When The World Hands You Lemons...PREACH CHRIST! (Philippians 1:12-14)

All right, welcome Welcome welcome to the Lord's Day gathering.

Are you excited? Come on. Yes, some of us are excited. Thank you.

It's an exciting time for us to come together I myself every week I long for today and anticipation for that refreshing reflection and sanctifying

Means of grace that God has prescribed in the gathering of the

Saints coming together as the family of God to worship Father to to once again be reminded of what

God is done What God has done in each of our lives God the Father who who chose us and set his love upon us

God the Son who redeemed us who purchased us by blood ransom and God the

Holy Spirit who now Indwells in us and seals us for that day of glory that we must be reminded of saying don't lose sight of it

Amen This is why we gather today We can't forget just how formative the

Lord's Day gathering is for the Saints That's why the writer of Hebrews said hey don't neglect it don't neglect the gathering of the

Saints because of how how Sanctifying it is in our lives and it molds us and it grows us and we can't do without it.

Can we I Look forward to it each week. So I'm glad that you are here And if you're a guest with us, we have we have a few guests this morning

We thank you for being here. We each one of you could have gotten and should have gotten one of these connect cards

There's an opportunity for you to check some boxes from information about who we are and how we function as a church

But there's also a section at the bottom For how can we pray for you? And I just want you to know that if you fill that out these cards do make it to a group of us on Tuesday mornings that meet every week here and we will most certainly

Pray for that need if you have need in prayer, which we all do do we not?

So so thank you for being here Our prayer is that you just like the rest of us would grow in the fear and knowledge of the triune

God You are certainly loved by the people of God here. So let's

Without further ado. Let's start our service off. Let's officially start here at 12 five

We believe that we need to start our service with a call to worship A way to look to God's very words as a reminder.

So please stand with me for our call to worship It's portions of Psalm 62 and and if again if you're a guest you may not be familiar with how we we do this

But typically with our call to worship we have broken down this Psalm in a read and a response

And so you'll see it up on the screen We as a people we declare God's words of truth as we are reminded of who he is and what we're here to do

And this psalm it's my soul waits for God alone. It's to the choir master.

It is a psalm of David Where he says for God alone our souls wait in silence

For he alone is our rock and our salvation Trust in him at all times.

Oh People's pour out your hearts before him Those of lowest state are but a breath those of highest state are a delusion and the balances they go up Put no trust and extortion set no vain hopes on robbery if riches increase

Once God has spoken twice have we heard this that power belongs to God And to you

Oh Lord belong steadfast love and all God's people said Amen well before we go into a prayer of adoration this morning

I would like for us as a people to recite the Lord's Prayer together Remember when the disciples asked

Jesus they said they said Teach us how to pray teach us how to pray How should we go to to God and prayer and and this is his example of prayer?

This is not something magical that if we just read this this prayer from Jesus This is something that we should just repeat over and over again

This is a template But it doesn't hurt for us to go back to it as a people and be reminded of how

Jesus has called us to pray We have it up on the screen here.

If you don't remember it our Father in heaven Hallowed be your name Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as We also have forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil Let's pray a prayer of adoration to our

God father. We bow before you Humbly acknowledging that you are the sovereign

Creator of all We are your creation we are we are but a creature

Made by your sovereign great glorious hand and this morning.

We get the privilege of coming before you as children Coming into the throne room of the king

That we are boldly able to proclaim his father as Jesus taught us to pray

We are adopted we are brought in because of the blood of Christ For you have redeemed us you have saved us from our enmity with you

You are holy You are perfect that no sin can ever be within your presence

You cannot just overlook our iniquities But for those of us that are in Christ today

He took our sin upon himself so that we might become his righteousness The blood of Christ cleanses us so that we may boldly come before you today worship and spirit and truth because of the

The Holy Spirit that is dwelling within us And we ask this morning that you would be honored in our worship

We ask this morning that you not allow us to offer up false fire before you That we worship you the way that you have prescribed for us to worship you

God that we would worship from a heart of of repentance and and all

Of who you are We thank you this morning that you've brought us together that you've not left us to ourselves

We thank you that we are not a people that just are wondering as sojourners Without brothers and sisters around us and that is why we gather today to be able to To encourage one another all the more as we say the day drawing near Be honored in it as we your children bow before you in Christ's name

Amen, and amen, but we do have a special day today as you see we've got the baptismal out again

It has been coming out quite often lately praise the Lord and so you may be seated

I actually want to ask Chase and Kylie if you would make your way up here

For those of you that don't know Chase and Kylie Helms. How long have y 'all been married now a month

Two months. Yes. Okay exciting Well, they have come to us and expressed a desire to to pursue membership here we are going to be having our new member classes coming up soon and all of the

Requirements in order to meet and become part of a covenant community, but in the process They have shared a desire to be baptized and they've both asked if they can share a testimony

Before we go to this ordinance of baptism My name is

Chase Helms and today I'm professing my faith and obedience to Jesus Christ through baptism When I was around 10 years old,

I began to comprehend who God was in the reality of heaven and hell The fear of eternal fire and torment drove me to a profession of faith and a water baptism

