Enemies of the Cross

Introduction to Paul's Weeping Warning

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, November 15th, 1981, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. In our studies of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, the portion of the Word of God we commonly designate as the Book of Philippians, we come this morning to begin our consideration of the last paragraph of chapter 3, a paragraph which begins with verse 17 and really concludes with the first verse of chapter 4, Philippians chapter 3, verse 17 through chapter 4 and verse 1.

0:44 And as we begin our study of this final paragraph of Philippians 3, I want you to imagine with me that you are standing outside a window in the room where Paul is imprisoned, at Rome, at the time that he wrote this epistle. We have watched him compose his warning against the Judaizers in verse 2 of chapter 3. We have seen something of the almost heavenly light upon his countenance and in his eye, as beginning with verse 4 he buttresses the warning with his own testimony of the grace of God to him. Then we have watched him as no doubt his brow,

1:30 cut a deeper furrow or two when he applied the teaching that he had given in the previous section, in verses 15 and 16, the verses we considered last Lord's Day morning. Then we notice that after the conclusion of the warning against the Judaizers, the setting forth of his own spiritual biography by which he buttresses that warning and illustrates its principles, and having applied that teaching in verses 15 and 16, he slowly brings down the hand with which he held his pen,

2:12 and he places it upon the table or wherever someone who wrote in that day would place his pen. He slowly bends forward and cups his forehead in his hand, obviously engrossed in deep thought. We watch him almost breathless. Breathlessly as we wonder, what's going through the mind of the great apostle?

2:36 What thoughts are racing through the soul of that mighty man of God? As he thinks of the Philippian church, as he thinks of the fact that he has given them this terse but oh so instructive warning against the Judaizers, and while we ourselves are deeply engrossed in those questions, what is he thinking? What's running? What's going through his mind?

3:02 We notice that his shoulders give a slight heave, and then he utters a deep sigh, and from his bent position he begins to sit erect again, and as his hands drop from his brow, we notice that his eyes brim with tears, and he reaches out for his pen, and as he begins to write, the tears literally splash from his cheek, down upon the parchment as he writes these words, Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk, even as you have us for an example,

3:47 for many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the end. Be ye the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is perdition, whose God is the belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things, for our citizenship is in heaven. Whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory,

4:32 according to the working whereby he is able to subject all things unto himself. Wherefore, my beloved, and long for my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my beloved. You see, the apostle knew by experience that the man who seeks to be a sensitive, watchful, and faithful shepherd of the flock of God, is a man of faith. is a man of faith.

Identifying the 'Enemies of the Cross'

5:02 is a man of faith. He is a man who will have his heart broken again and again and again. No sooner has this great-hearted man warned the Philippians about the dangerous influence of the Judaizers, those who would make law-keeping a means of attaining life and salvation, but what he must now warn them again. This time, warn them, warn them about an opposite but equally destructive error, the error that reasons in this way, that if we are justified by the doings of another,

5:46 then our doings are of no account before God.

5:52 He had to warn against the influence of professed believers, who apparently so gloried in the truth of justification by faith, that they regarded the conduct of a believer as of no consequence with respect to his standing before God. It was those whose language is embodied in Romans 6. If sin in its abounding simply draws forth the superabounding grace of God, then let us sin that grace may abound. And a key to our faith is that we should not be afraid of God.

6:35 The key to understanding this particular section is to understand precisely the people whom the Apostle has in mind when he writes in verses 18 and 19 with tears about these people whose God is the belly, who glory in their shame, and who mind earthly things. And I say the key to the section is understanding verses 18 and 19, for you will notice in your Bibles that verse, verse 18 begins with the word for. In other words, the exhortation of verse 17 was necessitated by the realities described in verse 18.

7:19 Brethren, be imitators together of me. Mark them that so walk as you have us for an example, for there is the presence of this negative example. I urge you to this positive example because, of the reality of the negative example described in verses 18 and 19. Then furthermore, you will notice that verse 20 begins with the word for.

