Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- Opening Prayer
- Application First
- Fellowship
- Humility
- Don’t Be Nicer Than Jesus
- Joy
- Hope
- Closing Prayer
Opening Prayer
Good to see you. We’re going to be looking at a couple of passages in Philippians today. First, let’s go to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you so much for us gathering together today to be able to rejoice in who you are, that you are a great God, that your mercy extends and extends and extends. We thank you, God, that you are a merciful God, that all who come to you, who seek you, Lord, who come and humble themselves before you, Lord, you [audio unclear] the church. We thank you, Father, that your word is true and that we can look to it to know how to live, to know how to walk in your ways, Lord, to see who you are. So Lord, bless the preaching of your word as we continue on. Amen.
Application First
All right, we’ve come to the end of Philippians. So this is going to kind of be a wrap-up on the book, if you will. And I’m going to essentially emphasize three main themes that we’ve seen in this book. Those themes being fellowship, humility, and joy. And I might add a fourth. We’ll see.
But I’m going to actually start by giving you my application first, which is contrary to appropriate homiletics. But here’s my application in Philippians 1:21. Why don’t you just turn there so you can see it for yourselves. Very simple verse:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
(Philippians 1:21)
You glorify God as you grow in Christlikeness. And so here’s my question for these three things that we’re going to talk about: fellowship, humility, joy. We’ve been in Philippians for a little while, but my question is, have you grown in these areas? Have you heard the word preached on these particular subjects, and you look back over the past year or so plus, how are you doing? If you’re not being changed by the word, that’s not good. The point is for the word to change you. So is it? That’s really the question. And the point is to let the word well up inside you and then pour forth. So Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you”—how?—“richly.” And then it kind of tells us what, in part, the word dwelling in us richly looks like:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(Colossians 3:16)
One of the things I appreciate about this church among many is that when we come to worship, we truly worship. Like, we sing and we engage in singing. So sometimes I’m blessed just to hear other people singing during worship. We’re lifting up our great God. That’s why we don’t always crank up the volume, because we think it’s appropriate for us to hear one another, even if it’s off tune a little bit. Praise the Lord with one another. We’re lifting up our voices to him. So it’s a good thing. We’re actually putting into practice exactly what Colossians 3 says when we do that. Singing psalms and spiritual songs and hymns, admonishing one another, teaching one another—we’re doing those things. Now this is the teaching and admonishing part. But the point is to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. When it does that, it has an effect. One, it has a salvific effect initially when you trust in Christ, when you repent of your sins. Yes? Which kind of works into fellowship a little bit. But the question that I want you to think about when I’m hitting each of these topics today is to ask yourself, have I grown in this area?
And also think of the specific members of the Philippian church. There’s actually a number of members that are mentioned either in Acts or Philippians. We’re not going to read it, but it’s in Acts 16 if you’re taking notes. You remember the key, really the two key people in Acts that are members of the Philippian church? Come on, y’all. Lydia, right? What does she sell? Purple, good job. All right, well remember what I was talking about? The word of Christ dwelling in you richly? And the Philippian jailer, right? The Philippian jailer. There’s also possibly the slave girl who had a demon cast out of her by Paul. She might have gotten saved. It doesn’t really indicate that, but it’s possible. So if so, she would have been a member of the church. Epaphroditus, Syntyche, Euodia, we read about them in Philippians. Clement. And here’s the interesting thing. So some of them have Greek names. Epaphroditus, Syntyche, Euodia, those are Greek names. Clement’s name is Latin. And Lydia, mentioned in Acts, also bears a Latin moniker. So it seems that the church consisted of a mix of those from Greek and Roman backgrounds, which is pretty much how the city was composed. But the Philippians were learning to walk with Christ and grow in sanctification just like we are.
And some of these things I’m going to talk about today—what’s our theme for the year? Yeah, slay the dragon. So some of these things are dragons that need to be slain in your life. Maybe as we talk about fellowship, you’re like, that’s not my cup of tea. Well, that’s not good. This Bible talks a whole lot about fellowship. This might be something that you need to work on in your life and ask the Lord to continue to do work.
