Good and Evil Motives in Preaching

Introduction: Paul's Imprisonment and the Advancement of the Gospel

0:07 This sermon was preached on December 7, 1980, at the Trinity Baptist Church, when the church was still meeting at the Grover Cleveland Junior High School in Caldwell, New Jersey. Now may I invite you to turn in your own Bibles to the Letter of Paul to the Church at Philippi, the book that we commonly call the Book of Philippians, and follow as I read, beginning with verse 12 of chapter 1, as we continue our verse-by-verse studies in this epistle. Chapter 1, beginning with verse 12, and I shall conclude the reading two-thirds of the way through verse 18. And I conclude not because I will run out of breath, but because I believe there is a very real division of thought at that point. Now I would have you know...

1:09 I would know, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel, so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to all the rest, and that most of the brethren in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear. Some...

1:40 Indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one do it of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel, but the other proclaim Christ of faction, not sincerely thinking to raise up affliction for me and my bonds. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and therein I rejoice.

2:19 The influence of the saving grace of God upon a man is both mysterious and mighty. It is both deep and broad.

2:34 It extends to the innermost recesses of the soul and reaches to the farthest perimeters, of the life and conduct of those upon whom God confers it. And here in Philippians chapter 1, there is an extensive example of that mighty influence of the grace of God, both upon the deepest recesses of a man's heart, as well as upon his conduct in his external life. Now the man who is before us in this chapter as the recipient, and in a sense showcase of the mighty grace of God, is, of course, the Apostle Paul. He writes this letter from his imprisonment at Rome. And although he has a good degree of liberty, according to Acts 28, 30, and 31, he is nevertheless chained to a Roman soldier, day and night. Humanly speaking, he is at the mercy of the next whim of that wicked Nero who sits upon the throne of the highest power there in the Roman kingdom and capital.

4:03 Yet this man can write as he does, beginning with verse 12, in a note of joy and exaltation. And as we began to study these verses, we noticed last week the central fact concerning these adverse circumstances. And that central fact is that all that has transpired in his life has resulted in the furtherance or the advancement of the gospel. And then in verses 13 and 14, he gives the specific manifestations of that fact.

4:39 The gospel has been advanced with respect to the unconverted, the pretorians, in guard and to all the rest. And then with respect to the church at Rome, the brethren have waxed bold by his imprisonment to speak the word of God without fear. And so we attempted last Lord's Day to unpack the verses which underscore the central fact concerning his circumstances. Verse 12, the gospel has advanced.

The Substance of the Increased Preaching: Christ Proclaimed

5:10 The specific manifestations of that fact, verses 13 and 14, and now we come this morning to consider the third division of thought in this general area of the apostles' writing, namely, the necessary qualification of the previously given fact and its manifestations. He does not stop by giving the central fact, the gospel has advanced. The two great evidences of that fact, with respect to the unsaved and to the church, beginning with verse 13, he qualifies that central fact and its manifestation in the words bounded by verses 15 through 18b, if we divide the text A, B, and C. Now as he does, we shall notice first of all his assertion concerning the substance of the increased preaching. He declared in verse 14 that the word, the word of God is being spoken without fear by the great majority at Rome. Now then, in verse 15, he makes an assertion concerning the substance of this increased preaching.

6:30 And three times in our text, verses 15 through 18b, he gives us this clear intimation that there is one unified substance to this increased gospel preaching, verse 15, some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strife and some of goodwill. In the original, the order should be translated more like this, some indeed, even of envy and strife, some also of goodwill, are preaching Christ. In other words, the verb preaching Christ refers to both groups. There is, there is difference of motivation, but there is one substance to the increased preaching. They are preaching Christ. Verse 17, but the other proclaim Christ. And then again in verse 18, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.

7:40 And so there is absolutely no question as to the substance, of this increased gospel preaching. It is, in the language of our text, a proclaiming of Christ. It is a preaching of Christ. Christ is being proclaimed.

