Philippians (Lesson 16)

One line in Philippians 1:19 stops us in our tracks: Paul asks for “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,” a title for the Holy Spirit that appears only once in the entire Bible. We take that phrase seriously and follow it wherever it leads, because it forces a bigger question than most of us like to admit. If the Lord Jesus Christ chose to live and minister in dependence on the Holy Ghost, what does that say about how we plan, preach, teach, and try to help people today?

We walk through key Scriptures that trace the Holy Spirit’s work across the whole life of Christ. From the Holy Ghost overshadowing Mary at the virgin birth, to the Spirit’s anointing in Luke 4 that empowers preaching and sets captives free, we see a pattern of humble submission rather than self-driven ministry. Along the way we talk plainly about the Trinity and why believers can’t afford to overemphasize one Person of the Godhead while neglecting another, especially when so much confusion and false teaching surrounds the Holy Spirit.

Then we press into the hardest and most practical implications. John 3:34 shows the Spirit given to Jesus without measure, Luke 4:1 shows Jesus led by the Spirit, Matthew 12 warns about speaking against the Holy Ghost, and Hebrews 9 and Romans 8 connect the Spirit to the cross and the resurrection. The result is both sobering and hopeful: spiritual deliverance is not something we can manufacture, but God truly supplies what we need when we depend on Him.

Subscribe, share this with a friend who wants to serve God faithfully, and leave a review so more listeners can find this Bible study. What part of Scripture most challenges you to rely on the Holy Spirit instead of yourself?

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Transcript

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Welcome And Philippians Overview

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Hey morning Christian greetings to each and every one of you. I'm Brother James, and I welcome you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. This is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. We have been coming your way on the radio since nineteen eighty one. God by his grace has supplied our every need. We've never taken any radio time to solicit funds. We have prayed, trusted God, thanked you for your help, and just done what we could to make known the glorious truths of the Holy Bible to men and women around the world that are willing to listen. People that have a heart for the truth. We trust God to send them our way. And when He does, we do our very best to minister to them. We have been studying together the book of Philippians. We have been through 14. We're now on the 15th radio program dealing with Philippians chapter number one. We just can't seem to get out of this chapter, but that's quite all right. It's a joy to study in detail the truths of God's

The Rare Phrase In Philippians 1:19

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Word. There's a phrase, an interesting phrase in Philippians 1 19, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This title or designation for the Holy Spirit shows up only here, nowhere else in all the Bible. He is called the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. But here, here the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He is, of course, the Holy Spirit. He's the Spirit of Jesus, he's the Holy Ghost, or just the Spirit. But this is an unusual designation here, and I trust as we study this phrase we can learn from it and benefit thereby. Jesus Christ was God manifest in a body of human flesh. He was not another God. There's only one God, Deuteronomy chapter 6 makes that clear. Jesus is the true and living God. The God of the Bible consists of the Father, the Son, called the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The Bible's very clear on that in 1 John chapter 5 and verse number 7. The modern perversions that call themselves Bibles are not clear on the matter, but the Holy Bible is very clear. 1 John 5 7, there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Don't look for that in the NIV or the New American Standard Version. Both of these corrupt translations have omitted that verse. The Bible says that Jesus quotes Jesus as saying, If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. That's in John chapter number fourteen. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Jesus was the visible manifestation of God the Father. Yet it's quite interesting as we make our way through the New Testament to realize that when Jesus Christ came to this earth, God, God became man.

Jesus As Our Pattern Of Dependence

SPEAKER_01 4:20

He was limited by a body of human flesh in that he lived and functioned as a man, who was dependent upon the Holy Spirit. Now he did that for a number of reasons. In Philippians 2, the Bible says, verse 5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Consider that with what we have in first Peter two twenty one. For even here unto we called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. So the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth in a body of flesh for two reasons. Thank the Lord, he came to die to pay the penalty for our sins. He had to suffer and die in a body of flesh in order to pay the penalty for sins committed by men in bodies of flesh. But in addition to that, the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth to live as a righteous man in a body of flesh to leave us an example so we could follow his steps. Now our sins can't be forgiven, and our souls can't be saved by following in his footsteps and living by his example. But our lives here on earth can certainly please God and benefit man if we will do so. Now praise the Lord, Jesus died to pay for our sins, but he also lived to show us how a man should live and could live who is humbly obedient to God the Father. As such, the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is what we're going to see on the program today, as such the Lord Jesus Christ placed himself in a position of dependence upon the Holy Spirit. Though he was God, he became man, and as man he yielded himself, surrendered himself to the control of the Holy Spirit. Now when we read this word in Philippians 1 19, that Paul says he is dependent upon the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, he is stating that he wants to live and minister in the same relationship to the Holy Spirit that the Lord Jesus Christ had when he lived and ministered on this earth. I think it's a very striking statement. If Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, with no fallen Adamic nature, if Jesus Christ, the pure, spotless, undefiled Creator Himself, saw fit to submit to the control of the Holy Spirit as he walked this earth and ministered in a body of flesh, how much more must you and I be in submission to and dependence upon the Holy Spirit as we walk this pilgrim journey? As we try to do something for God in this body of flesh in which we live, how much more must we be dependent upon the Holy Spirit? I'm satisfied that mainline and liberal denominations place a great deal of emphasis on God the Father, and thereby frequently miss truth regarding God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I'm convinced that charismatic and Pentecostal denominations place a great deal of emphasis on the Holy Spirit and miss a great deal of truth regarding God the Son and God the Father. And I'm also satisfied that fundamental Christians place a great deal of emphasis on Jesus, but often at the expense of wonderful and vital truth regarding the Holy Spirit. All believers would do well to study about and speak to one another about God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Ghost and not overplay one and downplay the other. The Apostle Paul said, I want you to pray for me. I need to be supplied. I need to be supplied by the Spirit that supplied Jesus Christ. I need to be assisted by the Spirit that assisted Jesus Christ. I need to be strengthened and directed by the Spirit that strengthened and directed Jesus Christ. I think some of these verses we're about to look at will be surprising to you.