Even though I understood the concept of life after death and a heavenly father. I was not truly regenerated by the

Spirit. I Was like the seed that fell on rocky soil. My faith had no root and withered away over time

The largest proportion of the largest portion of my life was spent Pursuing worldly pleasures and searching for my fulfillment and things that left me in despair

December of 2020 was the month that the Lord led me to the foot of my Savior's cross I was in one of the lowest darkest moments of my life

My worldly pursuits had left me unfulfilled defeated and longing for a joy. That was not counterfeit

One night while I was lying in bed I picked up a Bible off my bookshelf that I had never given a chance as I began to read the gospel of Luke through the

Spirit opened my eyes To what I had been longing for my entire life The joy

I had been longing for was fully indwelled in the person of Jesus Christ For the first time in my life, I had truly tasted the beauty of the gospel and the hope of his promise

Christ alone had released me from the chains of death and brought me to life Today, I'm coming forth to profess the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ through baptism as he commanded

The faith I profess today is not one of prosperity personal gain or worldly satisfaction

The faith I profess is a promise that one day we will see the Son of Man return in glory

Death and sin will be defeated forever and he will make all things new It is with great hope that I profess

Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior My name is

Kylie Holmes. And today I'm following Jesus command of baptism. I was first baptized in early high school

I had grown up in church and knew the main Bible characters and their stories and decided to get baptized with a friend

But it was more of an I'll do it if you do it type of situation I didn't have the slightest understanding of the gospel and I only did it to get it over with Later on in early college,

I got baptized again I had just returned from a winter retreat where I developed a fear of hell not a love for God While I was on the retreat

I was asked if I knew where I was going if I died right then I Admitted that I didn't and attempted to do what

I grew up being taught and asked Jesus into my heart But once again, it wasn't a love for Jesus It was a fear of hell of the fire and eternal suffering not that I would be separated from God for eternity

Summer of 2019. I went on a 10 -week discipleship program called Orlando project the first eight weeks

I just went with the flow did what I was supposed to work read the Bible worship But I still lacked an understanding of the gospel

I talked to my group leader and she gave me a video to watch and an article to read The video was the story of Jesus in the rose the premise behind this is that no matter how much we go through are crushed messed up and Destroyed by life

Jesus still wants us this piqued my attention. I don't remember anything about the article

I read except for one phrase that really stuck with me Why would Jesus go through all of that pain and suffering whipping carry across two kilometers up a hill be crucified die and raised from?

The dead just to leave me tomorrow At that moment my eyes were opened and I finally understood the gospel in the weight of what

Jesus had done for me I never got rebaptized half because I saw it as repetitive I'd already been baptized twice, but half of it was out of a fear of what people would think of me

So I ran and avoided it for five years After talking with Nathan and Chase and praying a lot about it.

God convicted my heart We are called to have faith then be baptized So I'm here today to finally stop running and be obedient to what he commands

Go for this one. All right Chase I'm gonna ask you once again

Have you put your faith in Christ and Christ alone for your righteousness and well then brother it

It's my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit buried with Christ Raised to walk in newness of life

It's warm at least yep Kylie I'm gonna ask you the same We just heard it.

It's a little repetitive But but we want to be clear you've put your faith and trust in Christ and Christ alone.

He alone is your righteousness Yes, well then it's my honor to baptize you my sister in the name of the

Father the Son and the Holy Spirit buried with Christ Raised to walk in newness of life

Praise The Lord praise the Lord guys, let's let's pray. Let's pray that God would continue to work in their hearts and sanctifying

Them and their family. It's fresh fresh new family, right? This is an exciting time. Let's pray pray with me dear

My father Lord, we come to you. Once again, we thank you We know that there's nothing uniquely special about these waters that there is nothing being washed away here

What needed to be washed away had already been washed away had been cleansed by the very blood of Christ This is but a picture

This is an example of what has happened and you've called us to be baptized

To show and to declare to the world that we are a new creation. We've been washed clean

We have been made anew and what a beautiful picture Christ that you you have prescribed.

Thank you for for chase and Kylie We pray you bless them pray bless them in their marriage

But now that as they've been obedient to you in that first act of obedience Lord, I pray that you would just use them mightily for Kingdom purposes

We thank you once again in Christ's name and all God's people said let's stand and worship together

Amen, let's dance in this Jesus paid it all I hear the

Savior say Yes watching

Jesus paid it all

I Ah Ah Jesus died my soul

I Shall still repeat

Jesus Jesus paid it all

To him I Grins and stay

Grins and stay Oh, praise the one who paid my debt, and raised his life up from the dead

