Philippians (Lesson 9)

God started something in you, and He is not walking away from it. We open Philippians 1:6 and sit with its weighty promise: the Lord who began a good work in the believer will keep working until the day of Jesus Christ. Along the way, we sort out several New Testament “days” that people often blur together, and we show how each one points to a specific moment in God’s plan, from judgment to reward to eternity.

From Paul’s words to the church at Philippi, we also talk about what real Christian fellowship looks like when believers are not just names in our head but people held in our heart. That unity shows up when we stand together for the defense and confirmation of the gospel, sharing grace and strengthening one another instead of drifting into shallow connections.

Then we slow down over Paul’s prayer: love that abounds more and more, fueled by knowledge of Jesus and Scripture, and guided by discernment that can “approve things that are excellent.” We address why judgment, in the biblical sense of wise evaluation, is necessary for everyday life and essential for spiritual maturity. We also call for sincerity and a life that aims to be without offense. Finally, we dig into the fruits of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5, and Jesus’ picture in John 15 of abiding in the vine so fruit can bless others. The closing challenge is simple and sharp: thank the servant, but give God the glory.

Subscribe for more Bible teaching, share this with a friend who needs steady confidence, and leave a review telling us what helped you most.

Church Website — BibleBaptistDeLand.com

Ministry Website — JamesWKnox.org 

YouTube Channel — YouTube.com/JamesWKnoxSermons

Sermon Audio — SermonAudio.com/BibleBaptistDeLand

Web Store — Store.JamesWKnox.org

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Welcome And Philippians Study Begins

SPEAKER_01 0:38

And thank you for that kind word of introduction. Thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in today. I'm Brother James, and I greet you as always in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And I welcome you one more time to the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We are studying together the Bible book of Philippians. As is our custom, we will get right to our Bible study. I enjoy Christian music. I trust you do as well. We'll not take any of our airtime for that purpose. I enjoy all kinds of things that I hear on different radio programs, but we want to use every bit of the time we have to try our best to study the Word of God and teach the Bible to you, and hope that you

Philippians 1:6 And God’s Work

SPEAKER_01 1:30

enjoy and benefit from those studies. In Philippians 1, we have come to the sixth verse. In fact, we came to the sixth verse a long, long time ago and can't seem to get beyond it, and that's all right. That's certainly not a problem. But the Bible says in Philippians 1 6, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. There are many days spoken of throughout the New Testament scripture, and they all have a slightly different meaning. We'll not take the time to study them in detail, but I will give them to you before we proceed. The day of Jesus Christ marks the end of the good work done in the believer. It is the time when our earthly life is over, either through the doorway of death or the catching away of the body of Christ. Then there is the day of the Lord, first Thessalonians five and verse number two, marking the end of the seven year time of Jacob's trouble, also known as the Great Tribulation. There's the day of Christ. Second Thessalonians two verse two, that has reference to the operations at the judgment seat of Christ, where believers are rewarded for their works. There's the day of the Lord Jesus, 1 Corinthians 5 5. This also deals with the judgment seat, in particular with the rewards. The day of our Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1 8. That has reference to the thousand year rule and reign of Jesus upon this earth, spoken of in no uncertain terms in Revelation 20. The day of God Almighty. Revelation 16 14 is obviously in the context of that chapter, the great battle of Armageddon and the destruction in that place. And then the day of God, Second Peter three, verse 16, the day of God, and that is the beginning of eternity when time

The Meaning Of Bible “Days”

SPEAKER_01 3:55

shall be no more. Alright, verse seven of Philippians one, even as it is meet, fitting, right, proper, even as is meet for me to think this of you all. Because I have you in my heart. Now what did he think about? He did not think about their struggles, trials, difficulties, ups, downs, highs, lows. He thought about the fact that Jesus Christ would continue his good work in them. That brought him great joy. He says, I have you in my heart. You know it would really help your fellowship with other Christians if they weren't just in your head, but if they were in your heart, if they were not just an acquaintance, but a loved one, if they weren't just somebody you went to church with, but somebody you genuinely cared about. Because I have you in my heart inasmuch as both in my bonds, and we have talked at length about the fact that he was in prison when he wrote this letter, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye are ye all are partakers of my grace. He didn't have favorites. Every one of them, every one of them, saved by grace, kept by grace, and the grace of God operating in the life of the apostle flowed through that man and to them, so that while he was defending the gospel, they were standing with him to defend that gospel, while his life and testimony was confirming the gospel, their life and testimony was confirming the gospel, and so grace flowed from God to the apostle and out to the saints, and grace flowed from God to the saints and out to the apostle. It was a mutual mutual benefit for every one of them. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus

Christian Fellowship From The Heart

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Christ, in his inner man, the depths of his emotion, all of his being he wanted, he desired their spiritual well being. That's real Christian love, my friend, that's real fellowship, real, real unity in Jesus Christ, and this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. It's very interesting to study the prayers