8:00 Now in Pauline language, what does that mean? Well, it means nothing more or less than the fact that this increased gospel activity was an activity in which the fundamental and central truths concerning the person and work of Christ were being clearly announced. To preach Christ is authoritatively to declare the truths concerning his person and his work as the only appointed mediator between God and man, the only savior of sinners. And in all likelihood, Paul is referring not just to the general witnessing of all the people of God, but to the formal preaching of teachers and evangelists who were recognized for their preaching gifts. For whereas he uses the general word to speak in verse 15, speaking, verse 14, speaking the word of God without fear, the two words he uses in our text this morning, one which means to proclaim as a preaching of Christ, the herald and the other ones solemnly to declare are generally and almost, not completely, but almost exclusively used in connection with the formal authoritative preaching of the word

9:28 by recognized teachers, evangelists, or apostles. And so the apostle, writing to the Philippians, wants them to know that the one substance of this increased gospel preaching is that which pertains to the proclamation of the Lord Jesus. There was no undermining of the truth with respect to that great foundational mystery of the gospel, that in the person of Christ you have true God and true man united in the one person forever. There was no deviation from a clear statement of the perfection of his work. The central truth that Christ died for sinners and that he was buried and that he was raised again from the dead on the third day. There was no deviation from the announcement that all who believe on the Lord Jesus are freely accepted and pardoned. There was no watering down of the certain promise of forgiveness to every believing sinner.

10:41 Now it's important to grasp this fact. Some, and I'm amazed, some good men have suggested that these who are preaching out of envy and strife were the Judaizers, the same crowd that troubled the church or the churches in Galatia. But it is unthinkable that Paul could ever call that a preaching of Christ. For in the book of Galatians he says that mixing of works, with the righteousness that is in the obedience and death of Christ is not a gospel.

11:18 It is not a preaching of Christ. And he says all who follow it are severed from Christ and from grace. And in this very epistle when he takes up the subject of the Judaizers he uses very radically different language in chapter 3. Finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord to write the same thing to you to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe.

11:44 Beware of the dogs. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the concision. When he speaks of the Judaizers he calls them dogs, evil workers, and concision.

The Description of Motivations: Wicked vs. Righteous Preachers

12:00 So when he writes here in chapter 1 that the substance of this increased gospel preaching was a proclamation of Christ we must understand that to the apostles' knowledge there was no fundamental deviation from the most orthodox statements concerning the person and work of Christ as the only Savior of sinners. Now then, in the second place notice what we have in the text with respect to his description of the motivation behind this increased. The one substance of the preaching was Christ. But now there was a divergence in motivation. And he describes the motivation behind this increased preaching. And when he does he obviously marks off two distinct groups in an extended series of contrasting statements and words.

13:10 And when he does this and all of them have to do not with the substance of what they preached but the motive which lay behind the activity of their preaching. Now we'll identify the two groups as first of all the wickedly motivated gospel preachers and then the righteously motivated gospel preachers. Notice what he says first of all about the wickedly motivated gospel preachers. The language he uses is almost shocking.

13:50 When he as it were lays bare the root motives of these men the language he uses is this. Verse 15 Some indeed are preaching Christ even of envy and of strife. Envy. That green-eyed monster.

14:14 That vicious spirit of hell which according to Matthew 27, 18 is the motive which led to the very death of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the text there says that he knew that for envy they had delivered up the Lord Jesus. And the word strife could better be translated rivalry. That wicked desire to pit one man against another.

14:44 And here the apostle describes these wickedly motivated preachers of Christ as being motivated in the root of their being by envy envy of the apostle and rivalry. A desire to set up a division between themselves and him and more so between their followers and the apostle Paul. Then in verse 17 he brings in some more vigorous language. Verse 17 But the other proclaim Christ out of faction not sincerely.

15:23 They proclaim Christ but it is out of a motivation literally of selfish ambition. The root of that word comes from the idea of someone who works for money. He works for hire. What he does he is not doing out of desire for the well-being of his object.