7:46 For our citizenship is in heaven. And after describing those who should not be imitated, the Apostle goes on to expand upon the character and hope of those who should be imitated in verse 20. And so this morning, we will concentrate our attention upon verses 18 and 19. And as we are enabled to understand their teaching, then I trust we shall feel with greater keenness the weight of the entreaty of verse 17 and the truths asserted in verse 20.

8:26 And in introducing our study this morning, I believe I can do no better in the interest of accuracy and edification than simply to say, and simply to read a few of the comments of Robert Johnstone in his commentary on this epistle. And he says in the beginning of his exposition of this section, the Philippians doubtless had no difficulty in knowing to whom Paul referred in these verses. During his visits to them, he had told them often, as our passage tells us, of this class of men, and the intensity of feeling with which he writes on the subject, for he now tells them, even weeping suggests a likelihood

9:10 that the perversities which had pained him formerly had grown yet more pronounced and notorious. We can only guess who these men were, but the probabilities, as it seems to me, tend all in one direction. They were plainly persons whom, from their position, Christians might not unnaturally, be expected to regard as models of character. They had some prominence in the church, therefore, and in all likelihood, as indeed I've already assumed by using the designation a little while ago in speaking of them, they were teachers who itinerated among the churches.

9:55 The apostles' language suggests that the class he alludes to was a well-defined one, probably by peculiarities of doctrine. Now, satirizing opponents of Paul, whom he mentions so frequently in his letters, and to whom he has just referred in the beginning of this chapter in terms of just and indignant severity, do not answer to the description here. Arrogant, self-seeking, unspiritual men they were, but we have no reason to think of them as men of flagrantly immoral lives, such as the verses before us appear to ascribe to the class of teachers here meant. One can scarcely doubt, all things considered,

10:38 that the reference is to abusers of the doctrines of grace who said, let us do evil that good may come. His beloved flock at Philippi was exposed to the attacks of two bodies of grievous wolves, those who would have them look on keeping God's law as, to some extent, a means of earning eternity, eternal life as their wages, and those who would have them disregard the law as a rule of their conduct. Their watchful shepherd, endeavoring lovingly to guard them against both, passes most naturally and wisely

11:23 from the exposure of legalism in the beginning of the chapter to the exposure of antinomianism in this part, of the chapter. And I believe Robert Johnstone is right in stating those things.

11:44 Now, as we come to the passage, we are coming with the conviction that the rest of the New Testament does indeed teach that early in the history of the apostolic church there were not only those who taught a false doctrine of the grounds of a sinner's acceptance and tried to mix certain doctrines with the doctrines of the New Testament. There was no circumcision and obedience to the ceremonial law as comprising the grounds of our justification. But there were also those who said that since we are indeed justified on the grounds of the doing and the dying of another, we can so rejoice in a righteousness external to us

12:27 that there is no real concern about personal, inwrought righteousness and holiness of life. We find descriptions of these teachers in such passages as 2 Peter 2 in the epistle to Jude and also in the book of James. Now, what does the apostle tell us about these people? Well, will you notice first of all what he tells us about their character?

The Character of the 'Enemies of the Cross': Sensuality, Shamelessness, Worldliness

12:55 And there are three prominent delineations with respect to their character. They are professing Christians apparently in some position of character eminence and most likely even in a position of instructing others. And the apostle says three things about their character. First of all, it was marked by sensuality.

13:23 Verse 19 Whose end is perdition whose God is the belly. Now, what did he mean when he penned the words with tears? Whose God is the belly. Well, the belly or the stomach is that organ which identifies and localizes the most elementary of all natural physical appetites namely hunger.

13:52 That appetite already cultivated in a newborn. And by a figure of speech the belly stands as part for the whole. And it refers to the entirety of the body. Of our physical natural sensual appetites.

