
The Security of Our Future Joy
Not Ready for the Future
On January 12, 2010, hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti woke up, planning to have a normal day. Work. School. Time with family and friends. But in the late afternoon, without warning, the country was rocked by a massive earthquake. Poorly constructed buildings collapsed. People were trapped. Roads were blocked. There were screams of pain, weeping mothers looking for their children, chaos, death. No one was ready for what the future had in store.
Similar things could be said about the navy men at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. Or the thousands of people who went to work in downtown New York on September 11, 2001. The future is out of our control.
And even though you and I may not feel particularly threatened by the same types of disasters I just mentioned, you probably have fears or concerns about other aspects of the future. You might find yourself wrestling with heavy questions – What if I fail my big exam? What if I lose my job? What if I have a miscarriage? What if my body is twisted or sick with some sort of chronic problem for the rest of my life? What if my spouse dies and I’m left alone? On and on we could go. We all have nagging questions like this. Because no one in this room can control the future. We’re all faced with the ever-present likelihood that tomorrow could be the day that something tragic happens – the good things of this world could suddenly be stripped away from us.
But as we’re going to see today, those who know Christ don’t need to be anxious or distressed about the future. In fact, taking hold of Jesus is what allows us to face the uncertainties of life and the approach of death with hope.
This morning we’re going to continue our sermon series through a part of the Bible called Philippians. Philippians here is a letter that was sent by a suffering man, named Paul, to an unsteady church located in the city of Philippi. And both Paul and the Philippians had certain aspects of their futures they were uncertain about. Paul was in prison, not sure when or if he’d be released, unsure of whether he would live or die. The Philippian church was dealing with internal conflict, unsure of whether harmony would be restored, and unsure of how they’d be able to withstand opposition from the unbelieving culture.
But in the text we’re about to read, we see that Paul faces the future with joy, because he’s certain that God’s saving power in his life won’t fail. And this gives us insight on how we, as Christians, can face both life and death with confidence, as well.
So if you haven’t already, please turn with me to Philippians, Chapter 1. I’ll be reading from the last part of verse 18 through the end of verse 20. Philippians Chapter 1, 18 through 20. But before I read the text, please pray with me:
[Pray and Read Text]
Paul’s Confidence in the Future
If you were here last week, we reflected on the challenging circumstances Paul was dealing with. But Paul makes it clear that these challenges weren’t able to take away his joy. Even though he was imprisoned, under house arrest – even though some of his fellow Christians were at odds with him – Paul reported that he had still been able to rejoice, because God was using his affliction to advance the good news about Christ. This is why Paul says, “Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” In the middle of verse 18.
But in the beginning of this morning’s text, at the tail end of verse 18, you’ll notice that Paul once again affirms his joy. But Paul’s joy here isn’t just connected to the past or what he’s seeing in the present. Instead, Paul has confidence that he’s going to rejoice in the future. He says, “Yes, and I will rejoice.”
And in verses 19 and 20, Paul explains why he has this robust confidence and joy. It’s because of his salvation. And Paul gives several reasons here, directly and indirectly, why his salvation brings confident joy. First, because he’s being saved from sin. Second, because he’s being saved by God. Third, because he’s being saved by means of prayer. Fourth, because he’s being saved throughout his sufferings. Fifth, because he’s being saved into courage. And sixth, because he’s being saved for Christ’s honor. These will be my six points this morning.
And as we work through the text together, my hope is that you’ll have a similar confidence in your salvation that enables you to face the future with unwavering joy, whether in life or in death.
Saved from Sin
The first thing I want to point out, here, is that Paul knows that he’s being saved from sin. This is my first point – saved from sin.
At the tail end of verse 18, Paul says, “Yes, and I will rejoice” – and he tells us why he’s confident of this in verse 19: “for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this (by which he means this imprisonment – this situation) will turn out for my deliverance.”
When Paul talks about deliverance here – or salvation – (that’s how the Greek word is translated in other parts of the Bible). When Paul speaks about deliverance here – he makes it plain that there’s something he needs to be delivered from.