15:44 He is doing it for what he can get for it. Paul says they preach out of a motive of selfish ambition. Now they preach Christ mind you. Notice they preach Christ that is the substance.

15:58 But when you dig into the motivation you find not only envy and rivalry but selfish ambition. Then he goes on further to say not sincerely. And the word sincerely there again conveys the wrong connotation to us. They were sincere all right as we use the term.

16:16 They were dead in earnest. But it literally means not with pure motives. And you see he explicitly delineates the fact that he is describing motivation. They are not pressured by pure motives.

16:34 And then he concludes the description with the word pretense in verse 18. What then only the that in every way whether in pretense. What is pretense? Well it's pretending.

16:49 They came as though they preached Christ for the ends for which Christ ought to be preached. Namely the good of sinners and thereby the glory of God. But it was all a sham. It was pretense.

17:04 They were playing games.

17:08 I say that is a sad picture of the wickedly motivated gospel preachers. Their root motives are envy, rivalry, selfish ambition, insincerity, and pretense. And all of those wicked motives in their root have one desired fruit. Look at verse 17.

17:33 But the other proclaim Christ a faction not sincerely thinking or supposing to raise up afflictions for me in my bonds. You see those wicked motives had one pinpoint of concentration. All of the foul envy and rivalry and all of the selfish ambition and impure motives and pretense all of those lines concentrated upon one thing and the apostle describes it in this way supposing to add afflictions to my bonds. Now what were those afflictions?

18:16 Well the word used is the same word we encountered in Acts 14.22. It is in the language of Lenski those circumstances that squeeze until they hurt. And by looking at the usages of use of the word in the New Testament we note that it sometimes refers to physical affliction tribulation and trial persecution but it can refer to inward affliction matters and some commentators say that here we must think of objective affliction.

18:48 They are seeking so to preach Christ as to stir up the authorities to come down harder on gospel preachers and therefore to have Paul experience greater trouble than he already experiences and that's a possibility but however I believe that the proper understanding lies elsewhere. What they are attempting to do is to add to the galling chain that is upon his arm and even more galling chain upon his heart.

19:22 They are supposing that they can add afflictions in his bonds. In other words it is the calculated end of these men to disturb the apostles in a rest and tranquility and the way they attempt to do it is by this intensified gospel preaching. Now how in the world could that ever result in adding a galling chain to the heart of the man who experiences the galling chain upon his arm? Well I believe the explanation lies right here.

20:03 People who are motivated by selfish ambition and envy almost invariably attribute that same motivation to anyone else who's doing the activity that they're doing.

20:20 You follow me? For instance if you're at work and there is someone in your place of business who is driven to produce not because of any genuine concern for the company not for any genuine concern for anything beyond his or her own selfish ambition and being envious of the top dog in the office in the shop wherever it may be a person who is driven by those motives thinks that everyone else who shows any ambition is driven by the same motives.

21:02 You see it? It's that way in the school. You let a young lady come in who's attractive and outgoing and she just naturally likes people and she speaks to people she has no ambition to be the little queen bee so that all the little drones will buzz around her every time she goes hither and yonder she just is an outgoing selfless disinterested person well you let someone you see who wants to be the queen bee get in the presence of a person like that because they are driven by selfish ambition and envy they attribute the same motives to that person and I'm convinced in my own mind as much as I can be from the text and from my knowledge of the human heart and from the other indications of what Paul experienced that this is precisely what happened at Rome you see the church had been established at Rome long before Paul came and before Paul came no doubt there were some quote leading preachers at Rome if you were visiting Rome and you talked to the Christians where shall I go to church this day oh they say you must be sure to go by such and such an assembly they've got a brother there who can really open up the scriptures he's a real expositor he preaches with real power you ought to go hear him and in the morning after you've heard him then you ought to go over to such and such an assembly and hear that man at night and so people had their notorious preachers at Rome but then one day a little hook nose Jew comes chained to a Roman soldier

