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Philippians chapter 1 verse 27,
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ,
that whether I come and see you or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,
and in nothing terrified by your adversaries,
which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation, and that from God.
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, or for the sake of Christ,
not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake,
having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here to be in me.
The suffering with which Paul is talking here in this passage
is not the suffering that comes as a result of living in a fallen state.
This is not the kind of suffering that applies to every person's life that has ever lived.
There's a few things in terms of hardship that we all face.
Because of our sinful nature, because of the curse of sin on this earth,
through Adam and Eve and so on passed down to all of us,
there are certain hardships that we face.
Death is one of those things primarily.
Paul's discussion here of suffering is not really in the realm of that type of suffering.
It's not hardship for hardship's sake.
It's not just about going through difficult times.
The suffering that he's referencing here in this passage
is a suffering and a persecution
that comes specifically as a result of our commitment to the gospel.
It's not just a suffering with sickness because we have sin-cursed bodies that are in the process of decay.
It's not that type of suffering.
It's the suffering that we may deal with persecution and ridicule
and even face a possible death for our stand on the gospel.
It's preaching the truth and dealing with the opposition.
That's the suffering that he is referring to here.
Kent Hughes, in his commentary on the book of Philippians,
tells the story of a man named Mehdi Dibaj.
Mehdi was arrested by the government in Iran in 1984
after he converted from Islam to Christianity
and became a pastor in a Christian church there in a Christian community.
He spent 10 years in prison
until he was sentenced to be executed for his faith in 1994.
This is just a few years ago.
The Iranians released him under pressure from the United States government,
but he was found dead just a few days later in a park.
He was the third Christian murdered in Iran
after being released from prison during that specific time frame.
Kent Hughes includes some of Mehdi Dibaj's last statement of defense
when he had gone to trial in Iran.
Here's the last sentences that he wrote and that he exclaimed in this trial.
He said,
It's very much reminiscent of verse 21 in Philippians.
Philippians 1, isn't it?
For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain.
And then he said,
Therefore, I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honor of his holy name,
but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord.
Standing before this council and this defense,
knowing that what awaited him,
if he stood firm on sound doctrine,
if he continued to preach the gospel,
was certain execution,
and those were the words that he expressed to this council.
I stand firmly committed that Jesus Christ is our Savior,
and he is the Son of God.
Of course, God has an amazing purpose,
gospel purpose,
for this kind of suffering.
We've talked about that in our study already of chapter 1 in Philippians,
but a recent article by the Gospel Coalition stated that right now,
in 2019 or 2020 now,
the fastest growing segment of the global church is in Iran.
It's amazing because of the persecution of believers.
The church is growing incredibly in places like the Middle East
and in China and in communist environments.
The church is growing because of the persecution of believers.
People who are willing to stay committed to their faith,
even when being opposed by the people around them.
God has a gospel purpose in that,
and he uses it in a fantastic way.
It's something that we are not so familiar with
because of the blessings that we experience
and the freedoms that we have here.
But all across the world,
there are still people
that are up against severe persecution,
even martyrdom,
all because they're Christians.
Of course, persecution is not exclusive to Christianity.
There's lots of people groups.
There are lots of religions that are persecuted.
But it is to be expected for Christians
according to the scriptures.
Last week, we talked about this demonstration
of the gospel-worthy life.
We'll cover these last two points this morning,
which the first being the sign of a gospel-worthy life.
The sign of a gospel-worthy life.
Look with me again at verse 28.
Paul says,
and nothing terrified by your opponents or your adversaries,
which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation,
and that from God.
In verse 28, we see the words evident token,
which just means a sign.
Refers to proving or giving evidence
of something that's true.
A sign gives direction.
And it's like coming to a fork in the road.
One sign points toward the path of opposition to the gospel
and leads to the city of destruction.
The other sign points toward faith in the gospel
and leads to the city of salvation.
Allowing believers to go through seasons of persecution
is used by God as a means of making a clear separation
of the saved and the unsaved.
Paul says that the willingness of a believer
to faithfully endure suffering
gives evidence of the fact that unbelievers will perish
and believers will be saved.
That's exactly what he's saying in verse 28.