The Holy Ghost At Christ’s Conception

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Let's go over back to the beginning of the Lord's earthly ministry, Matthew 1, verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Luke chapter 1, verse 26. The sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. In every conception, in every birth there is required a father and a mother. We understand that. The Bible, your King James Holy Bible, is very careful to say that in Mary's womb was a holy thing. And seeking to be reverent and spiritual, but betraying a lack of spiritual understanding, the translators of the new Bibles say, Oh, we can't call Jesus a thing. And so they changed the word. But nobody called Jesus a thing. The Bible called that which was formed in Mary's womb a thing, because Mary was not the mother of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the creator of the heavens and the earth. Rather, in Mary's womb a body was formed into which Jesus Christ came and took up residence. So holy thing is exactly right in the King James Bible, and the other versions are exactly wrong, though sincere in their attempts to help God out and do him a favor. In the body of Mary, the body being formed in that womb, something miraculous took place that had never taken place before. There was no human father in Adam's line. And thereby sin and defilement from Adam's fall did not have any part in that conception. Who was it that overshadowed Mary and put the very life of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, in that holy thing formed in the womb of that virgin? The Bible says it was the Holy Ghost of God. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary from the very outset of God's manifestation in a body of flesh. From the very outset, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is engaged and actively involved.

The Spirit’s Anointing For Ministry

SPEAKER_01 13:10

From birth we move right to ministry. In Luke chapter four, Jesus has grown up in Joseph's carpenter shop. One day it's time for him to start preaching, teaching, ministering. The Bible says in Luke 4 16, and he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaus, and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he, the Spirit of the Lord, hath anointed me, Jesus, to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent that's the Spirit of the Lord, He hath sent me, Jesus, to heal the brokenhearted. He, the Spirit of the Lord, hath sent me to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now let me ask you something. And some of you fellows listening today are raring to go and get out there and preach, and I'm glad you are. I hope that never changes. But if Jesus Christ required the anointing of the Spirit of the Lord to fall upon him before he could preach, how are you going to do it without the power and blessing of the Holy Spirit? Now think about that. If Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, needed the anointing of God the Holy Spirit to set any captive at liberty, to set any prisoner free, to open any blinded eyes, how are we going to accomplish any spiritual deliverance without the help of the Holy Spirit of God? It's not going to happen. Man, if you could figure out a hundred different ways to get somebody to say a prayer, or get somebody to come sit in a church building, or get somebody into a baptistry, I'm telling you something. Nobody's going to be set free without the Holy Spirit. Nobody's eyes are going to be open, or life is going to be changed without the Holy Spirit. I tell you, in most of our churches, we have such an emphasis on programs and means or on men or idolatry or worshiping preachers and all that. You know why? Because we're trying to produce something without the Holy Spirit. Listen, if the Holy Ghost of God came in and settled upon a church meeting, don't you suppose he could accomplish more than every preacher and teacher? Sure he could. When the apostle Paul is saying, Brethren, pray for me, I need the supply of the Spirit that supplied the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a very wise prayer. You better not leave the Holy Spirit out of your planning, your outreach, your class preparation, your ministry plans.