22:31 and inside of a matter of weeks he's the talk of the town throughout the Praetorian garden to all the rest everyone's talking about Paul and the Christians are being brought in and have fellowship with him and what happens some of these men their noses are bent right around the side of their face no longer are they the talk of the town Paul's the talk of the town and they say alright he's the talk of the town but he's in prison we'll outdo him and so they begin to preach with renewed vigor with greater intensity they study harder they may even pray more fervently they are determined to get back their following so they are preaching Christ proclaiming proclaiming Christ but it's out of what envy out of a spirit of faction out of a passion of selfish ambition out of rivalry and their concern is that they'll call the apostle because they must they assume that he must be motivated by the same base motives that work within their own breast now this is not a fanciful interpretation but it's a fanciful interpretation of the gospel having become convinced of it I found that two of the most trusted modern commentators take essentially

24:00 that position Hendrickson and then Lenski let me just quote Lenski because he makes this so vivid they preach because of envy and strife that is because these men are envious of Paul and thus intend to raise up strife and dispute with him the meanness thus manifested is the greater because of the because their own boldness in preaching was due to the way in which Paul's case was going they had the benefit of that and this was the manner in which they repaid it many of this type have appeared in the church who are envious because God has given greater gifts in more influential positions to other men they feel thrust into the background their authority and their following have been reduced so they carp find fault and raise strife the fact that Rome had some of these causes little wonder not only had Paul been prominent and successful from the start Acts 28 24 all Rome was now talking about him all this irked these preachers people were always quoting Paul praising Paul were there not also other men in Rome meaning themselves well they would show Paul and everybody else they would preach the Christ with such vim and vigor as to draw all eyes on themselves and away from Paul well those are the wickedly motivated preachers I'm not saying

25:29 anything by way of application I want to unpack the text before I do that but now notice what he says about the righteously motivated preachers and once more he takes us into the depths of what we could call their root motives what are they verse 15 some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of good will and here the apostle uses a word which is most often reserved for God we read in Ephesians that we are the recipients of grace according to the good pleasure of God's will and that's the word he uses here they preach Christ out of good pleasure that is out of a volitional delight in the apostle's call they preach out of a motive that is only to be characterized by something that exists in the heart of God towards his own people then he states it explicitly in verse 16 the one out of love the root motive is that powerful self-giving principled affection of God like agape love and then he says in 18b

26:58 they do it in reality Christ is proclaimed whether in pretense or in truth and we could better translate that in truthfulness in other words what you see is what really is and when these preachers of Christ preach Christ and give the impression that they're jealous for Christ's glory and man's good they're you are seeing what is in reality the motivating passion of their hearts and what is their calculated end in these motives they have the motive of goodwill self-giving love reality and what's the desired end look at the text verse 16 the one do it of love knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel in other words these motives operate with a view to being supportive of the apostle Paul in his great commitment for the apology for the defense of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in other words it was this deep sympathetic identity with the very passion that brought Paul to Rome it was his commitment to the work of the gospel that had resulted in his imprisonment it was his present commitment to the gospel

Paul's Amazing Confession: Rejoicing in Christ Proclaimed

28:26 that caused him to receive all who would come into him and he would expound to them the kingdom of God and the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ it was his commitment to the gospel that makes him as he says later in this chapter torn between two things longing to go home and be with Christ and yet longing to remain and serve the people of God and these were the righteous motives which impelled some of the preachers in this increased gospel activity so do you see the contrast now having asserted that the substance of this increased preaching was exactly the same in both cases Christ was preached he then describes the motivation behind that preaching the wickedly motivated preachers the righteously motivated preachers now thirdly notice his confession regarding his attitude to this preaching verse 18 what then I've told you the facts Christ is being preached base motives are impelling the one noble motives are impelling the other what then what of it what's my reaction to this now use your imagination with me suppose at that point the brother who was reading the parchment if it was