Jesus paid it all, all to him

I owe Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow

You, my God, have saved my soul, I am yours forevermore

I won't be moved of this, I'm sure You, my God, have saved my soul

See, I was lost, I was lost when you came for me

Held in chains by the enemy, but you brought them in victory

Now I'm free, I am free, you're my joy, and you are my hope

I am saved by your grace alone, I will sing of your love for me

I am free, I am free You, my

God, have saved my soul, I am yours forevermore

I won't be moved of this, I'm sure You, my

God, have saved my soul Now I stand with the

King of kings, he has paid all my every sin And from now to eternity

I am free, yes, I am free You, my

God, have saved my soul, I am yours forevermore

I won't be moved of this, I'm sure You, my

God, have saved my soul What once was dead is now alive

You gave to me the breath of life You brought me up out from the grave

I'm bursting out with songs of praise What once was dead is now alive

You gave to me the breath of life You brought me up out from the grave

I'm bursting out with songs of praise I'm bursting out with songs of praise

You, my God, have saved my soul, I am yours forevermore

I won't be moved of this, I'm sure You, my

God, have saved my soul When the enemy surrounds

When the enemy surrounds And my heart grows faint within When the darkness overwhelms

And my fears are pressing in I will trust in You, O Lord In the silence

I will wait I will stand upon Your Word You're my silent rock and my salvation

My steadfast hope that won't be shaken My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You You're my stronghold and my shield

In the midst of every wrath Of the wicked never yield

They will vanish like a wrath Yes, I know the outcome's sure

Satan's evil plans will fail In Your power

I'll assert Your will You're my comfort when

I feel forsaken My refuge and my sure foundation

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You This is love

I can't explain This is mercy unreserved

Through Your sacrifice so great I have peace that's undeserved

For the battle has been won And I fear no shame or largeness

Now the sting of death is gone You're my silent rock and my salvation

My steadfast hope that won't be shaken My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You You're my comfort when

I feel forsaken My refuge and my sure foundation

My soul will wait, my soul will wait for You When I fear my faith will fail

Christ will hold me fast When the tempter would prevail

He will hold me fast I could never keep my hope

In life's fearful path For my love is often cold

He must hold me fast

He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

As He saves our hidden lives Christ will hold me fast

Precious in His own sight He will hold me fast

He'll not let my soul be lost His promises shall last

Brought by Him at such a cost He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

Hold my life, He bled and died

Christ will hold me fast Justice has been satisfied

He will hold me fast Raised with Him to endless life

He will hold me fast Till our faith is learned to die

Then He comes at last

He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast For my

Savior loves me so He will hold me fast

Lord, as we lift You, we exalt You.

This is all about You, Lord. Lord, thank

You for these people here this morning, Lord. Lord, thank You for the two that were baptized this morning,

Lord. What an awesome, awesome way to start a service. Lord, I pray this morning,

Lord, as we prepare to take up this morning's offering, Lord, I just pray,

Jesus, Lord, that You would just bless this offering. Lord, bless each and every one of us here this morning,

Lord. Lord, bless the word as it's about to be preached, Lord. Bless Pastor Nathan, Lord.

Father, we love You, we praise You. We ask all these things in Jesus' precious and holy name. In Jesus' name, amen.

I don't know about you, but that song gets me every time.

I'm confronted with that glorious truth that if it were left up to me to stay faithful to God, I would not hold fast.

If you could lose your salvation, if you could lose your position in Christ, you most certainly would.

There's no way you could. But praise God that Christ declared, of all that you've given me,

I've not lost one. Not one. He holds me fast.

Praise God. Well, our study through Ephesians, as most of you know, we've been going through Ephesians all last year and then in the beginning of the year, but with our little mini -series within, as we've gotten to that portion in chapter 5 of God's design for the family, it's going to be delayed a couple more weeks,

I'm sorry. I've already gotten some pushback this morning, as people have found out that we're not going into it immediately.

I've had to delay it due to the fact that our supporting church,

Riverbend, down in Florida, Josh Brown, has his ordination service next week to be installed as the teaching elder there at Riverbend, and I've been asked to go be a part of that and speak at that installation service, and it just kept getting postponed and postponed, and so now it's official.

I will be going down there next week, so it's an exciting time for that church.

I know that for those of us that are here, we hold Riverbend near and dear to our hearts for their oversight and support over the years as we planted.

I'm thrilled and honored to be a part of it, so please keep them in your prayers as they make this transition.

For Josh and Victoria, as he is stepping into some big shoes, that is going to be a massive undertaking, but God has prepared him for that.

But on another note, Pastor Scott, who was the teaching elder there, keep him and Gina in your prayers, for they are going back into the mission field.

They are headed back out west to plant churches in rural areas, the way they've done for so many years.

And so I talked to him the other day. He is excited to make his way through here on their way out sometime at the beginning of the summer.

So he'll be here to share with us the vision and where they're headed and how we can come alongside them in their mission endeavors.

So please keep them in your prayers. But as for today, as the elders and I thought and prayed about what we should look at, what text should we go to today, since we have an opportunity to look at anything in all of Scripture that we want to as we're taking a break from Ephesians.

And I found myself drawn back to Philippians. For those few of you that were here at the beginning, we went through Philippians.

This was the first sermon series when we were meeting back at the house. There's probably only five or six of you there at the time, so you're probably not going to remember much of it.

But God uses this particular letter from the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi. He uses this to really mold how

Christians should perceive circumstances, should see all of life in the way that the

Apostle Paul presents it to us here in Scripture. Circumstances that oftentimes don't seem ideal and sometimes just seem downright bad, don't they?