14:14 Now, when he describes these people as those whose God is the belly he is saying that the belly that is earthly sensual physical needs and appetites have become their God. Now, what is a person's God? Well, A person's God is that person or thing which is loved supremely and served devotedly. Whatever you and I love supremely and serve devotedly is our God, be it person or thing.

14:58 One's God is that person or thing which demands and receives the best of what we have and our highest allegiance. And so when the Apostle describes these who walked in such a way as to cause him to weep, whose walk endangered the Philippians, he zeroes in upon their character as one marked by sensuality, that is, they were a people whose highest loyalties, whose supreme love and supreme devotion was rendered to carnal, physical appetite.

15:43 And no doubt in some it expressed itself in the grosser forms of such appetites as gluttony, reveling, drunkenness, immodesty, gaudiness, and extravagance. But no doubt for others there was a more. There was a more refined form of this making a God of the belly. There was an addiction to fashion, expensive personal belongings, high and cultivated and cultured tastes, which led to a preoccupation with the things that please the senses.

16:20 It's very interesting that when we read the parallel passages with respect to these teachers, who were not... Judaizers, but who abused the doctrines of grace, they are always described in terms of a heightened expression of sensuality.

16:43 In 2 Peter 2, Peter uses this language, Many shall follow their lascivious doings. They have eyes full of adultery. They entice in the lusts of the flesh. They promise liberty while they themselves are the bondservants of God.

17:01 Corruption. In the seven letters to the seven churches, in two of the churches, the Lord Jesus has a complaint, because there are those among the churches who encourage fornication among the people of God. And so the mark of these people who ostensibly delighted in the doctrines of grace, oh how they love to hear sermons on the imputation of the righteousness of Christ as the only ground of escape, the sinner's acceptance. Oh how they delighted to hear such things.

17:37 Yet when you examine their characters, it was evident that they had only as much dealings with God and Christ as was necessary to pacify the conscience, but their real God was their belly.

17:53 That to which they yielded supreme loyalty, that which they loved supremely, was their bellies. Then the second...

18:03 The second thing about their character is this. It was not only marked by sensuality, but the apostle tells us it was marked by shamelessness. Look at the language of verse 19. Whose glory is in their shame.

18:24 Now it does not mean that they were ashamed and gloried in the fact of being ashamed. No, what it means is this. They gloried or bowed, boasted in the very things that to any morally sensitive people were an occasion of the deepest shame. Paul speaks in Ephesians 5 of things that it is a shame even to speak about.

18:52 Well, these people indulged in those very things and then instead of being ashamed, they made these things the occasion of their boasting. They would say, Do you want to know how come? Do you want to know how come? Do you want to know how confident I am that I'm saved by the righteousness of another?

19:10 I can indulge in sensuality. I can indulge in excesses and have no fear of judgment or damnation. So confident I am that the righteousness of Christ alone is adequate for all of my needs. So they gloried and boasted in the very activities which should have caused them shame.

19:34 And they did it under the guise of glory in the cross of Christ. I didn't write this language.

19:45 They gloried in their shame. So they were not only marked by sensuality, marked by shamelessness, but notice in the third place, their character was marked by worldliness. The latter part of verse 19, who are continually minding earthly things. And this is expressed by the apostle when he wrote, with tears in such a way that it's not simply the third in a list of characteristics.

20:17 He uses a construction that sets it apart as the culminating and the overarching expression of all of the other facets of the description. It means that they were continually setting their minds, their interests, and their devotions were fixed upon the things of this earth. Things of this earth. Things of this earth.