29:55 Epaphroditus that first morning in the church at Philippi said what then everyone's all ears and he says will you excuse me for a moment the parchment is stuck here I can't read the next line until I very carefully lay it open and while he's struggling to lay it open without tearing it one can imagine what would have happened in the assembly a brother who can't resist the temptation to lean over and whisper in his wife's ear Paul's going to say that he's written to the elders of the church at Rome to get after those scoundrels someone else may have said oh I bet she's going to have to tell us now that that joy that he experienced in the furtherance of the gospel has been neutralized with such wicked motives driving men to preach trying to add a galling chain to his heart here he gave us the good news now we're going to get the bad news and they prepare themselves for the worst one can only imagine what would have happened when the reader said ah I freed up the parchment now let me go back and pick up the thread of thought whether in pretense whether in truth Christ is proclaimed what then he says I will rejoice by the man's gone bananas he's crazy rejoice when there are preachers driven by envy

31:22 selfishness trying to tighten a galling chain around the apostles heart and he has a glory fit that guy's crazy now he's not crazy he's simply a man consistent with what he is as a new man in Christ notice the substance I'm sorry the essence of his amazing confession he says in the full blazing light of the reality of this dual motivation operating in these gospel preachers I am rejoicing I am filled with joy I exalt my spirit is ebullient it is bubbling up within me I am rejoicing and then he tells us what is the ground or the basis of that rejoicing look at the language of the text what then only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed and in this I am rejoicing you see the basis of his rejoicing was this that in the midst of all of the outpouring of wicked motives there had been no tampering with the substance of the message and the Lord Jesus Christ was being preached

32:51 with greater fervency and intensity at Rome than he had ever been preached before and the apostle had such confidence in the power of the gospel that even when it was preached out of wicked motives he knew that the light of the gospel would dispel the darkness of pagan thought he knew that in the midst of the stench of the emptiness of heathen philosophy something of the fragrance of Christ would ascend heavenward even when wickedly motivated men would preach Christ he knew that God the Holy Spirit was committed to honor the message of his beloved Savior and his heart is so taken up with that preoccupation with Christ that when the news comes to him that nobody is monkeying around with the content driven some by base motives others with noble motives but his Jesus is proclaimed as the Christ of God the only Savior of sinners he had to say to his soldier change him his I forgive me my brother I've got to dance a jig for joy I rejoice why because Christ is preached well my brothers and sisters that I believe is the heart of the teaching of the passage

Application 1: A Shockingly Realistic Commentary on the Human Heart

34:20 we have those three lines of thought Paul's assertion concerning the substance of the preaching it is Christ his description of the motivation of that preaching based wickedly motivated preachers righteous honorably motivated preachers Paul's confession regarding his attitude to all of this I will rejoice now then what does all of this say to us I'm sure many questions have been raised in your minds in the brief exposition of the passage let me suggest first of all not suggest let me assert that this passage contains a shockingly realistic commentary on the human heart a shockingly realistic commentary on the human heart in this text perhaps the highest and noblest human activity at the horizontal level vertically the highest and noblest human activity is communion with God praising God glorifying God but perhaps the highest and noblest human activity at the horizontal level preaching Christ is found joined to some of the most base and vile

35:49 of all sinful motives and attitudes envy rivalry selfishness pretense sham and a calculated effort to gall an honored servant of Jesus Christ and what is that but a shockingly realistic revelation of the human heart the noblest of all activities preaching Christ and all the preaching him indulging in the basis of sins for which he came to deliver sinners from which he came to deliver sinners now you ask the question were these preachers real Christians and I answer if these attitudes prevailed and dominated and were the characteristic attitude of their entire lives and lives and ministries they were not Christians for in Galatians 5 20 and 21 the envy and the rivalry are mentioned as part of the works of the flesh which if a man practices them he shall not inherit the kingdom of God so if any of these preachers were preaching Christ out of envy out of rivalry and selfish ambition as sham