Fellowship
So fellowship, I would say, is the major theme of the book. A lot of people will say joy. That’s okay. I forgive you. But fellowship really is the main theme. How do we know this? Well, because the entire book is what we would call—and I talked about it some last week—an inclusio. What’s an inclusio? Well, it’s just Latin for enclosure or confinement. And it’s a literary or rhetorical device that’s used in the Greek New Testament, actually quite a bit. And it consists of repeating a key word or phrase or theme or idea at the beginning of a section and then at the end of the section, or in this case, an entire book. And it frames the material in between. Well, what are the primary purposes that a writer in the New Testament would do that? Well, one, it marks textual boundaries and creates unity. Two, it highlights and emphasizes a central theme. Three, it provides structure, cohesion, and closure, and then to some extent, it could aid memorability.
Let me just give you a few examples in the New Testament so you kind of see it a little bit. In Romans 1:5, you don’t have to turn there, you can just listen. It says,
Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.
(Romans 1:5)
This is how Romans starts in verse 5, after the introductions and grace and peace to you and all that. That’s how it starts, the obedience of faith, right? Well, how does Romans end? Well, Romans 16:26, the second-to-last verse, he says,
But has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.
(Romans 16:26)
You want to know what Romans is about? It’s underscoring that true faith produces obedience. That’s the inclusio. The whole book is an inclusio, talking about the obedience of faith at the beginning and the end. It’s saying the entire book has that as its focus, the obedience of faith.
We see it also in Matthew. Not every book is like this, but we see it in Matthew, Matthew 1:23. You can just listen:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means, God with us.
(Matthew 1:23)
That’s how Matthew begins. How does Matthew end? “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So Jesus is introduced as Immanuel, God with us. And the gospel closes with, “I am with you always.” Major inclusio again of the entire gospel. It frames the gospel of Matthew around the theme of God himself. Listen, God himself coming in the flesh to this world. That’s the major theme. God has entered this world. And what do we see? Yeah, that’s what Matthew’s gospel is about. Who’s it written to? Primarily the first audience. It was Jewish readers. We see it also with the withered fig tree. You ever read that and you’re like, what in the world is going on with Jesus cursing this fig tree? Well, that’s an inclusio. So you can go look at it yourself, Mark 11:12–25, but that will help you understand what’s going on there.
So in Philippians, when we look at Philippians chapter 1, starting in verse 3, there’s 13 words or phrases that are then repeated in the same order in Philippians 4:10–20. So the book begins with these 13 words or phrases, and then it ends with these 13 words or phrases. That’s not coincidence. That’s very intentional on Paul’s part. He’s setting up this inclusio. And what do we see? What’s his emphasis? If you’d like that list afterwards, just shoot me a text or something. It’s pretty cool to see. If this was more like a lecture, we’d walk through it a little bit, but it’s not. So if you’d like the list, text me and I can give it to you. It’s actually pretty cool. But what do we see? His whole emphasis in Philippians is on fellowship. Fellowship. Everything in between shows us what fellowship looks like.
So fellowship, as we saw last week, has as one of its key aspects—which isn’t really talked about too often when it comes to fellowship—but as one of its key aspects is a financial aspect. Now, not always in every situation, but when we’re talking peer to peer, when we’re talking a horizontal relationship, when we’re talking a relationship with one another, there at times is this aspect when the Bible talks about fellowship of it being financial. So let’s just look at that briefly so you can see it in case you weren’t here last week. So Philippians chapter 1, verse 3, he says,
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
(Philippians 1:3–5)
Well, that Greek word that we see in English, “partnership,” is that Greek word koinonia. Commonly translated fellowship, sometimes partnership, and a couple other words. But because of your partnership in the gospel—well, what’s the partnership? Well, we have to keep reading to really find out. And in a larger sense, the partnership is the Philippians encouraging him, standing with him, supporting him, praying for him, right? And also, financially. They give to him. They help him out. Well, how do we see that? Well, we see partnership, or this word fellowship, used a few times throughout Philippians, primarily in that context. And then at the end in Philippians 4, it brings it out the most, the clearest. [audio unclear] that Greek word, koinonia. So Paul’s saying it was kind of you to share my trouble. How do they share the trouble? They’re not in prison with him. They’re not sharing in that sense. Well, how are they? Keep reading:
And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again.
(Philippians 4:15–16)
So what’s the sharing in trouble? Them financially giving to the support of Paul. Now did he ask for it? Nope. In fact, in Corinthians, we looked at it a couple weeks ago, he specifically is like, I have the right to ask for it, but I don’t ever ask for it. But they saw that he was in need, he’s in prison, he needs sustenance, he needs to be provided for, the Philippians step up. So that is the major theme of Philippians. But we see a couple other themes that are emphasized.