20:40 Things of this earth. Things perhaps innocent in themselves, that which Jesus calls the cares of this life. Things which are representative of earthly life in its innocence and earthly life under the power of sin. And as I intimated earlier, their only concerns with heaven were the concerns that there at the right hand of the Father was one who perfectly obeyed the law of God, died, under the curse of that law when God made him a curse for sinners, and their only thought of heaven was that there at the right hand of the Father was one whose doings and dying could set them free

21:25 from the condemnation of sin. The only thoughts and concerns they had with heaven were the thoughts and concerns that would draw them enough to Christ to salve their consciences when in reality the basic minds, the basic perspective and preoccupation of the soul was earth. And he uses that word mind that he used in the previous context when he speaks of the people of God as those who are thus minded, those who think and share the perspective of the great Apostle Paul. And again, John Stone is so perceptive in his comments

22:10 that though he was a man of faith, though I wrestled with trying to express it in my own words, I said, why give you second best? And John Stone speaking on this very point says, a vast multitude of professing Christians can persuade themselves that the features previously mentioned, that is sensuality and shamelessness, are not found in their character. That it cannot be said of them in any strict use of the words that their God is their belly or they glory in their shame. But they will find that they cannot speak boldly with respect to this feature.

22:47 They are decent, honest and kindly, but they mind earthly things. They have their thoughts and their affections occupied exclusively or supremely with the interest of this world. To make money or to spend it, to become learned or famous or influential, to go through life peaceably and pleasantly, to gain in one way or another self-gratification. This is their aim and nothing more than this.

23:20 God, holiness and heaven are ideas which have little power over them. They hear of them on the Lord's day and the words are prominent in the creed which they profess and imagine themselves to hold, but they mind earthly things.

23:41 These it is that occupy their thoughts and are the objects of their real desires. For these it is they live. For these they run their wrists. For these they make their sacrifices.

23:57 It is of earthly advantages and joys alone that every one of this unhappy class of persons says to his soul, the soul which God made to be nourished by fellowship with himself. Soul, thou hast much goods laid up. Take thine ease. Now that's the description of their character.

The Influence of the 'Enemies of the Cross': Denying the Cross's Purpose, Power, and Spirit

24:21 Sensuality, shamelessness, worldliness. But now notice what the apostle tells us about their influence. He is concerned not only to describe them as to their character,

24:35 but also as to their influence. Verse 18, For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. And that's a description not of their character, but of their influence. And when Paul describes their influence, it is not in terms of describing them as one enemy among many.

25:07 But here is a case where the use of the definite article does have significance. He calls them the enemies. The enemies supremely of the cross of Christ. Now why does he describe their influence as one that is at enmity with the cross of Christ?

25:30 Well think for a moment and I think the answer will be quite clear. The cross of Christ refers to the central saving act of the Redeemer. And in New Testament language it has become a synonym for the Christian faith in its own name. It is the cross of Christ.

25:46 It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ.

25:46 It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ.

25:47 It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ. It is the cross of Christ. And in its doctrine and in its practice,

25:51 well these people professed faith in Christ crucified. If you were to ask them what was the basis of their hope of heaven, they would say, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

26:08 They were a people who confessed that their hopes for acceptance and pardon were grounded in the work of Christ. His work upon the cross being His salvation. His work upon the cross being His salvation. His work upon the cross being His salvation.

26:19 central redemptive act, but Paul says they are enemies of that very cross. Why? Here's the answer. Because their practice denied the very purpose of the cross. What was the

26:36 purpose of the cross? To put an end to sin. Titus chapter 2, we are told that Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a people his own possession, zealous of good works. Ephesians chapter 5, Christ loved the church and gave himself for the church. Why? That he might sanctify and cleanse it and present

27:03 it to himself a glorious church. What is the purpose of the cross? It is the destruction of sin, not merely deliverance from the penalty of sin in those who inflict it. They embrace the cross, but sin's very destruction. And here are people who say, oh yes, I am saved

27:23 by the work of Christ upon the cross, but by their sensuality, their shamelessness, and their worldliness, they deny the power of the cross. They deny the purpose of the cross. And then secondly, they deny its power. What is the power of the cross in all who embrace it? Romans 6 is very clear.