We all go through them. We all experience the brokenness of this world. And as I talk with many of you, as I counsel with many of you,

I know that you yourselves are feeling the pains of this current reality, of this brokenness and difficulty.

So I would like for us to look back at a portion of this letter and have our minds renewed by its truth prayerfully that will help us see those very circumstances through the lens of God's wisdom.

Sound like a plan? All right. Well, I've titled today's message, When the

World Hands You Lemons, Preach Christ. Okay.

So go ahead and open up your copy of God's Word to Philippians chapter 1. We're going to be looking at verses 12 through 14 this morning.

And I know I usually preach from the ESV, but these particular verses I actually like the NASB better, so I'm going to be reading from that, but you should be able to track with me here.

As you turn there to Philippians 1, 12, I would like to remind you of the circumstances surrounding

Paul's writing this letter. The church in Philippi, the Christians there are in a hostile culture, just like all of the

Roman provinces. You see these cities that are run by the Roman culture, and these

Christians, they do suffer persecution in the midst of that. And as Paul writes this letter to them, he himself is actually chained to a

Roman guard and imprisoned as he writes this wonderful letter. So this sets the groundwork for how we can understand it.

Let's read our text. Philippians 1, starting in verse 12, Paul says, Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren trusted in the

Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.

This is the reading of God's word. Would you pray with me again? Let's pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds to this great truth.

Oh dear Heavenly Father, we come to you once again and we thank you for your word. We thank you that you've not left us to ourselves, that we have the clarity of Scripture here.

But we so desperately need the power and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit within us to truly comprehend them at times.

Lord, guard our ears from error. Guard my lips from speaking an untruth from your word.

I pray that this would go forth and work in each saint this morning. For those that are yours, that it would renew their minds, encourage them, challenge them, convict them.

For those that are not yet yours, I pray that you would use this to awaken them to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lord, we thank you. We thank you for it. In Christ's name, amen. Well, the Apostle Paul has spent much of his ministry desiring to go to Rome.

This is where Paul's been wanting to go, is Rome. And now, here he is, in Rome.

However, this is not the way that the Apostle Paul had planned on his mission endeavors making their way to Rome.

I'm sure Paul had not planned on being taken to Rome as a prisoner. His plan to go to Rome was very strategic.

If you look at the trajectory of the Apostle Paul's mission endeavors, you begin to see a theme, don't you?

You begin to see him targeting major cities, and he goes into those cities. Of course, this plan makes sense, doesn't it?

If you want the gospel to spread in greater volume, you go to where the greatest concentration of people are, and the gospel spreads throughout those cities and then makes its way out of those cities.

This was undoubtedly the Apostle Paul's game plan in his mission endeavors. And during this time, there was no city like Rome, was there?

This city had a population of over a million people. Think about how bad the traffic is in Jonesboro, and we only have a couple hundred thousand.

You have a million people, and this is where Paul wants to go. This is a city. The whole world surrounds around this city at that time.

The saying was that all roads lead to Rome, because it was the center of the whole known world. So what better place to preach the gospel?

So, of course, Paul wants to go there. We see his desire for this when he writes to the church in Rome. In Romans chapter 1, he says,

I don't want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you. I want to come to you.

This has been my intention, but thus far I have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as well as among the rest of the

Gentiles. You see his heart there? That's what he wants to do. He wants to get to Rome to pour into the saints that are there, and then to share the gospel, the good news, with the

Gentiles that spread throughout. He wants to go there, yet God is using him elsewhere at the time.

All the while later, a few verses there in Romans 1, he was eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Well, here he is. He makes it to Rome. And again, of course, not as he had planned.

He would usually enter a city as an evangelist, but now he enters this city as a prisoner. Arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome to stand trial before Caesar.

Rather than going in and preaching in the public square the good news of Christ, he's now chained to a

Roman guard 24 hours a day for two years while he awaits a verdict of live or die.

So instead of being able to preach openly in the streets, to all who would listen, as Paul would often do, he's now given the opportunity to preach directly to Caesar's own personal guards and household.

Many of whom, as we will see in a moment, were converted. They were children of God.

Now we find ourselves here in verse 12, and Paul jumps right out of his greeting and into his own circumstances.

The Christians and Philippi are obviously concerned for his well -being. They care for him very much.

This is a very caring people. Even in the midst of their own suffering, they care for the Apostle Paul because they love him so, and they bear his burdens.

So they care for him. They're worried for him. So he gives them an update. He says, yes, I'm still in the chains.

I'm still awaiting a possible death sentence from Caesar. However, he says that this has advanced the gospel.

Paul is reminding them that even in the greatest of difficulties, the gospel of Christ advances.

He's saying, I may be hindered. My plans may be hindered. You may be hindered.

The gospel can't be hindered, can it? The gospel cannot be hindered because Christ is victorious.

Amen. Thank you, Danny. He will rescue every last sheep, as we said a moment ago.

As we sang, he will hold me fast. He's the one that comes and gets every last one. Christ is victorious.

And no circumstance, no government, no prison, not even Satan himself can even slow it down in the slightest.

