Confidence

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 68:1-18

Psalm 68:1–18 ESV

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy. The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host: “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!” The women at home divide the spoil— though you men lie among the sheepfolds— the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold. When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalmon. O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan! Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, yes, where the Lord will dwell forever? The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

Scripture Reading: Daniel 3:16-18

Daniel 3:16–18 ESV

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Sermon

Well, once again and as always good morning, I was glad when they said to me, let us go and Worship in the house. Of the Lord.

Especially I was glad if we're being Frank and honest, I was glad to be preaching through and getting to spend some time in the book of Philippians. Philippians is for many people, their favorite book of the Bible filled with their favorite passages. Of all of the most quoted verses in scripture. We put aside maybe like John 3, 16. Philippians, Verse for verse has more favorite verses than any other book of the Bible. For example. Philippians 4 13, I can do all things. Through him who strengthens me? Philippians chapter 2 verse Five: have this mind among yourselves, which is yours. In Christ, Jesus, Philippians 1, we'll get to this next week 27 only let the manner of your life, be worthy of the Gospel of Christ and a verse we'll be looking at this morning, Philippians chapter 1 verse 21. For to To live. Is Christ. And to die Is gain.

These verses, they strike. They strike a chord in our hearts, the way Paul writes and the beauty that he exhorts us to is. Fantastic. and Philippians is a book. Filled with favorite passages. And today our goal. My goal is to help us understand in particular, this favorite verse of many. for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

What does Paul mean? What is he saying? How does he get there? And ultimately my desire is to show us. Why Paul can have such Confidence.

A few years ago now, we went through the book of first Thessalonians first and second Thessalonians. Where Paul spoke of. His confidence in the resurrection that those who were left alive, would be caught up together in the air, with Jesus Christ. That because of ultimately, because of the power of the Resurrection guaranteed and given to all those who trust in Jesus Christ, there was no fear. There was no trepidation for the future. Paul has confidence. So much confidence that here. Paul can say. If I die, it's gain. If I live, that's living for Christ and no matter what, life is good.

How can we have that confidence? How do we get there? That is the question for us today to start. Let's read our passage. Philippians chapter 1 verses 18. B through 26.

Philippians 1:18–26 (ESV)

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning. Let's open. With the word of prayer.

Dear Lord. We thank you for today. We thank you for. The precious gift of your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We thank you for the work. For his work that accomplished for us salvation. That that we are redeemed saved bought with a precious price. That you have shown your great love for us in this that while we were still sinners. Christ died for us and that we now are made alive together with him. We thank you for all of these precious truths. Help us to rest in them. Give us confidence, not in ourselves, but rather in the work of Our Savior, for it's in his name that we pray. Amen.

If we just sit back and and think of and hear the confidence of Paul in this passage it is incredible. But what is he certain of and how can we have this same sort of certainty?

Now in part of it it is he's certain that he will be delivered. There's prison involved with this. That Paul's certain this prison sentence that he's serving will end in a certain way. There's there are some tangible to Paul things, right? That that only Paul can be certain of I'm not certain that I'll be released from prison soon partly because I'm not in prison right now. But the things that matter that Paul is sure of, we can all have the same confidence and the same certainty.

Our lives, then should be marked by the same sense of confidence that Paul has. And so what do we first have confidence in? Well, what does Paul first have confidence in? There's confidence. In Vindication.

Confidence in VINDICATION

As we open, Paul says, he will rejoice. If we remember back to last week, right? He was talking about being in prison and that being in prison was for him Good. Why was it good? Because the gospel was proclaimed. And then he had this little side note. Like even if people aren't preaching Christ for all the right reasons, you know, they're selfish self-serving self-righteous people who are just preaching the gospel for their own gain. I'm going to Rejoice.

we looked at this last week in verse 18, He's going to Rejoice because whether in pretense or in truth, whatever reason they are preaching Christ is proclaimed. And as Christ is proclaimed, Paul rejoices. And then here he starts with. And you know what? I'm going to Rejoice. Even though he's in prison even though people are preaching the gospel for the wrong reason even though they don't know — in particular the Philippian Church does not know if Paul will see them, what this persecution will end with even though there's turmoil and trouble and uncertainty. Paul says, you know what, I'm going to Rejoice.