27:45 The power of the cross is nothing less than the destruction of the old man. Know ye not that so many of us have been baptized into Christ, were baptized into his death? Our old man has been crucified with him. That's the power of the cross, to put to death the old man, that there might emerge a new man in Christ under the power and influence of the new life.

28:16 Even the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus. But by their sensuality and shamelessness and worldliness, they denied not only the purpose of the cross, but the power of the cross. And furthermore, by their practice, they utterly, utterly negated the very spirit of the cross. For what is the spirit of the cross if it is not self-denying love? And

28:46 the scripture tells us, He gave himself for all that they who live, 2 Corinthians 5.15, should no longer henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him. The one who died upon the cross has a people who have entered into the fellowship of his cross, not only to find pardon, not only to find release, but to find the very spirit of that cross penetrating their hearts, so that they have taken up a cross in self-denial and are following him.

29:24 Now what is the cause of the greatest stench in the nostrils of the unconverted world but people who glibly claim to be saved by the power of Christ's cross, who do not manifest by their life and language and disposition and attitudes and dress and the totality of their being? 2 Corinthians 5.15, 2 Corinthians 5.15, 2 Corinthians 5.15, 2 Corinthians 5.15, 2 Corinthians

29:49 5.15. Jews who claim to be the covenant people but who lived as pagans because of you, he says, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles.

30:08 And that is exactly what Paul is saying of these people. He said, O my Philippians, and I say it with tears coming from my cheek upon the parchment, having warned you of the painful influence of Judaizers, Oh, my dear Philippians, I now would set myself and my colleagues and others before you as an example of how to walk, and I do so because I know there is another group that would influence you and drag you into hell with them, those who glibly speak of their salvation by the cross of Christ,

30:43 but who in their character are marked by sensuality, shamelessness, marked by worldliness, and in their influence in you and in the world, they are enemies, the enemies of the cross of Christ. Then he not only says something about their character and their influence, but notice in the third place what he says about their destiny. What does he say about their destiny? For many walk of whom I told you often and now tell.

The Destiny of the 'Enemies of the Cross': Perdition

31:15 I tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is perdition. You notice Paul put that first in his descriptions because he wanted to shock the Philippians, to say in essence, look, whoever they are, don't follow them. If you follow the way they live, you'll be with them at the end, and their end is perdition, not heaven. Now the word he uses for perdition.

31:50 Is that word which, without exception, when speaking of the state of human beings, refers to nothing less than that awful, frightening, unhinging doctrine of hell. When it's used in the Gospels in Matthew 26 and Mark 14 about the waste of the ointment, when referring to physical objects, it means waste. But in every other reference in the New Testament, it means nothing less.

32:21 Then the consummate wrath and fury of Almighty God poured out upon sinners so as to press them into a state and place of conscious, everlasting torment and woe.

32:41 It is used in this way in Romans 9.22, Hebrews 10.39, 2 Peter 3.7, and several other passages.

32:50 Now do you see what the Apostle is doing? He's saying, oh, my Philippians, listen to me. In the face of all of their glib talk about being confident of the mercy and grace of God, boasting in the supposed sufficiency of the righteousness of Christ, that they can live sensual, worldly, shameless lives and still go to heaven. Oh, my Philippians, I tell you with tears, their end is perdition.

33:18 And if they live and die in that condition, unaltered by a deep and thorough repentance, they'll be in hell as surely as you saints are at Philippi. Their end is perdition. How did he know that? For the simple reason that the universal testimony of the Bible is,

33:38 you sow to the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption. The minding of the flesh is death. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Well, we have opened up what the Apostle has said now about these people.

Exhortation 1: Beware of Weakening the Cross's Purpose

33:54 We've tried to identify them. And having identified them, we've directed your attention to their character, to their influence, and then to their destiny. But now in the closing minutes, we need to ask the question, what does all of this say to us?

