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The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church and told them to rejoice in all circumstances. And we've seen that theme of joy come up several times in our study of Philippians chapter one thus far. Today we want to do some review so that we might learn how to make the Lord our greatest joy when we understand the text.
Welcome to When We Understand the Text. My name is Pastor Gabe thanking you for joining me all this week. Today's program marks the end of our first full week on the air or on the internet or whatever it is that I'm supposed to say.
Like I said on Monday I come from a background in radio and all of my terminology stems from my radio days including the word broadcasting. I may never get used to saying podcast mostly because I like the biblical connotation behind the word broadcast.
You'll have to go back to Monday's episode to hear what it is that I'm talking about. Some of my radio experience also means that I talk kind of fast. I know that because I was taught that dead air is a bad thing.
You don't want to pause too long. You got to keep things moving. So it was through those radio disciplines I learned to talk very quickly and just my sanguine personality. I know that my thoughts are pretty scatterbrained and all over the place on top of that.
So here's what I would like to do with our Friday program. I would like to do some review. Let's add some structure to this since I know I don't really follow an outline any other time that I'm doing any kind of preaching.
So on Friday we'll draw out five points from everything that we have read thus far. We'll call it five point Friday. I don't know if I'm going to stick with that gimmick or not but it's the one I'm using today.
So we're going to go back through what we've read in Philippians so far. Philippians 1 verse 1 through verse 18. That's how far we've come. We'll go back through these things. We'll draw out five points to summarize some of the things that we've learned here and then we're still going to take a listener email or viewer email since it comes from somebody who's been watching our when we understand the text videos.
If you have a question about anything that you've heard on the broadcast or anything that you've seen in one of our videos go to our website www .utt .com and click on the email link. Email is the best way to get a question to us.
We love getting comments on our Facebook wall, Twitter, YouTube but a lot of times we miss those comments. I will admit you've probably sent us something and you didn't get a reply. They sometimes get overlooked but email is the best way to get something to us and be sure that we're going to see it and reply.
So go to the website www .utt .com. That's also where you find a complete list of all of our videos. Before we go through our five points here drawing out five points that help us to make the Lord our greatest joy.
Why don't we begin with prayer and then we're going to read through the text together. Our gracious heavenly father I thank you so much for bringing us through this week on this program and reading through your words so that we might have a better understanding of what it means to have joy in the Lord.
The scriptures tell us that the joy of the Lord is to be our strength and God that is exactly what we want. So fill us up with your word. Give us your joy. Give us your wisdom. Give us knowledge and discernment so that love may abound more and more as Paul has written to the Philippians here and keep us teaching these things even beyond this broadcast as we head into the weekend.
We continue to meditate on what it is that we have read and it continues to teach us even when we don't have our bibles open and our eyes concentrated on the words. We have stored those words up in our hearts and the spirit continues to speak to us through them.
We pray and ask all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Philippians chapter one beginning in verse one and we'll go through verse 18. Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the overseers and deacons grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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 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.
It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart for you all are partakers with me of grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel for God is my witness how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ and most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry but others from goodwill the latter do it out of love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice.
So we want to draw from the text that we have read so far five points to help us make the Lord our greatest joy. How do we find joy in everything that we have studied this week thus far even going back to Monday when we were reading from Acts and the founding of the Philippian church in the conversion of the Philippian jailer.
And it is that story actually that brings us to point number one so five points to help us make the Lord our greatest joy. Point number one we are saved by faith alone. If you'll remember the apostle Paul and Silas after the earthquake and their bonds were broken and the prison doors were broken open they didn't escape.
The prison guard saw that all of these things had happened and he drew his sword to kill himself because he thought all the prisoners had just left. And it was a shameful thing for any prisoner to escape under his watch let alone all of them.
And so he was going to take his life into his own hands. But Paul cried out and said do not harm yourself for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and he rushed in and he fell down at their feet and he said good sirs what must I do to be saved.
And Paul and Silas said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you and your household. And then they shared with him the word of the Lord because as it says in Romans 10 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
We have faith because we heard the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed. So did that Philippian jailer. And that's why he believed. And the faith that we have that has been given to us by God is what saves us.
We are saved by faith alone. Looking at Romans chapter 3 verse 21 now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
So make no mistake when I say that we are saved by faith alone what I mean is that it is the object of our faith that saves us. Paul does say that we are saved by faith alone in Romans chapter 3 and going into chapter 4.