37:18 preachers and that was the predominant prevailing set characteristic of life there is no reason to regard them as being Christians they would be what the scripture calls false brethren now there are brethren who are false brethren no doubt some of them here I'm not so naive as to think they're not false brethren in this building this morning but on the other hand it could be that some of them were true Christians and who had fallen prey to these sins for a time for in the very same chapter Galatians 5 in which Paul says by the inspiration of the spirit that those who practice envy and rivalry shall not inherit the kingdom says in verse 26 let us not become vain glorious provoking one another envying one another and he uses one of the same words that is used in this text it is possible for a true Christian to fall prey to envy at a given point in his life and it is particularly the temptation of preachers one of the most shocking revelations that ever came to my heart as a young minister was to as it were be immersed into a sea of ministerial envy

38:43 were they real Christians some of them may have been were they sham Christians they may well have been but in either case such sins come out of the human heart either the heart dominated by sin or the heart under the influence of remaining sin and in either case it is an ugly thing this thing called the human heart and so this passage contains a shockingly realistic commentary upon the heart my unconverted friend that's what your heart is though it may not be envy and rivalry and selfish ambition that predominate it is pride it is lust it is suspicion it is a grudging spirit it is an unclean mind your heart is a veritable sink of iniquity and that's why you need something more than external religion you need what the bible calls a new heart and you need for god to put a new spirit within you and child of god this is why your greatest work in mind is the nurture of the heart proverbs 4 23 guard thy heart above all that thou guardest for out of it are the issues of life and when you grow careless in the keeping

40:12 of the heart things as vile and wicked as these things will emerge the great reformer at geneva had occasion to write on this very passage ambition is blind nay it is a raging beast hence it is not surprising if false brethren snatch a weapon out of the gospel for harassing good and godly pastors think of it snatching a weapon out of the gospel for harming good and godly pastors paul assuredly says nothing of which i have not myself had experience you see experience exegeted this text for the great reformer at geneva a shockingly realistic commentary on the human heart but then secondly it contains a sober warning to all who preach christ you see although paul is willing to rejoice in spite of wicked motives don't conclude from that that motives are unimportant you see paul could not deal with those wicked motives except to expose them in his letter but god will deal with them in the day of judgment

Application 2: A Sober Warning to All Who Preach Christ

41:41 and in a sense the motive for your actions is the key to the true quality of the action that's why paul says in first corinthians four or five judge nothing until the time come when the lord appears then he shall make manifest the secrets of men's hearts and every man shall have his praise from god that's why paul could say in second corinthians five nine and ten wherefore we are ambitious whether at home or absent to be well pleasing unto him we have this great burning ambition to please him why for we must all be made manifested laid bare at the judgment seat of christ then shall everyone receive according to the deeds he hath done in the body but not the naked deed apart from the intent you see what a sober warning this contains to all who preach christ and i say to anyone who is in any form of public ministry anyone who aspires to any usefulness in public ministry beware of this cursed spirit of ministerial jealousy it is the creeping plague of the clergy men who don't have hearts big enough to rejoice in the presence of others to whom the head of the church has given greater gifts or if not greater

43:11 gifts greater usefulness that takes more grace when a man has greater gifts than a brother who in the providence of god is given greater usefulness just for god to prove that he's god oh may we hear the warning if you cannot rejoice in the gifts and the usefulness the legitimate name and reputation of others then my friend get alone with god and have dealings with him until something is more precious than your reputation until with paul christ is so precious that if another is proclaiming him not from base motives even noble motives you will no longer look upon him with a jaundiced eye and feel the green slime of envy oozing from your lips in the words that you speak it's a sober warning but then thirdly the passage contains an accurate illustration of the state of the apostolic churches two great problems have plagued the church in this area throughout her history there are those who say look the church is going to be imperfect till the lord returns so why be bothered about church discipline

