Phil 1:12-13 "Greater Progress of The Gospel"

The Purpose of Paul’s Imprisonment and the Progress of the Gospel

Truly, one of the best times of churches is right there to spend time with the little ones of our church. That really is remarkable. So today, brothers and sisters, we're going to be in Philippians. We're going to be back in the book of Philippians as we've taken a two-week hiatus from that just because I have been gone last week and the week prior to that, Rick was kind enough to preach that Sunday so I could focus on the message that I was going to be preaching at this conference.

I was just at from Shadows to Substance in Tennessee. Again, that was such a blessing to be able to go to. I really appreciate all the prayers that I know everybody was participating in myself with. It was truly renewing to my own spirit and encouraging to know that the kingdom of God is being preached across the United States very boldly and in ways that I was undeserving to be up there with those preachers.

It was amazing to be there. But today, we're going to be in Philippians chapter 1, verses 12 through 13. So I would encourage you to start making your way there. And as you start turning that way, we'll start off with a prayer.

Lord God, I thank you so much, Lord, for the privilege it is to open your word, to preach your word, to hear your word being taught, and to know that these things are for the building of your kingdom, Lord.

God, I would ask today that you would build your kingdom here in Hagerman, that we would be strengthened in knowing you, that we'd be encouraged to tell others about you. And Lord, God, all these things would be for a greater progress of the gospel, Lord.

God, I pray that you would convict hearts, that you would cut deep into our soul, and that you would help us recognize the sweet mercy it is to know who you are, Lord. And God, I just pray that through the reading and preaching of your word, these things would be done today, and that we would say and do these things in your name, Jesus Christ.

Amen. Philippians, chapter 1, verses 12 through 13. Let's go ahead and read this word of God here. Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my chains in Christ have become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to everyone else.

That is the text that we will be discussing today and going through, so let's go ahead and pray over it again. Lord God, I do thank you for our brother in Christ, Paul, who wrote this letter, Lord. God, I thank you for the inspired words here that you've given to him, that were recorded for us on our behalf, Lord.

And God, I just pray that these things are inspired, and that they would convict us truly and wholly in what we need to be convicted in today, Lord. God, that we would see our sin being paid for on the cross, there through the means of Jesus Christ, Lord, and that we would want to tell our brothers and our sisters about the gospel, that any circumstance that we go through today or tomorrow or throughout this week or in months to come, we would see it as a means to progress your kingdom.

Lord, I just pray that no matter what befalls us, that we would see it as a means that we have a great opportunity to talk about our Savior, Lord. God, help us be willing vessels, help us be undeserving stewards of your word, and let us be ambassadors in a fallen world of the kingdom, Lord, of your kingdom, where you have sat down upon your throne, accomplishing your mighty work.

And we just say this in your holy name, Jesus Christ, amen. Now I know that it's been three weeks since we have had the opportunity to be in the book of Philippians together as a church. And so just as we always would and as we always should, it's always helpful for us to remember the context.

So again, this book of Philippians is being written by Paul while in prison in Rome, and he is writing these things to the church of Philippi. The church of Philippi here is what he's authoring this letter to.

Last time that we were in this book, two weeks, over two weeks ago now, three weeks ago, we examined what the fruit of righteousness is that comes through knowing Jesus Christ. We talked about this in verses 10 through 11.

Let me read that for us real fast. It says, so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and without fault until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

To the glory and praise of God. And so what we have here in verses 1 through 11 as we've gone through as a church so far is really kind of the opening statements of Paul to this church of Philippi here in this book, in this wonderful letter.

And so that opening is now kind of transitioning to why Paul is writing this letter. What is his encouragement? What is going on in here? So verses 1 through 11 was the acknowledgement and the greeting of Paul, and now it's going to start to expand upon the purpose of this letter from Paul about what Paul's reasons for writing this letter in his current situation is.

Paul, again, is writing this in the midst of tribulation, hardship, trials, and wicked men punishing him unrighteously. And so it starts off for us, verse 12, in this transition from greeting to now expressing what the purpose of this letter is written for.

He starts off by saying, now I want you to know. I want you, church of Philippi, to know. This statement is being offered by Paul, is one that acknowledges the fact that the church has heard about Paul's imprisonment and are most likely very concerned and worried for him.

We know from other parts of the New Testament that the church of Philippi was very central to the heart of Paul in this day, and so no doubt that when hearing about the imprisonment of Paul, there's going to be some distress for the church.

They're going to be worried, oh, brother Paul, why are you there? Are you okay? We love you. We want to show love towards you and your situation. And so Paul knows this, and he's acknowledging it in here.