Paul’s Prayers And Real Priorities

SPEAKER_01 6:51

prayed by Paul as recorded by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Or you could say it this way, the prayers the Holy Spirit directed Paul to pray. Only one time in all the New Testament did Paul ever pray and ask something for himself, and that's when he desired healing for his body from the messenger of Satan that had been sent to buffet him, and that's the only prayer of Paul that was ever denied. All of his other prayers were intercessory prayers prayed on behalf of others. And as you examine these prayers, you will find that he did not pray in accord with the modern day big time television showman ministry. I'm trying to look for a nice word and a descriptive word at the same time, and I just can't come up with a way to say it nicely. He didn't pray for people to get materially rich. He didn't pray for God to grant the lusts of the flesh for people who are using God as a glorified Santa Claus. The prayers that he prayed for others were for their spiritual well being, their spiritual blessing and benefit. In this case, he prayed that their love they had love. He didn't pray that they would become loving, he prayed that the love they had would abound. They would not just have a little bit of love for Jesus, but abundant love for Jesus, not just a little bit of love for a lost and dying world, but abundant love, not just a little bit of love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, but abundant love. And then when that love reached a place of abundance, that is, they had more than was necessary, then he prayed that that love would abound more, and then more again, more and more, increasing, ever increasing abundance of love. Now this is the great thing about the Christian life. The moment you are saved, you have everything you need, and then God gives you more than you need, and then more than more than you need, and then more than more than more than you need, and it just continues to get better and better and better and better as God has his way in the life of his people. It's a glorious thing. They had love, then they got abundant love, then they got more love, then they got still more love. My friend, there's always room to grow, isn't there? There's always room to improve. And he says more and more in knowledge in knowledge. You know the best way, the best way to have more love is to know Jesus better. Know more of his word, describing what he did for others, describing how he lived for others, describing how he died for others. And then as we read instead of the scripture and see the blessedness of those, how God blessed the men and

Love With Knowledge And Discernment

SPEAKER_01 10:45

women who put him first and put others first, put themselves in the servant's place. We see how knowledge will increase love, and then in all judgment, and this is a word that's so frightening to modern Americans. Judgment, oh judge not, judgment's a bad thing, we shouldn't judge. Those are just the magpie repetitious phrases uttered by people who have forfeited their brains. You must judge between a red light and a green light. You must judge between fresh food and rotten food. You must judge between a right turn and a left turn. You must judge between a murderer and a decent neighbor. You must judge between a pedophile and a decent citizen. You have to judge every moment of your life, you have to make judgments. Now in verse ten we are told in no uncertain terms what this idea of judging means, that ye may approve things that are excellent. So here's what I need to do. I've got to know my Bible. So I know what God says is good and what God says is evil. I've got to know my Bible so I know what God says is right and what God says is wrong. I've got to know what God approves of and what God disapproves of, and then I must judge everything I hear, everything I see, everything I imagine, everything I feel, I must judge that on the basis of whether or not it meets God's approval. The things that are excellent, that excel nature, that excel carnality, that excel worldliness, that excel vanity, those things I must approve. That's the prayer, that's the prayer prayed by this minister for these saved

Sincerity And Living Without Offense

SPEAKER_01 13:20

people. And he prays that they may be sincere. I'd like to see a little more sincerity on the part of God's people. Sincere love for Jesus, sincere devotion to evangelism. You cannot imagine, you cannot imagine what your pastor deals with on a daily basis. The heartache, the trouble, the sadness, the pain, the disappointment, the strife, the contention, the conflict all arising because men and women who claim the name of Jesus Christ are not sincere. They have the hardest time telling the truth. They have the hardest time living in a way that is truthful. And so the prayer of the Apostle Paul is that saved people would be sincere. That'd be a good thing. That'd be a good thing. No guile, no misrepresentation, no twisting and distorting the facts. Sincere and without offense. Now, some way or another you're gonna offend somebody. But the prayer is that we wouldn't. Some way or another, something you do, something I do, is going to offend someone else, and something someone else does is going to offend you or going to offend me. Now that's that's just how it goes. But we should pray that we would not offend. We should pray that that we would not be offensive or an offense to others. That would be, that would be a wonderful thing indeed, would it not? And then he says, without sincere and without offense, till the day of Christ. And that's one of those uh days that we spoke about, right up until the time that Jesus comes again. Verse 11, being filled with the fruits