But it is the object of our faith that saves us and that is Jesus Christ. And we had also read from Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 where it says that we fix our eyes on Jesus the founder of our faith and the perfecter of our faith.
Ephesians 2 8 and 9 for you have been saved by grace through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God not of works. So that no one may boast though faith alone saves. Saving faith is never alone.
The works that we do in Christ do not result in our salvation. They are the result of our salvation. Does that make sense. Okay. This is not to be confused with doing works as though we have to pay God back because we can't do that.
Christ died on the cross for our sins. So now we do good works to pay him back. No we we can never do enough to pay back that debt. Act 1725 says that God is not served by human hands as though he needed anything.
So the works that we do now they verify that we have been saved in Christ. Jesus said to his disciples if you love me you will obey my commands. And as we read in 2nd Peter 1 10 confirm your calling and election by practicing the qualities a person of the faith should display.
Now we know in James 2 17. And this is a verse that you're probably familiar with. Faith without works is a dead faith. So we do need works. Faith alone saves. But saving faith is never alone. The works that we do confirm the righteousness that we have in Christ Jesus.
Again the work is not what saves us. It confirms the salvation that we have. Jesus said to his disciples you will know them by their fruit. And Titus 2 14. This is one of my favorite one of my favorite verses.
Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. So we've been saved by Christ through faith. And then we show the evidence of that faith through the work that we do.
Now here's the question for you. Were you saved before you did any of that work. Or were you saved after you did some kind of work to confirm your salvation. How's that for a question. We didn't talk about this earlier this week.
I'm just bringing this up right now it happens to be where we're at in our sermon series in church in Romans chapter 4. So let me read from you for you a couple of passages from there. In Romans chapter 4 Paul says he's using the example of Abraham.
So talking about being saved by faith being justified by faith. And he says this. What does the scripture say. This is Romans 4 verse 3. What does the scripture say. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Skipping down to verse 10. How then was it counted to him. Was it before or after he had been circumcised. It was not after but before he was circumcised he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
So the point that I mean to make to you is this that before we did any work to confirm our salvation we had salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Abraham had not even yet been circumcised yet his faith was counted to him as righteousness.
You when you came to the faith it was counted to you as righteousness before you did anything. Okay now let me let me draw for you a more modern example that Paul is using circumcision in Romans chapter 4.
Let me give you another example. In American evangelicalism we have the sinner's prayer. Right. That that's kind of the thing that people use to say pray this prayer. And then you will be saved. And maybe you came to Christ that very way you were convicted in your heart and you prayed a prayer.
And that began your walk of faith. Let me ask you this. Were you saved before you prayed that prayer. Or were you saved after you prayed the prayer according to what we read here in Romans chapter 4 it was before you did anything.
That's one of the that's one of the problems that I have with the sinner's prayer is that it's often used to say you got to pray this prayer in order to be saved according to what we read from Paul in Romans 4 you were saved before you ever prayed any prayer.
You were saved before you got baptized. You were saved before you showed love to your brother or obeyed any of the other commands that we are given in the New Testament or in the Old Testament. For that matter you have been saved by faith in Christ Jesus.
And then the work that you do confirms the salvation that you have. Now how does that make us joyful. How are we to find joy in understanding that. Why does it enhance our joy knowing that we've been saved by faith alone.
Because it relieves you from a burden that you simply cannot bear mainly faith by works. Or even believing that you have to pay something back. You don't Christian. You were not saved by your works. You have been saved by faith in Christ alone.
It is the gracious work of God from beginning to end our salvation. It comes from God our very belief. And our faith comes from God. So that is point number one. Okay we are saved by faith alone. Here's point number two.
It is God who saves us and it is God who keeps us saved. And this goes back to when we were reading in Philippians 1 6. 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.
Now how does this enhance our joy. Well like knowing that faith alone saves we have his assurance. We have the assurance of God that he will keep us until the day of Christ sealed by the Holy Spirit as it says.
Now though we will stumble that does not mean that we lose our salvation. We're told in 1 John 1 9 this wonderful promise that if we ask forgiveness for our sins he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jesus said in John 10 that no one will snatch us from his hand. In Romans chapter 8 that nothing in all of creation will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. When God promises eternal life we know it's eternal.
And folks you don't enter into eternal life when you die. You came into it when you became a follower of Christ. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. We read this in Colossians chapter 3.
When Christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore we need to set our minds on things that are above where Christ is. Because we have been raised with Christ we have that assurance in Christ and that helps our love our joy to abound more and more.