Unbelief demonstrated by those who oppose the gospel
is the sign of coming judgment.
Endurance demonstrated by those who believe the gospel
then is the sign of a coming salvation.
Three quick notes underneath this point
if you're keeping track of them
maybe in your scripture journals.
The first thing is this.
Our endurance is a sign of judgment
to those who oppose the gospel.
Our endurance in the faith and through persecution
is a sign of judgment to those who oppose the gospel.
Paul says it to the unbeliever,
to the adversary, to the opponent.
It is an evident token of perdition
or destruction and judgment.
It doesn't mean that they acknowledge the sign
but the sign is still yet evident.
The believer's willingness to endure suffering
for the sake of the gospel signals to their adversaries
that they will one day be judged by God
for their unbelief and for the persecution
that they have brought on God's people.
But this sign has a purpose
and this is the point that I want us to understand here.
This sign of destruction,
this sign, evident token of perdition,
it has the purpose.
It's not only meant to condemn the unbeliever
but I believe it's actually meant
to draw them to salvation.
There's two ways that I think it does this.
First, it does it, it's produced through our message.
This sign is produced in our message.
Look with me again at verse 27.
Paul urges these believers to let their manner of life
be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
And here's how it would be worthy.
That I may hear of your affairs,
that you stand fast in one spirit,
that's a commitment to biblical doctrine,
with one mind striving together for the faith,
that's the offensive posture of sharing the gospel
with the people around you
and in nothing terrified by your opponents.
It comes by standing firm,
faithfully declaring the gospel.
Our endurance then is clearly lived out,
practically, in action.
And that action is founded on
the declaration of a particular message.
What is this endurance?
It's the message that we give.
What is that message?
That all who reject Christ will die in their sins
and their soul will live eternally,
separated from God in a place called hell.
How is our suffering,
how is our endurance a sign of judgment to our opponents?
Because in that sign is the reality of our message,
that as they oppose us,
what they're opposing is what we are preaching
and what we are believing.
And if we're doing it the right way,
what we're focused on in our preaching
and in our teaching and in our sharing with our friends
is not all of the preferential things of church,
not all of the various things
that we would dig through the scriptures
and try to argue with someone about.
What we are faithfully preaching is the gospel,
that Jesus is God,
that he came to save sinners,
and all who reject him as God
that do not believe
are destined for destruction and hell.
But our message is also a sign of hope.
Because those same opponents
that reject the gospel,
if they will at some point repent in their heart
and repent of their unbelief
and turn to Jesus Christ,
God will forgive their sins
and grant them eternal life.
It's a wonderful sign of hope.
It's not just a sign of destruction.
Our mission is to proclaim the gospel
to sinners just like us.
And it may be that God allows us
to suffer for that proclamation
so that he might use our enduring witness
to save the very person that afflicts us.
It may be that God allows you to suffer
for your faith in your family
or in your place of work
or among your friends
or even a stranger,
specifically so that your enduring witness
would be used by God
to draw that opponent to salvation.
Remember, faith cometh by hearing
and hearing comes by the word of God.
We're to keep defending and preaching Jesus
so that even the most vehement deniers of truth
might hear the message and be saved.
So this is a sign of judgment
and it's a sign of hope.
So the sign is produced in our message.
The sign is also produced in our suffering.
It's also produced in our suffering.
God often uses our willingness to remain faithful
as a means of drawing our opponents to salvation.
Think about the scene of the cross
as Jesus was crucified for the sins of mankind,
for us.
Think about all of the opponents involved in that story.
The first one that comes to mind for me is the thief.
In fact, you could probably go to Luke chapter 23
and Luke chapter 24
and see all of these examples in one setting.
Remember the thief on the cross?
There was two of them.
Jesus split the two.
There was one on his right and one on his left.
I think it's the gospel of John tells us
that when they first were being crucified,
both of these thieves were ridiculing and mocking Jesus.
They were asking if he really was who he said he was.
Why didn't he save himself and then save them along with him?
Both of them were involved in this.
But at some point in the six hours of suffering on the cross,
seeing the suffering of Christ,
one of them was impacted in a specific way,
not necessarily because of the words of Christ,
but because of the way that he suffered.