Humility
A second one is humility. Look at Philippians chapter 2. In verse 1 it starts,
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 2:1–5)
So we looked at humility, and what did we see? Well, Christ modeled humility for us. How did he model it? Well, keep reading:
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
(Philippians 2:6–8)
So we looked at the humility of Jesus. You know, in broader Greco-Roman literature and times, humility was seen as a pejorative. It was not good to be humble. But our example isn’t the culture back then. It’s not the culture today. It’s really not a good thing to be humble, for the most part, in today’s world. But our standard is Jesus and his words. Whatever he says, that’s what we need to do. Oftentimes, we’re only being asked to do what Jesus has already said or done for us or to us. He speaks to us and he gives us commands, right? Or he shows us an example and then we follow it out. So oftentimes we’re only being asked to do what Jesus already modeled for us when he was on the earth. And what do we see from Jesus? Well, Matthew 11:29:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
(Matthew 11:29)
That’s the same word there that we see in Philippians, that idea of lowly. And later he tells us in Matthew 20:
Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
(Matthew 20:28)
So over and over again, we see this idea of Jesus walking in humility before us, Jesus walking it out. Peter picks up on this, and in the book of 1 Peter, he says,
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
(1 Peter 5:5–6)
So we see a humility in Christ, but we don’t just see it on the earth, we actually see a humility in Christ in heaven. Think back to verse 6: “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” He didn’t try to grasp equality. What was the focus of the Son of God in heaven? It was on glorifying the Father. Over and over in John 17, right? Glorifying the Father. So what does he do? Well then he comes to earth, and what do we see? He continues to model that humility on earth, but verse 7, he emptied himself, and we looked at what that means. The emptying includes a change of roles and status. It’s not emptying of essential nature or attributes, but he empties himself. Why? Well, one, in obedience to the Father, and two, to redeem a people for his own pleasure.
And we see this humility all over the Old Testament. I mean, the pagans don’t like it. It’s very unheard of in non-biblical literature, but even if you just—I mean, even predated in the New Testament, you go back to the Old Testament, we see this as well. Think of Joseph’s submission to God’s plan. I mean, he humbles himself. He submits to God’s plan. When Pharaoh asked Joseph to interpret his dreams, I mean, don’t you just love what he says? He’s like, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” I mean, that was his chance to take the credit. I mean, he’s in prison, right? This is his chance. What does he do? He deflects. What about Abraham when he’s pleading for Sodom? Right, over and over he’s pleading for the Lord, right? Oh, there’s 50, what if there’s 50, right? What if there’s 45? 40, right? What does he say? “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” We see it in Josiah’s repentance. We see it in Joseph’s forgiveness for his brothers. Christ is the perfect example of humility.
Don’t Be Nicer Than Jesus
But let me just say, here’s what we do. We like to define humility however we want to define it. And we look at the instances in Scripture where we see Jesus expressing humility as the main attribute in the story, and we think that particular action is always what humility looks like in every other situation, and it’s how we should always act in all situations at all times. Listen, we have to be careful when we talk about humility to not let it overshadow all other characteristics. We have to let our idea of humility not make Jesus into someone that he’s not.
Did you know it’s possible to be nicer than Jesus? It’s possible to be nicer than Jesus. Notice I didn’t say more loving or more kind—that’s not possible—but nicer, yes. What do I mean by that? It means someone who is prioritizing being agreeable or non-confrontational or inoffensive over speaking hard truths or confronting wrongdoing. Jesus was profoundly loving, compassionate, merciful, walked in humility. However, he also called people vipers. He called people children of the devil. He called people whitewashed tombs. Was that very nice? Not very nice. Is it nice? No. We’re not called to be nice. He overturned tables and drove people out of the temple with a whip. He spoke bluntly about judgment, hell, and the cost of following him. He refused to soft-pedal truth even when it cost him popularity. All of those things, if we just put them in their own little category, probably humility is not the first word we would use to describe those things. But was he humble? Yes. Being nicer than Jesus treats modern niceness as a higher virtue than the actual character and actions of Jesus. Listen, once you understand this, you’ll see it everywhere. Everywhere.