Application 3: An Accurate Illustration of the Apostolic Churches

44:40 high standards of membership high standards of personal godliness the church is going to be a mixed bag until the lord comes so let it be that's a carnal contentment with the status quo but on the other hand there's always been a fanatical pursuit of an unbiblical ideal we're going to have the pure church we're going to have the new testament church well look at this passage right under the nose of the apostle paul in the midst of all of the unique ness of the apostolic age there were preachers running around preaching with no higher motive than envy selfish ambition rivalry they were sham preachers of christ and i say to some of you young people who may be developing a hyper critical spirit because of an unrealistic idealism you better go alone with god and have some time over this passage i'm always a bit disturbed when a young person can say very glibly oh the trinity church is not perfect no church is perfect that's true we aren't perfect you hear that a lot from this pulpit but there's a difference between a mature christian saying that with a broken heart and a young neophyte saying that in a hyper critical manner that bespeaks an idealism that goes beyond the standard

46:09 of the word of god this is not a perfect church and it never will be a perfect church this is not a perfect preacher and there isn't a perfect elder here and there isn't a perfect deacon and we are ashamed of our sins and our shortcomings and god is witness that we mourn over some of them in secret but my friend if you are developing a hyper critical spirit because you've set a standard for which there is no warrant in the word of god that is a wicked vicious attitude that grieves and quenches the holy ghost and you better deal with it some of you can't rejoice that christ is

Application 4: A Powerful Demonstration of the Sovereignty of God

46:52 preached profusely and earnestly you can't rejoice the apostle paul could because he had a realistic understanding of what the church would be but then fourthly this passage contains a powerful demonstration of the sovereignty of god here we see what we would recall the soul of good animating a body of evil as one has said evil provides the fuel on which the fire of the gospel feeds here are these evil motives envy rivalry faction jealousy insincerity there they are throwing the logs on the fire and it's the gospel that's consuming the logs and sending out heat and light that's an amazing display of the sovereignty of god that god can take the evil motives of men and so turn them about as to advance his own kingdom and then in the day of judgment still hold the evil men accountable for their evil motives and their evil deeds even though he brought good out of it that's the kind of god we have and how we should rejoice in our day not when the substance of the gospel is tampered with i've had people come to me and say pastor martin you're too fastidious about doctrinal precision christ is preached rejoice be like the apostle paul i say wait a minute that's the question

48:21 is christ preached if the christ who is preached is not the christ of scripture who is god and man if he is not the christ whose death is the only basis by which sinners can find acceptance and pardon with god if faith in him is not preached as the only means by which a sinner can appropriate the provisions of the dying and risen savior then christ is not being preached if you have mere psychological manipulation and self help with a little smattering of jesus in it we're not to rejoice we're to have the spirit of relations one though we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which has been preached let him be anathema let him be accursed of god but oh my dear brothers and sisters where christ is preached where he is proclaimed in his uniqueness as the god man in his sufficiency as the crucified risen savior of sinners may god give us hearts broad enough to rejoice because god in his sovereignty will bless the preaching of his own dear son that preaching may be surrounded with certain trappings that we would like to see fade away there may be methodology that disturbs us

Application 5: A Humbling Manifestation of the Grace of God

49:50 but oh may we have hearts large enough to rejoice and where christ is preached because god is sovereign and will bless the truth of his word and then finally this passage contains a humbling manifestation of the grace of god you see paul was not an unflinching stoic he could say in verse 8 in language that is very embarrassing to most men and it's a shame that it is we've been cursed in great measure in our western society with the idea that it's unmanly to bear one's heart if it's unmanly then our lord was not a true man he's the perfect standard of what manhood is and he showed his grief with tears with sobbing he showed his joy and he is to be our great pattern and paul greatly exemplified his lord he could say in verse 8 god is my witness this is not excessive poetic language i long after you all in the tender mercies it's untranslatable literally i long after you all in the viscera of christ when you wanted to express something in that day that touched your inner beings the old author has the bowels you spoke of your viscera your more noble internal organs you felt it with all of