He's saying, I know that you know where I'm at right now, but I want you to know this, church. I want you to know this. I want you to know this. That's what Paul is now doing in here. Now I want you to know.

Now think of the implications about this for your own life. The way that we act in the midst of hardship can either strengthen fellow believers or hinder their hope. Paul's assuring them about what is going on is a divine determination for the purpose of advancing the kingdom that he wants persecuted.

Think about this for a moment. He's saying in here that you know of my hardships that I'm in right now, but there's a purpose that I want you to know about in all these things. There's some reason I want you to know in these things.

He's settling the mind of his brothers and sisters in the church of Philippi and insisting that there's a purpose of what's going on with him being in prison right now. There's a purpose for what he's going through.

And he's writing this again. This is not a letter that's being written to the unconverted, even though it has applications and reasonings that we can make to the unconverted. This letter is being written expressively to the brothers of the church of Philippi.

This is Christians that he's writing this to. This is the Christian church here. This is written to the church, not just anybody. This is important to take note of, especially for us, as it helps us determine contextual keys for interpreting this text and part of interpreting any text of the Bible.

We need to know, first of all, whenever we examine any Bible verse, we need to know who it's written by. This letter is written by Paul, who it is being written to, and this letter is being written to the church of Philippi, what is going on in this text, Paul is in prison, and what the authoritative intent of the author is.

And the purpose of this letter is to reassure the people that God has a purpose in suffering to bring about the gospel in greater light. That's what God's purpose is for Paul right now here in prison, is that he's having the gospel go forward in greater means and in greater advancement, and Paul recognizes this.

And so again, we need to know those kind of things, these are what's called harmoneutics for us. When we open up any text of the Bible, we need to consider those things. Who wrote this? Who is it being written to?

What is the purpose of it being written for? The greater progress of the gospel. So again, let's read verse 12. Now I want you to know, brothers, so again to this church, that my circumstances, what are the circumstances that Paul is speaking about right now?

In prison, hardship, suffering, persecution. These things that, the question has to be asked, are these good things that he's in right now? Are these circumstances anything that you would want to trade Paul out for in your current situation today?

No, I would much rather have the comfort that I have today, rather than what Paul is going through in that day. And he's saying that my circumstances, church, my circumstances, Paul being in prison, being persecuted, is for a purpose, it's for a reason.

And that reason, having turned out for greater progress of the gospel. Now imagine for a moment, when Paul is being led to this prison, does he know that next week that this is going to be for the greater advancement of the gospel?

Does he know that the entire Praetorian Guard is going to know about Jesus Christ and his circumstances? No, he doesn't know this. And so this is really now him looking at what he's going through, and he's saying, this is what the purpose was.

Again, my mind takes me to Brother Ron saying, instead of asking why something is happening to us, we ought to ask, what can this teach me about this? And I think that that's what's going on right now for Paul.

I don't know why I'm here, but I know that the purpose that I'm here for is that the gospel is now going out. That's what it's teaching me, is that God had a purpose in me being brought to this prison in Rome.

There's a purpose in this. Now greater progress of the gospel that's spoken of here in verse 12. My circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. What is that? What is that? What is the greater progress of the gospel?

What does that look like, and how do we advance the gospel is all questions that came to my mind as I was looking at this text. And I think these are the right questions to be asking when we look at this.

I think in order to answer this, though, we have to answer it by what it is not before we can look and say what the advancement of the gospel is. And I think we can see this very clearly from the life of Paul here, even in this text.

Greater progress of the gospel does not mean that the Christian will live a life of bliss, unless you live in the city of bliss, then I guess you're living life blissfully, right? But the purpose is that the Christian life does not mean that by necessity that you're going to have peace in this life, in the sense that you will have comfort all of your days, that hardship will flee away.

Could you imagine the prosperity gospel that's being preached today and that's being bought wholesale by the United States, it seems like? That prosperity gospel, could you imagine that being preached to Paul while in prison here in this text?

Could you imagine the lengthy, strongly worded letter from Paul to such an abomination of a church as the prosperity gospel of today? The advancement of the kingdom of God is not one that results in the betterment of the Christian or their way of living.

We must remember that the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven even, is not the kingdom of this world. So we'll consider here in just a moment a text, but just think about that for a moment. The prosperity gospel cannot take this text in any correct, true way.

Paul's saying in my circumstances that are bad, evil, wrong, are a good thing. The prosperity gospel teaches that you pray a certain prayer, you come and you give a certain amount of money to this religious organization and you'll get a Corvette out of it, right?