And this is what we see here in this text. So I want us to see three things in these three verses here.

Three things. I think we have it up on the screen. The first one is I want us to see the proclamation of God's perfect plan.

The proclamation of God's perfect plan. Look there at verse 12 again with me. When he says,

Now I want you to know, brother, in that my circumstances, they've turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Now notice the very beginning of this verse.

He says, Now I want you to know. This is Paul introducing this thought here at the beginning of the letter. Like I said, he just got through the greeting.

And he's telling them, Hey, listen, I need you to hear this. I want you to hear this.

What's he wanting them to understand? That his circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, right?

His circumstances. What circumstances? We just talked about it. His imprisonment, right? This is

Paul saying that this has turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. He's not downplaying his circumstances.

He's not pretending that he's not in them. He's acknowledging this circumstance, but he's seeing it from a different perspective.

Paul's big grand plan of preaching the gospel in the streets of Rome are shot.

That's been his whole ministry. I've got to get to Rome. I want to get to Rome. God has hindered me. And now he's here.

Not only that, he's likely going to die. For Caesar could just as easily give the thumbs up or thumbs down on his life.

And here he is saying, my circumstances, this situation, it's turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.

Not, hey, when the world hands you lemons, make lemonade. Got to make the best of it.

I mean, that's kind of what we do sometimes, is it not? When we are dealing with circumstances that are difficult, we just deal with it like, well, this is life.

I guess we just got to make the best of the situation. Do the best that we can in the midst of it.

And our perspective is so me. It's so, well, here's my circumstance. But that's not

Paul, is it? No, he says the greater progress of the gospel.

He's speaking of this, notice, as it's the greatest possible scenario that could have happened.

He says, my imprisonment, my lack of comfort, my threat of death, my personal freedom, my pain, my loneliness are nothing compared to the advancement of the gospel.

And it is a small price to pay. I wish

I could see things like Paul does. Don't you? Paul would ultimately be released from this first imprisonment.

But he doesn't know that. As far as he knows, he could be dying there. Yet we see the same attitude six years later.

He's imprisoned again in Rome for a second time. And while in prison, at that time, he writes a letter to his protégé,

Timothy. As a matter of fact, turn there with me to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 2. Because I think this gives us a little bit of an insight into what

Paul's meaning back here in Philippians. 2 Timothy 2.

Again, this is one of Paul's protégés. This is a young man that he's establishing churches.

And he's been discipled by the apostle Paul. And Paul here is writing him again.

Again, chained to a Roman guard for a second time. And here in 2 Timothy 2, starting in verse 9, he says,

For which I suffer hardship, even to imprisonment, as a criminal.

But the word of God is not imprisoned. The word of God is not...

I may be imprisoned. But the word of God is not imprisoned. You catch that? This is precisely why

Paul is confident that this is for the greater progress. You can imprison me.

Yeah, you can take me and lock me away and throw away the key, but you can't imprison the gospel.

Good luck with that. You can't stop Christ Jesus, the reigning king, from finding his people and reigning.

You cannot contain it. And the more that you try, the more it will advance.

Because God is using you as his pawn. That's the

God we serve. Sovereign. Paul knows this. So how is

Paul so confident that this is the advancement of the gospel? Look at what he says next there in 2

Timothy, in verse 10. He says, for this reason I endure all things. I endure this imprisonment.

I'll endure shipwreck. I'll endure beating. I'll endure stoning. I'll endure hunger. I will endure whatever the sovereign

God ordains in my path. I will endure it, no matter what happens to me.

As he said in Philippians 4 .13, he says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

I can handle whatever he puts me in. Because God is the one that sustains him.

He goes on and explains his motivation. Look at it. He says, for this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen.

Paul knows that God has a chosen people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.

And this is what gives him the greatest confidence to endure hardship. He knows that his missionary endeavors, he knows that his evangelism efforts have a 100 % success rate.

Because those that are his will be awakened to the truth and saved. God has a people that he has set his love on from eternity past.

We've seen that in Ephesians, right? And he has them in each of these cities. And he, again, will not lose one of them.

Just as we quoted a moment ago in John 18, for all that you've given me, I have not lost one.

And this gives Paul an incomprehensible certainty in whatever circumstance of hardship.

And what is he certain of? Look at the next part of that verse with me there. That they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with that eternal glory.

Paul is never focused on this life. He's never focused here. He says, for me to live, well, that's for Christ.

I'll endure hardship. In my imprisonment, they're not hindering the gospel. Oh, but for me to die, that's gain.

That's when life begins. Like right now, I'm a sojourner in a foreign land on mission that my king has set me on.

But one day, I will get to be in glory with him. That's life. That's what I'm focused on.

And I want these other saints, the ones that are his, that he is going to awaken from death to life.

I want them to experience Christ Jesus and eternal glory. Though they are dead in their trespasses and sins, they will be made alive through the hearing of the word.

This is Paul's confidence, is it not? He knows that the regenerating work of the

Holy Spirit does not depend on him, and it does not depend on his circumstances. He is merely a mouthpiece in the hands of a sovereign

God who ordains all things to be. Not a molecule in the whole of creation moves without God's ordaining purpose.

