Well, let's turn to Philippians chapter four. As we continue our study through the book of Philippians, I keep having ambitions that I'll at least preach a paragraph, but I've not gotten that far yet. I'm still in a verse a week at this point, and that's where we are tonight. Philippians four and verse five. I have preached this before. It was, um, I don't know. 13 years ago, maybe when I was a pastor in California serving alongside of one of my professors. And it was as if it was all fresh to me this week. It was as if, where have I been? Have I ever studied this before? And so I, I hope it'll be a blessing to you as it has been a great encouragement and challenge to my own heart in Philippians 4, 5. So I want to, I want to preach on a study, this verse, and then we'll have a time and and incorporate prayer together. So let me read it. In fact, let me just read verse 5, just the one verse. It's not detached from the context. It's very much a part of the context. I'm going to talk about that, but I just want to read Philippians 4, verse 5. The apostle Paul says, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Father, guide us into all truth as we gaze upon even our Savior, the Lord Jesus, the one who was himself the perfect embodiment of gentleness as we look forward to his return. Do this work, we pray, by the power of your Holy Spirit. For those of us who have been born again, encourage us, conform us more into Christ's likeness. If there is someone in this room who is not a true believer, Holy Spirit, we come to you begging, pleading, asking that you would blow the wind of sovereign grace and regenerate that lost soul even tonight. In Jesus name, amen. In our verse by verse study through the book of Philippians, we come to this verse in the wise providence of God and the perfect plan of God that is needed for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in our day. I didn't plan it like this. I didn't, I didn't schedule it like this. This is just the perfect providence and wise counsel of God bringing this before us as we preach verse by verse through God's word. Our text tells us in verse five that we are commanded to be, to be gentle, to be gentle. If there was ever a man who let his gentle spirit be made known to all men. The perfect embodiment was found in the Lord Jesus Christ. But we could also, I guess, survey scripture and find other examples as well. You think of, think of Daniel and Daniel chapter six, how he was falsely accused. He was suffering. He was treated unfairly and thrown into a den of hungry lions unjustly treated. Or you think of Joseph in the early books of the Bible, Genesis chapters 37 to 50 really gives kind of the life account of Joseph, a man who was unfairly unjustly treated and yet who humbly received what God had for him. Joseph is a man who evidenced great great gentleness or David, even David in the book of second Samuel at chapters 15 to 18, who was unjustly treated and pursued by Absalom, his own son, uh, falsely accused and falsely treated and pursued even for his life by Absalom. Jeremiah unjustly treated thrown into prison, thrown into a cistern, uh, beaten, treated unfairly by the people of Israel in Jeremiah 11. in Jeremiah 20. But I think the greatest example that we could gaze upon is the Lord Jesus Christ, right? The Lord Jesus Christ. We've been looking at the gospel of Luke on Sundays. And I think of Luke chapter 22, how, how Jesus was betrayed with a kiss by, by Judas in the garden of Gethsemane. He was arrested with swords and clubs, like, like, like as if he was a robber, as if he was somebody dangerous that they had to fear for their lives and for their own physical safety. In Luke 23, we read that they falsely accused Jesus. They would heap these insults and these accusations and these vehement attacks and even violent attacks against the Lord Jesus Christ. We even read later in 2 Corinthians 10, in verse 1, that the Apostle Paul described Jesus as being meek, and gentle or one who was humble and gentle, humble and gentle. I've been studying the book of first Peter on my own, just in my own time of feeding and nourishment of my soul. And one of the things that I've come to again and again and again is two verses in first Peter chapter three, verse 18, where it says Christ died for sins once for all. the just for the unjust so that he might bring us to God. First Peter 3, 18. And then later on first Peter 2, 23, or before that, rather Peter writes that Jesus entrusted himself to God who judges righteously. When he was insulted, he did not retaliate. He did not open his mouth, but he kept entrusting himself to God who judges righteously. I think we can learn from this. I think we can learn greatly from this, that in a word, as we look at verse five tonight, we as the people of God, we must resolve to be known for our gentleness. I want to, I want to state that up front and then define it as we go through it. But we want to resolve to be known for being gentle. But what does that mean? Why does God command gentleness of all Christians? Why does he call us