So that some point during that crucifixion story,
one of the thieves looks at the other thief
and says, you gotta stop this.
This isn't right.
And he looks at Jesus and he says, remember me, please.
And what does Jesus say?
It's amazing, his love.
Even in the midst of that, after hours,
this man has been ridiculing and mocking him.
He's in the same condition as him.
He's in no reason to mock anybody,
no condition to mock anybody.
And he's relentless with Jesus.
And then finally something clicks in his mind
as he witnesses the suffering of Jesus.
And Jesus looks at him and says,
today you will be with me in paradise.
Just like that, he's willing to forgive him
and demonstrate his love.
We see because of the suffering of Christ,
the thief on the cross comes to Christ.
Remember the centurion.
That was one of the men that literally crucified Jesus.
Once Jesus takes his final breath,
he says, truly, this was the son of God.
One of the men that was splitting his garments
and casting lots, making a mockery of him,
literally nailed him to the cross.
And he sees the way Christ suffered.
And God uses that to draw him to salvation.
Do you remember Joseph of Arimathea?
Luke tells us that Joseph was actually a part of the council,
that kangaroo trial that night,
that condemned Jesus to be crucified.
He was on that council.
Now there's a good opportunity or a good chance
that he didn't agree with the council,
but he was complicit in what they were doing.
Yet it was Joseph of Arimathea,
after seeing the way Christ suffered,
goes to Pilate and begs the body of Jesus
and takes his body off.
And as soon as they could,
before the Passover Sabbath had begun,
takes him and puts him in that borrowed tomb,
understanding that Jesus wasn't gonna stay there.
And then the crowd that gathered around,
that gnashed on him with his teeth,
that the Bible says wagged their heads and ridiculed him
as they saw the sign above his head that said,
said King of the Jews.
That in this three hours of darkness,
as we see the darkness rest between noon and three o'clock,
as Jesus is being crucified,
we see him absorbing the wrath of God.
In the midst of all of that,
this crowd is convicted so that they end up going home.
And it says they're beating their breast as a sign of guilt
and as a sign of repentance for what they had just done.
Why?
Because they had witnessed how Jesus had suffered.
So God uses that.
He uses our endurance.
He uses our willingness to suffer to bring others to Christ.
Of course, it's not just what Jesus is suffering.
Just in Philippi, they understood this.
Remember the Philippian jailer.
Why was it that he ran into Paul and Silas' jail cell?
And at the end of that night or at midnight and said,
what must I do to be saved?
It was because of the way they suffered
and endured that persecution that he inflicted.
Perhaps even witnessing and approving of the murder of Stephen
was used of God to begin softening the heart of the apostle Paul,
who at that point was known as Saul of Tarsus.
Listen, when we suffer well,
we give evidence of the truth of the gospel.
Why would anyone face death for something they didn't genuinely believe in?
When we're willing to endure opposition
because God will use our testimony to bring others to faith,
and thereby our suffering is a sign of their judgment.
So our endurance is a sign of judgment to those who oppose the gospel.
It's also a sign of our salvation.
Look with me again at verse 28.
To them, it's an evident token of perdition,
but to you, that is the Philippian believers,
it's a sign of salvation.
Listen, this part's important.
Endurance is not the cause of your salvation.
It is only the sign of genuine salvation.
You are not saved because you endure.
You endure because you are truly saved.
Suffering is the proving ground for authentic faith.
Those who have truly trusted in Christ
will stand firm on the gospel
because they're fully convinced of its truth.
Those who cower and reject the gospel
because of impending opposition
prove that their profession of faith
was not genuine saving faith.
And so in this sign of salvation,
not only does God separate with this sign
the opposition that is destined for judgment
and the ones who endure in their faith
that are destined for salvation,
not only does he make that separation,
but as he gets into this group of professing believers,
our endurance and suffering then becomes another form
of separating the sheep from the goats, so to speak,
where those who do endure
see the sign of their salvation,
those who do not endure
did not have genuine faith.
Of course, the scriptures testify to this over and over.
Hebrews chapter three and verse 14,
the writer says,
we are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end.
And then we're reminded by John in his first epistle.
