Complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this evening. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the chapter that we read together.
In Paul's epistle to the Philippians in chapter 1. And our text this
evening is found in verse 6. Paul's epistle to the Philippians
chapter 1 and verse 6. being confident of this very
thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ being confident of this very
thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Last week I was in conversation
with a friend of mine who is an elder in the Free Presbyterian
Church of Scotland. We were discussing the matter
of preaching the Gospel And he said to me, Andrew preach
from the great texts of the Bible. Preach from the great texts of
the Bible. And this being laid on my spirit,
can we not say tonight, is a great text of the Bible. Now if you're
an Arminian, you probably don't think it is. But friends, we
who love the doctrines of free, sovereign, discriminating, and
all prevailing grace, are familiar with this text.
But it's more than being familiar with the text, isn't it? Because
there are very rich truths that run right the way through. It is full of doctrinal, experimental,
and preceptual truth. Now first of all, by way of context,
we know that Paul visited the church at Philippi, and writing
to this church, We know the occasion, if we read Acts chapter 20, perhaps
you may wish to do so in your own time as you have it, this
Sabbath day in the evening. We read that Paul said in verse
6, and we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened
bread. So this church was visited after the uproar had ceased and
after they had been to Macedonia. And no doubt within that place
there were those souls of whom it became very precious to it. There was a uniting in the bonds
of the Gospel. And thus we have that evidenced
in the way that Paul writes. It's interesting. Notice verse
1, that Paul was writing to a church that had real scriptural order. Paul and Timotheus, the servants
of Jesus Christ to all the saints, in Christ Jesus, which are at
Philippi, a very typical greeting for Paul, but he says this, with
the bishops and Deacons. Here we have a principle of pastors
that word bishop means overseer and deacons. Now we know not specifically
whether there was more than one church but we can see here that
there were overseers and deacons to distinct offices of the Church. And this is what we stand for
distinctively as strict Baptist churches. And where this is not
the case, friends, where there is no pastor and sometimes where
there is only a single deacon or no deacon at all, we are outside
the realms of scriptural order. Here we can see Paul writing
to instruct this church and saying, Grace be unto you and peace.
Thanking them, we notice in verse 3, for every remembrance of you. I remember somebody saying to
me a number of years ago, he says, I shall pray for you whenever
I think of you." I thought that's an excellent principle. He says,
I won't say I'll pray for you every day because that's bondage.
He says, I shall pray for you whenever I think of you. What
an excellent precept. One that is found in the Word
of God. We believe the Gospel is the
believer's rule of life, don't we? That was our consideration
in the earlier part of the day. It was a liberty. in praying for those of whom
you feel a oneness. There is an appreciation here
for the people. The fellowship in the Gospel.
From the first day until now, from the very first meeting, there was a unity with them. Precious unity in the Gospel. Now, we have to be thankful if
we can go anywhere and find such unity. Being confident of this very
thing. Paul here speaks in our text
of a confidence. Now where is confidence derived
from? Well, confidence, is it not,
derived from certainties? From absolute certainties. And
again, tonight, if you believe in universal redemption, or this
rather strange view, that God has two wills, you have a problem. Because there isn't anything
to be confident about. But here there is every confidence.