and charge us and command us and exhort us to be gentle? Well, our text is going to give great, great help tonight. Now, a little bit of background. Here's where we are in Philippians chapter 4. The apostle Paul is writing this letter, brief letter, to the congregation that he loves, right? In the city of Philippi. It's a Roman colony. They prided themselves. They prided themselves. The Philippians did. The city did. And that we've got Roman status. We've got Roman citizenship. We've got all the privileges of being a Roman citizen, even though we live in Philippi. But the believers are suffering for their faith. They are living in a culture where it is Caesar who claims to be kurios, Lord. and Soter, Savior. Church has been called out of that where they have now bowed the knee to Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior. Paul writes this letter to this church, and he told him in chapter one, the gospel must be your priority. He tells him in chapter two that they've got to live humble lives as they emulate Jesus. In chapter three, he explains the biblical gospel and he exposes error and falsehood. And now in chapter four, he's going to give practical admonitions and practical commands as he draws the letter to a close and calling them to unity. and godly conduct. Remember a couple of weeks ago, verse one of chapter four, Paul just lavishes love upon this congregation, right? He says, therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see, you're my joy, you're my crown. I mean, he just heaps these phrases of affection upon the believers. And verse one has stand firm in the faith, stand firm in the Lord. Well, how do you do that? Well, verse two, he calls them to live a life of unity. Verse three, he tells them to remember their heavenly position. Their names are in the book of life. In verse four, he calls them to live a life rejoicing always. And again, I say rejoice. How do you stand firm in the Lord? He's going to add verse five, be gentle. And then the end of verse five, Anticipate the soon coming of the Lord Jesus. So basically where we are tonight in verse five, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. It's actually further fleshing out Paul's charge, Paul's command to the church. Stand firm in the Lord. Here's how we stand firm. Here is the way that we are not shaken in a culture where we are bombarded with falsehood and false gospels and injustice and persecution and suffering and unrighteousness and godlessness. How do we stand firm? We're going to see two more ways that Paul fleshes that out for us tonight. In fact, these are Paul's remarks to the church at Philippi. but it's given to us by the Holy Spirit in his word. And so we know that these are exhortations from God, the spirit to your soul and to my soul as well. So let's hear how we stand firm. Now your outline is two headings, how to stand firm. Number one in your outline tonight, we are to allow gentleness to permeate your relationships. That's what we're going to read at the beginning of verse five. Allow gentleness to permeate your relationships. So you live in a Christless culture. So do the Philippians. You live in troubling times. So do the Philippians. You've got pagan leadership. So do the Philippians. How are we to be easily recognized as we live in this culture? We are to have an aroma of gentleness that is unmistakable about us. But really much of the Bible study that I want to give tonight is a word study. on gentleness. It's a word study on gentleness because it is so entirely other worldly. It's hard for us. This is so counterintuitive to who we are as our nature to be gentle. And I hope to show that to you as we go through this year in a little bit, you see it in your text. Verse five, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. In the Greek New Testament, the way that Paul writes is he fronts a word for emphasis. It's the word gentle. In the Greek language, you can put things first in the word order to emphasize something, for prominence, for greater highlighting. And Paul does that here with the word gentle. He puts it first, and the word gentleness, maybe for a brief, brief definition, it speaks of being merciful. It speaks of being big hearted. To be gentle is like somebody who has goodwill, a friendliness about them. Let me describe it negatively. A gentle person is somebody who does not insist on every right of the letter of the law. It's a person who does not stand on his rights unduly, but he is content to receive a smaller share if needed. Quite frankly, here's somebody who's willing to be harmed. He's unjustly treated, though he might even have the law on his side. He might even have his rights that he could go to. But the gentleness that Paul is referring to here, the way that he uses this word, it's one who is willing and ready to yield what we call our rights, our position, our pride, our preference. In fact, here's what's so difficult about it. The gentle person that verse five talks about, it's a willingness to be wronged. It's a willingness to be wronged. It's a willingness