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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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0:00 In this new series that we are on, a joyful letter from lockdown on the book of Philippians. This is the second message. I wanna take you to the passage of scripture in Philippians0:11 chapter 1 and verses 12 to verses 26. I want to title this Joy in the Sovereignty of God. Last week we explored that Paul0:23 found joy even in lockdown and we found that he found joy in 3 things. 1, it was the supplication which was personally enriching and 2, the0:35 anticipation which was personally encouraging and thirdly, the association which was personally endearing. And Paul grounded himself in the gospel and the partnership of0:47 the gospel that he had with the Philippian church. So today we're going to take it deeper. Paul is actually in Roman prison and the Philippian church was very concerned about the0:58 mental state of Paul and also the extension of the gospel. Has it been hindered because Paul is in prison and he's been in prison for too long? So with concern they1:10 sent a man from Philippi to to bring help and bring and meet the needs of Paul and now they are waiting and they are anticipating a reply from Paul. So Paul is1:22 penning this letter as a thanksgiving letter and he's writing to them the condition that he's facing and in the midst of it how God is using it for the glory of God and for the good of his kingdom.1:34 So I want you to ask yourself this key question, is joy possible? How is joy possible in the face of adversities? How is joy possible in the face of personal1:46 difficulties, in the face of public disapproval and going through challenges? And here Paul is giving us a missionary report. It's like when you have sent a1:58 support to a missionary and you eagerly wait for their report. And here Paul is writing to his friends a missionary report so to speak in terms of what is going on not only within2:09 himself but also around him in his circumstances, how God is moving and working the gospel. So praise God. Hallelujah. So in verses 12 and verses 26 is what2:21 we are going to be focusing on. This whole chapter, there's so much, emphasis on Jesus and the Gospel. I shared with you that the word Jesus appears at least 18 times in2:33 chapter 1 alone and the word Gospel appears at least 6 times and here there are 2 bookends I want to give you verse 12 and verse 25 have the same word in the Greek2:45 it's the word advance in verse 12 and the word progress in verse 25. And I want you to pay attention to this. I want you to know brothers, what has happened to me has really2:57 served to advance the gospel. In other words, the gospel is now making progress. That's the word. And Paul writes in verse 25, convinced of this, I3:09 know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. So it's like this word progress becomes the bookends for this passage. So he's speaking to the3:20 Philippian church how the gospel is making progress at the same time he says I want to come and meet you and make progress in your own faith. So how this progress is3:32 made is how you find within this chapter, within this section. So I wanted to talk about how is joy possible in the life of Paul and 2 specific3:44 experiences that he had that I want to highlight. In verse 18, all the way from, sorry, from verse 12 all the way to verse 18, it speaks about the joy in the experience of public3:55 denunciation. In other words, he's going through a challenge of being in chains and he's facing his critics and he is facing crisis in his life. So public4:06 denunciation, how Paul experienced it and how Paul had joy in the midst of it. Then how is it possible for Paul to face not only that kind of public denunciation but in the4:18 joy of expectation of providential deliverance, how God would deliver Paul and he writes later on from verse 19 to verse 26 that whether by life or by death he will4:30 experience God's deliverance. So we want to look at it today. How is joy possible in the life of Apostle Paul? Number 1, in the first section in verses 12 to verse4:42 18, I want to give you 3 things to highlight, 3 things to pay attention to. 1, Paul found joy in being in chains because his captors were evangelized.4:54 Number 2, his colleagues were emboldened and number 3, his critics were exposed. So I want to look at it 1 by 1. His captors were evangelized. In verse 12 he says, I want you to know5:06 brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. I want you to circle that word, advance the gospel because that's the key thing. This chapter5:18 is all about how the gospel is making progress. But as Paul recollects it, he's thinking about what the Philippian church are concerned about. The Philippian church are concerned. Paul is in prison5:30 for too long. Is the gospel being advanced? Is the extension of the kingdom of God happening in and through Paul? So Paul is writing for their concern and he's replying to5:41 them that