Which brings me into my third point. Now. Okay third point that we draw out of the text this week. Love abounds with knowledge and discernment. We do not merely love the same way our entire lives. Right.
As we grow in knowledge as we get better at discerning the needs of others we perfect how we love. Don't we we find more and deeper ways to show God's love to others. As we grow in the knowledge of God our love is enhanced with something deeply spiritual and eternally significant.
One of the things for me as I grow in the knowledge of God as I realize how much I don't deserve the grace that I have that has been given to me by God. And because I know that he has loved me that much and has been patient with me.
Therefore I learned to love others in that same way and be patient with them because God was patient with me. You know a person who is naturally minded when we read in scriptures about the person who is spiritual and the person who is natural.
Paul draws this out in first Corinthians especially a person who is naturally minded can only love in natural ways meaning that they're probably chasing nothing more than chemical processes in their brains and the moment of love that they express terminates on that experience.
But if we're in Christ the love that we have for one another is not only verified by what we experience. It's not only a natural feeling because you are gonna you're gonna have. You know some ushy-gushy feelings about love sometimes I won't take that away from you.
I think that there's some value in that. But more than that if we are in Christ there's a deep spiritual significance that doesn't merely terminate in the moment it has lasting and eternal value because we worship an eternal God in whom we live and move and have our being.
That's the kind of love the Christian is to love with and in that we can rejoice all the more. Amen. This abounding love that we have in Christ helps us to make the Lord our greatest joy. So grow all the more in knowledge and discernment as you study the scriptures and your love may abound all right.
Here's number four. Point number four. God will advance his gospel through all circumstances. If you'll remember the apostle Paul said to the Philippians in verse 12. I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.
He was in prison in Rome. But he's encouraging the Philippian brothers and saying the gospel's not been squashed. Okay it's going out all the more. There are people that know I've been placed in prison here for Christ and even the brothers have been encouraged and I appreciate passages like this especially with everything that is going on right now in our culture concerning abortion and these abortion videos that have been coming out now.
I knew that things that were happening at Planned Parenthood were as bad as has been shown in that video so that it hasn't been what has been shocking to me but just people's ignorance over this stuff and even refusal to watch these videos or dismissing them as saying oh they're doctored videos.
That's not what really goes on it at abortion mills. And and it pains me and it should should drive us to our knees in prayer. But we can have this confidence and this assurance that even in the midst of this bloodthirstiness this bloodlust of abortion God is still advancing the gospel.
There are people whose lives are being changed even right now even as as bad as we see things going on in our culture God is advancing the gospel. There are people who are being changed for Christ and in that I rejoice this is the work of God not the work of me.
So I am going to be obedient to his commands and I'm going to continue to proclaim the gospel and leave it up to God to seal the deal all right. God will advance his gospel through all circumstances. Number five.
Here's our five point our fifth point whether in pretense or in truth Christ will be proclaimed. What is pretense. It is an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true. So when there were preachers uh that were preaching in vain as Paul talks about here in Philippians chapter one they were trying to appear genuine when they really were not yet even though they put on this facade even though their motives were off the gospel was still being proclaimed.
And Paul is saying that whether the motives are genuine or not I still rejoice that the gospel is going out now we need to understand we this should not give us a reason to be divisive over non-divisive issues.
Proverbs chapter 6 says that God hates one who sows division among brothers. Such a person is an abomination to him. It is a wicked person who goes around sowing discord. Titus 3 10 through 11. As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him.
Knowing that such a person is warped and sinful he is self-condemned. And Paul is no doubt drawing from Christ's instructions on handling conflict as he writes to Titus there Jesus talking about how we handle conflict in the body in Matthew 18 15 through 20.
And Paul doesn't let these rivalrous preachers he's talking about in Philippians 1 off the hook either. He doesn't simply say hey at least they're out sharing the gospel and let that be that he comes back in Philippians chapter 2 which we'll study next week where he says.
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Whether in pretense or in truth Christ will be proclaimed. It is God who is accomplishing this work in Christ Jesus and in that we can rejoice.
So there are our five points summarizing what we have studied this week. We are saved by faith alone. It is God who saves us and it is God who keeps us saved. Love abounds with knowledge and discernment.
Point number four God will advance his gospel through all circumstances. And number five whether in pretense or in truth Christ will be proclaimed. Amen. 1 corinthians 11 14 says it is a shame for a man to have long hair.
