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Pastor John Kane May 24, 2020 Faith Bible Church, Sacramento, CA fbcsacramento.org
Well, good morning or good evening, depending on when you're able to watch this service.
We welcome you. We're glad you're able to be with us, to share in worshiping together.
I think you know that no matter where we're at, we can worship our Lord. It doesn't need to be corporately, but this is a special time for us as a church, and we just are grateful for the opportunity to be here, to share
God's word with you, to lift our voices this morning. So welcome. And this morning, before we begin,
I'd like to read Psalm 100. You can just listen. You don't have to look it up. If you would like to, fine. But this is
Psalm 100. Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands. Serve the
Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is
God. It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to him, and bless his name.
For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations.
Amen. Let's pray before we begin our service today. Lord God, we are blessed to be here,
Father. We are grateful for your faithfulness, for your goodness, for your kindness, for your mercy.
Lord, without you, Lord, we are nothing. But Lord, we come together today at this time to rejoice, to lift our voices in acclamation of you,
Father. Lord, may our hearts be ready and be prepared to hear what the
Holy Spirit would have for us today. Lord, use us, we pray, Father, in all things, and that you might be glorified.
We pray these things in Christ's name, amen. And before we continue, we have a special music piece from Johanna and Jacqueline.
Today, we've been blessed to have Pastor John Kane to be here with us to give the message.
And these are his lovely daughters, and they are going to share with us about this wonderful, merciful
Savior. Thank you, ladies, that was beautiful.
So this morning, or this evening, depending on your ability to watch this, we're gonna take this time, we're gonna lift our voices to the
Lord. And it would be just wonderful if you could sound, if you could sing loud enough to not hear me sing today, and that would give glory and honor to the
Lord. And so let's lift our voices, wherever you're at. And this morning, our first song is gonna be
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. This is a song of comfort and assurance, and that is just what we need right now in these times.
So we're gonna sing Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. ♪
What a fellowship, what a joy to share ♪ ♪ Leaning on the everlasting arms ♪ ♪
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine ♪ ♪
Leaning on the everlasting arms ♪ ♪
Leaning, safe and secure from all harm ♪ ♪
Leaning, everlasting arms ♪ ♪
Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way ♪ ♪
Oh, how bright the path grows the day by day ♪ ♪
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all harm ♪ ♪
What have I to dread, what have I to fear ♪ ♪
I have blessed peace with my slurs and fear ♪ ♪
Leaning, everlasting arms ♪
I'm sure that was great singing. Next, we're gonna sing, God Will Take Care of You, and He Will.
♪ Be not dismayed, whate 'er betide ♪ ♪
God will take care of you ♪ ♪
Beneath his wings of love abide ♪ ♪
Through every day ♪ ♪ God will take care of you ♪ ♪
Through days of toil, when heart doth fail ♪ ♪
Just finish your path of sale ♪ ♪
God will take care of you ♪ ♪ Through every day, for all the way ♪ ♪
He will take care of you ♪ ♪
No mass, God will take care of you ♪ ♪
On his breast,
Through every day, he'll take care of you ♪ ♪
God will take care of you ♪ Thank you, and Pastor John will come and lead us now.
Amen, thank you, Harold. If you have your Bibles at home or here, let's go to the book of Philippians.
The book of Philippians, Apostle Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. And I send my greetings to the church family at Faith Bible Church that are watching on video.
And appreciate Pastor Stan trusting me enough to come and share the word of God with you and the elders approving that, so it's a blessing to be here.
And our text will be taken from Philippians chapter one, and I'm just gonna read the first 21 verses for you and then pray for our country.
But a fantastic letter about joy in the Christian life in the midst of very trying circumstances.
So Philippians chapter one. Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my
God and all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.
For God is my witness, how I long for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless 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.
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, trusting in the
Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.
Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill.
The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this
I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness,
Christ will even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death, for to me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. May God add his blessing to the reading of his word.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, what a testimony of a man of God, a man that you converted on the road to Damascus and used mightily for the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to be coming towards the end of his ministry and life for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. God, may that be our testimony as a church family and as a church in this country, that for us to live is
Christ, to die is gain. And Lord, we do think about our country. It is really very challenging for us to wrap our minds around the reality of what's going on.