And at first, it may sound like Paul’s saying here that he’ll rejoice in the future, because he expects to be delivered from prison and given earthly freedoms again. But that type of deliverance would be a short-lived celebration. And Paul’s joy here seems to be connected to something that’s more secure and longer-lasting than receiving a get-out-of-jail-free card. Because later on, in verse 20, Paul suggests that his confidence will remain unchanged, regardless of whether he ends up facing life or death. The deliverance Paul’s talking about in verse 19 really must be something else beyond being released from prison.
Instead, Paul is most likely speaking about being delivered from sin and judgment. This would be consistent with how Paul speaks in other parts of the Bible. In Ephesians 2, Paul speaks about people who are dead in their sins and trespasses being saved out of that condition. And Paul describes salvation in Colossians 1:13, when he speaks about people being brought out from under the domain of darkness – moral darkness – and being transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Other examples could be given here. But when the Bible speaks about deliverance and salvation, it’s often speaking about being saved from the enemy of sin, and the condemnation that accompanies it.
So when Paul says, “this will turn out for my deliverance,” the deliverance Paul’s looking forward to is almost definitely deliverance from sin. Now, in a very real way, Paul has already been saved from sin and condemnation. Because he’s already repented and believed in Jesus. And Jesus has already gone to the cross, and has borne the penalty for Paul’s sins. So at the time Paul was writing this letter, he was already able to rest in the reality of his forgiveness. He was already declared to be righteous before God. He had been converted – he had been changed – and was now a child of God. Paul had already been delivered from sin in a very real way.
But we also need to recognize, Paul hadn’t yet been delivered from the total presence or influence of sin. Over the course of his life, the struggle against sin was still very real. But you can see in this verse – that Paul anticipates that this final, ultimate deliverance from the penalty, power, and presence of sin is something that’s certain for him. And this is a prospect that enlarges and energizes his joy.
Saved by God
And Paul is also able to rejoice confidently because this salvation comes from God. This is my second point – Paul is saved by God. God’s the one who has established a way for corrupt human beings to be saved from sin. And he’s done this by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to take the blame for our wrongdoings, and to be crushed with the penalty we deserved. Jesus didn’t just die to do away with half of our sins, or even 99% – he died to save us from all of them, for sins of the past, present, and future. And as a result, anyone and everyone who turns from their ungodliness and trusts in Jesus alone to bring them to God – we can rightly say that they’re saved. These people are no longer enemies of God, under his judgment, but they’re now citizens of God’s kingdom, under his care and protection. They’re saved.
Yet we can also say that these people are being saved. Because through the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, God is working to keep them and preserve them until the day that they’re called home to be with him. That’s what Paul’s describing in verse 19.
You might notice, I keep acknowledging that being saved is both a past reality, and something that God is still bringing us into – something we’re waiting for the fullness of in the future. There’s an already-but-not-yet component to it. And it’s important to understand this, because when Paul speaks of deliverance in the text, here, he seems to be more focused on the future aspects of salvation. Just as he’s already depended on the power of God to pay for his sins and to convert him, He’s continuing to depend on God’s power to preserve his faith and to keep him to the end.
Saved by Means of Prayer
Interestingly, though, Paul says that there’s something else that will play a role in preserving his faith to the end. Prayer. This brings us to my third point – Paul is confident that he will be saved by means of prayer. He says in verse 19, “I know that through your prayers and through the help of the Spirit of Christ – through God’s power – this will turn out for my deliverance.”
So notice the two things that Paul’s talking about here. He recognizes that both human activity in prayer and divine help from the Holy Spirit have an important role to play in saving and preserving God’s people. It can sometimes be hard to understand how both human activity and divine help could be important. Often times, we tend to place more emphasis on one over the other. Some of us might be more inclined to think that human activity alone is the key to saving people. We just need pray better prayers, or come up with a different strategy for evangelism. Or we just need to craft the perfect speech, or have the right kind of Sunday morning experience – and that will be the decisive factor that wins souls for Christ.