God provides the hearing of the gospel and saves those that are his. Praise God. Go back with me to Philippians 1.

There in verse 12 again. I'm going to read it again so we keep it in our minds. Now, I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.

Paul wants the people in Philippi to understand that his circumstances haven't caught God off guard. God has a perfect plan in our suffering.

We don't always get to see it, but here it's obvious to Paul, right? Sometimes when we go through suffering, we don't know what it's for.

Sometimes people come to me and they say, well, pastor, I dealt with this suffering over here. I don't know what that was for. What was the purpose of it?

I don't know that I've ever seen any fruit come from it. Obviously God didn't have a plan in it. Well, it had a plan.

All things work together for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purposes, right? It had purpose in it. We may not see it.

Oh, but here, praise God, God had orchestrated it in such a way that it's just obvious right before him.

And he wants the believers to see how obvious it is. They see his suffering.

They know this wasn't Paul's plan to get to Rome in this way. He wanted to preach in the streets.

However, it turned out to be the best plan, the greater progress of the gospel. This is

Paul's proclamation of God's perfect plan, is it not? God's perfect plan.

It was better than Paul's. Paul had a plan. It was a good plan, was it not? Go to Rome is a great plan.

Sometimes we have great plans. We have great vision. We have great ideas. And we want to do this and we want to do that. As the people of God, praise

God, do it. Plan your way as God directs your steps, right? And so God is the one that has a perfect plan.

And this is the proclamation of that. The second thing

I want us to see is the purpose of God's perfect plan. The purpose of God's perfect plan.

Look at verse 13 with me. He says, Here's the reason.

Here Paul mentions his imprisonment, but not how we think. We think of this imprisonment as something brought on by the

Roman authorities, do we not? They're the ones that have arrested him. But I believe Paul is saying something deeper here.

Paul's letting us in on privy to some information that he knows.

He says the cause of. Actually, if you're reading from the

ESV, it says, My imprisonment is for Christ. But see that for there, that's not in the original text.

It's been supplied by the translators to smooth out the sentence. It's often done in translating into English.

This practice is usually helpful. It's very helpful, usually, in reading the text in English. But I don't think it's so helpful in this case.

Because I think Paul seems to be saying, So that my imprisonment in Christ.

So that my imprisonment in Christ. This carries the understanding that, yes, he is imprisoned by the

Roman authorities. But he is subtly telling us, the readers,

Hey, make no mistake. I am here for the sake of Christ.

I am here by the sovereign will of Christ. I am his prisoner. For Rome is under the sovereign reign of King Jesus.

This isn't Rome. These chains, these powers that be, cannot and will not hold me.

If the all -powerful, sovereign, loving God doesn't allow it.

He ordained it to be so. Because his imprisonment is in Christ. It's like Paul just skips the middleman.

He's like, Hey, you think my imprisonment is by Rome? For the sake of Christ? No, it's

Christ Jesus. He's the King. He's allowing Rome to imprison me.

My imprisonment is in Christ. Not Rome.

He goes on to say there, So that my imprisonment in Christ has become well known.

I would say so. It says throughout the whole Praetorian Guard. This Praetorian Guard, notice it doesn't just say a

Roman Guard. This is not some ordinary Roman soldier. This is an elite group of soldiers that served and guarded

Caesar exclusively. Think of them kind of like the Secret Service. This is not just your everyday

Roman Guard soldier. Which is kind of strange because these soldiers, they would have been used in circumstances of the utmost danger to Rome.

So apparently Rome thought that Paul was pretty dangerous. But under the sovereign hand of God, bringing about these circumstances.

Look at it. Because not only that, but these men, they had a level of honor and prestige that's unmatched in Rome.

This particular guard would have been well thought of. These men would have had power and position because they stand guard with Caesar and his household.

Remember how I mentioned Paul's usual approach when entering a city. He would preach in the streets to merchants and religious leaders.

Anyone that would hear, he would preach the gospel to them. But now, here he is chained with an 18 -inch long chain to some of the most influential and far -reaching people in all of Rome.

God gave him a captive audience. Every few hours he gets a new one.

So you can imagine knowing the Apostle Paul, you know these men were just like, I was so sick of hearing about this

Jesus. I was so tired of hearing the gospel. But every few hours, rotating a new

Roman guard that's a captive audience to him. Paul himself could not have come up with such a perfect plan.

He didn't orchestrate his arrest in Jerusalem and brought to Rome in this way. It was

God that did it, and it was perfect. And we know many of these men belonged to Christ because they were awakened and saved.

Remember, God has an elect from every tribe, nation, and tongue, including Caesar's household. And he knew they were there, and they must be reached.

And the Apostle Paul, preaching in the streets, would have probably not reached many of these men. But here he is.

At the end of this letter, in chapter 4, in verse 22, he says,

Isn't that funny? He's like, by the way, we have brothers and sisters in Caesar's own household now.

And it's because of the greater progress of the gospel, is it not? Instead of entering

Rome and preaching on the corner, God brings him into Caesar's very household. And through that, look at the next part of our verse here in verse 13.