what has happened to him has actually served to advance the gospel. So 2 things I want to highlight from here. Number 1, it is what has happened to me. If you pay attention5:53 to what has happened to Paul from Acts chapter 21 all the way to Acts chapter 28 you will know what is happening in the life of Paul. Let me give you a couple of things. Number 1, he was making6:05 an offering in the temple. He went to offer in the temple, a mob gathered around him and started to beat him up and they falsely accused him. 60 men, Jewish men took a vow6:17 that they will neither eat nor sleep until they killed Paul. And then Paul was rescued by the Romans and they took him and they moved him to Caesarea Philippi. So in6:28 Caesarea he was in prison for 2 years and when he was there in prison for 2 years he met with 2 governors. He testified before 2 governors Festus and6:40 Felix and they kept him in prison because they wanted bribe from him and because Paul did not pay it he continued there in prison and 1 day he shared and he even shared the6:51 gospel with King Agrippa and finally he appealed to King Agrippa, I want to what? Appeal to Caesar he says and as a result he was put in a boat and sent to7:03 Rome. The boat did not make it to Rome. It sank in the Mediterranean Sea but Paul was brought into Rome eventually in chains and now Paul is in house arrest in a7:15 prison in Rome for 2 years already And finally, when he is in prison in Rome, his opponents are destroying his credibility, his reputation and they are preaching against7:26 him. And I want you to listen to me carefully. This is the things that Paul has been going through. So what Paul says is what things that have happened, all the things that have happened has happened7:38 to truly advance the gospel. Take a step back and ask yourself this question. Are you able to reflect upon life and say everything that I've gone through has been a7:50 necessary journey for me, that for to advance the kingdom of God, for the glory of God and for the good of his kingdom, God has done these things. Can you see how Paul took a8:01 high view of God? He had a high view of the providence of God. And not only that, he came to a point where he says, what has happened to me has truly advanced the kingdom,8:13 advanced the gospel. Now last week I talked to you, what is the gospel? The gospel is 3 things. It is a message that we believe. It is a person that we receive8:25 and a life that we live. Now gospel is that Christ came to die for you and for me. And this gospel needs to be preached to the ends of the earth. And Paul says that he8:37 is advancing the gospel even while he's in prison in Rome. And the word advance is a beautiful word. It's a word for a military team, a military team,8:49 the first team that arrives in a scene to remove the obstacles for the oncoming, for the coming army. So in other words, they are the ones who come and remove all the dangers, remove all the hindrances.9:01 So what Paul is saying is, this word he uses, he says, I have come here to clear the way for the gospel to come to Rome. Hallelujah. And he says I'm making9:12 advance, the gospel is now making advance, praise God. So the chains that Paul was in wasn't hindering the gospel work but was9:24 actually helping the work of the gospel. So the chains did not hinder him, the chains actually helped him to promote gospel. That's what he was trying to highlight. Isn't this what you9:36 find in second Timothy chapter 2 and verse 9? The Bible says, for which I'm suffering bound with chains as a criminal but the word of God is not bound. Hallelujah.9:48 No matter what is binding you, no matter what you find in your in your circumstances of life that is you're tied to a chain, can I humbly say this, those chains cannot contain the10:00 word of God? I want you to listen to me. God's kingdom will continue to advance. The purposes and the plan of God will continue to come to pass and that is what Paul was trying to highlight to the Philippian10:12 church. His captors are being evangelized. How? Because what has happened to him up to now has truly served to advance the kingdom of God. Are you able to say this boldly?10:24 That the prison that you're in currently, the chains that you're in currently, that you are using it as a pulpit, the prison has become a pulpit, that your work has become a place of10:35 witness. Can you humbly say that before God? If not, we need to come and examine how we live our lives. For Paul, no matter what he was going through, he recognized God used David's10:47 slingshot to kill Goliath. God used Moses' rod to bring deliverance in Egypt and God is using Paul's chains to bring deliverance in Rome. Hallelujah. And that is10:59 how gospel centered Paul was, that he was truly anchored in the knowledge that God is sovereign and he's bringing about his purposes come to pass in his life. Secondly, look at11:11 verse 13. It says, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. I want you to highlight a couple of things11:22 here. It says become