Nothing will stop me for rejoicing.

For I know he says in verse 19. That through both your prayers and the work of the spirit of Jesus Christ. I'll be delivered. I will be Vindicated. This is what Paul knows? No matter what. Because of two things… and this is what your Grace Point talks about… But just to highlight this, for us quickly, because the prayers of the people and because of the work of the spirit of God, the work of the spirit of... Paul says specifically… Jesus Christ, he knows. They'll be delivered.

He's in prison, they're persecuting him. He's hated they In Paul's life, he's been basically tortured... They have thrown rocks at him and left him for dead. He's been Shipwrecked. We can go through the list of Trials and troubles that Paul has had and many look at these. And think, Paul's defeated. A real man of God wouldn't face these trials, a real man of God wouldn't need to go through these tribulations. A real man of God would be delivered from this and Paul says, I will be.

And in fact, I am Because the people have been praying for me and because the spirit of Jesus Christ is at work in his life, he knows verse 19, I know, this will turn out for my Deliverance. And I know, Verse 20. That he won't be ashamed. There's trials and troubles and tribulations, and difficulties. I will not be ashamed. I will not. Be put to shame. Instead, I stand in confident, Victory.

The Olympics have been going on. And one of the interesting sort of, Uh, if you pay attention to any of the stories, Right. There are some people that win and for them. It's great power and victory. There's other people that they don't win after bragging and doing some other stuff and there's there's shame for them. I don't know if you paid attention to the the whole break dancing drama, right? That there's this person that they, they didn't do well. It didn't go at all. It was almost felt like a sham. When they put to shame. Or in the gymnastics. I was just reading an article this morning that the girl who didn't win bronze, but then appealed and won bronze. Now, has that overturn. And now she didn't win bronze again. And in that article they interviewed the Romanian girl that had the opposite, she won bronze, lost it on appeal and than re-got the bronze after further appeal and she talked about the heartbreak and shame of loosing the medal LIKE THAT… And so in this, the winning and the not winning the winning. Is there shame?

I mean, you made it to the Olympics. There shouldn't be any shame, but this idea of you had it, you don't have it. You have it. You don't have it. Does that bring shame? Probably. Feelings of regret and difficulty, probably. But for Paul in his life, there will be no shame. I will not be ashamed. Is my eager expectation that I will not be at all, not a hint of regret or difficulty or people looking down on me or people thinking that I was worse, that I will have no shame. I will not be ashamed. Why? Because Christ verse 20 will be honored with my body. How can Paul have confidence in his Vindication? This is why, and this is the key. We have to, we have to grasp here. Why can Paul be so confident that he will be Vindicated? because Christ will be glorified!

For the same reason, it didn't matter, the heart of the people preaching, whether it was for good reasons or bad reasons, Christ is proclaimed and I will rejoice. And I will be Vindicated even if it costs me my life. I am confident that I will be Vindicated either in this life or the next. And in either one of these Christ is glorified, if by my living If by my living Jesus receives glory. Then I've been Vindicated and if by my dying Jesus receives Glory, then I have been Vindicated. And I am sure that in either one of those situations Christ is glorified, I'm not ashamed and these things have worked out and ultimately my soul is delivered. That's the point.

How can we have confidence in Vindication? Here’s the the secret that's not so secret... here it Is: to know and understand That what matters in all things Is not this life. Not how I'm living, not my comfort, not my Not anything in me. But rather Christ. And Christ as God will receive all glory. So, I will be Vindicated.

Doesn't matter what you say, doesn't matter what you think, doesn't matter what you do to me to anyone? It does not matter. I will be Vindicated is what Paul says. And for this, he has confidence.

But this stems from the most fundamental and the most important confidence that we can have, he can have confidence that he will be Vindicated because he has confidence in Christ.

