Unstoppable

The Gospel is Undefeated

Text: Philippians 1:12–19

Introduction

TBD

Please stand with me as I read

Philippians 1:12–19 ESV

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. 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,

1. The Gospel Advances Through Hardship (v. 12)

Philippians 1:12–14 ESV

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

Paul’s Situation

He’s writing from prison in Rome. He’s chained to guards. His freedom is stripped away. But that doesn’t stop Paul’s ministry

Because—what does he say? “What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.”

What does it take to have perspective like that? And when you can earnestly believe and love the gospel so much to the point where you can rest in the joy of the gospel advancing… that is when you can look at the hardship, look at the pain, look at certain death and confidently say “Oh death where is your sting, or grave where is your victory”! Paul had every excuse to be bitter. Are you kidding me? He went from being THE guy in Judaism, an untouchable Pharisee, to being arrested and treated like dirt all because he knew the worth of knowing Christ.

Paul new where is true citizenship lied. He did not view his life as being a Jew first, or the world’s greatest missionary - his one and only love, his only allegiance lied squarely in heaven with his Savior. And when you are rooted in that - what can man do to you?

Time and again, history has proven that the Gospel endures - no matter how intense the persecution.

Persecution never snuffs out the church—it multiplies it.

Iran: fastest growing church in the world today.

China: despite decades of communist suppression, millions follow Jesus - on pace to have the most Christians of any nation by 2050.

Africa: Christianity exploding in places where missionaries once gave their lives just to enter. Particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Persecution presses the gospel forward, not backward.

We don’t think like this because we tend to make the story about us. This is particularly prominent in the West. We view so many things through the tyranny of the immediate - how does this impact me and the immediate world around me - that we forgot the larger story that God is weaving together in our world. Do you want to know the impact of the fact that the church is exploding in places like Iran, Africa, and China? For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire the center of Christianity, and the Christian population, is not in either Europe or North America.

There are almost 2.7 billion Christians on Earth and 69% of them live outside of Europe and North America

Asia has essentially doubled its Christian population in the last 25 years - in 2000 there were 383 million; in 2025 that number became 754 million. By 2050 Asia is on pace to have just under 1.3 billion Christians. Many of these in places where it is illegal, or severely persecuted to be Christian.

Iran and China are competing to become the nation where Christianity is growing the fastest.

The gospel is continuing to explode in Sub-Saharan Africa - despite 16.2 million Christians being displaced from their homes due to violence. The church is growing and sustaining in Nigeria in particular despite 7000 Christians being slaughtered for their faith just in the past year.

Puts a difference spin on citizenship doesn’t it? Our brothers and sisters all over this globe

We want comfort, ease, safety. We think God’s main job is to keep our lives smooth. We want a God who is a butler. What a puny god that would be. No, God is weaving together a much larger, greater, and more beautiful story. One that if we believe we can see our current suffering and view it through the same lens as Paul - as not the place where the story ends but the very platform God intends to use to advance his Kingdom. The vast majority of this is not big, public, flashy works of kingdom advancement - but in the every day refining of the father who is struggling to lead his family - he feels like a failure almost every day because all he can see is the wrong. All he can see is all the ways in which he is falling short. But he keeps fighting, he keeps reaching, he keeps submitting himself to the lordship of Christ and through the struggle, through the pain, he is refined by that fire and his family is blessed. Its found in the sanctifying work inside the heart of a wife and mom who has to keep a thousand plates spinning at any given moment - but she remains faithful to her call to her family, marriage, and job - despite the demands of her - she constantly throws herself at the feet of her Savior for strength and refining - and through hardship and pain she is sanctified and her family and the community around her is blessed.

You see, the Gospel is not taking over Asia and Africa because of massively loud and public revivals, but in the everyday faithfulness and steadfastness of people who, on daily basis, wake up and say “Jesus is worth it”. Thats the only way you withstand that kind of pressure.

2. Defending the Gospel looks different than you think.

Philippians 1:13 ESV

so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

Can you imagine? Someone with the experience, exposure, and history of Paul conducting himself in such a way that even the praetorian guards in Caesar’s palace had no choice but to acknowledge that the ONLY reason Paul was in prison was for the name of Jesus. Could imagine living a life that far above reproach? How different would our world look if we took this lesson to heart. Instead we look for opportunities to “own” the other side. We want to fight - we want to be proven right. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, when you fight the enemy, using the enemy’s tactics you have already lost the war.

I think of 1 Peter 3:

1 Peter 3:15–17 ESV

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

We want to stop after verse 15. ALWAYS be ready for a defense. SEE! Its time to fight..I’m ready…anyone can get it. This has been me for far too many instances of my life. Some of my most shameful moments have come when I’ve had this attitude. I put “being right” on the throne of my life in those moments - and that is a false god. No, Peter here is calling us to live and conduct ourselves in so obviously an anticultural sort of way that it confounds those who would persecute us.

But Brad! Jesus flipped tables!!!

I would ask you this: where did Jesus flip tables? In the house of his Father. He drove out those who would defile His father’s house. But when He was in front the authorities and on trial, he showed meekness - not weakness - in those situations. He made sure he acted in such a way that gave the Roman centurion all the reason to believe that he was the Son of God.

So many times we treat defending the Gospel like

2. The Gospel is Bigger Than Our Motives (v. 15–18)

Philippians 1:15–18 ESV

Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

Some preachers are out there slandering Paul, trying to stir up trouble for him. Others are preaching Christ from love and sincerity. And Paul’s response? “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” Paul is not saying: “Don’t be discerning.” Scripture elsewhere is clear—we test teaching, we guard sound doctrine. What Paul is saying is that even when motives are mixed, God’s Word does not return void. Christ proclaimed is still Christ proclaimed.