A major car rental agency this morning announced they're filing for bankruptcy. So much,
Father, going on with businesses and people's lives, unemployment. So, Lord, what can we do but to do what you tell us to do, which is to pray for those in authority over us.
And we do pray for our country, for our president, for the Congress, God, for the
Senate, for the Supreme Court. We pray, God, for governors across this country. We pray especially for those believers in political office or political influence,
God, that you would give them wisdom as they seek to be salt and light in a very dark, dark place,
God. We pray especially for them. We pray for the Bible studies in legislative buildings across the country,
Father, in Capitol buildings, for state senators and state representatives, God, that might know
Christ, that are burdened that they would be a testimony to the legislators around them,
God. We pray for wisdom for these medical directors for county and city, these men,
Father, that went to medical school and swore an oath, Father God, to protect and to preserve life.
Lord, they need wisdom right now. And we pray that you would fill these people with all spiritual knowledge and wisdom.
For those that don't know Christ, God, we pray that you might be drawing them to Christ through the testimony of churches that have sought,
Father God, to honor the directives and the orders, God. And we are thankful,
Father, for this announcement Friday that churches, places of worship are now considered essential businesses,
God. And, Father, across this country, we need wisdom in how we'll essentially roll that out,
God, so people feel safe. People are nervous, Father, about this virus. We pray for our testimony as a church family, for those of us that go to an office,
God, for those of us that are working online, for emails that we write and phone calls that we take and videoconferencing,
Lord, that we would have those opportunities to be light and salt in this very challenging time for our country,
God, and that we would join shoulder to shoulder with Paul and rejoice, and again I say rejoice.
We pray these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen? We're going to sing again a hymn that has been around a long time,
Day by Day. Day by day and with each passing moment
Strength I find to meet my trials here
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment
I've not cause for worry or for fear
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto me Thank you so much,
Harold. I wish you guys that are watching could have been here before we started recording because we were losing it in here.
My wife and family are here, Victor and Barb are here, Kevin is here, Harold and Debbie are here, probably because they were like afraid that what would
I do if I was here alone, right? So have your Bibles go to Philippians, please.
Keeping Christ and the gospel central. You know, as we face the reality of living in a fallen world, it's good to remember that in general, in general, the thoughts that we think and what's central on our minds and hearts for the most part are personal choices.
For the most part, even right now, you have the ability to listen carefully to what
I'm saying, to have your Bibles, to not let your mind drift. And I'm not talking about the power of positive thinking or anything even close to that.
What I'm talking about is what the Holy Scripture tells us here in Philippians 4, verse 8, what it tells us and what it teaches us about the choices of what we think about.
Look at Philippians 4, verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
I hate to admit how many times I fail to do that. Think about that word dwell.
In my translation, it has the word dwell. It's a command in the Greek. The word means really four things.
It means to think about something, to consider it, to regard it intently.
The idea is to dwell or to think or to consider or to regard the topics on this list, those things.
So God's holy and inspired and authoritative word is saying here that these are the things that we need to be dwelling on and thinking about and it's letting us know that we have a choice to do so.
And when it comes to trials, what do we most often think about when we're in a trial?
The trial. Right? Or what do we think about most when someone hurts us?
Not the good about them. No, it's what they've done to hurt us. So today,
I wanna dwell with you. I wanna think with you. I wanna consider. I wanna encourage you what was on the apostle
Paul's mind and central to his thinking when he was in the midst of extremely trying circumstances.
And yet, in spite of those circumstances, he had the joy of the
Lord. He was rejoicing in the Lord. Now, it just so happens that the theme of the epistle of Philippians happens to be joy.
It's been called the epistle of joy. Paul uses the word joy or rejoice, basically same idea in the
Greek. He uses it 15 times and the idea means to experience a full gladness of heart.
So this letter, you could think of it as kind of a guidebook on how to have joy in the Christian life.
The apostle Paul was under house arrest. He's awaiting trial for his faith.
And in spite of these very trying circumstances, Paul had joy. And we learn here in this passage back in chapter one, if you'll turn there.
We learn here that he was making a conscious choice or decision to keep
Jesus Christ and the gospel central.
He made a decision. It was in his thought life
DNA to keep Jesus Christ and the gospel central in spite of his circumstances.
So this morning, or as Harold said, whenever you happen to be watching this, maybe you slept in late.