You'll get a plane out of it. You'll get X, Y, and Z things. Prosperity in your life will abound. I can only imagine Paul just laughing at this kind of idea as he himself is in chains. That's been a Christian now for years, and just thinking about how evil a teaching could be such as that.

That is not our hope. Our hope is not in earthly possessions, nor in a prosperity of anything. That is not the gospel. That is not the good news. That's actually quite an evil thing if you are getting Corvettes for the purpose of Jesus's sake.

That is ridiculous in the most true sense. But consider this for a moment. I think that this is really helpful for us to realize, and I think that this is a principle that Paul himself is very centered upon.

Christ’s Kingdom Is Not of This World

John 18, verses 33 through 37. It says in that text, Therefore Pilate answered, or entered again into the praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?

Pilate answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I might not be handed over to the Jews.

But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. Therefore Pilate answered to him, So you are a king? And Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. See, if Christ's kingdom was of this world, one could say that I expect prosperity in this world. I expect good things to come about in this world. But the fact that Christ says that our hope is not in this world, that our hope is actually in the kingdom that is not able to be seen unless you're born again, it's not one that you can enter in with your feet unless you've been born of the Holy Spirit, should give us a greater hope than anything that this world can offer to us.

It should give you a great hope knowing that if you are persecuted in another country or that you are having hardship because of your way of living as a Christian, that at the end of the day you say that my kingdom that I'm a part of is not of this world.

My kingdom is far, far better than what this world can offer to me. So we have to remember that our king says that his kingdom is not of this world. I would also encourage you to then consider this. If Christ is the king of a kingdom that's not of this world, remember 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 20 through 21.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might be made the righteous of God in him.

Consider this for a moment too. In this text of 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 20, therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, meaning that we're sent from him. We're sent unto a nation that's not the nation of Christ.

We are sent as ambassadors to proclaim this good news. As though God were making an appeal through us. Think about this. The kingdoms of the world in Paul's day, Rome, and all these other people, this praetorian guard, does anything that Paul is going through right now look appealing?

No, it looks quite nasty and terrible. But yet in this text it says that we are ambassadors of God. As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God.

Paul in his suffering, Paul in his change is making an appeal to a people that hate him, that look at him and say there's nothing good that you have, but yet you have joy. Yet you have a hope when you should be hopeless.

You have a comfort when you should be in the most discomfort of your life right now, Paul. And that's because his hope was centered in something that's outside of this world. And so for us as Christians today, that's where our hope has to be.

It has to be in something that is transcendent, something that no matter what happens in this world, you have Christ because Christ is reigning as King. That's a true hope that no one can ever take from you.

That's a true hope that no matter how many beatings you receive, they can never take that away from you. No matter how many times they swing the axe at your neck, Christ is King. That's a hope that's transcendent.

That's a hope that does not go away. So greater progress does not necessarily mean greater physical results. It also does not mean that the greater number of converts before us, it does not mean that in our eyes, you'll see a greater amount of converts before our own eyes in that sense.

We can surely know that we cast seeds out into the soils, and we know that at the end of the day, there's some of us that will never see those seeds take root or even grow in any way. Let me go ahead and flip open to just an idea of considering that what is not the greater advancement of the Kingdom of God, what is not the greater progress of the Gospel.

Let's turn open to Colossians, or not Colossians, 1 Corinthians 1, verses 17 through 28. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 17 through 28, and I really hope that this establishes for us that just the advancing of the Gospel of God does not mean a physical betterment for those that are believing in Him.

1 Corinthians 1, verses 17 through 28. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 17 through 28 says this,. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the Gospel, not in wisdom of words, so that the cross will not be made empty.

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever, and I will set them aside.

Where is the wise man, where is the scribe, where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wise of the world? For since the wisdom of God, the word through the wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

For indeed, Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jew and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men, amen to that.

For consider your calling, brothers, that you, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world, and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, so that he might abolish the things that are.

Imagine this for a moment, brothers and sisters, what's being called in here as us being chosen and elect from God, he has elected us on a basis of showing the powerful in this world how God has brought about the weak of the world to salvation and a greater hope than anything that the strong could ever have.

I hope you take this text and you see it as a humbling text, that God has not chosen you for any good thing that you've brought to the table, but that you are actually very, very weak and lowly, and in God raising you up through his son has made the things that are mighty and good in this world to actually look like absolute abominations in the mighty work of what God has done for us, to us.

So the gospel, the progress of the gospel does not mean a physical betterment, nor does it mean that you will see converts left and right, because it is God who calls, elects, justifies, and sanctifies.