to be unfairly treated. It's a willingness to be shamed, to be humiliated. It's somebody who does not prioritize and it's not somebody who demands his personal rights. That's the meaning of this word. I like the way one. One one older commentator put it. He said the word gentleness could be translated sweet Reasonableness a sweet reasonableness Now now there are a number of words that could be translated gentleness in the New Testament This is one of them that brings out the more of the idea of yielding our rights, yielding our position, yielding our pride. It's receiving unfair treatment. It's receiving shame. It's receiving humiliation. And it's a requirement for all church elders. First Timothy three, verse three, elders must not be addicted to wine or pugnacious, but they must be here's the word. gentle, unfairly treated. I could give up my rights. I'm shamed. I'm humiliated. I yield my pride. A Titus chapter three, verse two extends it to all believers. Titus three, two, we must malign no one. We must be peaceable and gentle showing consideration for all men. James three, you remember the wisdom that comes down from above, right? There's, there's earthly wisdom that's natural and demonic, but then there's a heavenly wisdom that comes down from above. And James three 17, the wisdom from above is first pure and then peaceable, then gentle and reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits. Unwavering without hypocrisy. Sometimes when we think of gentleness, we think of wimpiness, but the word gentle doesn't mean wimpy. It doesn't mean wimpy. Rather, the word gentle here refers to the exact opposite of a spirit of contention. A gentle person is somebody who is not contentious. It's somebody who is not a fighter. He's not a quarreler. He's not a self seeker. This person is determined and, and he is committed. He is resolved in his heart to live with a, with a kind of like self denying kindness, a self denying kindness toward others. I forget if I put this in your outline, but the gentle person spoken of here is the one who suffers ill treatment. And yet he's able to suffer. He's able to submit to injustice and disgrace and even maltreatment without responding in attitudes of hatred or thoughts of malice, because he trusts God in spite of it all. So when I'm accused, when I am unjustly treated, when I'm disgraced, when I'm maltreated, and everything in me is boiling and rising and wanting to retaliate, this kind of gentle person is the one who says, I will not respond even with an attitude of hatred. And I won't respond even with thoughts of malice. Why? because I trust God to handle it. Vengeance is mine. I will repay declares the Lord Deuteronomy 32. Now this is all around us. I mean, you and I could even practically apply this by saying what, when, when you and I were misunderstood this morning or this week or this month, When you and I were mistreated today or this week or this month, when you and I were maybe publicly humiliated or publicly shamed or mistreated or misunderstood by somebody, how did we respond? You see, that's getting to the heart of this word and how we respond to this kind of treatment. Notice all of that is trying to flesh out the meaning of verse five. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. Let it be known to all men. Now there is a man who is a scholar in the ancient languages. Moise Silva, you have his quote there. I think it's a brilliant quote. He says, believers whose primary concern is whether or not they are being dealt with fairly. Now that's the key phrase. If I'm concerned with whether I'm being dealt with fairly, they will fail to exercise a fundamental element of Christian behavior, namely preferring others above myself. If I've got to be treated fairly, then that's a selfish attitude. And that's the very heartbeat of Paul's letter to the Philippians, that I prefer others above myself because that's what Jesus did, right? In Philippians chapter two. Now, he's writing to believers. If you're a Christian in this room, you are a grace receiver, right? You are a recipient of grace. Non-believers who have not received God's saving grace, non-believers can be stiff. Non-believers can be bristly. They can be unbending at times. But it ought not to be so with the children of God who have received grace upon grace. We have been recipients of divine grace. So just as God has not treated us fairly, just as he has lavished grace upon us, so we show and lavish grace upon others, upon others. This is the gospel. This is the gospel. This is what our God has done with us. You see, Jesus was unjustly treated. He was unfairly treated. He was mistreated. He was, he was abused. He was accused. He was, he was, he was shamed. And yet he received it with not any thought of malice, no attitude of bitterness or anger. What a savior we worship. who is righteous in all things and lavishes grace upon us, lavishes mercy upon us. So we who have received that saving grace are now enabled and we are equipped to show this grace toward others. By the way, notice verse five, let your