to me. They've seen me writing these letters to all the churches. They've heard me talk about redemption through Christ, about salvation and grace. They have heard me talk with these people. They and I have talked together. They ask me questions. In fact, he goes on to say, there are some of them who trade duty in order that they can come back and talk to me. Nero didn't realize what he was doing, folks. Nero was spreading the gospel throughout the entire Roman Empire by sending his, now these were elite troops. In fact, there were two Praetoriums at this particular time. There was one that was attached to the palace, and this was what was called the elite Praetorian guard. Now, every time you get to one of these kind of nations out there like Afghanistan and Iran, you hear the elite guard. Y'all hear those words? The Iranians always talk about the elite guard. Well, this is it. And Nero had picked out the very finest military young men who had demonstrated themselves to be very, very fine Roman soldiers, and these were the ones he had in his palace barracks. The word praetorium is for the word praetor. Nero was the praetor. The barracks where these people stayed were called the Praetorium. That's where they lived, and they were Nero's elite troops, and Paul is saying, I get to talk to these elite troops every day of the life, and they are eventually toward the end of this book, in the last chapter, Paul is going to say, and the gospel has spread throughout the household of Caesar. Now, the household of Caesar was this Praetorian guard palace group. Now, could it be, doing a little bit of background history, could it be that some of these retired elite military people living in Philippi back during the period of Julius Caesar and Augustus, could it be that some of these elite military retirees who fought in the Philippian War could have been these elite troops living in the praetorium when Julius Caesar was Caesar? The answer to that is absolutely yes, and that's why when Paul started talking to them in this little skirmish, he knew that they would understand when he started talking about the Praetorian guard. They knew he'd understand when he talked about the palace praetorium. They knew what he, and there was another praetorium that was built by Tiberius, but it was outside the city, not even related to this one. This one was the elite troop. God had Nero put in Rome's finest young men with Paul. What a God. How unusual. You know, only God's genius could figure that one out. He knew Paul couldn't go see them, so since Paul couldn't go see them, he brought them to Paul. Hello. Thank you, God, for bringing me all these people, and thank you, God, for letting them be saved, and thank you, God, for letting the God know, so here we go. He says, uh, so it is that it's actually this little skirmish I'm having, having and being in house arrest and in these chains. Yes, he was chained. He was chained to the shoulder. It turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. Now, watch that word. That word is very famous. That word comes from the old Greek military armory handbook. It's a military term. The furtherance of the gospel simply means that it is going into the enemy, and it is going to move the enemy to a position of destruction. And when he talks about the furtherance of the gospel, he's talking about the gospel in its power moving into the heart of these soldiers, moving into the heart of the people with whom they talk, moving into the kingdom of God, moving into the whole of the Roman Empire, he's talking about this particular gospel is going to be for the furtherance of the gospel. Push right through everything. So that, it has become evident that the whole palace guard and all of the rest with whom I am talking, that my chains are in Christ, and most of the brethren in the Lord have become confident by my chains are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Paul said, they've seen what I'm doing, and because they've seen me in my incarceration, they've seen me in my imprisonment, they've seen me in my jail, but they have seen how God is doing a miracle through a desperate emperor, how God is sending all these people, and he said, even my brethren are beginning to see what's happening, and it's giving them boldness. They're becoming more and more. He says in verse 15, some indeed preach Christ from envy and strife, and some from goodwill. Now, let me tell you, that's the Judaizers. He's telling them about the Judaizers here. And so in this little skirmish, Paul is remembering that in Rome, there are a lot of Judaizers. Evidently, they have not yet arrived in Philippi. And so he's warning them to be aware of who they are and their mode of operations. And so he says to them, these are the people who preach Christ from envy and strife, and there are some of the others who do it by goodwill. He says in verse 16, the former preached Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing to add to my affliction in chains, but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense, there's that word again, the defense of the gospel. He says it in 7, he says it in 17. I am here for the defense of the gospel. So he's saying to them, look, these Judaizers, they think by their preaching, salvation by grace through faith plus circumcision, they think that by preaching that, because I am incarcerated, I will not be able to be out there going against them. They think that I am incarcerated in a house, I can't get out. They have free reign of the entire area and they feel like they can do anything they want to me, to do to me with my chains. But he said, remember, Christ Jesus is with me in my chains. And he says to them, no matter what they do, and no matter what they preach, the gospel is being preached. He says in 