So there’s a person, a member in the church, has a question of beliefs but wants to teach a Sunday school. We should be loving and kind and nice to that person and let them lead the Sunday school? No. You don’t bring wolves into the sanctuary. You don’t bring wolves into the hen house. Another person is hard to work with, but they’re always willing to be in charge of something. And they’re put in charge because the leadership wants to be nice to that person. And you’ll hear sometimes, you have a problem after problem after problem with the person. “Well, we can’t really say no to them. That’s not nice.” So what do you do? You end up sacrificing the people for the comfort of the individual. That’s what you do. And that’s wrong. You’re trying to be nicer than Jesus.
We could come up with example after example. A person repeatedly harms others—maybe it’s manipulation, emotional abuse, financial exploitation, chronic irresponsibility—and the Christian response is endless second chances with no real consequence. You’re being nicer than Jesus. And what’s the card that’s always put? “Oh, we have to give him grace. We have to give him grace.” We do have to give him grace, but that’s not what grace looks like. What’s the other card they play? “Oh, we have to forgive 70 times.” We do have to forgive, absolutely. That’s not setting any of that aside. We also have to walk in wisdom. So Jesus commanded forgiveness, but he also set clear boundaries. Jesus commanded forgiveness and love, but he didn’t entrust himself to those who were untrustworthy. He says that. So unlimited access without accountability is often nicer than Jesus, not more like him.
So this definition of “nice”—always pleasant, never ruffling feathers, conflict-avoidant—it doesn’t accurately describe Jesus. Was Jesus willing to ruffle feathers? Yes. Was he always pleasant? No. I mean, seriously, sometimes I wonder, I’m just being honest, how people claim to be believers and don’t get some basic concepts in the New Testament. Because you can’t read through the Gospels and come away with trying to be nicer than Jesus and think, oh, he’s always so cuddly. You just can’t do that, brothers and sisters. I mean, Jesus, I mean at times I’m just like, whoa! [audio unclear] Why? Because we are working with a wrong framework of what it is to be nice, to be kind, to be humble, and humility. So Jesus should be the one that sets the tone.
[audio unclear] What does salt preserve? What does it preserve? Well, a dying society that desperately needs the gospel and desperately needs Jesus. What does light do? It illuminates. It shines. It goes into the darkness and exposes. That’s what light does. So if you want to engage on these things, if you want to be salt and light, if you want to engage the culture, if you want to defend doctrine, if you want to stand for Jesus, if you want to stand on his word, if you want to be salt and light, you’re going to have conflict. You can’t have a passive agreeableness. I know that’s easy. I know that’s the easy way. I know it’s just easy. Just go along to get along. That’s not the Jesus way. So there’s no place for passive agreeableness when it comes to defending the truth. There’s no place for passive agreeableness when it comes to ministering to those you love.
Think about loving your enemies. I love how one theologian put it. He says, Jesus just tells us to love our enemies. Sadly, we often read this command in the wrong way. We think that it means something like, treat your enemies as your friends. But that’s not what it says. That kind of behavior would be foolish. When our enemies aim to do evil things to others, the best way to love them is to stop them. Think about that. The best way to love them is to stop them. And if you love your neighbor according to God’s standards, your neighbor might not feel loved according to his own standards. But if you are truly loving your neighbor according to God’s standards, then it doesn’t matter how your neighbor feels. Maybe they need that tough word. Don’t be nicer than Jesus.
Joy
Thirdly, joy. The words “joy” and “rejoice” appear a number of times throughout Philippians. I just want to encourage you. The fruit of the Spirit—what is the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. We need to walk in those. Some believers don’t do a good job of walking in joy. Well, you should read Philippians, and then you should read it again. And then you should read it again. And then you should read it again. Because there’s a whole lot of joy, especially for a man who’s sitting in prison and doesn’t know if his end is near. There’s a lot of joy. But we oftentimes run pretty short in this area.
You know the parables of the seeds, right? How many seeds are there? Different types of seeds. There’s four, right? The path, Satan grabs the word away; the rocky ground, tribulation or persecution comes, and the person falls away; the thorns, worries of the world choke it away; the good soil, it flourishes. You ever ask yourself, hey, which one of these am I? Or which one of these might I be in danger of becoming? You should. Is that good self-reflection? You should ask yourself, which one might I be tempted to succumb to? And I forget which gospel it is that talks about it, but one of them with the thorns, it says the deceitfulness of riches. The deceitfulness of riches is what causes the person to walk away. The deceitfulness of riches. So sometimes we’re like the seed that gets choked by the worries of the world. We let things choke away our joy. Listen, there’s always going to be another problem. There’s always going to be another challenging situation. There’s always going to be something that you have to work through. If it’s not today, it’s going to be tomorrow. Well, you should still walk in joy. You should still choose joy. It’s a fruit of the Spirit. And we should have it in our lives, not just in a small measure, but in a large measure.