They went out from us, but they were not of us.
For if they had been of us,
they would have continued with us.
But they went out that it might become plain
that they all are not of us.
So this idea of suffering for the gospel
is not only a sign of the opposition's destruction
and the endurer of salvation.
But as you get into this realm of professing believers,
God begins to weed out those who only profess the faith
but have never actually believed it.
It's a pruning process.
God often does with his church.
This is not to insinuate that it's possible
for a person once saved to lose their salvation.
The Bible clearly teaches that that's not the case.
It's not to be representative of a believer
that falls in a moment of weakness and fear.
That's not it either.
This is representative of a professing believer
that when facing persecution for their professed belief
reveals that they never did actually truly believe
so that the result of their rejection
isn't mourning or grief over their sinful denial.
Rather, they end up joining the ranks of the opposition.
There's a difference in how they continue.
And it's at this point, before we move on,
that I want to encourage those of us
that have fallen in a moment of weakness in this way.
Just because you've had a moment
where you didn't stand as firm on the gospel
as you should have or could have
doesn't mean automatically that you were never truly saved.
Your salvation was not earned by works
and it won't be kept by your works either.
It's the power of God that saved you
and it's the power of God that secures that salvation.
Persecution serves as God's means
of exposing those in the church
that have not actually believed.
And there's a difference between a person
that apostatizes the faith
because they never truly believed
and a person that has genuinely been saved
but in some way faltered out of fear.
And I want to give you an illustration
of the two differences.
Turn with me to Luke chapter 22.
Would you do that?
Luke chapter 22.
Just a few pages to the left in your Bibles.
I want you to see it
because I want you to believe me.
I don't want you to take my word for it.
I want you to take God's word for it.
Luke chapter 22.
I want you to see this.
I think it'd be helpful to us.
There's a lot happening in this passage
leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus
but there's two different narratives
that involve rejecting Christ.
One is the narrative that surrounds Judas Iscariot
and his betrayal of Christ.
The other is the narrative of Simon Peter's denial of Christ.
Judas and Simon were not, or Peter,
were not the same in this.
Peter showed an evidence of weakness as a believer
but he was a believer.
Jesus had actually already confirmed that.
Judas' story is different.
Let's look at his first.
Look at Luke chapter 22 verses three through six first.
Then entered Satan into Judas,
surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the 12.
And he went his way and communed with the chief priest
and captains how he might betray him unto them.
And they were glad and covenanted to give him money.
And he promised and saw opportunity
to betray Jesus unto them in the absence of the multitude.
There's a very vindictive, very adversarial,
very much opposition to Jesus.
That's what's happening there in Judas' narrative.
Now look with me at verse 21.
Verse 21 to 23.
Jesus says,
But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me
is with me on the table.
And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined,
but woe unto the man by whom he is betrayed.
And they began to inquire among themselves
which of them it was that should do this thing.
And it's at that point in the narrative
that we understand Judas left the room,
knowing where Jesus would end up going
after the supper was over.
He betrayed Jesus and turned him into the chief priest
and to the soldiers there.
Judas' betrayal of Jesus was rooted in his lack of faith.
He didn't truly trust Christ,
but for three years,
he took part in the ministry of Christ.
There's a warning in this for us,
just in the story of Judas,
that you may sit with someone in church
for years and years and years,
but really when the opposition
really starts to show his face,
you might find out that this person
that is even partnered in ministry to an extent
was not actually a genuine believer
and will just as fast turn on the faith
as they professed that same faith.
Judas was an unbeliever
who was exposed for his unbelief
after three years of trying to hide it
and put on this charade.
Peter was different.
Let's look at his narrative in Luke chapter 22.
Look with me at verse 31 to 34 first.
And the Lord said,
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you.
Now in Judas, in verse three, Satan entered him.
That's not the case with Peter
because Peter was a true believer.
Satan wanted to destroy him,
but he couldn't enter into him.
He says he wants to sift you as wheat.
But I've prayed for you, Peter,
that your faith fail not.
And when you are converted
or when you are restored or renewed,
strengthen thy brethren.
That statement in and of itself
is evidence that Jesus understood
Peter's genuine conversion.