Confidence in CHRIST

This is the points of Philippians. Chapter 4 verse 21. For me for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. This is confidence in the person and work of Jesus Christ, nothing short of that. Paul is not confident in his own ability, confident in his own ability to work. Because he might not be able to work... He might be dead. Paul's not confident in his own ability to do anything. He is confident in Christ. for to me to live is Christ and to die his gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, that means service and devotion, to Jesus for me. and If I die. I don't have to serve Jesus. I get to be with Jesus.

Matthew Henry writes. It this way: the apostles difficulty was not between living in the world and living in heaven. Because between those two, there's no comparison rather The apostles difficulty is between serving Christ in this life and enjoying him. In another.

His life in all of it is devoted to Christ. Either I will serve him in my life in every moment, with every fiber of my being in this life or I will rest... Note, even in serving him, there's rest… but more to the point, I will enter the Heavenly rest for all time and Eternity. Singing with all creation with every people from every tribe and tongue and Nation. Holy, holy, holy is the lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. That was slain to receive all glory and honor, and power, and Dominion. I will join for all eternity, singing, praises to the King of Kings and the Lord of lords, either this life is in service to the high King of Heaven, or after this life worshiping the high king of And so, he says, Which of these two I should choose. I don't know.

This is hard. And I think this is actually a good thought for us to to wrestle with. There was a time in my life, where I thought. That that to be a good christian to have the right mindset and the right heart of being a Christian. You had to like, Not care about this life at all.... WE look to the monks who give up all earthy pleasures and goods and importantly here connections to friends and family and join a monastery and think: that is what being a Christian is. Right. It's always, I only care about the next one. I only care about the next one, and Paul doesn't have that problem, and that is overly simplified and denies the goodness of what God has given us in this life...

It's okay... To be Frank and honest for just a second with us All… It's okay to say. I hope we get to see my kids grow up. I, I hope. I think it's okay to say these things. That one day, I will get to walk my daughter down the aisle. I hope. That I am there for my kids, to see my son succeed in what he puts his heart into… That I'm there for my kids. I hope for a lot of things… we we can hope things it's okay. The issue comes when we want that more than we desire Heaven, or I should probaly say when we desire that so much we forget to trust God in his perfect soverign will and way that is better. And the issue comes when that is what we are living for more than living for Chrsit.

But Note that Paul, even in this “do die is gain” admits that it is a hard choice. Paul says it. I'm hard-pressed. I I want to go be with Jesus. I do want. Ultimately, my end goal. My Hope, my vision for the future. Everything in me motivates me towards heaven. But you know what? I need to be here.

For Paul. This is very pastoral, right? It's not right. Like I think a lot of us can look at our kids and our family. But for Paul it is the CHURCH. I want to be there for them.

The Philippian church, I want to be there for them. I I think this is just me imagining a little bit. There were people in that church. Maybe there was a young married couple. He's like, I want to see their kids. Grow. I want to be the pastor to multiple Generations. Maybe there was someone that he'd been witnessing to and he'd seen them sort of coming close to the gospel. They still weren't fully willing to surrender to Christ… He thinks if I could go back to the Philippian church, I could preach the gospel one more time, and maybe they'd get saved and I'd get to baptize them. He thinks of the Philippian church and he begins to think of On one hand, the growth they've made how wonderful and encouraging and great. They are on the other hand, there's more I need to preach to them.

For to LIVE is Christ. To be in this life. To remain in the flesh is more necessary on their account. It, I have work to do that. God has called me to do for you. Paul says, And that's part of his confidence in Christ. The confidence is what Christ will do in my future. But there's also confidence in what Christ is doing. In my present, he's working in me. Shaping me, molding me, sanctifying me creating… he would write to the church in Ephesians… Good works prepared in advance that we should walk in them. So it's necessary to remain in the flesh.

Here's my confidence in Christ. That either in my life. Or. In my death. I am in Christ. That's the point.

