WEBVTT 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:40.960 And thank you for that kind word of introduction. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:42.960 Thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in today. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:51.920 I'm Brother James, and I greet you as always in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.719 And I welcome you one more time to the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.799 We are studying together the Bible book of Philippians. 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:05.439 As is our custom, we will get right to our Bible study. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:07.680 I enjoy Christian music. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:09.519 I trust you do as well. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.200 We'll not take any of our airtime for that purpose. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:32.640 I enjoy all kinds of things that I hear on different radio programs, but we want to use every bit of the time we have to try our best to study the Word of God and teach the Bible to you, and hope that you enjoy and benefit from those studies. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:36.159 In Philippians 1, we have come to the sixth verse. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:42.000 In fact, we came to the sixth verse a long, long time ago and can't seem to get beyond it, and that's all right. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:44.159 That's certainly not a problem. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:59.040 But the Bible says in Philippians 1 6, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:07.200 There are many days spoken of throughout the New Testament scripture, and they all have a slightly different meaning. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:13.599 We'll not take the time to study them in detail, but I will give them to you before we proceed. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:21.360 The day of Jesus Christ marks the end of the good work done in the believer. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:32.159 It is the time when our earthly life is over, either through the doorway of death or the catching away of the body of Christ. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:46.800 Then there is the day of the Lord, first Thessalonians five and verse number two, marking the end of the seven year time of Jacob's trouble, also known as the Great Tribulation. 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.039 There's the day of Christ. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:03:01.039 Second Thessalonians two verse two, that has reference to the operations at the judgment seat of Christ, where believers are rewarded for their works. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:05.439 There's the day of the Lord Jesus, 1 Corinthians 5 5. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:11.360 This also deals with the judgment seat, in particular with the rewards. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:18.240 The day of our Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1 8. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:28.800 That has reference to the thousand year rule and reign of Jesus upon this earth, spoken of in no uncertain terms in Revelation 20. 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:30.800 The day of God Almighty. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:41.919 Revelation 16 14 is obviously in the context of that chapter, the great battle of Armageddon and the destruction in that place. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:57.280 And then the day of God, Second Peter three, verse 16, the day of God, and that is the beginning of eternity when time shall be no more. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:07.439 Alright, verse seven of Philippians one, even as it is meet, fitting, right, proper, even as is meet for me to think this of you all. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.879 Because I have you in my heart. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:12.560 Now what did he think about? 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:18.720 He did not think about their struggles, trials, difficulties, ups, downs, highs, lows. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:25.279 He thought about the fact that Jesus Christ would continue his good work in them. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:28.720 That brought him great joy. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.360 He says, I have you in my heart. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:49.199 You know it would really help your fellowship with other Christians if they weren't just in your head, but if they were in your heart, if they were not just an acquaintance, but a loved one, if they weren't just somebody you went to church with, but somebody you genuinely cared about. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:05:10.720 Because I have you in my heart inasmuch as both in my bonds, and we have talked at length about the fact that he was in prison when he wrote this letter, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye are ye all are partakers of my grace. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:12.480 He didn't have favorites. 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:56.800 Every one of them, every one of them, saved by grace, kept by grace, and the grace of God operating in the life of the apostle flowed through that man and to them, so that while he was defending the gospel, they were standing with him to defend that gospel, while his life and testimony was confirming the gospel, their life and testimony was confirming the gospel, and so grace flowed from God to the apostle and out to the saints, and grace flowed from God to the saints and out to the apostle. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:02.240 It was a mutual mutual benefit for every one of them. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:24.560 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, in his inner man, the depths of his emotion, all of his being he wanted, he desired their spiritual well being. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:45.439 That's real Christian love, my friend, that's real fellowship, real, real unity in Jesus Christ, and this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:56.720 It's very interesting to study the prayers prayed by Paul as recorded by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:02.720 Or you could say it this way, the prayers the Holy Spirit directed Paul to pray. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:25.199 Only one time in all the New Testament did Paul ever pray and ask something for himself, and that's when he desired healing for his body from the messenger of Satan that had been sent to buffet him, and that's the only prayer of Paul that was ever denied. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:34.399 All of his other prayers were intercessory prayers prayed on behalf of others. 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:50.399 And as you examine these prayers, you will find that he did not pray in accord with the modern day big time television showman ministry. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:58.399 I'm trying to look for a nice word and a descriptive word at the same time, and I just can't come up with a way to say it nicely. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.319 He didn't pray for people to get materially rich. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:11.439 He didn't pray for God to grant the lusts of the flesh for people who are using God as a glorified Santa Claus. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:21.839 The prayers that he prayed for others were for their spiritual well being, their spiritual blessing and benefit. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:27.600 In this case, he prayed that their love they had love. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:35.600 He didn't pray that they would become loving, he prayed that the love they had would abound. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:53.120 They would not just have a little bit of love for Jesus, but abundant love for Jesus, not just a little bit of love for a lost and dying world, but abundant love, not just a little bit of love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, but abundant love. 00:08:53.519 --> 00:09:17.440 And then when that love reached a place of abundance, that is, they had more than was necessary, then he prayed that that love would abound more, and then more again, more and more, increasing, ever increasing abundance of love. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:21.679 Now this is the great thing about the Christian life. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:49.759 The moment you are saved, you have everything you need, and then God gives you more than you need, and then more than more than you need, and then more than more than more than you need, and it just continues to get better and better and better and better as God has his way in the life of his people. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:52.960 It's a glorious thing. 00:09:53.519 --> 00:10:00.639 They had love, then they got abundant love, then they got more love, then they got still more love. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:04.799 My friend, there's always room to grow, isn't there? 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:07.440 There's always room to improve. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:13.759 And he says more and more in knowledge in knowledge. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:23.200 You know the best way, the best way to have more love is to know Jesus better. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:36.720 Know more of his word, describing what he did for others, describing how he lived for others, describing how he died for others. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:52.879 And then as we read instead of the scripture and see the blessedness of those, how God blessed the men and women who put him first and put others first, put themselves in the servant's place. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:04.639 We see how knowledge will increase love, and then in all judgment, and this is a word that's so frightening to modern Americans. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:10.639 Judgment, oh judge not, judgment's a bad thing, we shouldn't judge. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:21.440 Those are just the magpie repetitious phrases uttered by people who have forfeited their brains. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:26.080 You must judge between a red light and a green light. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.120 You must judge between fresh food and rotten food. 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:35.440 You must judge between a right turn and a left turn. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:41.840 You must judge between a murderer and a decent neighbor. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:50.080 You must judge between a pedophile and a decent citizen. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:59.120 You have to judge every moment of your life, you have to make judgments. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:13.279 Now in verse ten we are told in no uncertain terms what this idea of judging means, that ye may approve things that are excellent. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:16.879 So here's what I need to do. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:20.559 I've got to know my Bible. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:25.360 So I know what God says is good and what God says is evil. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:30.480 I've got to know my Bible so I know what God says is right and what God says is wrong. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:54.159 I've got to know what God approves of and what God disapproves of, and then I must judge everything I hear, everything I see, everything I imagine, everything I feel, I must judge that on the basis of whether or not it meets God's approval. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:12.799 The things that are excellent, that excel nature, that excel carnality, that excel worldliness, that excel vanity, those things I must approve. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:20.879 That's the prayer, that's the prayer prayed by this minister for these saved people. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:26.159 And he prays that they may be sincere. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:31.519 I'd like to see a little more sincerity on the part of God's people. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:39.120 Sincere love for Jesus, sincere devotion to evangelism. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:50.000 You cannot imagine, you cannot imagine what your pastor deals with on a daily basis. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:14:13.759 The heartache, the trouble, the sadness, the pain, the disappointment, the strife, the contention, the conflict all arising because men and women who claim the name of Jesus Christ are not sincere. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:21.200 They have the hardest time telling the truth. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:26.399 They have the hardest time living in a way that is truthful. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:34.799 And so the prayer of the Apostle Paul is that saved people would be sincere. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:37.840 That'd be a good thing. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:39.120 That'd be a good thing. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:45.600 No guile, no misrepresentation, no twisting and distorting the facts. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.720 Sincere and without offense. 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:55.679 Now, some way or another you're gonna offend somebody. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.000 But the prayer is that we wouldn't. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:10.480 Some way or another, something you do, something I do, is going to offend someone else, and something someone else does is going to offend you or going to offend me. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:14.000 Now that's that's just how it goes. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:20.240 But we should pray that we would not offend. 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:31.440 We should pray that that we would not be offensive or an offense to others. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:37.039 That would be, that would be a wonderful thing indeed, would it not? 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:42.960 And then he says, without sincere and without offense, till the day of Christ. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:49.360 And that's one of those uh days that we spoke about, right up until the time that Jesus comes again. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:57.039 Verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:15.120 Now, as we said in an earlier broadcast, you are given the righteousness of Jesus Christ by God the Father the moment you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, did not you could not be saved. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:20.879 God could never say you are saved if you were not righteous. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:27.679 You could never go to heaven if you did not have absolute righteousness. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:40.879 And so God gives you the righteousness of his Son Jesus Christ the moment you are saved, and by virtue of that and that alone, you have eternal life. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.960 We've covered that in our Philippian study beyond a shadow of a doubt. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:17:04.160 Now, that being true, that God given righteousness should take root in our lives, should grow in our lives, and should produce fruit in our lives. 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:09.599 Fruit is something that others feed upon. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:13.279 Fruit is something that others enjoy. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:19.920 The fruit tree does not benefit from bearing fruit. 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:25.359 In fact, it takes some something of a toll upon the fruit tree to bear the fruit. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:36.960 But the fruit tree bears the fruit so that someone else may come along and pick that fruit and enjoy that fruit. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:44.720 And so the purpose of that fruit tree is to provide a blessing to someone else. 00:17:45.519 --> 00:18:10.720 Now God intends that we make full use of the righteousness He has given us, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and that we use that to be fruitful so that others may be blessed because we have been saved. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.359 Now, examples of this fruit. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:23.039 I I know some of you, some of you are in a church where fruit always means winning souls, which of course it never does in the Bible. 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:34.400 But fruit in the Bible is stated well let me give you a passage that says exactly what kind of fruit safe people ought to be bearing. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.440 Galatians five, verse twenty two. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:54.400 But the fruit of the Spirit is law, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:04.480 Those are things, those are qualities, those are characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:34.400 What he wants is to so control our lives that those things become characteristics of you and of me, so that others are not just blessed and not just benefited by knowing Jesus, but blessed and benefited by knowing those of us who know Jesus. 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:46.480 That's the idea, that's the design that we bear fruit for God for the benefit of others. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.839 And then the verse says this is this is the prayer. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:55.599 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:07.039 That ought to take your mind to John 15, John chapter 15, where Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:19.839 Verse number four, abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except that abide of the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me, I am the vine, and ye are the branches. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:29.359 He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:56.319 So it is possible for spiritual fruit to be produced in my life, but but the spiritual fruit produced in my life is by the means of, by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, living, working, moving, acting in and through me, in and through you. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:09.279 Where I am sitting right now speaking into this microphone, there is a window behind me, and out that window are some citrus fruit trees. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.200 One of them is my very, very favorite, it is the tangerine tree. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:22.160 In the wintertime it fills up with those uh wonderful fruits. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:31.279 Now that fruit is hanging upon a branch surrounded by leaves. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:38.160 The branches are attached to the main trunk which goes down to the roots. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:40.160 You like you understand that? 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:47.200 Now those roots take in nourishment. 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:59.759 Those roots take in water, and that nourishment, that water, passes from the root to the trunk, to the branches, to the fruit, and the growth of that fruit is. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:14.480 Is because the tree functions properly by allowing the water and the nutrients to travel through it to the fruit. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:17.200 Now here you are. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.319 You're a saved man, a saved woman living in a body of flesh. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:28.960 That body is good for nothing if it's used for self, for the world, for the flesh, for the devil. 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:31.680 But yielded to God, what happens? 00:22:32.480 --> 00:23:07.119 Rooted and grounded in the truth of the Word of God, we receive spiritual nourishment and spiritual water refreshment from God Himself, and it moves through us to the point where fruit is born and fruit is produced in our lives, and then others pick that fruit and enjoy it, pick that fruit and are made healthier, pick that fruit and are filled. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:17.359 And that's how God intends this thing to work, and that's the prayer of Philippians chapter 1, verses 9, 10, and 11. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:21.440 Then verse 12, he says, But oh, I didn't finish 11. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:49.759 Under the glory and praise of God, unto the glory and praise of God, when I walk out this back door, this this little office where I'm I'm speaking right now, when I walk out this back door in February, walk back to that tree, pick that fruit off the tree and eat it, I bow my head and thank not the tree. 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:52.400 I thank God. 00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:58.079 I do not praise the tree, I praise God. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:04.079 I'm not an evolutionist, I'm not an environmentalist, I'm not I'm not part of that crowd. 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:10.799 I thank God, I give God the glory for the fruit that I am enjoying. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:18.480 My friend, I will thank a minister for a good sermon and tell him I appreciated it. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.519 I will give the glory to God. 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:28.000 I will thank a singer, a musician for the song and tell them I enjoyed it. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:31.200 I will give the glory to God. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:46.559 I will thank anyone who provides spiritual or temporal service to me for my help, my benefit, I will thank them for it. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.359 But I'll give God the glory. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:25:01.119 Why that that branch didn't bear fruit of itself, that man didn't bear fruit of himself, that woman didn't bear fruit of herself. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:12.640 My friend, the love that you have came from God, the knowledge you have came from God, the judgment you have came from God, the understanding of what's excellent came from God. 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:18.960 If there's sincerity in your life, if you live today without offending someone, that came from God. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:30.000 If you if you are have any righteousness, and if that righteousness is producing any fruit in your life, that came from God by Jesus Christ. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:41.039 Let's make sure the source gets the glory, not the vessel, the source. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:57.359 I'm afraid far too much of what passes for Christianity nowadays is just entertainment. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:08.319 Men praising men for entertaining them, women praising men, men praising women, women praising women. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:17.759 There's too much glory and honor being given to the branches, too much honor and glory being given to the vessels. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.839 I'm telling you it's all of God. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:32.160 Every good and every perfect gift, James 1 seventeen says, cometh down from the Father. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:35.200 It didn't originate with you, it didn't originate with me. 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:43.359 God gave you a gift, God gave you an opportunity, God gave you an ability, God gave you a place of ministry and a place of service. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:56.480 Let's make sure God gets all the glory for anything and everything that might be accomplished through our feeble efforts to serve Him. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:00.319 Amen and amen. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:04.559 This is the preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:16.160 We cannot possibly minister to you in thirty minutes a day as fully as we would like to minister to you. 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:27.039 We have thousands of hours of recorded sermons and Bible studies on just about every topic that you could desire. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:31.279 It's all listed in our catalog of materials. 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:36.319 We have dozens of books available, commentaries, topical studies, and so forth. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:42.880 All of this is found on our website at JamesNox.com. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:46.960 James Knox K N O X James Knox.com. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:52.319 And if you go there, you'll find it very easy to find your way around, find whatever you're looking for. 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:58.240 If you'd like to contact us by mail, our mailing address is 872 Glenwood Road. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:04.960 That's in D Land, Florida. 00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:11.519 DLand, Florida, the zip code number 32720 32720. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:16.000 And that mailing address is in the United States of America. 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:24.079 The announcer will be on now in just a moment to let you know when this program will be heard again over this radio station. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:34.240 And at that time, we invite you and the friend that you will invite to listen with you to join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:36.319 Until then, I'm Brother James. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:38.480 May the Lord richly bless you.