34:12 Well, certainly if churches under the scrutinizing eye of Apostles were plagued by such influences, who are we to think that we will be exempt from them? And in my application this morning, I want to bring several words, words of exhortation. I want to underscore one basic observation and close with a personal question. The exhortations are, first of all, dear people of God, beware of any professing Christian whose influence by life or teaching weakens in you the realization of the purpose of the cross.

34:58 Beware of any professing Christian whose influence by life or teaching weakens in you the realization of the purpose of the cross. For as then, so now, there are professing Christians who seem to glory in the righteousness of Christ. They glory in their so-called Christian liberty. And that liberty becomes an experience, excuse for license and for serving the flesh.

35:37 Far better for a man to have an over-scrupulous conscience because of some of the trappings of a fundamentalist mentality with regard to the world of food and drink and entertainment and other things. Far better to have such a man who has a tender conscience, who's pressing after holiness, who feels pained in everything, every deviation from the law of God, than the so-called reformed Christian who understands his liberty and who becomes marked by sensuality, shamelessness, and worldliness.

36:20 If you have learned a doctrine of Christian liberty that has made you less careful to keep a tender conscience, has made you less sensitive to sin, that has caused you to blush, less when you deviate from God's law, my friend, that is not the Bible doctrine of Christian liberty. That's the devil's imitation.

36:49 They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. And I say with tears, though they haven't spilled out into my eyes yet and I would never knowingly force them,

37:02 but I say it with tears in my heart that there are people in Trinity Church whom I have just despised, because you've confessed it to me, that when you were a fundamentalist, you walked with a more sensitive conscience than you now walk, since you've understood that all things are clean.

37:30 No gift of God is to be refused. It would be received with thanksgiving and prayer. That is not the biblical doctrine of Christian liberty.

37:42 You beware of any Christian whose influence by life or teaching weakens in you, the realization of the purpose of the cross. And dear people, listen. You know why we're so vulnerable to this? Follow me closely.

37:58 Once the conscience is awakened to the breadth of the law of God, no man can have peace as he anticipates the day of judgment until he comes to grips with the glorious truth that he's accepted on the basis of the doing and the dying of another. You see, a conscience never awakened to the breadth of God's law, and God's holiness may think that it'll make it on its own. My good will outweigh my bad. But once conscience is awakened, there's no resting place but the righteousness of Christ.

38:30 Now follow me. Having come to that resting place, we've got remaining sin. And once remaining sin begins to cry out to be gratified, or if it is indulged, there is no resting place but what? Either confession and repentance and new humiliation, or to find a doctrine that tells me I need not be concerned about that sin.

38:56 And that's what makes the influence of a libertarian teacher so dangerous. Because there's something in our remaining sin that reaches out to latch on to it. Oh, I need not be so spookiness. I need not be so careful.

39:10 I need not be so sensitive. My friend, beware. Beware any person, any teaching whose influence weakens in you the realization of the purpose of the cross. Second exhortation is this.

Exhortation 2: Don't Grow Weary of Warnings

39:27 Don't grow weary of the warnings which are calculated to keep you from such influences.

39:37 Don't grow weary of the warnings which are calculated to keep you from such influences. Notice what Paul said. Verse 18. For many walk, of whom I told you what?

39:52 Once? No. He said, you Philippians, when I was amongst you, I told you often about these people that they would be hovering around every gospel church. Not only would the Judaizers come and try to spoil your appreciation of the infinite perfection of Christ and His righteousness received by faith alone, but these libertines, these antinomians would be there.

40:18 I told you often. But now he says, and I tell you again, weeping, now imagine what it would have been like if when one of the elders or the readers stood up that morning to read this epistle, some believer sitting there at Philippi heard these words, brethren, be imitators together of me and mark those that so walk. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now I tell you again, weeping. Can you imagine if some man would have leaned over and nudged someone else and said, oh boy, here we go again.

41:01 Here we go again. More of that negative warning.

41:08 Anyone who would despise not only apostolic instruction, but apostolic emphases had better check where he stands before Almighty God.