There is every confidence. Confidence is born from certainties. And where is the confidence derived
from? He which hath begun a good work. Notice here the order. Notice here the language. Notice
here the way that Paul constructs this very sentence. The Scripture is very clear in
putting the crown on the right head. He which hath begun a good
work in you. So we can establish one thing,
can't we? That where there is spiritual
life, the Lord begins the work. And this is the point. When we read Paul's epistle to
the Romans, we can see Paul says unto the people, there is none
righteous, quoting of course the Psalms, no not one. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit, and so on. The language is very careful,
and here it's very plain. he which hath begun a good work
now we can see here that if the Lord
begins a work then it is a real work it is a real work there is a
real exercise of mind and heart something happens it's been a
great sadness of mine that I have seen people some of you may have
done as well, I don't know but I have seen people go all their
days they've become very old they've attended quite diligently
the means of grace they've come to the prayer meeting perhaps
they've contributed financially to the church. But you never see any change
in them. You never see any difference. They come in and out as a door
on its hinges. And that's all you ever see. Friends, when the Lord works,
there is fruit. There is fruit. Something happens. But you know, it's the Lord that
does the work. But when the Lord does the work,
something happens. It is a grave mistake to attempt
to push people into the kingdom. We've all seen that. And no doubt
we can all say it ends in disaster. It always has. Because the work
that is begun by a man will end in death. The work that is begun
by the Spirit will end in life. And you see, the Lord came that
ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly. But you know something really
does happen. To begin a good work. Well, what is the beginning of
the work? It is the witness of the spirit
within our souls in the convincing power of who
and what we are. You know there was a time when
I felt I'd got to leave the means of grace. I couldn't go on any
longer. It had done me no good. There
was a rebellion within me. But I couldn't leave because
it wouldn't leave me. And that's what you find. There
might be times when you feel you've had enough. It's all a deception. It's all
in vain. You can't go on any longer. Friends,
you'll have to. You'll have to. Because of the
constraining hand of the Spirit. You see, these are the experimental
truths that you don't find in common evangelicalism. They don't
want these things. Because if the emphasis is on
the Lord's work, it's in opposition to the flesh, isn't it? It's
in opposition to Andrew Fuller's Gospel. And it's in opposition
to the free will mentality of men today. Who think, I have
a right to do and choose God as I like. And I have a right
to His Kingdom. Friends, we've no rights. We've
no rights. We've no rights. We've only privileges.
Only privileges when it comes to God. If He begins the good
work, you can't leave. You can't leave. And you'll have
to come to the means of grace. You'll have to hear the Gospel
preached. And you'll have to have your case traced out. You'll
have to have it. You'll have to have it. And you'll
have to hear sin preached. In all its fullness. On all its
effects and what it does to you. In the conscience and in the
soul. You see, this is the good work, isn't it? That Paul is
preaching. He begins it. He begins it. He begins this work. And thus,
we go on. We go on. We hear the word preached. Now, this concerns, does it not,
the cause of Christ and the work of the Church. Paul was writing
to the Church that Philippi, in the context, we can see that. But you see the preaching of sin and of the law must always
finish in the preaching of a higher law and of the work of the Gospel. For the law came by Moses But
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And here we have it. This here respects the work of
Jesus Christ. You see, there's no need for
Jesus Christ if we don't feel the effects of sin, is there?
There's no need for Jesus Christ if we don't feel our lost state
and condition. There's no need for Jesus Christ
if we think that we've done well. I love the language that Paul
uses when he's writing to Timothy when he undertakes his pastorate
at Ephesus. A few people don't accept that,
but that's precisely what it was. It was his pastorate at
Ephesus. When he says, knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and the
disobedient and for the ungodly and for sinners and for the unholy
and for the profane and so on. That was the work of the law,
you see, is to convince who and what we are. But it brings us
into a fullness, doesn't it? It brings us into a revelation
here. He which hath begun a good work. Notice that this beginning of
the work is an internal work. He's begun the good work in you. The Lord works in the soul. He works in the soul. You and
I are eternity bound sinners. We each have souls. We each have
souls. And we're going to go somewhere.
There's no middle ground. There's no purgatory. And the
state in which we leave this world will be our state forever. As Solomon says, where the tree
falleth, there it shall be. But you see here, the work, the
good work which is begun will perform it. until the day
of Jesus Christ. Now, it must be clear in terms
of what this means. Dr. Gill rightly points out that
this is specifically meaning the work in the soul and not
the external work of the Gospel. Of course, the Lord will build
his church, the Lord will send out his servants, and the Lord
will establish his Gospel ordinances. But that's not the context here.
The meaning here is a spiritual one. And it is a personal one. It's personal. He hath begun a good work in
you and will perform it. You see, he begins the work,
he takes it and he continues it. He continues it. Now this continuance and this
day of Jesus Christ has more than a singular meaning.
There is within it the performing unto the day of Christ in respect
of the new birth. The Lord brings all his people
to a knowledge of himself. He will do so. Ye must be born
again. But you know it's more than that.