An Unlimited Supply Of The Spirit

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Now in John 3, in John 3 and verse 34, we read this, for he, that's Jesus, whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. So Jesus Christ, as God manifest in the flesh, was the recipient of an unmeasured, unlimited supply of the Holy Spirit. That's what it says. That's what it says. When I got saved, God gave me his Holy Spirit. I'm sealed by the Holy Spirit, I'm kept by the Holy Spirit, I'm comforted, guided, led into truth by the Holy Spirit. But can I say there is no more God could give me, no more power, no more insight, no more conviction, no more blessing? The Apostle Paul couldn't say that. He said, Would you pray for me that I could have the unlimited supply of the Holy Ghost that Jesus had? Now you might say you can get by without it, but if Jesus received it, it would probably be a good idea if we sought this blessing as well. Oh, I know, I know, some of you so afraid that this might lean one direction or another. I'm just telling you what the Bible says. Luke 4, verse 1. Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the Bible says of him, and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus Christ, as a man, leaving us an example as to how we should walk and how we should live, humbled himself and said, I have no will, I have no plans, I'm making no decisions. Holy Spirit lead me. Now do you think if Jesus could have made or would have made his own decisions, he would have ever made a wrong decision? I don't. Do you think if Jesus would have called his own shots, he would have ever been mistaken? Of course not. But the Bible says he left us an example that we should walk in his steps. So Jesus Christ, God, manifest in the flesh, never made a mistake, never spoke a wrong word, never never made a wrong decision, but he submitted himself to the control and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Would we not be well advised to do the same thing?

Power Over Devils And A Warning

SPEAKER_01 19:06

How about Matthew twelve, verse twenty-eight? Matthew twelve verse twenty-eight. Here men are accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil. And he says, But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto man, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto man. What's happening here? Jesus is casting out devils. Men are accusing him of doing wicked or satanic works, and he said, You fellows better be careful, you're blaspheming the Holy Spirit. How could he say that? Because Jesus had so yielded his hands, his mind, his tongue, his feet, his eyes, he had so surrendered control of himself to the Holy Spirit that when he did something and somebody criticized it, they were actually criticizing the Holy Spirit who was working in and through him. Now I want you to think about something for a minute. If there's ever been a preacher who lived and breathed on this earth that had a right to be conceited or self-centered, or have an ego, or gain a following, or sell his autograph picture and all the rest of that stuff, it was Jesus. But he had so emptied himself of self, his holy self, sinless self, pure self, righteous self, that not only did he not take credit for his good works, he always spoke the truth, but he said, When you criticize me, you're blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Leaving us an example. Received into glory. Okay, so here is Jesus Christ. Here is Jesus Christ. And his works, his deeds, his life are justified, declared just, declared to be righteous by the observing and present Holy Spirit of God. That's our example. That's our example. That's whose steps we're to be walking in.

The Spirit In The Cross And Resurrection

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Hebrews 9 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? The Bible just said that the Lord Jesus Christ, who drank that cup in Gethsemane, depended upon the power and assistance of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ that carried that cross up Mount Calvary depended on the power and assistance of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us enough to lay down his life and died for us, depended upon the power and assistance of the Holy Spirit. Could he have done all this himself? Absolutely. Could he have done it without the aid of the Holy Spirit? Without question he could have. But but Jesus yielded himself as the man Christ Jesus, he yielded himself to the Holy Spirit and found all the power he needed for all that God gave him to do so he could set a proper example for you, so you would do the same in your time of testing. Your time of difficulty, your time to triumph. Romans 8 verse 9. But we are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his, and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit, capital S, of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit. And here the Bible says it was the power of the Holy Spirit of God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we have other scriptures stating that he took up his life having laid it down. No question, Jesus by his own power, conquered death. No question, God the Father in Bible passages raised him from the dead. But you and I, you and I are given this tremendous hope and this marvelous instruction as God shows us how the Holy Spirit, from birth through life, to death and in resurrection, so governed the life of the Lord Jesus Christ that everything he needed was supplied for him, provided for him by the Holy Spirit. That means, that means, as he left us an example to follow in his steps, that means that you and I, from the moment of our new birth until the day we leave this world and then enter the glory of God's heaven, may depend absolutely upon God the Holy Spirit, to supply everything we need every step of the way. What a blessing. Praise the Lord.

Trust The Spirit And Final Invitation

SPEAKER_01 26:26

How about it, my friend? Do you have a right and proper understanding of the place the Holy Spirit of the living God is to play in the life of the born again believer? I hope so. I know I know much falsehood has been set forth regarding the Holy Spirit, but that's no reason to miss out on such incredible blessings. Amen and amen. You've been listening to the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, we'd like you to join the countless thousands, that is not an exaggeration, from six continents who have blessed our hearts by writing to us and sending along their letter of testimony. It is a joy to our heart to know that God is using us to help you. Our mailing address is eight seven two Glenwood Road. That's in D Land, just like it sounds D E L A N D Land, Florida. The zip code number is three two seven two zero. And that mailing address is in the United States of America. On our website, JamesKnox.com, we have not only several dozen books authored by yours truly, commentaries, Bible studies, but many of these books have been translated into other languages, and you'll find the full foreign language text of these books available for your use, for the use of your missionaries and those your church supports around the world. They're right there on the website. So visit us. We ask you stop by and visit JamesKnox.com. All right, it's time to go. We hope the next time you and the friend that you invite to listen with you will join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

And I'm not sure.