But imagine again that these praetorian guards, as they leave Paul, they're in the prison, they get to go home to their families, they get to go home and see all these wonderful things, but none of those things ever will last them in life.

You ask which one was really in chains, was it Paul or the praetorian guard? I would say it was the praetorian guard, the Romans, those that are dead in their sins, children of wrath, chained to sin itself, those are the ones that are in chains here in Philippians.

That the chains of Paul, the physical chains, were merely just physical, but he himself has been unbound through the blood of Jesus Christ. He has a far greater hope than anything that those praetorian guards could have a hope on.

Let's go back to Philippians chapter 1 here and look at this now. So then what is the progress of the gospel mean? Now that we know what it doesn't mean, it doesn't mean a physical betterment, it doesn't mean that it necessarily is going to bring about converts in our eyes.

What is the gospel progress mean? I would propose to you that it is that the undeserving members of the new covenant of grace who serves his king, that's you and I, the mediator of that covenant, that's Jesus, by following his commands and example, the advancement of the gospel is the person who looks so intently to the cross, can do no other than to shout joyous victory to those around him, shout freedom to those that enslave him, shout joy to those that hate him, shout forgiveness to those that bind him, shout the terribleness of sin to those that ignore him and proclaim life to those that are dead by nature.

It is one that keeps their eyes locked upon Jesus, paying the price of their sins regardless of the situation that they are in. And I'll say that again, it is the Christian that looks so intently to Jesus Christ regardless of the situation that they are in, it is someone that follows their shepherd in the midst of the most vile, dark canyons, it is someone that cannot help but tell of the glories and the riches that are in knowing their God.

That is the progress of the gospel. Whether it falls on deaf ears or whether it falls upon those ears that are being opened and I pray that we get to see those things in our lives. The progress of the gospel comes about by the Christian looking where their salvation is.

And then therefore in the midst of the worst situations that we can think of, Christ will be glorified, his kingdom will be advanced, his nation, his house will be strengthened. As we can see even here in the book of Philippians, are they a worried people for all?

Yeah, they are worried about what he is going through, but Paul is saying, don't worry, my circumstances is only progressing the kingdom of God, it is only progressing the gospel. In fact this letter being sent to them, would that strengthen your faith if you received this letter from Paul?

Yeah. So even in the midst of him writing this letter and writing it to the church of Philippi, it's advancing the gospel. His circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Let's look at verse 13 now.

So that my chains have become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else. This couple of weeks ago, Shauna showed me a really great quote from John MacArthur speaking about Paul in prison in this text and I absolutely love it and I would like to share it with you.

How did Paul find joy in prison? He didn't find joy in prison, that's what John MacArthur writes here, he said he didn't. He took his joy in Christ into jail with him, therefore joy was his continual companion.

Paul didn't take any joy in being persecuted in these ways, that's painful, but his joy comes in knowing Jesus Christ and because Jesus Christ is always with him, that's what Matthew chapter 28 verses 17 through 20 say, that lo, I will be with you even until the end of the age.

A Christian always has their king above them. A Christian always has the king that they are serving and because that king is transcendent and is the king of kings and the lord of lords and he never goes away and he never dies for he is risen again and is at the right hand of the father.

We can take him in every situation that we go into and therefore no matter where we go we have joy as our companion. That's what MacArthur argues from here and I love that. I would encourage you to have this same type of attitude so that whether free, whether in prison, whether in debt or whether in between jobs, in times of persecution, etc., whatever you can think of, you have the same access of joy in Christ that Paul himself had.

You have that same access to joy. You have that same access brothers and sisters. We cannot forget this. I think it is very important for us to notice in here that this is truly a mercy of God in all situations.

Paul sees that his chains that in days prior Paul was enforcing on other Christians as Saul. We have to remember this, that Paul wasn't always Paul. Paul used to be Saul. Just as you used to be dead in your sins and now you've been made alive and risen with him, seated with him in the heavenly places, that Saul used to be a persecutor of Christians.

Now think about this great mystery that the chains and sword that Paul was casting to the neck, rather Saul was casting to the neck of the Christians in the days when he was unconverted was for the better progress of the gospel even in himself.

The very Christians that he sought to kill, that he did kill, that was for the greater progress. Could you imagine that? That the blood that comes from your own body is going to be the very seedlings that's going to affect Saul and bring about Paul.

That in the death of those Christians that Saul persecuted, it was for the betterment and advancement of the gospel even in the life of Paul. Amazing to think about. Paul here in this text is now suffering very similar to the very chains that he was enforcing.

When we see here in a little bit, we'll turn to Philippians 3 and just take note of something here in a moment, but he didn't know this before he was a Christian. He didn't know this before when he was persecuting Christians.