known. Paul is in prison and he's in prison in Rome and the Bible says it has become known throughout the whole imperial11:34 God. I wanna pay attention to the imperial God and secondly, to all the rest. That means people, believers in Rome, both believers and non believers, they are able to know that11:46 Paul's imprisonment is to advance the gospel and Paul is imprisoned for Christ, isn't it? And Paul says it has become known throughout the whole11:57 imperial god. Who are the imperial god? You know Rome, they had 9000 elite soldiers, well trained, highly skilled, it's like a combination of a secret12:09 service and a special armed forces and these guys are 9000 soldiers and they only serve for 12 years and when they are serving they are paid double the wage of an12:21 ordinary soldier and after 12 years they retire and they become part of the political system in Rome. Many of them will end up as in the Roman senate. So they are very powerful men,12:32 strong men, powerful men. And the Bible says Paul was chained to 1 of these guys every 6 hours. See there are 9000 men, So12:44 every 6 hours, 1 man is tied up to Paul in chains. So Paul was tied to a Roman soldier for 6 hours, 1 of these elite forces. Imagine that.12:56 That means in 1 day it is 4 people and in 2 years that he has already been in imprisonment, it is almost 2900 prisoners that he13:07 900 soldiers that he would have been tied to. In other words, why is this important? Do you know what how Paul lived his life? When Paul and Silas were thrown in prison in Acts chapter 16, we have a13:19 record. He starts to worship God. He starts to pray. He starts to praise. He starts to preach the gospel. So can you imagine this being tied to Paul for 6 hours in a day?13:31 In the beginning he might have said, hey, what's your name? And he would say, oh my name is Justice. Okay. And then he starts to talk to them and this is what he would eventually do. He would start dictating13:42 his letter to a church or he would start to worship God or pray in tongues. The Bible says Paul prayed in tongues more than others and maybe he would start to worship and praise God. Maybe he would try to explain why he13:53 is there. And this is the key. He has captive audience 4 times a day and Paul would have taken every opportunity to share the gospel. And now Paul boldly writes to14:05 the Philippian church. It has become known throughout the whole imperial god, the whole imperial god. In other words, he says all of them know that I'm14:17 here for the gospel, I'm here for Christ. Secondly, want you to pay attention to this, my imprisonment is for Christ. See the translators in English have to translate14:29 this for the sake of Christ. For Christ I have been a prisoner. But this word in the Greek is the word en Christos. Last week I shared with you that this phrase appears14:41 in the book of Philippians at least 10 times because the whole book of Philippians is so saturated with Jesus and the gospel that Paul says my life is in Christ. Remember the 414:53 movements I shared with you? Through Jesus we are saved. We are saved for Jesus and we walk with Jesus and we experience life in Jesus. In Jesus we have everything.15:04 So Paul was experiencing in Jesus here That's the Greek word en Christos but in the English it doesn't make sense my imprisonment is in Christ15:17 So they said my imprisonment is for Christ. But what Paul was actually saying is my imprisonment, everyone knows my imprisonment is for the advance of the gospel that I'm15:29 actually in chains in Christ. See it is Paul who writes to us in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10. What did he say? This is a word that we talked about last week15:40 about koinonia, partnership, isn't it? He says in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 10, share in his sufferings. I want to share in his sufferings. In other words, Paul wants to15:52 partner with Christ in Christ's sufferings. So now he's in Roman prison for Christ and he's suffering in Christ. He's sharing16:04 together with Christ's suffering. So my imprisonment is in Christ. I want you to take a step back and think about this. Many times16:16 pastors and leaders may end up coming to a place where they are in trouble. Yeah, we have heard about stories of leaders, church leaders being in trouble with the law16:28 and sometimes they are in trouble with the law because they broke the law, right? Or they were doing something against the government or against the local16:40 law. I want you to listen to me. This is not what Paul is saying about himself. He is not in prison because he broke the law. He didn't break any law.16:52 He was not a political dissident. He was not against Caesar. He was not against the Roman government. He was not against any of the system that they have put in place. He was proclaiming17:04 the gospel that Christ Jesus is Lord. He was defending the gospel that there is no other way for salvation except through Jesus the Son of God became Son of Man That is what he was in