I mean, we've been doing it for months now in our home. We have our service. And it did not feel a bit strange singing for the first time in your house, joining in the congregational singing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we got used to it. And I won't tell you which one, but a certain member of my family was kind of saying, you know,
I'm kind of liking this worshiping in my pajamas thing, keeping Christ and the gospel central.
You know, as we face the reality of living in a fallen world, it's good to remember that in general, in general, the thoughts that we think and what's central on our minds and hearts for the most part are personal choices.
What I'm talking about is what the Holy Scripture tells us here in Philippians chapter four, verse eight, what it tells us and what it teaches us about the choices of what we think about.
Look at Philippians four, verse eight. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise dwell on these things.
The idea is to dwell or to think or to consider or to regard the topics on this list.
Those things. So God's holy and inspired and authoritative word is saying here that these are the things that we need to be dwelling on and thinking about and it's letting us know that we have a choice to do so.
Paul's mind and central to his thinking when he was in the midst of extremely trying circumstances and yet, in spite of those circumstances, he had the joy of the
Greek. He uses it 15 times. And the idea means to experience a full gladness of heart.
So this letter, you could think of it as kind of a guidebook on how to have joy in the
Christian life. The apostle Paul was under house arrest. He's awaiting trial for his faith and in spite of these very trying circumstances,
Paul had joy. And we learn here in this passage back in chapter one, if you'll turn there, we learn here that he was making a conscious choice or decision to keep
He made a decision. It was in his thought life DNA to keep
Jesus Christ and the gospel central in spite of his circumstances.
I mean, we've been doing it for months now in our home. We have our service. We have and then we're watching and it did not feel a bit strange singing for the first time in your house, joining in the congregational singing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we got used to it and I won't tell you which one, but a certain member of my family was kind of saying, you know,
I'm kind of liking this worshiping in my pajamas thing. So praise
God, praise God. So Philippians chapter one, before we go any further, do not, if they, if Faith Bible Church, I don't know how they're gonna feel about pajamas next week.
I mean, at Walmart, they're okay with it, right? But not in church, amen? So let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day and this time in your word. God, thank you for the
Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit that teaches us and comforts us and I pray that he would open our eyes.
We thank you so much for this day and this time in your word. God, thank you for the
Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Holy Spirit that teaches us and comforts us and I pray that he would open our eyes,
God, of understanding now to the passage that we're gonna be studying, that we might not only understand it, but most importantly, apply it to our lives, that it might become a part of our heart,
Father God, and bear fruit and grow fruit in our lives, we pray in Jesus' name, amen? So beginning of verse 12 through verse 20, we learn some encouraging things about the realities of living in a fallen world and in spite or despite trials or challenges, like COVID -19, that it's possible for believers to have joyful hearts.
See, we're told a number of times in the New Testament, in various ways, that believers are to keep
Jesus Christ first, the gospel central in their lives.
Matthew 6 .33, seek what? Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you, right?
So there's, it's not, if everything's going well, seek first, that's where it starts.
Seek first the kingdom of God. Hebrews 12 .1 says, let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, and I love this, the author and the perfecter of our faith.
So fixing their eyes on Jesus and keeping him and the gospel central by faith is the priority for a
Christian, even in the midst of trials. And we can make a case from this passage that we're gonna be studying, that the source of comfort and strength when experiencing trials is moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, the decision to keep
Jesus and the gospel central. We can see Paul's choice and his decision to keep the
Jesus Christ and the gospel central. He mentions it twice, once in verse 12, look at it.
I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances, no matter how bad, have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.
And then he says in verse 16, right, that he was appointed for the defense of the gospel.
So we can also see the choice and decision to keep Jesus Christ and the gospel central by his recurrent use of synonymous phrases.
Look at verse 14, where he says, speak the word. Verse 15, he says, preaching
Christ. Verse 17, proclaim Christ. The point is that for Paul, the advance of the gospel was central in his life purpose and it overrode and it overshadowed everything else that was going on, even in his imprisonment.
And this helps us to understand one of the keys to having joy in all circumstances.
See, it goes without saying, and I think we all understand that it's not if trials will come, it's only when.
Because we live in a fallen world and we have the enemies of the flesh, the world system, and the devil.
Go to John. Very interesting what Jesus says in John chapter 16. Someone once said, we're either in a trial or we just finished a trial or we're about to go into a trial.