41:24 Dear people, don't grow weary of being warned about those things that will bring death to your soul. If you have, love for your soul, you will not resent biblically based, biblically balanced, biblically urgent warnings. For the scripture says, it is the glory of the word of God that by them is thy servant warned. And in keeping of them, there is great reward.

Exhortation 3: Avoid a Romantic View of Apostolic Church Life

42:00 Then my third exhortation, and this I'll only touch on briefly. I hope to preach on it sometime not too distant future, don't have a romantic view of apostolic church life.

42:13 This is apostolic church life. The Philippian church, a prized church. And yet he has to write them about the influence of Judaizers and of antinomians. And he said, I had to warn you often.

42:27 You see, some of you will become disaffected with Trinity Church or any other church that seeks to be a true church if you get caught up in a romantic, unbiblical idealism of what the church of the apostolic age was. And I warn you, I exhort you, don't have a romantic view of church life. So much for that as exhortation. Now the observation I want to make is this.

Observation: The Appropriateness of Passion in Preaching

42:51 Please listen carefully. Evident, evident, manifest passion in preaching is appropriate in the light of the weighty issues involved in preaching. You say, where do you see that? Well, look at the text.

43:09 Here is, Paul, no living faces in front of him. Just the memory of his dear Philippians etched upon his mind and his affection for them embedded into every fiber of his soul so that he can call them as he does in chapter 4. My brethren, my beloved, my longed for, my joy, my crown. He has no faces.

43:33 There are no living vibrations of eyes that are the outlet and inlet of the soul detached. In a room, imprisoned in Rome. And yet when he thinks of his Philippians and he thinks of the dangers, his passions spill out in a profuse display of tears. And he was unashamed to tell them that he wrote weeping.

43:59 He was unashamed to make it known that when he ministered face to face to the Ephesians, we read of it in Acts 20.19. He says, From the first day I was among you, he said, serving the Lord day and night, with tears. Verse 31, I warn you by the space of three years, with tears.

44:19 Why? Because he believed what he preached. Perdition was not a word to Paul.

44:27 By faith, he had seen the lake of fire. By faith, he had heard the groans of the damned. By faith, he had heard the agonizing, the agonizing plaintive way, and the wearnashing of teeth. So when he said, whose end is perdition, he couldn't say it without passion.

44:58 Under God, the Philippians were his children. They had come to birth by his own agonizing travail. He had scars on his back as the constant reminder of his ministry at Philippi. I wonder if he had his scars named.

45:15 Here's the list of scars. Here's the Philippian scars. I don't know. But he had a people upon his heart who had come to birth through the agony of spiritual travail.

45:27 And now he thinks of these itinerant preachers going around saying, oh yes, we get our doctrine from Paul. We love the doctrines of grace. We love Paul's doctrine. Oh, these Judaizers have nothing to do with them.

45:41 We believe salvation's all of grace accepted only in the Beloved. And when Paul thinks of how such people by example and precept will lead his Philippians out of the faith and into apostasy and ultimately to hell, he weeps, not only because of the sure end of these people, but because of the possible influence they may have upon those for whom he has spent his life.

46:09 My dear friends, regardless of how the passion may express itself, that's a matter of differing personality.

46:18 Unimpassioned preaching is a contradiction. How can a man traffic in a hell in which he believes is real with people whom he believes to be the objects of the dying love of the incarnate God? How can one believe that the Son of God spilt His blood to have a people who on the one hand confess gladly, nothing of my doings forms the fabric of my righteousness is all of Christ, but who at the same time say, this one thing I do with all my being I'm pressing after, perfection. If Christ died for that, how can a man in an unimpassioned way deal with concepts and teachings and influences that undermine the very end

47:01 for which the Son of God prevailed in blood? My friend, you cannot be unimpassioned. I say to you, dear men, preparing for the ministry, if you pray for anything among all the things for which you pray, pray that God will give you a passionate heart and God will deliver you from the fear of men in letting that passion, passion cut a course consistent with your own personality so that men will know you are not trafficking in abstract notions.