He was a genuine believer.
He knew he was gonna deny him,
but he also knew that he was a genuine believer
and there was gonna come a time after that denial
that he repented of that denial
and that he strengthened the other apostles
and would once again lead them.
Verse 33,
and he said unto him,
Lord, I'm ready to go with thee,
both into prison and to death.
And he said,
I tell thee, Peter,
the cock shall not crow this day
before thou shalt thrice,
three times deny that thou knowest me.
Let's skip down to verse 54.
This is amazing.
Verse 54.
Then took they him,
that's Jesus.
He's in the process of trial.
And they brought him into the high priest house
and Peter followed afar off.
And when they had kindled a fire
in the midst of the hall
and were set down together,
Peter sat down among them
to witness what was going on with Jesus.
But a certain maid beheld him
as he sat by the fire
and earnestly looked upon him and said,
this man was also with him.
And he denied him,
saying, woman, I know him not.
After a little while,
another saw him and said,
thou art also of them.
And Peter said, man, I am not.
And about the space of one hour
after another,
confidently affirmed,
saying, of a truth,
this fellow also was with him,
for he is a Galilean.
And Peter said the third time,
man, I know not what thou sayest.
And immediately,
while he yet spake,
the cock crew,
and then this is the amazing part.
And the Lord turned
and looked upon Peter.
They saw each other.
They locked eyes.
Now watch what Peter does.
Peter remembered the word of the Lord,
how just a few hours before,
he had said unto him,
before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me three times.
And Peter went out
and wept bitterly.
There's clearly a difference
between Judas's betrayal of Jesus
and Peter's denial of Jesus.
So there may be a time in your life
where maybe you're in the midst
of a struggle right now,
or maybe there will come one ahead of you
where you will face persecution
and ridicule
and suffer in some way for your faith.
And in that moment,
you may be tempted
to deny that faith
or to pass it off
or to not stand firm on sound doctrine,
to not pursue offensively
proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That time may come,
and it may have already come for you,
that in a moment of weakness,
your faith wavers
and you don't do
what God has told us to do
in proclaiming the faith
and trusting him through it.
But that doesn't mean
that you're not a believer.
What it means
is that you're in a moment of weakness.
And it could be
that you just need
to get on your face
before God like Peter did
and weep bitterly
and repent of this denial.
There's a difference
between a person
that can't suffer
and denies the faith
and leaves it
and a person
who is wearied
in suffering
and falls
in a moment of weakness
but continues
in that faith.
So don't be discouraged
if you've blown it up
to this point.
Forgiveness is offered
to you by Jesus
like it's offered
to anybody else.
Here's the awesome thing
about Peter's narrative.
Jesus dies that next day.
He raises three days later
and then he spends 40 days
and he appears
to various people
in those 40 days.
Acts chapter 1
picks back up
with the ascension
of Jesus Christ
after Luke
and then 10 days
after Jesus ascends
Peter in Acts
is preaching
on the day of Pentecost.
He's the one
leading the charge
at that point.
He faithfully
preaches the gospel.
3,000 people get saved.
The Holy Spirit
has this amazing demonstration
of his power
among all of these people
and even in the face
of that opposition
which he did get
arrested and beaten for.
Even in the face
of that
he didn't care.
He pursued it.
53 days
after he had denied Christ.
It's only 53 days later.
So he has this moment
of weakness
and just a few days later
God uses him
in a fantastic way.
Where was Judas?
He hung himself.
His life was done.
God still had a purpose
for Peter.
God still has a purpose
for you.
So stand firm now.
Strive together now.
I gotta hurry.
The next thing
that we see here
is that our endurance
produces a particular confidence.
Look at the last phrase
of verse 28
in Philippians 1.
He says
and all of this
comes from God.
The sign produces
a particular confidence
and joy
in the heart
of a believer
that endures suffering
for the gospel.
Our fear
is turned to faith
and our weakness
is turned to strength
when we realize
that God
is in control
and he always
has the last
word.
Paul reminds
these believers
of the fact
that both judgment
and salvation
come from the hand
of God.
The salvation
of those who believe
and the judgment
of those who oppose Christ
are both secured
in his sovereign purposes.