John 16 verse 33. I want to point out, look at the language there. In almost any
English translation I looked at. Jesus didn't say that believers could or would have tribulation.
He said, we would have it. And it comes from the world system that's anti -God or it comes from the temptations of the flesh or it can come from the devil.
But what we want to understand that there's two sides of this coin. On the other side of that coin is
Jesus Christ and the power of the gospel. See, like a two -sided coin, this is a two -sided biblical truth.
Jesus warns, in the first part of that, he says, in the world you have tribulation.
But look at the next part. I have overcome the world.
So how does a believer have courage when facing tribulation? Through and by means of faith in Christ.
1 Peter 5 .8. Be of sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to listen carefully to what
What I'm talking about is what the Holy Scripture tells us here in Philippians 4 .8,
what it tells us and what it teaches us about the choices of what we think about. Look at Philippians 4 .8.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
I want to dwell with you. I want to think with you. I want to consider. I want to encourage you what was on the apostle
Lord. He was rejoicing in the Lord. Now, it just so happens that the theme of the
Epistle of Philippians happens to be joy. It's been called the
Epistle of Joy. Paul uses the word joy or rejoice, basically same idea in the
The apostle Paul was under house arrest. He's awaiting trial for his faith and in spite of these very trying circumstances,
Paul had joy and we learn here in this passage back in chapter one, if you'll turn there.
So this morning or as Harold said, whenever you happen to be watching this, maybe you slept in late.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we got used to it and I won't tell you which one but a certain member of my family was kind of saying, you know,
I mean at Walmart, they're okay with it, right? But not in church, amen? So let's pray.
God, of understanding now to the passage that we're gonna be studying, that we might not only understand it but most importantly, apply it to our lives that it might become a part of our heart,
Father God, and bear fruit and grow fruit in our lives. We pray in Jesus' name, amen? So beginning of verse 12 through verse 20, we learn some encouraging things about the realities of living in a fallen world and in spite or despite trials or challenges like COVID -19, that it's possible for believers to have joyful hearts.
See, we're told a number of times in the New Testament in various ways that believers are to keep
So it's not if everything's going well, seek first, that's where it starts.
Seek first the kingdom of God. Hebrews 12 .1 says, let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus and I love this, the author and the perfecter of our faith.
Christian even in the midst of trials and we can make a case from this passage that we're gonna be studying that the source of comfort and strength when experiencing trials is moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, the decision to keep
I want you to know brethren that my circumstances, no matter how bad, have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel and then he says in verse 16, right, that he was appointed for the defense of the gospel.
Look at verse 14 where he says, speak the word. Verse 15, he says, preaching
Christ. Verse 17, proclaim Christ. The point is that for Paul, the advance of the gospel was central in his life purpose and it overrode and it overshadowed everything else that was going on even in his imprisonment and this helps us to understand one of the keys to having joy in all circumstances.
See, it goes without saying and I think we all understand that it's not if trials will come, it's only when because we live in a fallen world and we have the enemies of the flesh, the world system, and the devil.
Go to John, very interesting what Jesus says in John chapter 16. Someone once said, we're either in a trial or we just finished a trial or we're about to go into a trial.
John 16, verse 33. Notice that Jesus said, in the world, you have tribulation.
In the world, you. In the world, you, believers, have tribulation but take courage to devour.
We know that verse but sometimes we forget the next part of the verse. Peter goes on, the devil's going about, he's like a roaring lion but resist him firm in your faith.
So how does a believer resist the devil? By faith. See, every time in scripture, when it comes to facing trials, even through the
Old Testament or enemies or temptation, it's always, always, always gonna come back, it's always gonna circle back to faith in God.
Remember Moses? Remember Gideon? Go through the Bible.
It's always gonna come back to faith. It's always going to come back to keeping
Jesus Christ and the gospel, the power of the gospel central.
So what can we be learning about this seemingly simple matter of keeping Jesus Christ and the gospel central in this passage and how does this attitude or mindset or decision or purpose become the means or path to having joy in the midst of trials?
There's two parts to my outline. Maybe you're taking notes at home. So number one, two parts.
When it comes to having joy in spite of or in the midst of trials, be learning from the reality of what the
Bible teaches us about the circumstances of life. You see, in verse 12, back in Philippians chapter one, we're reminded that one of the realities of living in a fallen world is that stuff happens.