You know, that word occurs over 45 times in the book of Psalms. And why is that important? Because it’s the worship book of Israel. So God has laid out for us, hey, here’s a great way to worship me. You can worship me using the Psalms. Some churches only use the Psalms. I don’t agree with that, but that’s their thing. But think about it. 47 times. How many Psalms are there? 150 in the English Bible. Okay, so I mean, you’re just seeing joy a whole lot in those 150 Psalms. A couple of verses. Psalm 4:7:
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
(Psalm 4:7)
I mean, that’s just a convicting verse. Because you think when you’re having a good time, you’re partying with your friends, or you’re having some fine meal, celebrating some great occasion, like, I mean, you’re happy, you’re joyous, right? But what does it say? You, meaning the Lord, have put more joy in my heart than they have, other people, when their grain and wine abound. Like, you’re joyous. God’s given you this joy that supersedes any particular incident or occasion. Well, is that true of you? It should be, but if it’s not, do something about it. Psalm 16:11:
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
(Psalm 16:11)
You lack in joy? Guess what? You get the answer right here, Psalm 16. “In your presence there is fullness of joy.” You want a little more joy? Get in the presence of the Lord. Come into his presence. Get alone with him. Seek him. Get some time in prayer. Get into the word, read the Psalms, read Philippians. But it’s interesting because when we talk about joy, the idea is more than just to have joy, but to kind of like let it flow through you and be a key part of you. Ten verses in the Psalms say the phrase “shout for joy,” right? They don’t say shout for peace or shout for faithfulness, right? I mean, joy comes through, and part of it would be a shout for joy. Psalm 33:1: “Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.” So the idea is to not just sing, right, but truly sing with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and yes, at times this includes shouting for joy. And notice what else it talks about: five times it talks about making a joyful noise. All right, and we do a good job of that, making noise on Sundays. Psalm 95—actually y’all are pretty impressive singers overall. I’m serious. We do make a noise, but it is joyful and it is pleasing to the Lord. And we’ve been blessed with some amazing singers in here, even on the worship team, but apart from the worship team. Maybe you need to be on the worship team. But come, let us sing to the Lord. Psalm 95, verse 1:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
(Psalm 95:1)
The point is that the sound we make in worship should sound joyful. It should sound joyful. Not dour, not downtrodden, joyful. Psalm 98: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.” So I’m talking about joy, joy in worship, but I’m also talking about joy in all of life. It’s possible to walk in this manner by the Spirit. The same Spirit who filled Paul also fills us. And his fruit has been the same for generation after generation.
Then you’ve heard of the well-known verse, you probably don’t know where it’s at, where it talks about the joy of the Lord is our strength. Anyone know the reference? Nehemiah. That’s right. Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people,
This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
(Nehemiah 8:9–10)
Even if you just consider the context that Paul is writing—in prison, yet joy. That’s just over and over. I mean, it’s one of the three key themes of the book: joy, joy, joy, joy, joy.
Hope
And I’d say there’s maybe one more theme, or maybe a takeaway from the book. And that word would be hope. When you finish Philippians, you walk away feeling hopeful. In prison, but there’s hope. Disunity, but there’s hope. Wrong motives in preaching the gospel, but there’s hope. I mean, it’s an encouraging book. That’s why people love reading it. It’s encouraging. Listen. Listen, some of the best counseling you can get is just to immerse yourself in the word. That’s nothing to take away from counselors out there. But some of the best counseling you get is just to immerse yourself in the word, immerse yourself in prayer. You know what the failure rate of secular counseling is? 85%. 85%. That’s the acknowledged failure rate of secular counseling. You do much better knowing this thing backwards and forwards. Your chances are much higher, immersing yourself in this, to walk away a little better. 85%. That’s crazy. I’m not talking about biblical counseling, by the way. That’s different, but secular counseling.
But the other reason for hope is this, Philippians. Look there as we wrap up. Philippians 1, verse 6, he says,
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 1:6)
God finishes whatever he starts. He always finishes it. So if you’re one of his, he began a good work in you. He commits, he promises, he will bring it to completion. Some days might seem slow, some days might be painful, but he commits to bring it to completion. So we keep running the race. God finishes what he starts.