17, in 18, what then? If the gospel is being preached, what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And for this, I rejoice. Isn't that a wonderful attitude? Now, these were his arch enemies. These Judaizers were his arch enemies. I mean, they hated Paul. They were thrilled to death he was in incarceration. They were thrilled to death he was in chains. They were thrilled to death they had him off the street. They were tickled that he was in such a position that he couldn't get to anybody. They didn't realize he didn't have to. That God was sending all of them to him. And that the gospel was being preached beyond the Roman people of Rome. It was going throughout the Roman and throughout the empire. And the gospel was being preached all over. He says, for I know, in verse 19, I know this will turn out for my salvation through your prayers and the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Do you know what he just said? He said, I know that what's happening to me, eventually will let me see you again. It will be part of, now he's not talking about eternal salvation. Paul wasn't worried about that. He's talking about his release from prison. In fact, in the very last of this book, Paul says to them, I hope to see you again. Paul always was confident that somewhere along the way he'd see these people again. And here he's saying, you know, because of what's going on, this may move to my release. And if it moves to my release, my salvation from these chains, if it moves for my release, I will see you again. He says for my prayer is and your support and your prayer and the money that you sent is being sent to me and that's going to help me get released so that I can go out and preach again. Hello? The book of Romans last chapter says when Paul was released, he and Silas headed for Spain. Did he get salvation from his chains? Yes. Is that what he asked his church to remember? Yes. Is that what they were remembering? Yes. Did they support him so he could keep renting his apartment in Rome? Yes. All the above is yes. And Paul's thanking this church because they are covering all the above. His skirmish is not the kind of skirmish that he worried about. In fact, he's going to tell him about another skirmish in a moment. And so he says in verse 19, I know that this will turn out for my salvation through your prayer and spirit of Jesus Christ because it is according to my earnest expectation and hope. Whoa. That word earnest expectation is always attached to Christ's second advent. Every time in scripture you see these words earnest expectation that is the expectation of Jesus Christ coming back again. And Paul is saying here to them this is according to my earnest expectation and hope. My earnest expectation is in Jesus Christ and my hope of heaven is in Jesus Christ. All of this is in my eternal expectation and hope. And I want you to know that with that I shall not be ashamed. Now, what is the opposite of being ashamed? Somebody tell me. What is the opposite of being ashamed? I'm sorry? Being joyful. Oh, by the way, the name of Wiersbe's little book is Be Joyful. Now, the opposite of ashamed is joyful. The opposite of ashamed is approved. The opposite of ashamed is being myself. It's against what is not right. And so he says it won't be to my, I will not be ashamed but with boldness as always now also Christ will be magnified in my body. Whether I'm in chains or whether I'm free. Whether I'm with you or whether I'm not with you. Now, I'm going to pause for a moment, give you a little bit of Greek lesson. This word earnest expectation is a beautiful word. In fact, it has two parts. It has the first part of looking up. Looking up. And the second part is the extension of the neck. And sometimes when we all kind of get together and we have our own little sayings with each other, we say, oh, if we could just see the rapture. Have you ever seen what you do when you say, you see what I just did? Lift up your eyes. Jesus said, lift up your eyes into the hill for here comes the salvation. Lift up your eyes. Earnest expectation. That's what Paul said. Paul said, when I lift up my eyes you know what I see? I see Jesus Christ in victory. That's my earnest expectation. So every time you think about that think of lifting up your head and stretching out your neck. I lift up my eyes and stretch out my neck waiting for the conservation of the world. Don't you? I do every day. Every day Barbara and I pray, even so, Lord Jesus, come what? Quickly. Come quickly. Earnest expectation. Lift up your eyes. So that's the end of this first skirmish. That was his first little battle. Now he's getting ready to talk about his second battle. And his second battle, quite frankly, is one of his own. And he has to work through it. And so he gets ready to tell these people as he says, Christ be magnified for to me to die is gain. For me to die is gain. Now, pause for just a moment. The Apostle Paul says in the situation which I find myself and the fact that I'm a prisoner and the fact that I don't know any day what Nero may do and the fact that I'm in his hands and yet God is taking care of me and spreading the gospel. I want you to know for I, for me to live is for Christ to live. As long as I am alive, Christ will be in me. And he says for me to live is Christ and if I die, that will be gain. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if we die before the rapture and the return of Christ and his second advent, we will not be in the full promise of his redemptive glory. We will be in a partial eternity. We will be in that waiting place for, to wit, the redemption of our souls and the resurrection of our bodies. It is a partial eternity in which we wait. Now, there's a great little story in the book of Luke and it's the story of the rich man and Lazarus. And in the story of the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus dies and is, and is he is escorted into the halls of heaven by the angels of heaven and he is in the presence of God. Question, is that the full glorification of eternity? No. What Lazarus is in a partial part of eternity. There are all kinds of names for it in the word of God. Some call it Sheol. Some call it the waiting place. Some call it the place of the dead. There are just a lot of names for it. But as we see Lazarus, we see him in heaven. He is in glory. He is in perfect, he is in perfect, in a perfect place. It is a glorious place. It is a wonderful place. And he sees, he hears God talking to somebody and God is talking to the somebody whose name was and he's in hell. He's in the other place. Now, the question is, does Lazarus ever talk to the man in hell? No. The only person who talks to the man in Hades is God. Lazarus is there. And the man in hell sees Lazarus there. And the man in Hades says to God, God, could you send Lazarus back to earth for just a little while and let him go and tell my brothers? I have four brothers. I don't want them to come here. Isn't it interesting that people become evangelists the first second in hell? They don't want anybody else to come here. And so, the divies, we put a name on them. We call them divies. The man in hell says, let Lazarus go and tell my brothers. And God who is talking to him says, no, no, my son. I can't do that. For you see, he says, even if someone should return from the dead, they will not believe. That was a precursor of the cross. That was a precursor of resurrection. Even if someone in our period of time rose from the dead, they still would not believe. And guess what? 2024, they're still not believing. And so he says, you know, let me tell you, here's how I'm feeling about you. Now, at this point, Paul's assiseral takes over. Have you ever... Now, I'm going to embarrass her. I'm going to embarrass her. She doesn't believe me, but the first week that I saw her in that choir in Terrell, Texas, when I was doing a revival meeting, I had an upheaval inside of me that I cannot explain to you. It was in my viscera. It was all right. And it wasn't gas either. I mean, when I saw her, every time I saw her during that revival meeting, it just swelled up inside of me. I mean, hey, I was madly in love with that girl. And two weeks later, we spent together down in Houston. She was down there with her parents on a vacation. I was down in Houston gym for two revival meetings, and I saw her every night, and every time I saw... And you know what? It still does it, Barbara. It still does it. And I hope it still does it for you too, Jim. I know it does. You know, it's a wonderful feeling. Now, watch what Paul's going to write. Paul's going to tell them, this is the way I feel about you. And this is my battle, because I love you so much. I don't want to die yet. But watch what he says. For I'm hard-pressed between the two. What are you hard-pressed against, Paul? Against whether I need to live or die. I'm hard-pressed against the two. Having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is much better for me. Now, go back to 21. For me to live is what? And to die is what? You know, for me to go is much better for me. But he goes on to say, but if I shall remain and continue with you, but nonetheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And Paul says, I really need to stay here more for you. And he goes on to say, and being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress in joy and faith. And your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my watch coming again. What did Paul have always in his mind? When I get out of this place, where am I coming? I'm coming to Philippi. When I get out of these chains and I get back, where am I coming? I'm coming to Philippi. I'm coming to Philippi because you folks have loved me so much. You folks have supplied me so much. I'm coming to Philippi. And Paul is saying, you know, for me to die is gain for me. But it may be hurtful for you. So therefore, I am praying that God leave me here for your sake. Okay? That's the battle he's having. It's an internal battle with his vociferal, with his great feeling of love and joy and appreciation for these people. Paul's really laying out his heart for these people. Then he gets into the third battle. He says for only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. That's the fourth battle. Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. Whether I come and see you or whether I remain 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 in no way be terrified of any adversaries which come among you. Don't be terrified of the Judaizers if they come among you, which is a proof of two things. He says, you see, when the Judaizers come against me, it shows me two things that you need to know. The first thing it shows me is their path to perdition. It shows me where they're going. It shows me of their lostness. It shows me of their ungodliness. Every time the Judaizers show up it shows me of their place in eternity. It shows me of their perdition. It shows me of where they're going. But at the same time it also demonstrates to me that I have been saved. If I hadn't been saved why would they attack me? If I had not been saved, if I was not preaching the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ, why would they be my enemy? If I was on their side, they'd be my friend. And so he says, you see, it's not only for my salvation and your salvation that they may come, but it's also to let you know of their perdition. They are on the way to eternal separation from God. Be aware of that. And it's only because of your salvation through Jesus Christ that you are not going with them. And now he comes to the end of this chapter. And I will be through in a quarter till. Jim, you have it all next week. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him. I'm going to go to my last page because I want to read something to you. Here is what Paul is saying to these people in Philippi. 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. He said, I want you to know in other churches they are suffering persecution in severe manners. In other churches many of our co-laborers in Christ are being killed. In other places the gospel of Jesus Christ is attempted to be stamped out. In many other places there is a great suffering going on. I want you people in Philippi because I know you have not suffered this way I want you simply to be prepared of the fact that there may come a time when you will suffer this way and when it comes, be ready and be sure that you stand fast and you stand right in the faith of Jesus Christ through your redemption. Here is what I want to read to you. But it is also the proof of your salvation relationship that was graciously given you through faith in Jesus Christ the reason this has been so graciously granted to you by Christ is so you will not only believe in him as in my present situation but you will also suffer for his sake recognizing yours is the same battle I am fighting. What you hear I am doing in this fight you do it also. What you hearing that I am doing in this fight if it comes to your church if it comes in your fellowship if it comes into your life if persecution, death and sorrow be a member of your community just remember what I am doing remember how I am suffering remember how my chains are here remember that I can't be with you which is my greatest desire remember how graciously I feel toward you remember how I would love to hug you and tell you how much I love you remember how I am hurting because I can't see you if it comes to you and you get into that same situation don't cave in you do it also. Now ladies and gentlemen the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always been an army and Jesus Christ has always been our commander we have some marvelous reformation hymns that speak of the army onward Christian soldiers marching as to war with the cross of Jesus going on before like a mighty army moves the church of God brothers we are treading where the saints have trod we are not divided all one body we one in hope in faith charity onward Christian soldiers we sing a little song at Thanksgiving that is not a Thanksgiving song it's really a battle song and the little song is so interesting because we sing it as a we sing it as a Thanksgiving song we gather together to ask the Lord's blessings don't know that little song? we sing it at Thanksgiving that's not a Thanksgiving song that's an army song watch we gather together to ask the Lord's blessings we hasten and chasten his will to make known the wicked oppressing will cease from successing give praises to his name he forgets not his own beside us to guide us our Lord with us battling ordaining maintaining his will to make known and from the beginning the fight we're winning sing praises to his name he forgets not his own ladies and gentlemen Paul talking to an army an audience of military retirees gives them four skirmishes in which they must fight the first skirmish is you must fight against the Roman Empire that was his first skirmish the second skirmish is you must fight against the Judaizers that was his skirmish the third skirmish is you must fight whether you want to live or die and to die is gain but the fourth skirmish is the one you need to stay with and the fourth skirmish is whatever may come to you as it has come to me stand therefore stand therefore and so the Apostle Paul ends this by saying having the same conflict which you saw in me and now here is in me you do it also ladies and gentlemen outside that door there's a battle going on the battle is between good and evil right and wrong righteousness and sin ugliness and godliness and right outside that door it's waiting for us and we have to battle our way in we have to battle our way out the kingdom of God is not a kingdom of soft pillows the kingdom of God is marching on to war amen and so in our hearts in our lives get ready for next week because brother Jimmy is going to tell you about wonderful wonderful joy by the way be joyful and that's what chapter 2 is all about be joyful and Paul says I will rejoice I don't care what the situation is I'm going to rejoice you can either hang your lip or you can get it up and you can either cheer or you can and Paul says I'm going to cheer because I know who won I do too I read the end of the book amen let's pray sovereign God just like Paul we are chained in many ways yet even in our own life that shouldn't stop the gospel from going through us it doesn't matter how Saint Christ stop us the gospel is free we may be incarcerated but the gospel is free and help us father to understand the enemy help us to know what the enemy is trying to do he is trying to decimate the kingdom of God help us to understand who our Judaizers are help us to understand that it could be a whole lot better if we were with you we've all looked at second place and second place sure looks a whole lot better than this one and yet father we know that to live is you and to die is our gain but we also have an army and a battle and a team with which we must work and father we just need to understand that we need to keep on keeping on and that whatever we do however we are incarcerated however they stop us we are to give ourselves through you fully in order that we might glorify magnify the kingdom of God and honor our Lord Jesus Christ our general our king our lord in his name we pray in his wonderful holy love amen see you next Sunday