I imagine
that in the midst
of the persecution
of believers
in Philippi
that these Philippians
were tempted
to view that persecution
as a sign
of the superiority
of their opponents.
Think about that.
The intimidation
that they experienced
was driven
as they experienced
this persecution
from a group
of people
that greatly
outnumbered them
that were in control
of every aspect
of their life.
The leadership
of Philippi
wasn't on their team.
I can imagine
that they felt
a lot like Asaph
in Psalm 73
that Jack read
for us
just a little bit ago
and it would have
been easy
for them
to be overcome
with discouragement,
question the faith
that they had professed
and even be in danger
of denying
that gospel
altogether.
What did Asaph
say in Psalm 73?
He said,
my feet had well
nigh slipped
when I saw
the prosperity
of the wicked.
All of these people
that hate you, God,
everything good
happens to them.
They're in control
over me.
They are ruling my life
and I'm ready
to just give up
on all of that.
And he says,
until I went
into the sanctuary
of God,
then understood
I therein.
As he endured,
he was given
the sign
as Paul is talking
about in Philippians
chapter 1,
he was reminded
of their coming
destruction.
And so when we look
like Asaph did
and like these Philippians
did at the opponents
of the gospel,
we don't look at them
with intimidation,
we look at them
with pity.
They may have
the rule now,
but God ultimately
rules it all.
Their judgment
and our salvation
rests in God's hand,
not in our opponents' hands.
They may get victory
over us now,
but we understand
their end.
Their end,
if they continue
in unbelief,
is one that we are
to pity.
He holds both
our salvation
and their destruction
securely in his hands
so that we can view
our suffering
with confidence
that salvation
belongs to them
that love Jesus
and believe his gospel.
And that reminds me
of that famous hymn
that Martin Luther wrote,
A Mighty Fortress
Is Our God.
You know that hymn?
The fourth verse of it,
it says this,
let goods and kindred go.
Let the things
that you own,
materialism
and the relationships
that you have,
be willing to let
those things go.
This mortal life also.
The body they may kill,
God's truth abideth still.
His kingdom is forever.
So there may come times
in your life
as a believer
that you're up
against opposition
and suffering
for the sake of the gospel,
but it doesn't matter.
Let goods and kindred go.
Let this mortal life go also.
The body they may kill.
They may kill this body
that's gonna die anyways,
but God's kingdom,
it endures forever.
His word will never end.
His promises
will never go away.
And so we can look
at our suffering
despite the trial
and the hardship of it.
We can look at it
with confidence
because we understand
that judgment
and salvation
comes from God.
He gets the last word.
And so long as we are
secured in his hand,
we receive the salvation.
And the sign of that salvation
is our willingness to endure.
So we see the sign
of suffering
or the sign
of the gospel-worthy life.
Real quickly,
let's look at the final thought.
The call of a gospel-worthy life.
Look at verse 29 and 30.
The call to salvation
is a call to suffering.
Paul brings these two elements
together in verse 29.
He says that the Christ
that has given you salvation
has also given you
the privilege
to suffer for his sake.
There are those
who purport
gospel of wealth
and prosperity.
They claim that
the truly Christian person
will be evidenced
in blessing and wealth.
But the true gospel says
that the genuinely Christian person
will be evidenced
in endurance
through suffering.
Jesus called for this mindset often.
Mark chapter 8,
he said,
if anyone would come after me,
let him deny himself.
Not seek prosperity,
but deny himself.
And take up his cross
and follow me.
For whosoever would save his life
will lose it.
But whoever loses his life
for my sake
and the gospels
will save it,
Jesus says.
Taking up your cross there
is not the presence of hardship.
Bearing your cross
is an identification with Christ.
identifying with him
even to the point of death
is what it means.
Two things.
There's the guarantee of suffering.
The guarantee of suffering.
Paul didn't tell the Philippians
that they might suffer
for the gospel.
He said that it has been granted to them.
It's been given to them
to suffer for the gospel.
It's a guarantee for every believer
in some form or fashion.
The degree of suffering
will be varied
based on God's purposes
for each individual.
But we will all suffer in some way.
