“Joy of Faith”

Philippians 1:19-25

19) For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20) According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

21) For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

22) But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.

23) For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

24) Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

25) And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

Introduction

W

e are victorious through faith in what Jesus Christ has already done. We can have confidence in Him because anything that He says that He has done—is done!

Because the human being has “learned” the Bible by means of his intellect, he believes salvation to be intellectual. If this were so, we would be able to enjoy only those victorious which could be detected through our five senses—and those who know the Lord know that His greatest victorious have always superseded the natural.

Main Thought

Many do not believe that exercising their faith will lead to actual joy. This can be explained by the fact that Man has limited knowledge concerning what is “necessary for success” in salvation.

Since we can do nothing about anything that is allowed to happen to us, if there is “correction” to be had, it must come from the Lord. Actually, rather than the Lord “changing” anything that He has allowed, He will make it work for us—“in our favor,” so to speak. After all, does He not allow what He does first of all, to get our attention?

All too often, and more-and more frequently in these times, the people of God have a tendency to act as if they believe that the Lord exists to serve us—as opposed to our serving Him. Yes, God will bless us—but, only if we first plant a seed.

All that the Lord requires of us after salvation is for the purpose of turning our attention away from ourselves. This is what salvation is: freedom from the dictates of the flesh. One who is no longer bound to his flesh is freed from sin.

If it took the life of Christ to grant us this freedom, does it not also follow that His expectation of us, after salvation, is that we live free from transgression of His law? He never intended for us to “slip and slide” and just “get by.”

Life after salvation is to be lived to the please of God. We are to have no interest in that we would “rather” do. Isn’t it interesting that those brought from darkness, once entering the light, suddenly have a “preference” for darkness? It is only because of Jesus that we know what darkness is, and it is only because of Him that we now have even a chance to be part of the light.

Those who are able to go with him upon His return will be those who choose to agree with and believe Him. These are those who will accept that there is no “kind of” faith for which He is looking, but rather, simply a people who will take Him at His word!

Verse 19 of today’s text points out to us that just speaking words of belief does not convince God that we believe Him. What does “convince” Him? Our willingness to be tested and our success in our testing. We are required to “go through” some things because one thing is incontrovertible: if we trust Him, we will be successful, always.

One of the things that human beings resist the hardest is humility. This is to be expected, as it “goes against” the human psyche to do anything that causes him to deny himself. However, in that this (humility) is the “definition” of Whom Jesus is, we must realize that if we are ever to “get anyplace” in the Lord, we will have to be humbled.

“Success in salvation” has nothing to do with who we are, from where we have come, what we have, or what we think of ourselves. It has everything to do with that for which we are willing to believe God. We must be certain within ourselves that the most important thing in our lives, as individuals, is that we magnify God! People will be drawn to any church, but particularly, to this church, when they see that the people who are here are happy and satisfied being saved. Whether we are found to be willing to communicate this or not, the Lord will have a people who will be willing to openly appreciate Him.

As well we know, we should be walking in victory every day, but if we operate in our human understanding at all, the opportunity to be deceived lies at every turn. You see, operating in that “old man” means that we have to help of the Lord. It is only when we conduct ourselves as spiritual beings that the enemy cannot get to us, and this because “…our lives are hid with Christ in God.”

No one who has believed that he has to “fight his own battles” has ever been happy in salvation. The “joy of faith” is that we can live our lives with no apprehension and misgivings, in that we know that precisely because of agreeing with God, we are able to exist in joy.