gentle spirit be made known to all men, not just to the church. That's, that's, that's a little bit easier. But what about to those that come knocking at your door saying you need to bow down to Caesar or you're going to lose your job or we're going to murder your family or we're going to kill you. You're a Christian, so your tax is double. Let your gentle spirit be made known to all men. And the way that it could be translated is let everybody see your gentleness. Be known for this. Let your reputation be that you're a gentle man and a gentle woman. We all want to be known for something, right? We all want to be known for and have people remember us for something. Here's a good verse. Be known by all men for being a gentle Christian in this sense of the word, a gentle Christian. So Paul encourages these beleaguered group of Christians in Philippi. And frankly, all of us by application to, to let our gentle spirit be evident to all, even when we are stripped of honor and even when we are treated unjustly and we're shamed in public. Oh, that's hard. It's hard. We understand that everything in our flesh wants to rise up against that. We understand that. And yet Paul reminds us in Philippians 1.1, we are in Christ. We have a new identity. We've been made new. We've been transformed. We've been united to Jesus Christ by faith alone as we've turned from our sinful ways and we've trusted in Christ. And God, by His grace, has joined us to Christ. So we have a new identity. We've got a new nature. We have a new destiny. We have a new ability. We can be gentle. We can. I was reflecting on this and sitting back in my chair thinking, okay, so how do you do this? How do you do? It's one thing to say, boy, I feel convicted. I feel like I need to change, but how? What does it look like? Well, follow with me. I just want to read these very briefly. Number one, how do we do this in your outline? Number one, live by God's unchanging truth. not by your emotions or feelings. That is so key. We cannot allow our emotions or feelings to rule us, but we want to live by God's truth. Number two, we want to emulate Jesus, our Savior, who was gentle toward all, even when treated harshly and unfairly. Number three is a recipient of divine and undeserved grace. We want to show this other worldly grace to others. Number four, remember the priority is the spread of the gospel and not the preserving of my comfort or my so-called rights. Number five, fortify your hope on the soon coming of Christ who Paul said earlier, he's going to subject all things to himself and he will avenge all wrongs. Maybe, maybe there's something or someone or some situation or some event or some circumstance in your life where, where there is that tendency for you to rise up in an attitude of anger or resentment or hostility or defense, self-defense. And what does the Lord say to us most mercifully as the people of God, that we can imitate our savior to let our gentle spirit be made known to the Christian community and to the lost pagan persecutors as well. That's what our savior calls us to. That's what, that's what God calls us to. And we can do it who have put our faith in Christ. So we want to be those who allow gentleness just to permeate our relationships May that be even a prayer that we would utter tonight. God, make me a gentle person. God, help me to respond with gentleness in these ways or in these situations. But Paul's not done. Because in verse five, he adds another phrase, and this is heading to, and I just, I want to go through this a little bit quickly. It's a little bit self-explanatory, but The second way that we stand firm is not just to allow gentleness to permeate our relationships, but number two, we are to anticipate the soon coming of Christ. It's almost like a thunder like phrase, short, quick, lightning like phrase and a verse five. The Lord is near. The Lord is near. Now, I have to tell you, this is part of the job of the preacher, of the Bible interpreter. What does the text mean by what it says? Because there are two very biblical and very good options of what this could mean. Number one, it could mean that Jesus is near spatially to us. He's near us. He's next to us. He's close beside us. He's my friend. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. That kind of spatial idea. And that's biblical. But I think Paul, given the context, is speaking about the Lord's nearness temporally. He's going to return soon. He's going to return soon. He's coming soon. He's returning quickly. His arrival is near. He is coming down soon for his people. I think, I think Paul's saying believers live in unity in the church. Rejoice in the church, suffer maltreatment and respond with gentleness. Why? Because Jesus is coming soon and he'll handle all wrongs and he will bless and reward his people. First Corinthians 16 says the Lord come quickly. Hebrews 10, 37, soon the Lord will come. James 5, verse 8, be patient till the coming of the Lord. Revelation 22, verse 20, I am coming quickly. I think the context, the very end of chapter three, verse 20 and 21 