This is incredibly convicting to me because what do we do first when we hear something difficult? We go after the messenger. Try to discredit the messenger - and again, we are to be discerning - but I will just say this, if we have the posture that you’ll only hear truth from people WE have deemed fit to speak truth….every pulpit and stage in this world is going to be very empty. God has repeatedly used flawed messengers to preach his perfect message. Like a pastor friend of mine said a couple of weeks ago - I’m just thankful God uses rocks and donkeys.

God is Sovereign Over Salvation

Nobody gets saved because a preacher is clever or pure in motives. People get saved because God saves. Because the Spirit opens blind eyes. Because Jesus is enough. That’s why Paul can rejoice—because it was never about Paul, it was always about Jesus. Some of us need to be freed from the idea that our eloquence, our performance, or our resume saves anyone. Christ alone saves. And he uses imperfect messengers to proclaim a perfect message

This shouldn’t go to our heads, however. You didn’t do anything to earn that amazing gift. You didn’t compile enough wins in order to be worthy of the power that raised Christ indwelling you. Believing that lie guts the power of the Cross. If your model of salvation takes any form of “Jesus + (fill in the blank)” You are diminishing the power of the Cross. You are saying the cross isn’t enough. That Jesus needed help - specifically your help - big if true.

If you are believing the lie the gospel needs your help that there are only two logical responses - pride or shame. And the Gospel banishes both!

Pride - ***John Short “Who do you think you are?”*** Story

Shame - This is one that our enemy, Revelation 12 calls him the Accuser, LOVES to prey upon. Its why so many of you are sidelined - you’ve sidelined yourselves. You’re not in the fight. That voice in the back of your head - you know the one - the “If they only knew how messed up I am” voice - that voice that reminds you of your past every single time you begin to hope for the future. The voice that tells you that you are not worthy to be used for the Gospel. That is a voice straight from the pit of hell designed to sideline you and render you useless. Surrendering to that shame, surrendering to that voice is a declaration of rebellion against the goodness and greatness of the power of salvation through Jesus. You combat that when the Accuser brings up your past and all its mistakes by reminding him of his future and that he holds no power over you or your soul. That you have been won and captured by the blood of Christ and he is powerless to do anything about that.

Family, Christianity isn’t about you cleaning yourself up and handing God a résumé—it’s about Jesus handing you His. The Gospel is not about what we can do, but about what Christ has already done, once and for all. and He is sovereign.

Think about the thief on the cross. Does your doctrine of salvation make room for him? What is the only answer the thief on the cross could give for why he was standing at the gates of heaven? The ONLY answer he could give, as Alistair Begg says, is the ONLY answer that is true. The thief on the cross ‘ answer to why he was standing at the gates of heaven is that the man on the middle cross said he could be there - and if your answer to that questions begins and ends with anything different than that, you are diminishing the power of the cross and Christ’s sacrifice and victory. How arrogant are we to think that we have anything to do with our salvation - you were once dead, and not you are alive - and YOU didn’t raise yourself from the dead - that would make you God, and what a crummy god you would make.

The gospel isn’t just a past event; it’s present power and future hope. Paul knows he’ll be delivered—not just from prison, but ultimately from death itself. That’s why he can rejoice. His confidence is not in circumstances but in Christ.

The Gospel is Unstoppable

You can chain Paul, but you can’t chain the gospel. Philippians was written likely around AD 60 -62. Paul had already been imprisoned and this was before the great persecution under Nero began in AD 67. In AD 70 the Romans, tired of putting down revolt after revolt by the troublesome Jews finally laid waste to the city of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and salted ground over the city. The message was clear - this city, and everything that came from it (namely Christianity) will be erased from history, never to be seen again. This was a common Roman tactic - if they found you to be too troublesome they erased you from history - except this one time.

Centuries…CENTURIES later, Christianity had spread to all corners of the empire, and in staggering numbers, that in AD 312 a guy by the name of Constantine, realizing that so many of his soldiers were Christians, and believing he saw the sign of the Cross in the sky decides to have them paint a cross on their shields. They win the battle and the following year, in 313 he signs the Edict of Milan granting religious tolerance to Christians for the first time ever (if you want to hear my rant about how that was the worst thing that could ever happen to Christianity, come find me later). 67 years later, in AD 380, Theodosius declares Christianity the state religion of Rome. 100 years later the Western Roman Empire collapses…but guess what remained? The Gospel.

The Gospel is bigger than anyone or anything. It is the sustaining power by which we live, and the bulwark against all that would strike us down. Don’t put confidence in yourself—rest in Christ alone. Don’t despair when culture pushes back—the gospel has outlasted every empire.

If you’re here and you’ve been trying to clean yourself up before coming to God—stop. If you feel like your past is too grimy for Jesus, I encourage you to go look up some of the characters used by God for great things in the Bible. Go read about Abraham, Moses, Samson, David, Solomon - you’ll get the idea. God can take broken people and do amazing things through them in their brokenness. We serve a God of redemption.

If you’re here and suffering makes you think God has abandoned you—look at Paul. Look at Jesus. God’s not wasting your pain. He’s working through it. The Bible tells us time and again that God will use hardship for his glory - and that should satisfy us to no end.

The gospel is not fragile. God is not worried. He is not wringing its hands. The gospel is unstoppable because Christ is alive and working and interceding for us. The outcome has been determined. The enemy is working on borrowed time.

When we truly believe that, we can truly look at our circumstance and say as Paul said - “I know that through Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance”.