prison for17:16 They threw him in prison because of his faith in Jesus So he knows he's not a political dissident. He's prisoner in Christ.17:29 And he says, I'm not the only 1 who knows it. Even the whole Praktorian God, even the whole imperial God, They know that I'm in prison to advance the gospel and I'm in prison17:41 in chains in Christ. I want you to listen to me. Sometimes you land into trouble because of your own mistake. Don't just say, I'm suffering for Jesus. No.17:53 You and I we need to have a clear understanding. Paul lived a blameless life and that is why he even prayed for them that you would be pure and blameless and approve what is excellent.18:06 So a man who had such high moral standards, ethical standards, here he is imprisoned not because of any wrongdoing but because of his faith in Jesus he is suffering in Christ's18:18 suffering for the sake of the gospel therefore his imprisonment is in Christ and that's the key difference I want you to capture. So he says my imprisonment is in18:29 Christ. Verse 14 he talks about the second thing his colleagues were emboldened. Look at that. Verse 14 says, and most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord,18:41 I want you to circle that word confident, by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. In other words, they are much more bold to speak.18:53 Twice it's repeated that they spoke without fear, they spoke with much boldness, and they had great confidence in God by Paul's imprisonment. Whenever Paul writes19:04 brothers, he usually speaks about pastors and church leaders and here he's saying the pastors and church leaders in Rome, right,19:16 among the believers in Rome, they became bold. Why? They said Paul, even if he is prison for Christ, he is in prison, he is bold enough to share the gospel.19:28 How much more we should be doing this when we are free? So the men became bold. Hallelujah. Isn't that right when you hear a missionary come back and give a report of how they are serving God in the19:40 midst of all the painful challenges that they face in life? It really tugs your heart to say, Lord you have kept me in this country in a safe environment. How much more I should live for you? And that is the19:52 key here. And he says these are brothers and he says they are becoming more confident in the Lord and they are preaching boldly without fear. See whenever Paul writes to the church, he always20:04 addresses certain false preachers, isn't it? Like the book of Galatians, he would say there are some who preach a different gospel. But here he's talking about people who are not preaching a different20:16 gospel. They are preaching Christ, but they are preaching boldly. And that's the first thing he mentions. The second thing he mentions is his critics were exposed. Look at this20:27 in verse 15 to verse 17 he talks about that there are some who preach Christ out of rivalry and envy. Circle those 2 words. And these are people who preach from envy and20:39 rivalry but others from goodwill. So in verse 15 he talks about 2 kinds of preachers. 1 preach out of envy and rivalry and 1 preach out of goodwill. Look at20:51 verse 17. In verse 17 he says, the former, meaning the 1 who preached from envy and rivalry, they preach out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict21:03 me in my imprisonment. So sad to read this, isn't it? That there was men in the kingdom of God who looked at Paul's imprisonment and wanted to tell the world, see, Paul is21:15 in prison because God has deserted him. Paul is in prison maybe because Paul is so sinful that God had to punish him and put him aside. Why otherwise why is he so long21:27 stuck in a prison? Listen to me carefully. They preach out of selfish ambition because they could be ambitious in their own life. They want to promote their own ministry. So they look at21:38 Paul and they got envious. Paul is well known. Secondly, Paul has apostolic authority. Paul has a giftedness that is so clearly evident and they compare themselves and they despair21:50 and they say with envy, with rivalry, with competition, they want him to be out of the picture and once he is in prison they are bold. Now they are saying, oh wow, we can preach now22:02 but they are not sincere. Isn't that what Paul prayed in verse 10 so that you will be pure and blameless, sincere and blameless. Here some men even in gospel ministry are22:14 not sincere. See at the same time there are people who are inspired by Paul who was in prison. The same imprisonment inspired some, the same22:25 imprisonment made somebody to be insincere. Look at this. How insincere they were. Look at verse 16. The Bible says the latter do it out of love. 2 kinds22:37 of preachers, 2 different motives. 