Deliver Me from All This Life

Philippians 1.18b-19

GBCCR 3/23/24

Introduction

Comments-

Great time away with the family & I’m looking forward to easter with you all

Prayers

We pray for Bob Enright in the hospital

And lord we pray for Easter Sunday next week.

Catch- Life can sometimes feel like a disappointment when things do not go our way

I was reading commentaries who quoted from the poet Dryden when I consider life, tis all a cheat

when I consider life, tis all a cheatyet, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit;

yet, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit;trust on, and think tomorrow will repay

trust on, and think tomorrow will repaytomorrow’s falser than the former day.

tomorrow’s falser than the former day.

And while this seems very depressing, there are times of difficulties or disappointments when our deliverance is not what we expected from God

Our life does not satisfy the way we planned.

Sometimes you look at what others around you have or what you expected and find yourself disappointed.

And in a similar way, a life worth living isn’t one of always easy escape but often emboldened endurance.

Let’s remember where we are in Philippians

Paul has just finished describing his current condition.

But instead of focusing on himself at first, he talks about the progress of the gospel

He is under house arrest, and being maligned by fellow believers.

But Paul as has said he rejoices in the fact that the gospel is going forward=his goal is to see Christ proclaimed and people saved… so it doesn’t matter what happens to him, his goal will be accomplished.

=his goal is to see Christ proclaimed and people saved… so it doesn’t matter what happens to him, his goal will be accomplished.

End of verse 18… starts a new sentence

You may see the comma after I will rejoice again

…As wonderful as the gospel going forward is, it is not the only reason to rejoice.

Notice that Paul begins to use the future tense. He speaks about what will happen… his future hope

Paul speaks with confidence regarding his future even though we see he is not sure what will happen

So let’s see

4 means of a Christian’s deliverance

Note for, why does Paul rejoice? because he takes these 4 views of his savior.

-Again, Joy is produced, it is not sought after.

Saved by knowing the savior

Explanation

Paul starts with an important phrase saying “I know this will turn out”

Grammar moment:

Through your prayer and help are prepositional phrases

These describe how he knows things will turn out

So, if you want to have the confidence, the prepositions tell you how to have them

We’ll get to those, but first, let’s talk about knowing.

“this will turn out.” Or it result in.

Paul knows believes in what the savior will do

But, He is speaking about a future which he has not experienced yet

remember, Paul has been under arrest for years now.

Yet, He knew what His savior was doing, as Peter writes a similar truth:

1 Peter 1:8–9- Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

In the midst of trials and difficulties the outcome of your continued trust and joy in Jesus is your salvation

It is not here yet… the deliverance isn’t seen, but you know the one it comes from… and you trust Him.

We need people who give us confidence that it is going to work out

Imagine a hypothetical situation

Someone is lost in a forest but has a map and compass,

That person may not know where they are but they have something important

A trial and a series of markers pointing the way through

Or perhaps best of all, they run into someone who says.. oh yeah, I’ve been on this trials before, follow me

Similarly, we need knowledgeable people to have confidence in navigating life's challenges.

Application

In a similar way, children, or young believers, you have, the knowledge that comes from knowing what the Word says.

But there will be a lifetime of discovering what it truly looks like to follow God.

We are so blessed to have many people here who have walked with Christ for decades of life

So, you who have seen God answer so many prayers in your lifewho have gotten you through so many trials and

who have gotten you through so many trials and troubles

You can testify to the rest of us God’s kind provision throughout your life

Young moms- the world is trying to set the priorities of your parenting right now

They will tell you be gentle parents, or tiger moms

But following these promises for who your kids will turn out can leave you disappointed when it doesn’t go the way you think.

This is one benefit we have as a church… many of you can give years of perspective of what will matter decades down the line

And we have this book, which tells us what will matter in a billion millenia from now

Trans: We know it will turn out, but many false promises come about by defining what turning out means, so we must secondly see

Saved by knowing the salvation

This will turn out for my deliverance

Explanation

when you read that is it easy to think Paul knows he’s going to be freed, to be delivered from imprisonment.

But he can’t be talking about freedom because in v20 he says Christ will be exalted in his life or in his death.

history tells us he died in Rome.

Remember, why did Paul come to Rome?

He is on trial before the Emperor*to explain His Christian faith

*to explain His Christian faith

Acts 23:11- But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

He will go before this group of men (the emperor and his advisors) to explain the Christian view and why he has caused a riot in all these cities

He could be killed for all the trouble he caused

But Paul was looking for something much bigger

The greek word is soterian, where we get soteriology, or salvation

Paul is looking at a trial he will face much more important than before the emperor of Rome…

Really interesting: Paul is quoting from the book of Job here

Job 13:16-“This also will be my salvation, For a godless man may not come before His presence.

Can’t tell in English, but the Greek translation of the OT Hebrew (the Septuagint) is the exact same phrase

Here Job is defending himself from his friends again

Job’s life has completely fallen apart,

his family dead,

all his belongings destroyed,

his health ruined and

he sits in ashes mourning everything

His friends come to him and begin to discuss with him why it is these things have happened.