But others of us may make the opposite kind of error. We may have no problem affirming that God’s power is needed for saving people. But we find it difficult to believe that our prayers, our words, or our lives are all that important. Since God is all-powerful, and able to do whatever he wants, we might expect that God intends to do everything without us. And so our default posture is to wait around eating popcorn in our movie theater seats, waiting for God to start the film.
But Paul is teaching us something here that’s quite mysterious. The ordinary way God intends to work, to save people, and to keep them in the faith – is both through human agency and through the intervention of his Spirit. It’s not as though these are two totally unrelated things, where God sometimes works through one, and other times works through the other. God holds these two things together. When people are faithfully praying, that’s when the Spirit is moving. And we should expect that God will work through both to save his people.
So human activity in ministry – it really matters. We continue to need the Spirit to bless what we do. But our decisions, our willingness to speak, the substance of what we say, the uprightness of our lifestyles, our consistency in prayer – the things we do to live out our faith and to encourage others to follow Jesus – all these things really are meaningful. God intends to use our little human activities to impact eternity. Paul makes a similar point in another part of the Bible, in Romans 10. Paul makes the argument that human preaching is an important ingredient in bring salvation to other people. Because if someone is going to call on Jesus, they need to trust in him, and in order to trust in him, they need to hear about him, and in order to hear about him, someone needs to go preach to them.
But if we’re remaining true to the contents of verse 19 – Paul’s focus here isn’t on the importance of preaching to save the church. Instead, he’s highlighting the importance of the church praying to preserve the preacher – to preserve him through trials and temptations, until the day of his final deliverance. Just as the Philippian church was praying for Paul, for his endurance and faithfulness, we have a role to play in praying, too. We should remember to pray for our pastors, elders, evangelists, and missionaries. God has work for us to do from our knees. He works through our prayers, by His Spirit, to save and safeguard others until they reach heaven.
Saved throughout Suffering
And this work of God to safeguard his people – this brings me to my fourth point, saved throughout suffering. The reality that Paul seems to be cherishing in verse 19 is that God is involved in upholding him through his imprisonment and other hardships. It really is incredible to realize that God is actively laboring – right now, even – to keep us and preserve us. And Paul’s confident here that the God who started a good work in him is going to bring it to completion.
This is essentially what Paul said back in Chapter 1, verse 6. And in another part of the Bible, in Romans 8:30, Paul indicates that when God sets his love on a person to save them, he decisively calls that person out of their sin, and he grants them righteousness through faith in Christ, and he ultimately safeguards them until they’re raised up forever to be in his presence. God finishes the work that he starts. Because God doesn’t build half a bridge, and then give up the construction project. He doesn’t teach half a class, and then ghost his students for the remainder of the semester. Paul knows how God operates, and he knows that when God begins a good work, he brings it to completion. It’s like an unbreakable chain.
And Paul knows that the unbreakable chain of God’s saving plan is stronger than the chains that are afflicting Paul in prison. This is where Paul’s confidence comes from. This is why he isn’t moaning and groaning in prison as though he’s lost everything. Because Paul knows, as a Christian – as a child of God – that he is eternally secure. God has started the work of saving Paul. And he will finish it. Whether we’re talking about ups or downs, sunshine or rainclouds, life or death – Paul knows that this situation – this imprisonment – and every situation he might face – he knows that it’ll all have a spectacular, glorious outcome in the end: Deliverance! Just as darkness gives way to a sunrise – just as ugly stains give way to heavy detergent – Paul’s worldly struggles will give way to salvation. Because his salvation is being brought about by the hands of the Almighty God of the universe.
Now, this being said, I don’t think that we usually give much thought to how God involves himself in preserving us and upholding us. When the path of life takes us through a war zone, we’re often tempted to think it’s evidence that God is displeased with us – he feels distant. But being saved doesn’t mean that God is going to make our whole lives sail along on quiet seas. Instead, it means that when the hurricanes and whirlpools and other dangers come, God will keep us upright and above water until we reach our haven across the ocean.