1 out of selfish ambition and rivalry and envy, this 1, out of love knowing that I'm put here for the defense of the gospel.22:49 So Paul not only had a prison problem, Paul had a people problem and you will always find this when you're going through challenges. The first, there are sometimes you think that people23:01 are with you but only when you go through a challenge you truly know who are for you because there are people who would be always with you but never truly for23:13 you and only fault lines will start to appear in the relationships only when you go through challenges. I want to give you a leadership principle. Jesus says to the 2 disciples that came to him and said, can we23:25 sit on your left and on your right? And you know what Jesus said to them, if you do not know how to suffer with me you will not be able to reign with me. In other words if you suffer with me you will reign with me. If23:36 you're able to walk through with person when they're going through pain then when times of prosperity comes you have every right to experience that success together. But if you kick23:48 a man who is down and you deny him and you reject him and you ignore him and you sideline marginalize him and then when he comes into prominence and prosperity, you cannot expect24:01 something different. Listen to me carefully. Always remember this. There will be people who try to gut and kick you in the gut when you're down. But remember this, God is always for you, not against24:12 you. In this circumstance, Paul was saying, doesn't matter whether the brothers are inspired by my imprisonment or whether they they insincerity shows up. It doesn't matter. What Paul recognizes24:24 is there will always be people with impure motives around us. We have to accept that reality. And secondly, Paul recognizes ultimately God's purpose will come to24:36 pass. And here Paul says in the midst of all this I want to see how gospel centered, how theocentric Paul is. Look at24:48 verse 16. Verse 16 especially he talks about knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. Knowing that I'm put here.24:59 Paul recognizes that he is in chains and he's facing this public scrutiny, this disapproval, this denunciation because25:11 God placed him there. I want you to take a moment to think about this church because he didn't get there by himself. God has led25:23 him step by step to be there. And he's there because of the sovereignty of God. It's the plan of God, and he's there to fulfill the purpose of God. So that's why no matter what you're going through,25:35 we always come back to this to say, God has put me here. So listen to me carefully. If you are an elder, you are called and put by God in the church to bring,25:47 to shepherd the church, to lead the church. If you're a pastor or a leader during this lockdown you are there to keep encouraging your congregation to bring the bring the word of God to them and to show them the25:59 way by living a life of example. If you're a husband you're you're put there in that marriage so that you will lead boldly, you will lead strongly, you will provide and nurture your family in the ways of God. If you are26:11 a single mom, you are put there by the Lord so that in this moment you will find how God is a very present help for you husband and for him to be the father to your26:23 children. Listen, no matter what situation you're in, you recognize that God has sovereignly put me here because when you do that, you will find joy in that sovereignty of God.26:34 Hallelujah. No. So I want you to take a moment and think about this. What prison do you find yourself in? What chains are binding you in right now? And would you be able to clearly say that, that God26:46 has placed me here in this situation? Maybe it is a chain of singleness. Maybe you're single for a while and you've been single for a long time and you're saying, this chains, I can't bear this or it could be26:58 a chain of being in ill health. Maybe in this season you're going through painful situations of visiting doctors and doing things and you're saying this change is unbearable for me to27:10 bear Can I humbly say this no matter what change you currently face in life that change can still advance the gospel? Can I humbly say this? Know this, that God is the 1 who put you27:22 there and if you trust in him, he will accomplish his purpose for the good of the kingdom of God and for his glory. Hallelujah. And God is a sovereign God. The third thing that Paul27:34 is saying here is the defense of the gospel. The defense of the gospel is a very interesting word. It is the gospel apologetics. You you and I, we we hear the word apologetics. It means to27:45 defend our faith, isn't it? Right from the time of Paul, they had defended their faith. How? But the apologetics usually is in the context where you live. So for Paul, what was the27:57 apologetics he was doing? For Paul the way he was defending the gospel is by proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the way to salvation. He is the Jewish Messiah that has come and28:08 Jewish faith is and the Christian faith is not a threat to the Roman Empire. So Paul was defending the gospel by saying it is not a threat to the Roman Empire. It is not28:20 that Jesus Christ is the only way through the scriptures, for the Judaizers to come to