They blame his sin… He must have done something wrong for God do this to him, he was being punished.

*Paul’s accusers may have said the same thing.

Turn to Job 11:13–17- “If you would direct your heart right And spread out your hand to Him, If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, And do not let wickedness dwell in your tents; “Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral defect, And you would be steadfast and not fear. “For you would forget your trouble, As waters that have passed by, you would remember it. “Your life would be brighter than noonday; Darkness would be like the morning.

*Zophar is rebuking Job and saying if he would only turn from his sin, everything would be good again

But Job responds that their advice is wicked and wrong.

He knows that he can lift up his face before God and he calls for trial before God.

Job 13:3- “But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God.

He knew he was not sinless, but that he dealt with his sin by fearing God and offering sacrifices to cover his sins

He knew that this trial would turn out in his favor because God would bring the evidence that proves him innocent of these sins

Again the verse goes:

“This also will be my salvation, For a godless man may not come before His presence.

Paul is connecting to this same event as he is being condemned and maligned.

Paul’s salvation is his vindication by Christ, no matter what Nero does or other Christians say

We need to get the source of vindication right

We can picture something similar in life

Because kids you can Imagine a being unjustly accused of a wrong deed.

Someone says you pushed a kid down at a playground, but you were not near them

People are may rail against you you remains confident that their parents will see the truth they will protect you

Similarly, Jesus offers us the assurance that He will bring ultimate vindication, surpassing any earthly judgment.

This was Paul’s confidence

He knew that he would ultimately be vindicated at the final judgment court before God

This little Roman court mattered not.

Application

How do we know this before our courts?

There are lots of little court trials you go through

What does your unbelieving family think of you?

Your neighbors or coworkers?

What does the culture and elites think of us singing to an unseen God?

Or maybe those who have the proverbial retirement collecting sand dollars on the beach while you gave your life for soemthign different.

There are constant judgments happeningThey seem so important, a matter of life or death…

They seem so important, a matter of life or death…

So how do you not look to the wrong judgment?

By thinking biblically

Paul was so filled with scripture that when you pricked him with life’s trials, he bled bible..

Brothers and sisters… we must value what the bible values

The glory of God being praised, even when we suffer

Our children’s children following God rather than having all the activities

Spending our selves for the sake of souls rather than having every comfort

But Christ doesn’t want you to be alone in this…

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “the apostle did not expect that good would arise out of everything, apart from prayers of others.”

Saved by the prayers of others

Explanation

These are intercessory prayers =giving for someone else

=giving for someone else

Just as Paul prayed for the Philippians in verse 4, and now he knows they are praying for him.

But the question is, does Prayer change anything?

Paul says that he will be delivered through these prayers,

thus they are not for nothing,

they are incredibly important.

Scripture tells us that God hears us and does do something regarding our prayers:

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” (1 John 5:14–15, NASB95)

Does this mean whatever we pray will happen?

No. 1 John clearly stated that is anything according to his will

At the same time we are to repeat our prayers if they do not come about

Jesus asked for the cup to pass from him three times. He also taught that we should cry out to God over and over again (Luke 18:1-8). It seems strange to us that “God commends the kind of persistence that we normally despise in a salesmen who refuses to take his foot out of the front door,” but God is sovereign in our heart’s cry once, and the hundredth time.

Prayers are a means God uses to accomplish his task.

illus- Your prayers are the tools, the hammer, the saw, the nail…. But God is the hand that wields them. God uses your prayers to bring about his will.

God uses your prayers to bring about his will.

From our perspective it looks as if things are changing, but it is our will which is changing to conform to his.

If God directs the hearts of kings (Prov 21:1), then how much more His slaves

But who is praying here?

Not Paul for himself

Paul wants the Philippians praying for him.

He constantly asked for prayers of the churches

that he would be kept safe

that his work would continue

that he would be able to proclaim the gospel clearly

We live in a world that is believe in the individual, in doing things yourself, but we are one body 1 cor 12 says.

Illus: Salvation does not come apart from the prayers of others

I love rock climbing… there is just something exciting about starting low and reaching for one ledge after another

But every once in a while you get to a spot where you just can’t reach… you try and try and the only way to get to the next spot is to jump.

And you feel free to make the jump because there is this big rope attached to you and to someone on the ground holding you up

Even if you miss, you will be caught by the rope, you will be saved

And prayer is like that climbing rope that connects you to another believer through God.

And that prayer is used by God to save them

Prayer is a connection we have to other people

Application

Paul knew that the prayers of others were needed for him to make it through this upcoming trial, through to death….

Do you know you need the prayers of others?

May I encourage us to not hide your needs?

Paul has complete confidence that everything will be ok, but only through prayers… so ask for the things you know will happen

Don’t ignore when others offer requests, but prayer does something

Saved by dependence on the Spirit

2 ways we are dependent on the Spirit

Trusting in the Spirit’s care

The provision of the Spirit means

the assistance or support of the spirit…

It is not getting more of the spirit

But He gives a believer what you need to live a godly life and to stay faithful to the end

This makes sense as Jesus did call the spirit another helper in John 14:16-23.