We need to remember that many faithful servants of God have experienced prolonged heartache! Abraham and Sarah struggled with infertility. Joseph was put in prison for refusing to sleep with his master’s wife. Daniel was thrown into a den of lions for his insistence that he was going to pray to the Lord. The Scottish missionary, John G. Paton buried his wife and son in the New Hebrides, and was frequently attacked and endangered by the cannibals he was trying to minister to. And of course, Paul himself, who wrote this letter, encountered a variety of life-threatening situations in his service to God. God preserving and protecting us doesn’t mean that God will spare us from difficulty. Instead, God is committed to holding on to us and holding us up in the midst of it all.
And that’s why Paul can say this will turn out for his deliverance. Because he knows that his God is holding on to him, to save him. This is where Paul finds his peace. This is why Paul’s so confident that he will rejoice in the future.
Saved into Courage
Do you realize, though – when Paul envisions himself being saved and preserved by God through hardship, he doesn’t imagine that he’s just going to be curled up in the fetal position, hiding in a bunker, waiting for the bomber planes to pass. Instead, Paul anticipates that he’ll be saved into courage. This is my fifth point. And by this I mean that Paul expects that God will save and preserve him by giving him greater courage and resilience. Paul recognizes that the saving power of God doesn’t just impact the destination we end up at in the future. It also affects us. His saving power teaches and trains our hearts, to make us into the people who will endure hardship with boldness and faith.
God doesn’t just preserve us by putting a big, plexiglass dome over the sapling of our faith – but he preserves us by growing our faith into a mature tree, that can withstand windstorms and winters.
And since Paul’s confident that God’s saving power has been working in him, he eagerly expects that he’ll have the courage to speak up and stand for Christ. Paul explains this in verse 20: “…it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Paul isn’t going to be ashamed. The world might mock him, but it’ll just be momentary. And Paul is determined that he’s not going to fall back into cowardice or shameful ways of living. He won’t be ashamed in that respect, either. Paul doesn’t want to hide. He doesn’t want to be the sort of guy who shrinks back when the world threatens him. Instead, Paul recognizes that Christians should be among the most fearless of people. The future we have in Christ is bulletproof. God has saved us from our slavery to people-pleasing, and our fear of death, and our idolatry of worldly possessions, not so we’d crumple up into a paper ball – but we’d have the courage to affirm to the world that Jesus Christ is great.
Saved for Christ’s Honor
And this brings me to my sixth point – the sixth reason why Paul has confident joy in his salvation. It’s because he’s saved for Christ’s honor. You’ll see in verse 20 that Paul’s great aim – his chief goal – is that “now as always, Christ would be honored in his body, whether by life or by death.”
Part of this is because Paul recognizes that Jesus is supremely deserving of the world’s honor. Because if Jesus has really secured deliverance from every evil – if he has really has purchased never-ending happiness and immortality for us – then that means he’s the solution to every problem known to man. It means that he’s accomplished the greatest feat in the history of the world.
And we could think of several other reasons why Jesus deserves honor – his absolute, perfect sinlessness, his divine nature as God the Son, his role in creating the world, the greatness of his personal love for Paul and for us – it’s right for us, just as it was right for Paul, that we would honor Christ in our bodies, whether by life, or by death. This is what we were saved for.
Is Our Future at Stake?
Now, in our day and age, we need to recognize that almost every major American institution is overseen by people who deny Christ, his authority, and his worth. News networks frequently speak about Christian positions as though they’re extreme, outdated, or even hazardous. Professors at most universities rage against the Church, claiming that no one with brains should take it seriously. Certain branches of modern psychology will suggest that confessing our sins, repenting, and admitting our need to be saved by someone else, by Jesus – that it’s all harmful for our self-esteem and mental health. Holding to the Bible – believing what God has said – is becoming more costly than it ever was for our parents or grandparents.
But this doesn’t affect the certainty of our salvation. This doesn’t change the fact that God is working through our prayers, and by His Spirit to save and safeguard sinners until the final day of deliverance. We can have the same confidence that Paul had – we have every reason to have joy about the future with his same joy. So let’s ask God to help us stand firm to the end, with the same courage, so that in all things Christ may be honored in us, whether in life, or in death.