The Book of Life is God's eternal purpose of election by which He chose a people to salvation from before the world was made. God has a personal, particular, chosen people and the Book of Life contains their names. All those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and will enter heaven with Him.  

The Lord Jesus Christ is the most important person in our lives. However, the Apostle Paul teaches us that there are those who are enemies of His cross and His gospel. We cannot be friends with those who deny His truth. Our conversation is in heaven. By grace, through faith we are a heavenly people with heavenly desires. Soon the Lord will come and take us to Himself.

The Apostle Paul is eager to stress the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the complete sufficiency of that work for His people’s full salvation. However, Paul does not wish to appear complacent or self-satisfied so as to rest on his laurels. He has a race to run, a prize to receive, a glory to obtain and he presses on to follow Christ according to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  

The Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian believers about Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s faith and the power of Christ’s resurrection. These three subjects encapsulate the gospel of God’s free grace to sinners and speak of our eternal security, our present blessedness and our future glory.

It is good to be able to assess what is important in life. Too often we find ourselves pre-occupied with cares and concerns that really are not important at all. Here Paul teaches us to value the Lord Jesus and knowledge of Him as our Saviour. There is no greater privilege in life than winning Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ was given three jobs to do by God in the covenant of grace.

1. To dispense all blessings in His mediatorial office.

2. To redeem the elect &reconcile them to God.

3. To present the elect holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight.

He successfully accomplished them all.

We often speak about the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ but what does this phrase mean? In this passage Paul teaches us seven amazing truths concerning the glorious Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Afterwards He will speak of Christ's wonderful works.

The Apostle Paul trusted in the Lord Jesus, not only for grace and salvation but for all things in life as Christ’s servant. He hoped to send Timothy to Philippi to preach to the saints there and commended his young friend as a faithful preacher who would lift up Christ and preach the gospel.

The Apostle Paul trusted in the Lord Jesus, not only for grace and salvation but for all things in life as Christ’s servant. He hoped to send Timothy to Philippi to preach to the saints there and commended his young friend as a faithful preacher who would lift up Christ and preach the gospel.

Believers are lights in this world because we dwell in Christ and serve His cause by faith. Believers shine in the darkness of this world not because of what we do and don't do but because of who and what we are and, especially, whose we are.

The Apostle Paul is not implying that men and women can work towards their own salvation in these verses. Rather he is showing that the God who lives and dwells in the hearts and lives of His people is willing and doing His purpose in our lives to the glory of His name.

The God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, has been given a name a name above every name. He has been glorified by His Father above all things in heaven, on earth and under the earth because He finished the work He was commissioned to do. Christ glorified His Father by coming to Redeem His people from their sins and His Father glorified His Son for accomplishing that work.

Paul is encouraging humility amongst the Lord's people. He tells them to 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus'. Following Christ's example is the measure of a believer's life. The Apostle goes on to show how Christ's incarnation, suffering and death exemplifies true humility and in so doing provides a beautiful account of the Lord Jesus Christ's divinity.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the believer's pattern of life. He gives is spiritual life by the gift of His faith and He sustains that life in Himself. He calls us to honour and serve Him with our lives which we are happy to do. Christ is both our Enabler and our Example. He teaches us how we should live and enables us to follow Him.

The gospel is God's promise to save His people by the blood of Jesus Christ. It is the message of redemption accomplished and applied by the grace of God alone and experienced by the gift of faith alone. It is to the gospel we look as believers for all our acceptance with God and to Christ on the cross for all our example of how to libe in this world.

Because the Apostle Paul trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ he had confidence that whether he lived or died God would be glorified and Christ's church would be blessed.

The church at Philippi was anxious that the gospel of God would be hindered by Paul's extended period in prison. However, the Apostle wrote to reassure them that the Lord Jesus would accomplish all His purpose and that far from hindering the gospel "the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel". The Apostle explains why this is so.

The Apostle Paul prayed for his friends in Philippi that they might grow in gospel knowledge and spiritual judgment. He prayed they might learn to approve things that are excellent. He prayed they might be filled with the fruits of God’s righteousness in their hearts. What he prayed for them is a prayer of us all. Let us add our Amens!

The work of grace in the life of a believer is a work of God. It is Our Triune God who has begun the work of grace and it is He who will complete it until the end of our lives.

The Apostle Paul’s epistle to the church at Philippi teaches us the importance of grace and peace in the preaching of the gospel. Grace is God’s free gift and peace with God has been obtained for all who believe by the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.