Paul says, I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances.
See, we'll dig a little deeper into Paul's circumstances in a few moments, but some of the circumstances that Paul had experienced since he had last seen the
Philippians when he planted the church wasn't COVID -19 or shelter in place. It was things like beatings, hunger, stoning, cold, persecution, being chased, to name just a few.
But he says, notice he says, in spite of those circumstances, right, they have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.
Paul had trying circumstances and so can anyone else ever born in a fallen world.
Nevertheless, the centrality of the gospel in Paul's life resulted and turned out for the progress and advancement of the gospel.
And why? Because it was the focus of his life. Romans 8, 28, God causes all things to work together for our what?
Good, right? For a believer's good. God causes all things to work together for our good.
In Genesis 5, 20, Joseph told his brothers, as for you, you meant it for evil against me.
But God meant it for good. Have you thought about how in spite of all the bad news, all the businesses, all the unemployment, the people dying, the mortality rate, the shelter in place, have you thought about how
God is using this for good? God meant it for good to preserve many people alive.
And you want to talk about keeping the gospel central. Have you thought about the gospel opportunities that you've had the last couple of months?
I'm going to give you two quick examples. Out of the blue, my daughter, one of my daughters knows this young lady, thought she would never hear from her again.
I guess it's one of these teenage friendships. I don't understand them. My kids say, you'll never understand them.
I say, wait a minute. I used to be a teenager. I know a little bit about this. Out of the blue, she gets a text message.
Hey, can we talk? They get on the phone. Hey, I really want to get together with you.
I want to do a Bible study with you. I'm going through a trial. Now they're meeting at 730 twice a week and doing a
Bible study together. The other day, I had a run in with a neighbor. Totally never would have happened without COVID.
I happened to be home. I wasn't at the school teaching. Found out how much he hates religion and me.
You're the preacher. How did you know? Everybody knows you're a preacher. That's what they call you, the preacher.
Then he unloaded on me. My kids were back there. They're like, do we need to get guns, dad? The Lord used that.
The man softened. He apologized to me. We shook hands. What do we learn here about how joy in the
Christian life is tied to keeping Jesus Christ in the gospel central? First, be learning about having joy in the midst of trials by remembering that in spite of the circumstances of life,
God never sleeps. God never goes out to lunch. God never is on vacation.
He is and He will be working for our good, for His glory, and the furtherance of the gospel in all circumstances.
Second, when it comes to what we can learn here about keeping Jesus Christ in the gospel center, number two, be learning about the importance of keeping
Jesus Christ in the gospel central from the realities of the Apostle Paul's circumstances.
See, there's the general circumstances of life, living in a fallen world, and then there's these specific examples that Paul had, and we come to those in verses 13 through 19 because Paul brings to the table his circumstances by illustrating and explaining what's going on, but most importantly, he illustrates how
God is working in His present circumstances, keeping the gospel central to advance the gospel.
Now, there's a couple of things that he mentions. We don't have a lot of time to dig into all the details because it's a fascinating passage, but in verse 13, number one, he's in prison.
So the first circumstance that Paul is dealing with is he's imprisoned, and he wasn't an ordinary prisoner because he's imprisoned for the cause of Christ, right?
He wasn't in prison for stealing, for robbing a bank, for extortion, for evading taxes.
He was in prison for the sake and cause of Christ. Now, his imprisonment at this time, this is his first imprisonment, he's under house arrest, and this means that he is chained to a
Roman guard 24 -7. So seven days a week, he is chained.
We don't know exactly. Was it, you know, leg, ankle, arm, wrist? We don't know those details, but we know that he was changed, and he wasn't chained to just any
Roman soldier. He's chained to a member of the elite Praetorian guard. The elite
Praetorian guard were hand -selected. They would be like the equivalent sort of of our
Navy SEALs. They're hand -selected. They work for Caesar. They think, scholars, there were 9 to 10 ,000 of them.
Okay? He's imprisoned because he's a Christian, and he's chained to a
Roman soldier 24 -7, and he mentions two areas or spheres of his gospel witness, even though he's in prison.
Number one, he's imprisoned with a Praetorian guard. Now, these men had special pay and privileges, so he's under house arrest as near as we can figure two years, so he's able to witness to these guards, right?