faith in Christ. This is the only way that Jesus Christ28:32 is the Messiah. So over the years, apologetics takes a different turn. In the medieval times, it was the challenges that came out of Islam and the other28:44 pagan and philosophical truths. So in those times, our apologetics is different. But today in the postmodern era where morality is very subjective and people28:56 have it is up to you. There is no truth. It's all relative and it's up to you. You determine what is right and what is true for you. We need to defend the gospel. The gospel is this. It is29:08 a message to believe. It is a person to receive and it's the life to live. And Paul says through his life he defended. So when he looks at his captors, the captors are being29:20 evangelized. He looks at his colleagues, the colleagues were emboldened. He looks at his critics and the critics were exposed but in all these things Paul still found joy. You know why joy was possible? Because of verse29:31 18. He says, what then shall I do? What then can we do? He says only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed. Circle29:43 that. And in that I rejoice and yes I will rejoice. Paul says I rejoice in the fact that I'm in chains but in the midst of my chains I rejoice. You know why? Because Christ29:55 is being proclaimed. I rejoice in the fact that my critics, even though they are brothers, they could be insincere with impure motives but yet when they speak they are30:06 speaking Christ and Christ is proclaimed. You know Paul makes the distinction between the motive and the message. See, the preacher could be preaching for wrong motive.30:18 The preacher could be preaching with wrong motive, but he could still be preaching the right message. The wrong motive, God will deal with it but the right message will still save the souls.30:30 Hallelujah. You know, story was told of an evangelist who went from town to town and to minister the gospel and he would he would usually show30:42 movies in this village. He would have a projector and he show the movies and once the movies are over then he will talk to the people about faith in Christ and salvation in the gospel.30:54 And he has, because he has to drive a van, he had a driver to take him from village to village And the driver was a pre believer. He was not a believer. And 1 day this evangelist31:06 was very sick. So he was lying in bed and he called his driver and said, I want you to take a break today. Go home because I'm so sick. I can't go anywhere. You go. And the31:18 driver said to him, Sir, I'm free. I know I've been following you all this time, so I know what to do. So let me go and show some movies in different places. So they said,31:30 okay, take the van and go. So he drove the van to a village and started showing the movies. Of course, at the end of the movies, the people were still hanging around eagerly waiting for what's next. So the driver didn't31:40 know what to do. He just got up on stage and started to preach the gospel to them. And 2 of them got saved that night. And so this driver ran quickly back to came31:52 quickly back to the evangelist and says, now I did what you normally do. I said the same things you would normally do. And 2 people are very curious about taking the next step with Jesus. So what do I need to do? Tell me32:04 so I can go tell them. In other words, the man was not saved. Yet God used him to save souls. Why? Because the message of the gospel is powerful to produce life32:16 even if it comes from a messenger who has impure motives and insincere. Can I humbly say this? That's why just because God uses you in gospel ministry doesn't necessarily mean that32:28 you're living a pure life, a blameless life, a glorifying life, a fruitful life, a life that is approved of God. Can I humbly say this? The giftedness and approval of God are 2 different things. God uses32:40 you because God is good, not because you are good. So come back to this place to recognize that God is indeed pleased when we live a pure life, a blameless life, and know32:52 how to approve what is excellent and continue to bear the fruit of righteousness in our lives that we will bring glory to him and we will benefit the kingdom of God. Hallelujah. So Paul says, what then can I33:04 say to all this? The only reason I will be joyful in the in the experience of public denunciation is because Christ is proclaimed. And because of the33:16 gospel centeredness, Paul was able to say, it's okay. No matter what, I'll be happy. I'll be joyful. Hallelujah. The second thing I want you to capture is Paul's joy33:28 in the expectation of providential deliverance. Verses 19 to verse 26. I wanna give you 4 things to write down because these 4 things will be covered in verses33:39 19 all the way to verse 26. His confidence was in God's deliverance. His commitment was for God's glory. His conviction was that Christ is his33:51 life and fourthly his compass was set to invest in others. Let's look at it 1 by 1. His confidence was in God's deliverance. Look at verse 19. He