Because you know our salvation is threefold, isn't it? We have
been saved. We are being saved. And we will
be saved. There is a secureness of our
salvation. Our justification is in eternity. The redemption of the Lord, the
work of the atonement is an eternal work. There is a working out of these
things, a bringing about of these things in the providences of
life by the work of the Holy Spirit in the souls of men. But
then there is also the enduring, isn't there? there is also the
enduring, there is the seeing through, the performing until
the day of Jesus Christ. So yes it means salvation but
it also means until the end of our lives and the end of time. We have to always remember that
the events of life Everything that happens in this world happens
for the benefit of God's elect. Everything. Absolutely everything
happens for the benefits of God's elect. I endure all things for
my elect's sake. David says, he performeth all
things for me. In Psalm 57. So here we have the performance
of the work. Now you might say, well, this
is all very confusing to me. I don't know where I am tonight. I don't know what to say. Let me ask this question. Is there this continuance? Is there a constraining in the
things of the Gospel? Do you feel that the preaching
is a necessary thing for your soul? Can you continue without
the means of grace? If the Lord has begun a work
in your soul, you'll find you can't. You must keep coming. You must hear the Gospel. You
must hear the truth. And friends, you see, the thing
is this, the Gospel invitations are for those who have no righteousness
of their own. The law wasn't there for a righteous
man. The law wasn't made for a righteous
man. You see, it's the It's the fruits
of the Gospel. It's the blessings of the Gospel.
It's the higher law of the Gospel that's for those who feel they
need mercy. For those who feel they need
forgiveness. For those who feel they need
a feast of fat things. Where's your soul tonight? I
can't plead with you. I can't plead with you to make
any decision. I can't tell you it's your duty
to repent and believe. But what I can say is this. The
Scripture is plain. Those who feel their need of
Christ are welcome to Him. Those are the invitations of
the Gospel. Those are the doctrines that we preach. Those are the
distinctives that we find. Because in every case, friends,
we find that the Gospel invitations are for those who have no righteousness
of their own. He'll take it and he'll perform
the work. He will perform the work. What is this salvation? What
is this profession, this possession of Christ, and this profession
of Christ? Well it is always to be taken out of yourself. Salvation will never be found
in self. Mercy and peace will never be
found in self. You see by nature we are very
self-righteous creatures aren't we? We are very self-righteous
creatures. We always like to come and attempt
to offer something unto a holy God. We've got nothing to offer.
Nothing to offer. The work of the soul here is
being explained. And if you've experienced this
work of grace in your own soul, what does it bring about? It
brings about the emphasis that we find in our first clause. Being confident of this very
thing. Being confident. If we've had any time at all
on the way, on the Christian life, we learn lessons, don't
we? We learn what it is to possess
a precious Christ and we know what it is to prove Him through
the events of life. And that brings about a confidence. A confidence, not a presumption.
We don't say doubtless we are the people, wisdom will die with
us. We've got the answers to everything. Friends, there are
always lessons to learn. Life itself is a spiritual education
from the moment of the new birth onwards. But he's taking this
work, he's taking this work and he's performing it. You see the
Lord will have vessels fit for his service, won't he? And the experiences of your life
and the experiences of your soul are to fit you for the sphere
of service that He has for you. He'll take the work and He'll
perform it. You see you might also say this
if you feel cast down tonight. The Lord only begins the work
of grace in souls that are His living people. He doesn't begin
the work of grace in the reprobate. That's a fact. It's the truth.
The Lord only works in his elect people. There's no such thing
as being saved today and lost tomorrow. What kind of a salvation
is that? He only works in his people,
being confident of this very thing. And not to say there is a confidence
in the Christian life. There is a confidence. There
is an assurance. There is a peace. Some men preach as though such
things are unattainable or such things are only for a very rare
few number of Christians. The origin of that is the Church
of Rome. We can't hold with that. Friends, if you want to know
what liberty is, read the new treatise that has just come on
William Gatsby's position on the law and the gospel. I don't
think I have ever read anything in such a long time that's been
such a tonic to the soul. To be free from the law in the
liberty of Jesus Christ. will do more for you than any
legal work I can tell you. And here there is this principle,
isn't there? Of the Lord working in the soul. This internal work.
And because it's an internal work, I would say this. Occasionally,
you may hear people pronounce upon other spiritual condition. It's a very dangerous thing to
do. It's also an unscriptural principle. There's a lad I used to hear
people say, I'm not so sure so-and-so so-and-so is a right character. Really? The scripture says let
the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest. He'll
separate his people. He'll separate his people. He'll separate the wheat from
the tares. He's saying it's done by this
eternal work. And this proving, this beginning
the work and continuing the work. Don't we all so notice this?