The bible also says that women should wear coverings on their heads. This is just another example of why some commands in the bible were cultural and are now outdated. Actually the point being made is not outdated at all.
This is another example of why context is so important. The apostle paul wrote to the corinthian church where some of the women were trying to take on the roles of the men specifically married women were uncovering their heads like the men so they could preach.
But women are not called to be pastors elders and overseers. That is a role that God has designated for a man to fill. And like in first timothy 2 paul explains using the order of creation. So we know that his argument is not merely cultural but there are some cultural examples being given to help us better understand.
Why do men typically have short hair and women long. Well since a man was created first he displays the excellence of God and covers less of his head. But woman displays the excellence of God's design.
So she covers more of her head in reverence. Male headship continues throughout all generations. But paul still makes it clear that both man and woman are made in the image of God overall. What should we be taking away from 1 corinthians 11 2 through 16.
Simply this. That men should not try to look like women and take on the roles that God specifically called women to do. And that women shouldn't look like men and take on the roles that God specifically called men to do instead submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
When we understand the text that's the video entitled it's a shame for a man to have long hair that we released on monday. And our question today is not about that video but uh it's in the same context of the video.
This comes from caleb out of grand rapids michigan. He says dear what i really enjoy all your videos that you create. I recently saw someone share something where galatians 328 was used to say that the bible is not against transgender people.
In other words that it's not a sin. And we read in galatians 328 that there is no male and female for you are all one in christ jesus. So caleb goes on to say understanding the other verses around it.
That verse cannot really be used that way. Right. Thank you caleb for watching. And yes you are correct. The verses around galatians 328 provide a clear context as to what paul is referring. So let's start in verse 26 in christ jesus you are all sons of god through faith.
Hey we just talked about that today. For as many of you as were baptized into christ have put on christ. There is neither jew nor greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female. For you are all one in christ jesus.
And if you are christ's then you are abraham's offspring heirs according to promise. So very simply what we're reading here is that we're all one in christ and god loves us all equally through his son.
There's no person that is more important than another. And in the first century church jews often thought they were better than greeks because they were the first to receive the oracles of god and a more social standing.
Greeks thought they were better than jews. Slaves were considered less than human to those who were free men were considered the dominant sex and women were subservient. Okay. But in christ we're all under the same grace.
We receive redemption from sin all of us equally. And we will all be glorified in his name. God loves us equally and pours out his blessing with equal measure. And you can see this in the parable of the sower.
Also in matthew chapter 20. No nationality or race no social standing no sex of a person makes them more worthy of the love of god than another. Now having said that that doesn't mean that there should be no distinction at all because elsewhere paul gives specific instructions to husbands and wives like in ephesians chapter 5.
And and we just heard verse 21 of ephesians 5 quoted in that video where it says that we're to submit to one another out of reverence for christ. And in that verse paul is saying that there that god has designed each person for a specific role and we need to submit to the calling of god for that person.
Men should not be trying to do what women are called to do. And women should not be doing what has been set aside for a man to do. In the corinthian church women were altering their appearance to make uh to to take on the roles of men to make themselves look like men so that they could have uh the roles uh that men in the church had.
But paul said this is not to be so nor should men try to make themselves look like women which is the context of first corinthians 11 14 that is unnatural. One of the signs that god has given a person over to a debased mind is that they exchange what is natural for what is unnatural as we see written in romans chapter 1.
Refusing to submit to the design of god. Folks we know the difference. We inherently know the difference between what is natural and what is unnatural. But sin warps our conscience into practicing unnatural things.
It takes christ to wash us and make us new as it says in first corinthians 6 11 we must leave a life of sin behind transgenderism drunkenness idolatry any of the other sins listed in first corinthians 6 9 and 10.
Christ will wash us from those sins if we come to him and seek forgiveness and the righteousness that can only be given to us in christ. He will forgive bruce jenner if bruce repents. And we must put on christ as paul also says in that passage in galatians 3.
We then put on christ jesus. We've taken off the old. The old is gone the new in christ has come. I hope that answers your question. Caleb thank you so much for submitting a question. And you can submit one as well by going to our website www .utt .com i am out of time.
That is what that music playing underneath me is indicating. So thank you so much again for joining me for this first week of the broadcast. Join me next week as we continue our study of.
Philippians god bless you've been listening to when we understand the text of pastor gabriel hughes. Our ministry was born out of a local church and we rely on the contributions of our viewers and our listeners.
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Join us again next week as we continue our study through philippians rejoicing in god's truth when we understand the text.