He has a captive audience. He's captive, but so is the guard, right? The guards were able to observe his life, how he spoke to his friends, what he wrote.
Very often, he dictated, right? So they're hearing all this, how he prayed.
Scholars believe that the guardsmen were changed every four to six hours. Start doing the math.
Pull out your phone. Start doing the math. 24 -7, every four to six.
That's four a day times seven days a week. That's 28 times...
Think about how many of these 10 ,000 elite, influential soldiers
Paul would have been able to witness to over that. Think about the soldier's family. Think about their friends.
Think about the other soldiers in the barracks. Think about when they went to the market. Oh, I hear you're guarding that apostle
Paul. Remember, this is first century Middle East. They didn't have smartphones. They didn't have internet.
They didn't have newspapers. What did they have? Word of mouth. They talked about things.
You want to know about something like that? Go to Italy sometime. Go to Europe, and they have those little piazzas, and they sit there and they talk for hours about everything that's going on in their life.
Second, Paul also said that his imprisonment in the cause of Christ, notice he says, my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the
Praetorian Guard, do you notice what he adds? And to everyone else. What he's saying is literally all the remaining ones.
So we have this Praetorian Guard, we have their family, and everyone else that is associated with Paul's life.
The markets, where they would buy food. Taylor, where he got his clothing fixed maybe.
And see, Paul testifies that his preaching of the gospel under these circumstances was successful.
Go to chapter 4, verse 22. This is amazing. This is a wow. The very end of the letter.
All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.
So we're talking here about servants or relatives of the
Emperor Nero. Remember him? They must have been saved through the gospel ministry of Paul while he was in prison.
God drew them to Christ as they observed the apostle's life, as they heard about it. Remember Agrippa?
I want to hear from you. I've heard about you. That's how the culture was. Before them, they saw his prayer life.
They saw his life. They heard his teaching. So this is a life of faith demonstrated and illustrated that we keeping
Christ in the gospel central. And this was the life testimony of the apostle Paul. So we can be learning about keeping the gospel and the
Lord Jesus Christ from the realities of Paul's circumstances. And not only did they include being in prison, but God is working second because the gospel is still being preached.
Back to chapter 1. Paul may be in prison, but the gospel wasn't.
The gospel was still being preached not only by Paul, but others. And notice in verse 14 that there's two groups or categories of men preaching the gospel.
Look what he says. And most of the brethren, trusting in the
Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God.
So Paul's in Rome. He's under house arrest. They have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.
Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel.
The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.
Now, there's a lot of questions that we can get into. Scholars have dealt with. We don't have the time to unpack everything.
I mean, you think about it today in the world that we live in today. Aren't there basically two categories of preachers today?
Those that are faithful to the word of God and those that aren't. Isn't that kind of what's out there?
So we can gather from what he says that the Philippians probably thought that Paul's imprisonment would slow down or even stop the gospel from progressing.
It's clear that he wanted to assure them, okay, wait a minute. The apostle Paul, the one who planted this church,
Thessalonica, Corinth, he's now in prison. What's going to happen to the gospel? Look at verse 19.
For I know, he's rejoicing, verse 18, I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the spirit of Christ.
Two years. It seems clear that the Philippians thought Paul's imprisonment would slow down or even stop the gospel from progressing and he wanted to know this isn't the case.
There's some other examples, but the bottom line to the realities of Paul's circumstances is that they hadn't hindered the gospel going out, but rather they provided opportunity for advancement of the gospel.
He says in verse 14, specifically, most of the brethren, there in Rome, were trusting in the
Lord because of my imprisonment, having far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.
And then he mentions those two group of preachers, one who are preaching Christ from envy and strife and the other from goodwill.
We could say a lot about this, we don't know who these people are, but we do know this, they weren't false teachers.
They wouldn't, they couldn't have been false teachers because Paul doesn't accuse them of that, so it couldn't be the
Judaizers that were going into the churches of Galatia, it couldn't be the Gnostics that were going into the churches of Colossae, and the
Dosedists, there were different type groups of false teachers going through the early church that we learn about in the
New Testament. Paul didn't have a problem with the content of those preaching, what did he have a problem with? Their motives.
It's quite possible that these preachers were attempting to take advantage of his absence to gain a following, that's very common, there's more we can say but we just don't have time.