Paul says in verse 30
that they would have
the same conflict
which they saw in him
and now here to be in him.
Well, we understand what that is.
What they saw in him
was that he was stripped naked
in the middle of town.
He was beaten nearly to death
and thrown into prison.
And now they know
that what they have heard of him
is that he spent
the last four years in prison
and that what awaits him
is a verdict
that could end up in him
being beheaded for his faith.
What Paul is saying
to these Philippian believers,
he's not saying
that you will experience suffering
in the same way that I am.
He's not saying
that they're probably
going to take you
before the town
and they're going to beat you to death
and throw you into prison.
He's not saying
that you're going to probably
spend four years in prison
and ultimately be executed.
That was possible for them
but that's not what he meant.
What he meant
is that whatever form
of persecution you face,
whatever degree of suffering
that you experience
will be because you have fought
the same fight as me.
Having the same conflict as me,
it means fight.
That as you pursue the gospel
the way that I am,
you're probably going to suffer
in some way.
It may not look like
my suffering looks
but as long as you're preaching
the gospel,
there will be those
that oppose you.
There's a guarantee of it.
He wrote that to Timothy.
He said,
indeed,
all who desire
to live a godly life
in Christ Jesus
will be persecuted.
You might have a family member
that doesn't want to have
much to do with you anymore
because of your stand
on the gospel.
That happens to a lot
of Christians today
and that's painful.
You may get passed over
for a promotion
that you deserve
over everybody else
not because somebody
thinks you're unworthy
but they just can't stand
the fact that you're a Christian
and you talk about it
and they've already
got a bias about you
and they're never
going to hand you something
unless they're forced to.
You understand that
to be the case.
You may have a spouse
that leaves you.
Paul talked about that
to the Corinthian church.
He referenced the reality
that some spouses leave
specifically because of this.
We know people like that.
I've pastored people like that.
We all will suffer
in a different way
but the reality is
that we will suffer
in some way.
There's the guarantee
of suffering.
There's also the grace of it.
What's translated
as given or granted
in verse 29
can literally be rendered graced
because it means
to give freely
or graciously
as a favor.
The idea here is that
not only is suffering
for the gospel guarantee
it's a privilege.
It's not pleasant
but it is a privilege
to suffer for Christ.
And we see this often
in the Bible.
Peter and John
after being beaten
in Acts chapter 5
threatened
by the Sanhedrin
for preaching the gospel
verse 41 says
they rejoiced
that they were counted
worthy
to suffer shame
for his name.
Paul will say later
in chapter 3
of Philippians
that his desire
was to share
in Christ's suffering.
Peter instructed
in his first epistle
in chapter 4
he said
beloved
do not be surprised
at the fiery trial
which it comes upon you
to test you
as though something strange
were happening to you
but rejoice
in so far
as you share
Christ's sufferings
that you may also
rejoice
and be glad
when his glory
is revealed
when his glory
is demonstrated
in you
in your endurance.
If you are insulted
for the name
of Christ
you are blessed
because the spirit
of glory
and of God
rests upon you.
We're not to seek
suffering
like some kind
of psychopath
but whenever
it comes time
we are to view it
as a privilege
to do so
for Christ.
That's really
the heart
of the gospel
worthy life.
As Paul turns
his attention
now
to
his instruction
to these people
as a pastor
he's concerned
that
they don't get
discouraged
in their persecution
but that
they live their life
worthy of Christ
that they stand firm
that they proclaim
the gospel
that they don't fear
and that they would
count it as a privilege
when that suffering
and that persecution
does actually come.
And that's
my hope
for each of us
that we'd be willing
to do the same
so that as we
desire
to become
an instrument
in God's hand
for bringing
people to Christ
here in Cornelius
and Davidson
and Huntersville
that's why we've
started our church
we want to worship
the Lord
and we have a mission
we want to see
people saved.
That means we're
going to have to
tell them the gospel
and that means
not everybody's
going to be excited
about that.
but let's
pursue it anyways
and if we face
suffering for that
let's rejoice
in the fact
that God
has counted us
worthy
to suffer
for his sake.
Thank you for
listening to this
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Lakeside Bible
Church.
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