Think about, have you ever read a book or watched a movie and like the movie’s wrapping up and you’re just like, oh, I just want to see like a week later, a month later, a year later, but the movie or the book doesn’t give you that privilege. I was watching this movie the other day. Some people say I like B-rated movies, and some of them I probably do. I was watching this B-rated movie, major flop at the theaters, but I like it. Don’t ask me afterwards, because I’m not going to tell you. You’ll judge me. But I was watching this, and it was like wrapping up, and I was like, no, I want to see how they would have continued on for another week or another month. But I mean, if you really think about it, if they continued on for another year or two years or five years or 10 years or 50 years, what happens? They die. Every fairy tale has an ending and it’s usually nice, but if they continue that fairy tale another 25, 50, 75 years, they’d all be dead. True? I mean, it’s true. Every story ends in death. Except the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—how do they end? With resurrection. I mean, there’s a death there, right? But that story carries on three days later, and there’s resurrection. Every other story, death; the gospel ends with life. And that life today is offered freely to all.
If you trust in Christ, you repent of your sins, you turn away, you humble yourself as those verses we were looking at earlier with humility. You come before the God of the universe, confess your sins, repent, meaning turn away, and ask him for forgiveness. He is so quick to forgive. He will forgive you. And trust in what Jesus did, that Jesus paid the penalty for your sins, and that was enough. Nothing else has to be added to it.
I was talking to one of my kids the other day, about ultimately about salvation. And I was like, well, if you really want to know what someone believes in terms of their theology, if they say they’re a believer, just say, hey, if you died right now, where would you go? I know we use that in sharing with people for evangelism, but I was just like, hey, if you really want to figure out where people are at and what they believe about things after death, say, well, if you died right now, where would you go? You’re going to find out really quickly what they believe about the truthfulness of the cross and the resurrection, because either Jesus paid it all, and we can sing that, or he didn’t pay it all, and we got to do something else to complete his work. No, his work is complete and finished.
Years and years ago, I was at college. And I saw this guy sitting by himself. I didn’t do this a ton. I did it occasionally. I saw this guy sitting by himself. I’m like, I’m just going to go sit with that guy, start talking to him. So I did. And obviously the purpose was evangelistic. And so I asked him, I’m like, you know, on a scale like one to 100, if you died right now, how confident are you that you’d go to heaven? And he was like, 60. I was like, well, that’s not very confident. I’m like, what if I could tell you that it could be 100? Would you want to know? And he said yes. And so I took him, because he had a framework of Christianity, but all I did was read him 1 John 5:13. It says,
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
(1 John 5:13)
And I was like, friend, if you’ve repented of your sins and trusted in Christ, like that verse is for you, that’s yours. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life”—not might have eternal life, could have eternal life, hopefully have eternal life, no. You know you have eternal life. So if you believe that, if you’ve trusted in Christ, you’ve confessed your sins, you’ve come before the Father and humbled yourself, then you have eternal life. And the moment you breathe your last, the moment you breathe your last, you’re in the [audio unclear]. Because we got some bad stuff going on in this heart here. If we’re honest, if we’re truly honest in our heart of hearts, we know there’s darkness that lurks. And we’re walking it out. We’re walking in sanctification. God’s doing the work.
If you talk to them about their sin, they realize how deep their sin is. Like the new believer’s like, oh man, I’m doing great, like I’m not looking at porn anymore. That’s good. But you got other things that the Lord’s working out, and it takes a lifetime for him to do it. As he works, they’re like, wow, like you thought it was like a little puddle and you realize it’s like the giant Pacific Ocean, your sin, and it is, and so is mine. So praise the Lord that it’s not up to us. Jesus paid it all. He paid it all. What do we get? We come before the Lord. We trust in what Christ did for us. That’s what we do. So let’s walk in that. That’s hope. You want hope? That’s hope. That it’s not up to you, it’s not up to me, it’s not up to us. Our hope is in Christ and in him alone. Let’s pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you that our hope does rest in you. We thank you for your word. We thank you for this book, for using a situation like Paul being in prison, the Philippians being generous, for this book to be written. And we’re blessed thousands of years later, gleaning from all the truths of your word that it has. So may we continue to learn and grow in the area of fellowship and in the area of humility and in the area of joy. And we thank you that our hope is not in ourselves, it’s nothing but in the work that you’ve done through your Son, Jesus. You are truly a great God and we love you. Amen.