So there's these two groups of people preaching, those with pure, unselfish motives, out of love, others preaching from selfish ambition, thinking that they're going to cause
Paul distress in his imprisonment, thinking Paul was going to be hurt somehow but regardless, what the gospel was going out and the gospel was central in spite of Paul's circumstances.
Look at verse 18. What then? Only then in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is proclaimed and in this I rejoice and again I say rejoice.
So Paul's focus is Christ and the gospel. It's central to him and he testifies that in spite of his present circumstances, the gospel still being preached and third, when it comes to his present circumstances and learning more about this is that in spite of all this,
Paul is rejoicing. See the outflow of keeping the gospel central is seen in verse 18.
What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,
Christ is proclaimed and in this I rejoice. See Paul doesn't pity himself because certain jealous preachers were trying to win applause at his expense.
What really matters to him is not what they're doing to him but what they're doing for the gospel. What matters then is that in every way, whether in pretense or by those who know how to cover up their selfish ambition or in truth by those whose sole aim is actually the glorification of their
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Paul is rejoicing. Look at verse 25. Convinced of this,
I know that I will remain and continue with all, with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith.
Look at verse 2 of chapter 2. Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Look at verse 17. But even if I'm being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service here of faith,
I will rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too,
I urge you. And this is really why I'm preaching this message.
I urge you, Faith Bible Church. I urge you, Christian. Rejoice in the same way and share your joy in me.
And I can go on to so many other passages. We can go to chapter 2, the end. We can go to chapter 3, verse 1.
We can go to chapter 4. This constant theme of urging the brethren to rejoice. Beloved, joy is a fruit of the spirit, meaning it's a fruit of the gospel.
And Paul's joy over people hearing the gospel is so great that it crowds out every other consideration, which is a testimony of how
Christ -centered and gospel -centered the Apostle Paul was.
So John 16, 33. These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace.
In the world, you have tribulation. But take courage.
I have overcome the world. See, here's the reality. We live in a fallen world.
So did the Israelites. So did Paul. So did the Philippians. And see, the reality is that living in a fallen world with sin and the influence of devil and the struggles with the flesh can take our joy.
Our joy can be easily stolen. But in confidence by faith in the
Lord, a believer must purpose to face the obstacles with that wonderful confession that we know that all things work together for our good, that God is at work.
My sister. My sister managed a big law office. They furloughed her almost immediately along with all the lawyers and staff, and she got a phone call
Thursday. Well, due to the circumstances, we have to lay you off.
We don't need you anymore. Joseph told his brothers, you meant this for evil, but he goes on and declares that in reality, a sovereign
God was at work, and he meant all of it for good. This is the reality of the circumstances of life.
It was true for Paul, and it's true for any believer, including us. So what can we do, and what do we need to be learning about keeping
Jesus Christ in the gospel central? For one, understand and be learning from the realities of the circumstances of living in a fallen world.
Second, understand and be learning from the realities of Paul's circumstances and how he kept
Jesus Christ in the gospel central. Believers, simply by faith and through the power of the gospel, must decide and purpose to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith, which is what will keep him central.
May God add his blessing to the preaching of his word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for the blessing of just this small group of folks being together that we can gather to worship you.
We pray especially for those that are watching, Father, that their hearts, if any are discouraged, can't imagine,
Father, the whole idea of being in your home, my neighbor across the street telling me that she has not gone anywhere in over two months.
Members of our church in their 80s just visited one the other day.
I have not gone anywhere except the store for two months.
Lord, help us as believers to understand that you are at work, whether we necessarily see it immediately or not, that you are at work, that we might fix our eyes upon Jesus, keep him central and the gospel central, that we would be sensitive to those gospel opportunities,
God, with people we meet, with our neighbors. We're seeing, Father, in our neighborhood, people we've never seen before.
We pray for them. Pray for everybody, that this church, every unbeliever, that this church, the people in this church are touching
God, that you might open the doors for us to share the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Harold. Thank you,
Pastor John. That was a really needed message for us, for me, for me.
I'll speak for me. And what an important thing it is to abide in Christ in times of trial, because there we will find rest.
And our last song this morning, this day, is You Are My Hiding Place.
Well, thank you today for joining us here at Faith Bible Church of Sacramento. It has been a blessing to us that are here, and I trust that it's been a blessing to you as well.
We thank you, and may God give you rest in this tumultuous time. Thank you.