51:20 your liver and with all of your spleen paul says i yearn after you in the viscera of christ the very yearnings of christ are there in my spirit for you philippians this was no stoic he says later on i've told you before and i tell you now even weeping he was not ashamed to tell them that he was staining the parchment with his own tears this was no stoic well how then could he be brought to the place where knowing men on the outside were deliberately trying

51:57 to wrap it around his heart and to pull it tight and to gall his heart with that chain how could he say therein i rejoice well because he could say in another place i am what i am by the grace of god left to himself he'd been as mad as you and i would be in a similar situation he would have been as discouraged as despondent as irritated as full of a desire to get even i'll show up those characters they think to add a galling chain to my heart all right i'll use my base i'll get after no no none of that was there why not because it was not in his heart natively but because the grace of god had replaced it with another disposition and oh dear children of god it is that grace that is available to us in the lord jesus christ a grace that enabled the apostle not to call a pity party there in his appointed dwelling and to get all the leaders of the church at rome to commiserate with him because of these gospel preachers who had bad motives he didn't try to organize a movement to vindicate himself he just said excuse me to the soldier chained to his arm and danced before the lord with joy my friends that's what grace does nature doesn't do that

53:26 nature may help you to bite your lip and bear it but only grace can so work in the heart that you dance where left to yourself you would mourn what a wonderful savior paul had and it was christ who did this for him he tells us that later on in chapter four i can do all things through him who strengthens me from within but my dear christian friend you are joined in living bonds to the same savior and the same grace is available in christ to you and to me oh that we in our circumstances may lay hold of that grace so that regardless of what men women and others on the outside or even within the assembly might do to irritate to all us we should be those who manifest the grace of christ as did the great apostle i can remember so vividly many many times as a kid when i go running to my mom or dad saying so and so and most of you know i'm one of ten children second oldest in a family of ten kids and living in a small house and being sinners there was plenty of opportunity to have fights but whenever we went running to mom or dad saying so and so did this and so and so did that and we were having a good old brawl the standard rule of thumb was this you both get spanked i don't care who started it it takes two to make a fight if one of you

54:56 tried to start it and the other didn't respond there'd be no

55:13 fight with paul and he meets their challenge with what with grace the grace of god in work in his heart and says do what you may do what you will do what god allows you to do all you're going to do is increase my joy if you go on preaching christ now what's the point at which nature has left you in a sad state what's the point at which there's a relationship a situation that is a galling chain about your heart you say if only i could get rid of that chain then i'd be a joyful christian maybe your chain you think is your husband your wife the sickness god allows to come again and again into your household the disappointments in your job in your career my friend listen the answer is not getting rid of the chain it's allowing that chain as it were to be a pointer to christ and finding in the lord jesus your sufficiency stop this carnal itch for release from the chain and go to christ for the grace that is there to cause you to rejoice that's what this text is isn't it an amazing display a

Conclusion: Call to Christ and Prayer

56:43 humbling manifestation of the grace of our god may god grant that the truths of this passage will be written upon our hearts and if you are here as one who doesn't know this christ then our greatest joy is to preach him to you to proclaim him as the only savior of sinners and to announce his own word of promise that all who come to him will be received and for us for those of us who are the people of god may we have occasion to go back to it again and again and again and remember that regardless of what men may do out of wicked motives it is never an excuse for us to sin because there is grace in the lord jesus for our need let us pray our heavenly father we are so grateful that you have given to us this blessed book we thank you for this particular letter written out of the agony and the struggles of your servant incarcerated at rome and yet in your wise and your inscrutable purposes that very place of imprisonment was made the

58:12 sounding board of truth that has come to us over the ages and thundered into our hearts this morning thank you for the scriptures write upon our hearts this passage its principles its warnings grant that each of us may in a new way feed upon him who alone is our life even the lord jesus christ hear our prayer be with us as we leave this place may the blessing of your own presence rest upon us and abide with us through jesus christ our lord amen