Fruits Of Righteousness For Others

SPEAKER_01 15:55

of righteousness. Now, as we said in an earlier broadcast, you are given the righteousness of Jesus Christ by God the Father the moment you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, did not you could not be saved. God could never say you are saved if you were not righteous. You could never go to heaven if you did not have absolute righteousness. And so God gives you the righteousness of his Son Jesus Christ the moment you are saved, and by virtue of that and that alone, you have eternal life. We've covered that in our Philippian study beyond a shadow of a doubt. Now, that being true, that God given righteousness should take root in our lives, should grow in our lives, and should produce fruit in our lives. Fruit is something that others feed upon. Fruit is something that others enjoy. The fruit tree does not benefit from bearing fruit. In fact, it takes some something of a toll upon the fruit tree to bear the fruit. But the fruit tree bears the fruit so that someone else may come along and pick that fruit and enjoy that fruit. And so the purpose of that fruit tree is to provide a blessing to someone else. Now God intends that we make full use of the righteousness He has given us, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that we use that to be fruitful so that others may be blessed because we have been saved. Now, examples of this fruit. I I know some of you, some of you are in a church where fruit always means winning souls, which of course it never does in the Bible. But fruit in the Bible is stated well let me give you a passage that says exactly what kind of fruit safe people ought to be bearing. Galatians five, verse twenty two. But the fruit of the Spirit is law, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Those are things, those are qualities, those are characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ. What he wants is to so control our lives that those things become characteristics of you and of me, so that others are not just blessed and not just benefited by knowing Jesus, but blessed and benefited by knowing those of us who know Jesus. That's the idea, that's the design that we bear fruit for God for the benefit of others. And then the verse says this is this is the prayer.

Abiding In Christ Like A Branch

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. That ought to take your mind to John 15, John chapter 15, where Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Verse number four, abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except that abide of the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me, I am the vine, and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. So it is possible for spiritual fruit to be produced in my life, but but the spiritual fruit produced in my life is by the means of, by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, living, working, moving, acting in and through me, in and through you. Where I am sitting right now speaking into this microphone, there is a window behind me, and out that window are some citrus fruit trees. One of them is my very, very favorite, it is the tangerine tree. In the wintertime it fills up with those uh wonderful fruits. Now that fruit is hanging upon a branch surrounded by leaves. The branches are attached to the main trunk which goes down to the roots. You like you understand that? Now those roots take in nourishment. Those roots take in water, and that nourishment, that water, passes from the root to the trunk, to the branches, to the fruit, and the growth of that fruit is. Is because the tree functions properly by allowing the water and the nutrients to travel through it to the fruit. Now here you are. You're a saved man, a saved woman living in a body of flesh. That body is good for nothing if it's used for self, for the world, for the flesh, for the devil. But yielded to God, what happens? Rooted and grounded in the truth of the Word of God, we receive spiritual nourishment and spiritual water refreshment from God Himself, and it moves through us to the point where fruit is born and fruit is produced in our lives, and then others pick that fruit and enjoy it, pick that fruit and are made healthier, pick that fruit and are filled. And that's how God intends this thing to work, and that's the prayer of Philippians chapter 1, verses

Giving God Glory Not The Vessel

SPEAKER_01 23:15

9, 10, and 11. Then verse 12, he says, But oh, I didn't finish 11. Under the glory and praise of God, unto the glory and praise of God, when I walk out this back door, this this little office where I'm I'm speaking right now, when I walk out this back door in February, walk back to that tree, pick that fruit off the tree and eat it, I bow my head and thank not the tree. I thank God. I do not praise the tree, I praise God. I'm not an evolutionist, I'm not an environmentalist, I'm not I'm not part of that crowd. I thank God, I give God the glory for the fruit that I am enjoying. My friend, I will thank a minister for a good sermon and tell him I appreciated it. I will give the glory to God. I will thank a singer, a musician for the song and tell them I enjoyed it. I will give the glory to God. I will thank anyone who provides spiritual or temporal service to me for my help, my benefit, I will thank them for it. But I'll give God the glory. Why that that branch didn't bear fruit of itself, that man didn't bear fruit of himself, that woman didn't bear fruit of herself. My friend, the love that you have came from God, the knowledge you have came from God, the judgment you have came from God, the understanding of what's excellent came from God. If there's sincerity in your life, if you live today without offending someone, that came from God. If you if you are have any righteousness, and if that righteousness is producing any fruit in your life, that came from God by Jesus Christ. Let's make sure the source gets the glory, not the vessel, the source. I'm afraid far too much of what passes for Christianity nowadays is just entertainment. Men praising men for entertaining them, women praising men, men praising women, women praising women. There's too much glory and honor being given to the branches, too much honor and glory being given to the vessels. I'm telling you it's all of God. Every good and every perfect gift, James 1 seventeen says, cometh down from the Father. It didn't originate with you, it didn't originate with me. God gave you a gift, God gave you an opportunity, God gave you an ability, God gave you a place of ministry and a place of service. Let's make sure God gets all the glory for anything and everything that might be accomplished through our feeble efforts to serve Him. Amen and amen.

Resources, Contact Info, And Closing

SPEAKER_01 27:01

This is the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We cannot possibly minister to you in thirty minutes a day as fully as we would like to minister to you. We have thousands of hours of recorded sermons and Bible studies on just about every topic that you could desire. It's all listed in our catalog of materials. We have dozens of books available, commentaries, topical studies, and so forth. All of this is found on our website at JamesNox.com. James Knox K N O X James Knox.com. And if you go there, you'll find it very easy to find your way around, find whatever you're looking for. If you'd like to contact us by mail, our mailing address is 872 Glenwood Road. That's in D Land, Florida. DLand, Florida, the zip code number 32720 32720. And that mailing address is in the United States of America. The announcer will be on now in just a moment to let you know when this program will be heard again over this radio station. And at that time, we invite you and the friend that you will invite to listen with you to join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you.