He says, Not only have they not been successful at hindering

Paul from sharing the gospel to the public, God calls his own children out of that very household, who then go out and share the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone.

Now there's not just one Paul roaming through the streets of Rome and sharing the gospel.

There are many, and they are influential people coming from Caesar's own guard and house.

A number of commentators believe that this is the very circumstance that Paul is in at the end of Acts.

If this is true, that these new converts of Caesar's household and the guard, they were actually bringing others in to hear the

Apostle Paul speak and preach the gospel. They're bringing people from the community in to hear him while he's chained.

In Acts 28, you can look it up. In verses 30 to 31, it says, When you were in prison in Rome, you had to pay for it.

If you wanted to eat, somebody had to provide for you. It's your own expense. These people are bringing them in to him to hear the gospel.

Paul is being obedient, is he not? Instead of moping around and having a pity party, instead of sitting there imprisoned, chained to a

Roman guard, losing all of his freedom and thinking, All is lost! Woe is me!

He's being diligent to do what God has called him to do. He's being obedient.

He's redeeming the moment that he is in, in whatever circumstance. What a great example for us, is it not?

When you find yourself in circumstances that you had not planned, in the midst of various trials and difficulties, do you respond the way that Paul does here?

Redeeming the moment? Seeing God has put me here. I will share the good news of Christ.

I will continue to speak of the goodness of God. I will still have joy in the midst of all circumstances, with a deep -rooted faith that knows, that truly believes, that God has purpose in the midst of even this.

Perfect purpose. Christ exalting gospel, furthering purpose in my circumstances.

Leading us to continue marching forward in the Great Commission, no matter what comes our way.

It's our marching orders, is it not? This is what God has called us to, to proclaim the excellencies of him, who has purchased us by his blood.

Do we do that, or do we just lay down and give up? We just shut down.

These circumstances are too much for me to bear. God can't mean this for me.

I thought when I came to Christ, everything was going to be hunky -dory. I thought everything was going to be great.

I thought my life was going to be fixed. I thought they said that my finances were going to be fixed. I thought they said that my relationships were going to be fixed.

I thought that my job would be secure. I thought that everything was going to be good from here on out.

Forgetting all the verses that say, oh, by the way, this is a life of suffering, because your master suffered.

Are you greater than your master? You may say, well, pastor, you just don't know my circumstances.

Wait till you hear my story. I think Paul's is bad. Wait till you hear what happened to me. Wait till you hear about the bad hand that I was dealt.

Wait till you hear what that person did to me. Wait till you hear of these terrible circumstances that have been brought on into my life that I didn't deserve.

No good God would ever allow that in my life. Brother, sister,

I'm certainly not making light of your difficulty. I definitely don't want to do that.

My heart aches for you. I am to weep with those that weep. I mourn with you when you mourn.

There is difficulty in this life, is there not? I sympathize with that difficulty, but God is either sovereign or he's not.

You can either see him as a cosmic bully, or you can see him as the loving, gracious, good

God that does all things well. You can hold to that promise in Romans 8 .28,

right? For those who love God, all things work together for the good.

It doesn't say some things. It doesn't say most things. It doesn't say the good things. It says all things, no matter what.

Our circumstances are for the furtherance of the gospel. What better purpose?

What greater purpose, saying, if we must suffer so that our lost brothers and sisters may be found?

This light momentary affliction, in this blip on the radar called life, to suffer hardship so that the gospel may go forward?

We should rejoice in that, should we not? We've been found worthy to suffer for his namesake and be used for his purposes of redeeming his people.

He's using us in the midst of it. It's a totally different perspective, is it not?

We have such a victimhood mentality. Everybody that I counsel with almost comes in and they're carrying the world's perspective of, let's focus on your problems.

Let's look at them and let's try and fix them. Let's look at you in detail. That's counseling.

You're a victim. Now let's figure out how to fix it from this position of victimhood.

Whereas the word of God says, no, if you're a victim of anyone, you're a victim of God. And if you're his child, he wants what's best for you, even when it is excruciatingly painful.

I know I've shared this analogy before. I don't have it in my notes here. It just hit me. We talked about Josh Brown earlier. Most of you know

Josh, the one becoming the preaching elder at Riverbend. Him and his wife had to bury their four -year -old son last year.

And this man preached his son's funeral. Me and my wife watched it and I just sat in tears.

I thought, I couldn't do that. What faith in Christ to preach his son's funeral. And he had an analogy that is just stuck in my brain and I can't get out.

He said that his son and his health problems, when he was an infant and he couldn't understand words, he was too young to understand any kind of verbal communication, would have to go into the hospital and get these excruciatingly painful shots on the bottom of his foot.

And those shots were keeping him alive. It's the only thing keeping him alive. And these shots were unbelievably painful, they said.

And he said that his son, the moment the nurse would come in, his son was old enough to know that pain's coming.

And as that needle would go into his foot, he would scream and he would look at his father and he would say,

Why are you doing this to me? Why don't you stop her? Why do you not stop them from harming me?