already says in second part of verse34:03 18, I rejoice again, I say I rejoice. And he says in verse 19, for I know that through your prayers, the prayers of the saints in Philippi and the help of the spirit34:15 of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. Couple of things I want you to pay attention to here. My deliverance. You know the word deliverance here in the Greek is34:27 the word soterio and soteria is the word for salvation. So Paul says here, your prayers, through your prayers and the spirit of Jesus working34:38 out for God's glory and for my good, it will turn out for my deliverance. He has an anticipation, he has an eager expectation that everything will turn out34:50 for deliverance. You know 1 of the things that I love about the word salvation is in English word we usually use the word saved.35:02 When a person is saved, born again, we say that person is saved. We say Jesus saves. But 1 of the beautiful pictures in the Bible in the New Testament is35:14 salvation is seen as deliverance. It is not just you are saved because the saved, the word saved is save some cake so that I can enjoy35:26 tomorrow for dessert or save some money so that later on when there is a rainy day, I will have something to use. We will always save is in that connotation of kept for35:38 later use. So it doesn't really convey the message of salvation. But the word saved, if it is replaced by the word delivered, wow, what a35:50 powerful image that it produces. Here Paul says, it will turn out for my salvation. It will turn out for my deliverance. Do you know your salvation is a36:01 deliverance? The word soterio, it will have at least 4 meanings. Let me give you 1 by 1, can write it down. Number 1, it could be that it's talking about ultimate salvation. Paul says through your36:13 prayers, through the work of the spirit, I will be ultimately saved because Paul knows that he is not presently fully delivered. Paul is the 1 who wrote in Galatians36:25 Christ has redeemed us, He has delivered us from the present evil age. You and I know we are still in the world but what did Christ deliver us out of? The present evil age. In other words, the36:37 present evil system, value system, worldview that is currently functioning in the world. We are delivered from it. That's why you are saved doesn't convey it, but you're delivered.36:49 In Colossians, he writes and he says, you are delivered from the domain of darkness. In other words, the kingdom of darkness you're delivered and now you're set up in the you're transferred into the kingdom of his37:01 beloved son. Hallelujah. Kingdom of light. In other words, you have been delivered. In other words, there's a decisive break through. He has delivered you. He has rescued you and Paul understands37:12 this. He says there will be an ultimate deliverance in his life. So he says through your prayers and the work of the spirit, there will be an ultimate deliverance. What is the ultimate deliverance? This way you and I, we37:24 need to acknowledge this that Paul's view of salvation is there is a past, there's a present, there's a future. Let me say that again. What is the past? I have been delivered. What is the present? I37:35 am being delivered. And what's the future? I will be delivered. See you are delivered from the past. In the past what have you been delivered from? You've been delivered from the penalty of37:47 sin. You've been saved from the penalty of sin. Today, every single day you appropriate the gospel into your life, you're delivered from the power of sin. You die to your temptation, you37:59 don't yield to your temptation but you overcome it through the power of the gospel As a result of the work of Christ being applied to you, you have the power to overcome sin. So the penalty of sin you have been38:11 delivered from. The power of sin you're being delivered daily. But 1 day you'll be delivered from the presence of sin. You'll be delivered ultimately from this world and you go into heaven and when the presence38:23 of God, there is no presence of sin. So praise God for that. So your salvation has a past and a present and a future. In other words of saying, have I am saved, I was38:34 saved, I am being saved and I will be saved. So Paul says, you pray for me and through your prayers, I will this will turn out for my deliverance so ultimate salvation will happen or the second 138:46 he could be used for that word delivered is I will be released from this prison. That Caesar will vindicate me that I'm not a political dissident and he will release me for the gospel work or38:58 it could be that finally he says I might die here, could be executed And even if I'm executed, I'm delivered from this world and I'll be with my Lord. Hallelujah. And39:10 here the beautiful picture that he paints is, through your prayers and through the work of the spirit, this will turn out for my deliverance. I love this picture. I want you to catch this church becauseShow more
Paul Jeyachandran
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