Personal Question: Do Verses 18-19 Describe You?

47:34 And then I close by simply asking you a simple question this morning, but a personal question. And the question is this, do verses 18 and 19 describe you? Do verses 18 and 19 describe you? You who name the name of Christ, you who are well-experienced, instructed in the doctrine of justification by faith through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, do verses 18 and 19 describe you?

48:07 What is your God?

48:10 Your God is the person or thing to which you yield supreme allegiance,

48:17 which draws forth the expenditure of your energies, which fills your mind, which is the subject of your reveries. Is your God, the God, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus and His blessed Son? Or is it your belly,

48:37 sex, food, clothing, home, position, prestige? Who is your God, man?

48:50 If your belly is your God, your end is perdition. I'm duty-bound to tell you so, unless you turn from that idol and begin to serve the living and the true God and to wait for His Son from heaven. Are you ashamed of your sin? Or can you speak glibly of your sin under a supposed boasting in the sufficiency of the righteousness of Christ?

49:22 Is the pattern of your life earthiness or heavenliness?

49:26 My friend, you better ask yourself because if you fit this description, God says you're an enemy of the cross of Christ. You are an enemy of the very cross you claim to love.

49:39 The Lord Jesus in the day of judgment is going to crush His enemies.

49:45 Unless you repent and become the friend of Christ, and repent so that the spirit of the cross becomes the regulative, formative influence upon your own spirit, self-denial, and the pursuit of the end for which He died becomes the real goal of your life to be a holy man, a holy woman, you have no grounds to claim that you're a Christian. It's very interesting, and it's in this very setting, you see, that the Apostle introduced this whole subject. One of the surest indexes of a man's belief is that he is a Christian. One of the surest indexes of a man's belief is that he is a Christian.

50:18 His true state is the kind of people he voluntarily chooses to be with the most. Now, some people, you're put next to them against your will. The boss says, you're going to work at that machine or at this desk, and you may be next to the most foul-mouthed person. But a good index of a man's character is the kind of people he chooses to be with when he's free to make the choice.

50:45 Do you choose to be with the Pauls and those who share his spirit, who are never holy enough? No. whose consciences are ever increasingly manifesting a tenderness to God, to His Word, to His Son. Or if you feel uncomfortable around people like that, then choose the crowd that can snicker at the same sins you snicker at.

51:06 Oh, they're all professing Christians. You know, that's understood. We get together for a little fellowship, and then we guffaw and hee-haw about things that ought to have you on your knees, praying and blushing.

51:19 Better ask yourself, that there's only one kind of people going to make it to heaven. That's the fellowship of the redeemed and the holy ones. And oh, if you're not among them, may I urge you to join them. You can only join them by having dealings with the Lord Jesus, the blessed Savior of sinners, who is set before you in the gospel and invites you to come and to take of Himself and of all the blessings of salvation in Him.

51:48 It's a tragic thing that with such plain teaching, this influence should be a plague upon the church, even in our own day. But there is no new thing under the sun. May the warning of this passage immunize us, for some may it be a call from the very heart and mouth of God to return from that path that is dangerously close to the brink of apostasy and put you in the way of holiness once again. Let us pray.

52:34 Our Father, we never cease to be amazed at the freshness of Your holy word, words penned by Your aging servant hundreds of years ago. Yet they leap across the years and come to our ears and hearts as the living word of the living God. How we bless You for Your word, and we pray that this word we have contemplated this morning, will bear holy fruits in all of our hearts. Seal it to us, may not the enemy of our souls,

53:15 who hovers over every Christian assembly like birds hover over the newly plowed field that is about to receive the seed. O God, negate and neutralize His influence, that our hearts may enfold the divine seed and bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Amen. Hear our prayer and answer us for the glory of Your dear Son and for the good of our own never-dying souls.

53:47 Amen.