means perpetually to overflow. The word originally carried the idea to exceed a fixed number or measure. So he is praying that they might con tinually be filled with the Spirit, over flowing from their lives to others. Knowledge is the basis of being filled with the Spirit. It refers to the understanding which is a c q u i r e d through the experience of study. We need to know Bible doctrine. This teaches us how to be filled with the Holy Spirit and how to claim the promises of God. There are many Christians today who are defeated, miserable and frustrated. They are living lives which are not pleasing to the Lord. The problems they face come from looking at life from the human viewpoint. They are constant ly filled with envy, pride and jealousy. They hide behind a hypocritical front of legalism and only produce misery for themselves, as well as for those around them. They live in the energy of the flesh. While they may deceive other Christians, they still cannot de ceive God. The problem may well be that they are ignorant of doctrine. How many of you know the doctrine of divine essence? How many of you understand the various functions of the three persons in the Trinity? How many of you understand the doctrine of eternal security? How many of you know the 34 things a person receives at the moment of salvation? If you do not then how can you live them? This is the knowledge of love. The word “judgment” is literally “discernment.” Here is the basic foun dation for inner peace which is the by product of Christianity and the right and privilege of every born-again believer. It may be that someone reading these words is without Christ, with out hope, and without eternal life. At this very moment you may have the righteousness of God by faith in Christ. It is true that we are sinners. The penalty of sin is death, but Christ died for our sins and the blessed prom ise of Scripture is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” 35
goes far beyond this. It has a mean ing which is reflected in every pattern of our lives. Verse seven gives us Paul’s attitude toward these faithful believers, “Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, becai’se I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.” He means that it is right and fitting for him to have such thoughts. There are three areas in which these Philippians were holding Paul dear in their hearts. F irst of all, it was because of his bonds in prison. Second, it was in the defense or the court room where Paul’s trial would soon come up. Third, it was in the area of confirmation which is basically evangelism. They meant when Paul preaches and someone finds Christ as Saviour, it simply confirms the Gospel. “Partakers” actually means that they were co-sharers in the grace of God. The same is true with us as we faith fully stand by the ministry and His ministers. There is no doubt of Paul’s cer tainty as he tells them, “For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ” (verse 8). The record is really his wit ness. The tense here means that he keeps on longing after these whom he dearly loves. He has a strong love and affection for them. The word “bowels” is not a vulgar term for it really means the inner affections; the “stom ach brain” the ancients called it. This is how true love is to affect us as well. In verses nine through eleven, we see Paul as the prayer warrior. It will bring real spiritual benefit to our souls to mark carefully all Scriptural pray ers. “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.” The love here is not some maudlin senti mentality. but rather it refers to the divine love which is produced by the filling of the Spirt. The Lord Himself is always the motivating factor. Paul is praying for these Philippians to be filled with the Spirit so that they might produce divine love. To abound
Made with FlippingBook Annual report