This is the hope that Jesus promised at times of persecution:

“for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matt. 10:19–20).

This is why Paul was confident he would be saved, because he knew the spirit would keep him confident.

it is very easy to think you’re going to fall when you realize how weak you are…

you have a broken foot, a broken ankle, a shattered knee, smashed ribs…the world has just beaten you up big time

but then you realize that there is someone holding you up instead, right next to you, so you will not fall.

The means of that help in Jesus

Trusting in the Spirit’s ways

for ex: why is He the spirit of Christ?

I love studying the Trinity and how God relates with himself (that’s a big idea alone)

The Trinity is often assumed by us because its what we have been taught, but it’s an amazing relationship

The Spirit is God, the Father is God, the Son is God, and so they are equal, but they have different jobs and roles

The father is the head who plans salvation,

the son submits to the father and earns salvation,

the Spirit points to the son and applies salvation to the lives of believers

Just like a husband and wife are equally made in the image of God and equal before him, the husband is called the be the leader of the family, and the wife to follower him….

So Jesus submits to the father, and the spirit submits to jesus.

What makes this incredible is that when Jesus was on earth, he followed the spirit’s lead

The spirit lead him into wilderness in Luke 4

The spirit always did this work behind the scenes as he did not receive credit for the work he did

ever notice why you always hear about the father and son but not as much about the Spirit?

Yet in John 14 Jesus says he is going to send the SpiritThe spirit submits to and points to Jesus

The spirit submits to and points to Jesus

Who wrote the bible? Yes men…but the Spirit made the entire bible point to Jesus (luke 24:27)

After someone becomes a Christian the spirit conforms them to the image not of himself but of Christ.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

This teaches that God made us to want to become what he esteem, what we love.

And the spirit puts Jesus before our eyes so we adore his beauty and become like him

We all want eternal life,

An everlasting life, preferably with no pain and everlasting youth

but Jesus defines eternal life a little differently

John 17:3- “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Jesus says eternal life is about knowing the father and the son… and the holy spirit is taking everything in our lives to that goal

We are saved by being dependent on the Spirit’s care and His ways

Too often our view of deliverance is too small, our goal of help is too small

We know the great story of John Newton, the pastor who wrote amazing grace

Newton went to sea with his father at age eleven. After an unsuccessful stint in the Royal Navy, he went to work for a slave trader….

Stealing human beings from their homes and treating them like cattle

One night he was awakened by the storm. Within a few minutes the ship was a virtual wreck, filling with water.

Newton said to the Captain, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us.” Newton was instantly taken aback by his own words that reflected the first time he had desired God’s mercy in years. Then the thought went through his mind, What mercy can there be for me

The next day Newton sadly concluded that there had never been a sinner as wicked as he and that his sins were too great and too many to be forgiven

Later he wrote: “I stood in need of an Almighty Saviour, and such a one I found described in the New Testament.… I was no longer an infidel; I heartily renounced my former profaneness, and I had taken up some right notions; was seriously disposed, and sincerely touched with a sense of the undeserved mercy I had received, in being brought safe through so many dangers

Amazing Grace is the reminder of the most important deliverance we have

We are carried by the spirit to Jesus

Application

What is the goals of your prayers of deliverance?

We often get frustrated with our prayers because we keep praying in times of trouble and we are not getting answered.

Maybe it is the stress from a health issue, or the overwhelming power of work, the loss state of our children, or a sin we that keeps springing up in our life

Yet, if it our eyes are on the Spirit’s goal, we can rejoice that it will be done

Theologian John Owen wrote

that the Lord allows that one particular sin to linger in your life because if it were not there, you would have no reason to return to God with repentant tears.17 God tested Israel for forty years in the wilderness to show them what was in their heart (Deut. 8:2-3),

Similarly, God tests our hearts, and we get to see---in small measure---what he saw all along. It is sobering, grieving, and humbling

But this humility will bring you to Him

Therefore

Remember through every trial and testing the Lord grants you, his humble servants… he will rescue you

His rescue comes by the confidence of knowing HimSo become familiar with his

So become familiar with his promises

His rescue is made clear by a true understanding of what rescue meansSo look to the real judgment that

So look to the real judgment that matters

His rescue is achieved through prayersSo

So Share your prayers with others

His rescue is accomplished by His SpiritSo walk by Him and learn from his

So walk by Him and learn from his example

We know we must (Resolution)-

Jerusalem was a nearly impenetrable fortress

Even when nations would set ramparts against and try to take the city the walls were to thick, the storage too vast, and water was accessible within the city

In the same way, the Christian has great resources in Christ

As the old dead guy JC Ryle said- “The true Christian is the only happy man, because he has sources of happiness entirely independent of this world.”

“The true Christian is the only happy man, because he has sources of happiness entirely independent of this world.”

You will have emboldened endurance if you have a life worthy of living, which will continue with next time.

Closing prayer