He didn't know that seeds were actually being planted upon him as soil. That the testimony of all those that were stoned by his hand, by him commanding those to stone him, were going to be the same stones that he himself would be suffering for the sake of Christ.

So that my chains might have become well known. Think about this for a moment too. We'll turn to Philippians 3 here in a moment, but consider this. As a Jewish man of Paul that used to be very, very closely connected with his identity of being a child of Abraham, his recognition, his sign to the world of him being a Jewish native, a Jewish descendant was his circumcision.

This thing that he could show to people, I am truly a son of Abraham in this way. I'm a descendant of him. He's now saying that the way that I'm recognized as a Christian is my chains. That is my identifier to who Christ is.

That's the fruit that I have that's been brought about in knowing Jesus Christ. My chains have become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else. Paul used to cast these same chains onto the Christians.

He was known for his brutality. He was known for his hatred. He was known for his persecution as Saul. But now how is he known? Paul's in prison for the sake of his testimony of Christ. Paul's now in chains for Christ.

Paul's now persecuted because of his confidence in the Lord. How does the world react to which state would have been better, Paul or Saul? Which one would they have looked at as an outward sign and say, that looks better to me than the other?

Would the world say that Saul looked like he was in a better situation than Paul? They would say, the world to us, the kingdom, the fallen kingdom of this world would say Saul's life looks way better than Paul's.

Paul's been nothing but persecuted. Paul's been nothing but beaten and abused. Saul's life looks far better. He was a leader. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Jewish person from birth. Saul's life looks way far better.

How must the Christian react to which state would have been better, Saul or Paul? Which state looks better for the Christian? We have to answer in light of what Philippians chapter 3 says. Turn with me to Philippians chapter 3, just one page over most likely in your Bibles.

Verse 7 through 10. 7 through 10. I'm really excited to get to this text here in this hope that we might get to it here in the year of 2023 at the rate that we're going. But verses 7 through 10. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted for a loss for the sake of Christ.

More than that, I count all things to be a loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and counted them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own which comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.

The righteousness which is from God upon faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. To everyone else, Paul sees God working through his suffering.

He does not know for what next week will bring to him. He might be dead next week in the life of Paul, in his eyes when he's writing this. He doesn't know if the entirety of Rome is going to be converted or whether no one will be in this text.

He doesn't know these things when he's writing this. But he can confidently say that it is through his controversies of boldly preaching the gospel that all know whom he serves, and that's Jesus Christ, the King.

And he is a slave to that King. Now how do people talk about you today? Do they see that in your life? Do they see, Brayden, are you going out and preaching the gospel? Do they see and recognize you in your own Christian walk today?

Do they say, well, it seems to be that before you were converted, you had X, Y, and Z things, and now you're saying all these things are nothing but a loss in the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ.

Take me to prison. Take me to the sword. It doesn't matter, for I have Christ and I know him crucified, and I'm being conformed to his very death. Does the world know you as such? I'm afraid that the world might not know us as such, Christian brothers and sisters, beloved Church of Valley Baptist.

It's so important that we keep our eyes focused upon the cross and that we view those things that when we are unconverted, the things that we loved, the things that we held to, the things that the world would praise you in having and keeping and holding to and earning in your life, those things, now that you've come to Christ, are nothing but loss and are rubbish in the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ crucified.

You have a great gift from God. You think about any toy or thing that you have earned in this life, whether it be, I'll use myself as an example, a motorcycle. I like riding my motorcycle around, right?

Does that get me to heaven? Is that going to break down one day? Probably. I'll probably forget to change the oil and it'll, you know, seize on me. In knowing Christ, you will never lose that. You will die one day and you will lose your motorcycles and your toys and the things that the world will praise you over.

But if you die knowing Christ today, you get to praise Christ the King forever, something that will never, ever go away, for He is everlasting and He's given you an everlasting salvation. We must run this race that we have begun because we have been given victory before the race even begun.

Let me be clear in that. The race that we run as Christians is a race that we run because the victory has already been won. Christ Jesus has already secured our salvation there upon the cross, and now us being sanctified, Paul being sanctified in this text, is running a race.

So how do we run a race well? How do we run this race for the glory of God, knowing that He is King? How do we run these things well? Well, I'm just going to read here for us the Baptist Faith and Message of 2000.

It's what our articles and bylaws teach as the evangelism and missions. It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations.

The new birth of man's spirit by God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on part of all rests upon the spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and it is expressively and repeatedly commanded in the teaching of Christ Jesus.