In Romans he would write for what can separate us from the love of God. That is in Christ. Jesus, our lord and he gives the laundry list. For, I am convinced neither height nor depth nor angels nor demons nor the present, nor the future nor any powers. Nothing can separate us. Though, we are being led like sheep to the slaughter all the day long. We're okay.

Or elsewhere he would say: I'm sure of this that he who began a good work in you. THAT'S My life. We'll bring it about to completion. THAT'S The rest of my life at the day of Jesus Christ THAT'S to the end and even my death. I'm in Christ. And in that Paul has confidence. That's the point. Confidence in Christ becomes the source of all the other confidences that we can have. Confidence in our Vindication why? because I'm in Christ. He already won. I'll be okay.

But he thinks. I desire to depart, right? We think Paul worst case scenario in jail, death penalty. Paul thinks worst case scenario in jail. Death penalty, that's good. I mean for Paul's not worst case, it's best case, right? That's what I should have said. We think worst case scenario death penalty for Paul… Paul thinks best case scenario, death penalty, But I might have to continue on this Earth, that's the WORST case scenario… seems good to me...

But all of this leads him. To his the third confidence. I see in this passage. Confidence in reunion.

Confidence in REUNION

Verses 25 and 26. Convinced of this. I know … that's confidence.... I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith. So that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.

Paul's desire to go be with Christ his desire to depart. Is, is brought under His pastoral responsibility to the Philippian church. And so, as he goes to this thought, he realizes the heavier weight. The more important thing right now and therefore what he is confident that Christ has called him to is to go be with this church.

The point is, And and what I hope we can take from this, right? Is maybe a bit of practical application. Is. Paul's confidence. Stems from His fellowship with interaction with heart for and ties to this local congregation.

Paul can have this confidence and he stands here, confident. I don't know, maybe he's sitting lying, right? He's writes this very confidently. Why? Because at the end of the day, There's the gospel that I am in Christ, that I will be Vindicated that I in Christ, he's safe and secure. But that Gospel is lived out together. And so he is confident that he will be reunited with the Philippian church. And what does that re-reunity? What is that coming together again? Bring for them.

Progress. And In the Here, he's confident that they will be reunited but what we need to learn and understand and see in this text is to be together to be United is what breeds joy and confidence, and progress in our sanctification with one another. Paul's confident, he will be reunited with this church because he knows that to be together as the church is what our souls need. And as he thinks of the Philippian church and he thinks of what the Philippian church needs, he's like, I know I'm going back. Because I know God will bring us together.

So, let's think about our church. Why do we have a need one another?

So, we can grow in joy. In progress in the faith. Is so that we all together can glory in Christ Jesus. Because as we see the testimonies of God at work, it works in our heart as well. For them, this was very direct right for the Philippian church. It was Paul was in prison. God saved Paul from prison, God is good and he delivered Paul... he will deliver us.

But now for us, we can look and say God is good. He delivered you from this sin. He delivered me from that sin. He delivered us from this difficulty and trial and trouble. He's been good to this church. He has provided for every need he has been with us. He has cared for us, God is good. And in that, I will glory

When we see the work of Christ in each other, When we see each other's confidence in Christ grow, as we see each other be Vindicated through service and Devotion to Christ as we witness these things. We grow in knowledge, we grow in confidence, we grow in being able to rest in Christ. We grow in what God is doing these things work in us and it is for our good. That's the point.

So Church what confidence do I pray You have? It's these same ones...

I pray. That you are confident That God Will vindicate, you. Whatever that means, whatever that looks like. God is the one who will save and deliver. How do I know this?

Because I pray and hope that you have confidence in Christ. He is a perfect savior. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is our great high priest, who lives forever to make intercession on our behalf. He having offered once for all time, a perfect sacrifice in his own body now, rules and Reigns in for all time in the Heavenly realm so you can have confidence so much confidence in Christ that we can approach the Throne of God with boldness! That's confidence and it's yours in Christ.

And I pray, you have this because you see that together the body of Christ working and loving and caring for one another together becomes the source of this confidence. May we Be confident in these things.

Let's pray.