He that endureth to the end shall be saved. You and I have met
people sometimes in fairly high profile
positions in life. And they've appeared to be one
thing and they turn out to be another. Because they don't endure. And there was never any good
work there as far as we can see in the first place. The Lord
knows. The Lord knows. but one sure mark of being in
the covenant of grace is that the Lord continues. And more
than that, throughout this life there is then a maturity, a maturing
in the faith, a growth in grace, not progressive sanctification,
Men that will put you back under the law, they'll tell you that
there's a progression in your sanctification. You get more
and more holy and the old man gets less and less powerful and
so on. Well, you'll soon find that's
not the case. It's a heavy yoke is the law,
you know, friends. It's a heavy yoke. What you'll
find is that because we're nothing, and we'll never be anything,
Christ is all and in all. And you will learn a further
dependence upon Him. And we learn a further dependence
upon the Spirit of God. And when the events of life,
which try us and take us, perhaps by surprise and perhaps through
deep grief unto us, we know where to go. We go to
a throne of grace. We cast ourselves upon the Lord,
being confident of this very thing. You might say, well, this
has arisen. How am I going to get through
this? This is a problem. I'm going to be sunk. My profession is going to be
a disgrace. I can't endure. I can't go on. Friends, the Lord knows. The
Lord knows where do we stand in respect of these things. He
knows. He knows exactly where we are. He knows exactly what
we are passing through. And he takes this and he performs
it. And he always performs it to
our eternal spiritual good. Verse 11, being filled with the
fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and the praise of God. Paul knew something of difficulty. He'd been thrown in jail met
opposition, wherever he went, there was always trouble. Always
trouble, wherever he went. But I would ye should understand
brethren, that the things which happened to me have fallen out
rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel. In other words, all
the attempts to keep him down, all the attempts to suppress
the Gospel that he preached, all the attempts to stop him. Some of us know about that. Some of us know about that. They
all failed. They all failed. Because the
Lord would have him. That his Gospel would go forth. And the work of gracing Paul's
soul was used, was it not, unto the furtherance of the Gospel.
Not only in preaching, But in his life, in the letter that
he wrote here, in this epistle to the Philippians, and the other
epistles that he wrote instructing the churches, which we benefit
from today by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. If we prove the Lord and we prove
His goodness, and we prove His everlasting mercy, Do we not
have every grounds to say that we're being confident in this
very thing? You say that good work begun. Nothing will prevent it, will
it? You might say, are you saying
to me that if the Lord will have me to be saved, It's irresistible and I can't
prevent it. That's exactly what I'm saying.
The Lord makes his people willing in the day of his power. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power. But you won't ask for these things.
But the Lord will bring you into all these precious truths that
we have here. And what is this friends? This
is the sovereignty of the Lord in operation, isn't it? The sovereignty
of God, yes it is seen in the outward effects of nature, and
the events of life, and the happenings in this world, but more than anything Is it
not seen in the grace of God within the soul? Creation, yes,
is a miracle. But recreation? What a miracle that is. What
a powerful evidence of the work of Christ. To begin the work in the soul. To bring a soul into new life. To take it and perform it. You see there's an endurance
here. There's a solid endurance. A solid endurance. To fight the fight. of faith
to continue on in the face of adversity. And what we find is
that the Lord is the root of all these things. You see, whenever the Lord reveals
Himself, He always reveals Christ, isn't it? It's the ministry of
the Spirit to reveal Christ. Whenever the Lord reveals anything,
He reveals Christ. And you'll make Christ precious
to your soul. Not just at the new birth, but
throughout this life. You know, I get a bit concerned when people pay too much emphasis. There is a time when the Lord
brings us to the Kingdom. But there is too much emphasis,
I feel, on a particular experience that happened 10, 15, 20 or 30
years ago. You can't live on a meal that
you had 10 years ago. You can't live on a meal that
you had 10 days ago. Don't we need fresh supplies
of grace? Fresh supplies of mercy? Fresh
supplies of enduring power? It's true, His mercies are new
every morning. And He does more for us than
we can ask or even think. It's in our brain tonight. If we feel cast down, if we feel
we cannot go on, if we feel we cannot endure, if we feel sick
of self, then we have to look to Christ, who remembereth our
frame, and knoweth we are but dust, being confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Well, I'll leave it there
for this evening. May the Lord and His blessing.
Amen.