talks about how we eagerly await for a savior. Chapter three, verse 20 and 21, the Lord Jesus, he's coming soon from heaven. So, we can, Philippians 4, be unified. We can be joyful. We can be gentle. Because Jesus is at the door. Because salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. So, Christian, remember this tonight. Jesus is not far off. He is not far off. He is very near. How, in the bigger context, how could we give ourselves to division? How could we give ourselves to disunity and pride and joylessness and defending our rights and unmerciful disposition toward one another when we know that Jesus is coming soon? Paul is reminding the flock, hey, you live in Philippi, And there's a whole lot of suffering there, but be encouraged. Jesus is coming soon. He's coming soon to reward his people and to judge all non believers. I think there's many people that aren't ready for the return of the Lord. I think there's many people that are procrastinating. Many people that know about Jesus, but they don't know him intimately. There are many that know about faith and they've heard about faith, but they don't have saving faith in Christ alone. and all that he has done and they're not ready and they're not prepared for the near the soon coming of Christ. You have in your outline some ways that we can practically respond to the Lord's nearness in his coming. But may the Lord help us by his grace by his grace that we would let our gentleness Be made known to all men. We serve a gracious God. We serve a merciful God. We serve a forgiving God and we serve a God who is near. He is soon coming for us. What a great text that God has given to us living in the day in which we live living in the culture and in the society in which we live. May the Lord mark these words upon our hearts. I was reading about a year ago. I was to preach a message on a man named Roland Taylor at a place. He was a pastor in Hadley, England during the days of Queen Mary, Bloody Mary in the 1500s. Roland Taylor was an English reformer. He was a man who preached the Bible. He was a man who believed the biblical gospel. He loved his congregation. He loved his enemies and he had many. He was a man of great holiness. He was later tricked by some enemies who hated him. They went to his church to perform a mass. Well, he came storming through the back doors and, I mean, just lit the place up. He was called before the authorities in England because of that. He came out of obedience to the call. He was a man who was gentle toward his persecutors. He loved believers and he was gentle toward even the harsh opponents of the faith. Well, Roland Taylor was brought before the authorities in England and he was brought before the Catholic Stephen Gardner. And when Stephen Gardner saw Roland Taylor come through the doors, he reviled him. Blasphemed him, blasted him with names, called him a traitor and a heretic with many arrogant reproaches. All of which Roland Taylor just received, received, received, received didn't retaliate. Finally, Roland Taylor, when he was all done with the revilings, responded and he said, My Lord, I am neither a traitor nor am I a heretic, but I am a true subject to the kingdom and I am a faithful Christian man. And I've come here according to your command. And the Bishop, filled with anger at Roland Taylor, said, you come like this, you villain? How dare you look at me in the face for shame? Don't you know who I am? Roland Taylor said, oh, I know who you are. You are Dr. Stephen Gardner, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, and yet you're a mortal man. If I should be afraid of your lordly looks, shouldn't you fear God, the Lord of all of us? How dare you for shame look at any Christian man in the face seeing that you have forsaken the truth and you've denied our Savior Christ and you've denied his word and you've not been faithful to God. He was a bold man. How, Stephen Gardner, how will you appear before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. Well, that got him immediately sentenced to prison. He was in prison for two years until they hauled him out to be burned at the stake on February 5th, 1555. He was one of those men who was so known in his congregation and in his community for being a man of gentleness. When he was reviled, when he was tricked, when he was falsely accused, when he was shamed, when he was slandered, he let go of his pride and all of his rights. He took it, he received it, and he lived as a man who sought to emulate his Savior. May that be true. of all of us as well, right? Philippians four, verse five, let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Father, thank you for your word. Oh God, we pray that you would work in us. Oh, convict us whole Lord. Oh, by the, by the, by the perfect chiseling power. Would you show us, O God, where we need to grow in being gentle? And would you remind us of the lavish grace that our Lord and Savior Jesus has toward us and that we would walk in holiness, that we would remember that the Lord is near and live in godliness in Jesus name. Amen.