And he can't verbalize it. And Joshua sat there and he'd say in tears, I would just hold my son and I'd press my face into his face and I would just let him know

I'm here and try to express to him, This is what you have to have. This is what's best for you.

I love you. I know it's painful, but it is what you absolutely need.

What an analogy of God, our Father, in our momentary suffering and difficulty that's molding us and making us more into the image of our great

Savior, the one that suffered ultimately on our behalf. He's pressing his face into us as children, going,

I know you don't understand. You don't have the capacity to understand my great will. I know it's painful.

And I weep with you. But you have to have this. This is what is growing and molding you, child.

Oh, this is what Paul's experiencing, is it not? And it's for the furtherance of the gospel so that those that are in Caesar's own household may come to the saving knowledge of Christ and Christ alone and be saved from their enmity with God and brought into eternal glory and then go out through the city of Rome of a million people with influence and share the good news so that then it just spreads out like wildfire all over the known world.

What a great, glorious plan. Paul could not have come up with it. Well, I've got a third point.

Let's look at it briefly here. Third and finally, the proof of God's perfect plan.

Sometimes we forget that there is evidence and truth behind the fact that God does have a perfect plan, but God's words give it to us.

Look at verse 14. He says, And that most of the brethren...

Most of the brethren, what? He's implying that this is a majority of the believers, is he not?

The majority of believers, what? He says, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment.

Oh, these believers now have a deep trust in the sovereignty of God. They see Paul's example.

They see his circumstances. They see his deep, relentless trust in God's plan through difficulty.

And now, because of this, most of the believers there in Rome have this same trust.

They're trusting the Lord as Paul is trusting the Lord. And what does this trust lead to? Look at it.

They now have far more courage to speak the

Word of God without fear. This deepened trust and faith in God's perfect ordaining will has led them to have far more.

Not just more. Paul doesn't say just more courage. He says far more courage.

To do what? To speak the Word of God and to do so without fear.

Without fear of rejection. Without fear of physical harm. Without fear of loss of freedom.

Without fear of sounding stupid. Without having the right answer to the question that might get thrown my way.

Even without fear of death. All those fears have just now melted away.

There's boldness. Not because they see how good Paul has it.

Paul doesn't have it very good. It's not his circumstances that Jesus fixes all of his external problems and now they want what he has.

That's not what gave them a fearless boldness to share the Word of God. No, it's their fears melted away because they have seen the power of God not only survive but flourish in the midst of the weight, the full weight of what the world has to throw at it.

They see God for who he is. A sovereign king working all things according to his own will.

And even though the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing, his children, his sheep, they're awakened to the beauty of it.

They see it. And Saint, as we look at the apostle

Paul's situation here, I want you, I want you to grow in that that deepened, far -reaching, bold faith that no circumstances can stop the furtherance of the gospel.

And the furtherance of the gospel is the whole reason we're left here. God has a plan, does he not?

Praise the Lord. Because as Paul said in Romans 1, he says,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. To everyone who believes, to the

Jew first and also to the Greek, this gives him courage. And this is what should give us that boldness to speak the truth without fear when we see others' faith standing firm in adversity.

Does it not just light a fire in your gut? Growing in the faith and knowledge of God strengthens our faith.

So when we find ourselves in less than ideal circumstances, we should remember that our faith is rooted and grounded in the knowledge that we serve a sovereign

God that has a perfect, sovereign plan. And all God's people said, Amen.

I pray and hope that this passage was encouraging for you today as we do each week.

We want to prepare now to go to the table. And today we are going to partake together.

And so if you're a guest here, I want you to know that if you are in Christ and you are an active, participating member of a biblical church, you are welcome to this table.

And so the way this will work is there's a table on this side and this side. Pastor Keith will be over here.

Pastor Jeremiah will be over here. You can come out, make a line on the outsides.

Some of y 'all in the back, if y 'all could come to this side, we'll make it more even. Come and take the wine and the bread and go back to your seats through the middle aisles.

And as soon as everyone is through, then we will look at Luke's account of this Last Supper and we will partake together.

But let's pray that God would be honored in our time coming to the Lord's table together.

Lord, thank You for Your great mercy in our lives. Thank You for how You have called us out of darkness into Your marvelous light.

God, we pray this morning that as we partake of this great ordinance,

Lord, we know that it's just wine and bread, but it is what You have prescribed.

The wine that represents Your blood. It goes down with a bitter taste, showing and symbolizing the bitterness of what it took to go to the cross and shed

Your blood for us. That cup, that bitter cup that You had to taste for us.

Oh, but the aftertaste is also sweet, symbolizing the beauty and sweetness of eternal glory and righteousness.

The bread is unleavened, symbolizing that it has no impurity in it for Your body,

Your flesh. Christ was perfect and sinless. Ours was tainted in sin and defiled, but Yours, perfect.

And when we partake of these elements, we are remembering Your death until You return again.

We are symbolizing our oneness in You. We are acknowledging to our brothers and sisters around us as we partake of these elements that, yes,

I still declare, I still hold fast that my Savior has redeemed me by His blood.

Lord, I pray that this would be a worshipful time for us. Set our thoughts, our affections, our love towards You at this moment.