It's good to look out and see
each one of you. It's a joy to be with you. I'm
thankful that the Lord has given us this opportunity. It's in
His providence. We don't think enough about God's
providence and what He does for us. Many times we look back and
say, well, there's God's hand, but we're thankful that He's
brought us together this morning and we want to serve and worship
Him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Our Father, we're grateful today that we can meet together. We're
thankful that we have Your Word and Your Spirit to guide us with
Your Word. If we didn't have it, there'd
be no use for us meeting, but we're thankful that You've given
it to us. We're thankful for these that's
gathered here this morning, each and every one. And we know as
we gather, we have different needs, but Thou art able this
morning in Thy wisdom, in Thy power, to meet the need of each
one that's gathered, whatever that it is. We thank you for
this. We're thankful that you know
our hearts and our minds. And we're thankful that you,
the scripture says, you're going to do us good. We just appreciate
everything that you do for us. We think about life, and you
the giver of life. Then we think about spiritual
life, that you are the giver of it. And you've given us life,
and it's called eternal life, everlasting life. We know that
physical life is just for a time, but everlasting life is forever. And we're thankful that You've
given that unto us. It's from a gift from Thee. And
we bow before Thee, thanking Thee as the Sovereign God of
this universe. We're thankful for this people
that are gathered here this morning to meet. And we just ask that
You bless each heart, so the blessing to every heart that's
gathered here. And we look unto Thee. We don't look to man and man's
wisdom and man's power, but we look to Thy power and Thy wisdom. We ask that You take Your Word
this morning and just put it in our hearts, that it go forth,
that it be fruit from Thy blessed Word. So we ask you blessings. We are thankful for our gathering,
for each one that's gathered. In Christ's name, Amen. Turn
with me this morning to the book of Philippians. And I'll read one verse and we'll
turn over to Timothy. So I got Timothy and read a verse
and we'll turn back to Philippians. the first chapter and then we'll
turn to Philippians second chapter. Several weeks ago I worked upon
this message. I haven't used it before but
I just worked on it and the Lord laid on my heart for today. I
take it that as I worked on it a couple weeks ago or three weeks
ago, it's for today. So, talk about God's salvation
or divine salvation. God's salvation is a supernatural
work. It's called a miracle of grace. And it is a new birth. And from
the new birth comes new life. You can't call the tree good
if it bears evil fruit. But let's look at divine salvation
this morning and God's salvation. In chapter 1 of the book of Philippians,
in verse number 6, Paul writes, Paul says, being confident. What is his confidence this morning? You know, he was a great apostle,
and we'd do good to have the same confidence that he had,
wouldn't we? Being confident that this very thing, he that
has begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. Now, we'd have that same confidence
this morning. If God's begun a good work in
you, He's going to perform that to the day of Jesus Christ. Turn
over with me to 2 Timothy, and we'll turn back in just a minute. I hope you can see where I'm
going here in a few minutes. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse number
9. We're talking about God's salvation,
divine salvation. Who has saved us? Who has saved us? God has saved
us. Then what did He do after He
saved us? Called us. What? God has saved us, called us,
with a holy calling. Not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose. You're saved because of the purpose
of God. And grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus. Now, we're not going to stop
there. We're going to finish the verse. Given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Now, turn back to Philippians,
chapter 2, verse number 12. And you, Wherefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not
as my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, Now, what have
we read? We've read of God's salvation. And what has He done? He saved us. Now He says what?
Work out your own salvation, doesn't He? Work that out which
has been worked in. For it's God which worketh in
you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So we have a beginning of work,
then it tells us to work out that which is worked in. Along with this is repentance
of sin. Sin becomes a grief and a burden
to the child of God. Sin is always against God. There's
faith, and we have the gift of faith. I preached several messages
one time upon this, that faith is a gift of God. And I preached
it in a church other than my own. And I sort of, you looked
at people, and when I said it's a gift of God, they just sort
of looked at me with a blank stare. But faith comes by the
operation of God. It says it's the gift of God.
If you've got saving faith today, God has given it to you. You
rely upon Him. So it says, work out that which
God works in you both to wield and to do of His good pleasure. Fight the good fight of faith. We've got enemies. If you're
a child of God, you've got enemies within and without. But you've been saved from the
power of sin, and one day you're going to be saved from the presence
of sin. Death is going to deliver you
from that Adam nature that you have. It will deliver you from
it. We find in the Old Testament
there was a journey between Egypt and Canaan. That is, the house of bondage
and the land of milk and honey. We read of the wilderness and
many of them fail. And how many today, they are
pressed into religion, they take up religion. They've done what
somebody told them to do, and they've told them that they're
Christians and on their way to glory. But what happens? I say unto you today, there has
to be a new birth. One has to be born spiritually.
There has to be the Spirit of God to begin a good work. And I'm thankful today, I see
a people. So I look out. And God's began
a good work. And my prayer is, if He's not
began a good work, that He will begin one. He will touch your
heart and your life. That would be conviction of sin
and conviction of the law. I tell you, we measure ourselves
and see ourselves by the law. Boy, we don't get very far, do
we? We've broken it. We know that sin deserves wrath. We see the Lord dealing in the
book of Acts with Saul, the apostle Paul. And Paul considered himself
that he had kept the law. Then what happened? The law slew
him. Covetousness slew him. He thought he had kept it. You
know, the statement in the Scripture is to him, says, Paul, Saul,
hard for thee to kick against the pricks. There's that which
they goaded the ox with and they pricked him to put him in a certain
direction. And Saul was kicking against
that. But the Lord He bowed before
Him, didn't He? He says, Lord, what wilt Thou
have me to do? We see the Lord working. We see
the day of His power. Over in Psalms 110, it says that
they shall be willing the day of His power. Willing. Made willing. I tell you, when
His power comes, one is made willing to confess Christ. He's
willing to receive Christ. And He takes Him as His Lord
and Savior. Several years ago, they used
to talk about just taking Christ as Savior. Well, you can later
on acknowledge Him as Lord. Every place in the Scripture
it speaks out, it says, Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He's Lord. Receiving Him. willing to confess Christ? If
you confess Him, if you confess the Lord Jesus Christ, are you
willing to follow Him? You willing to forsake sin? He talks about being made willing.
That's a wonderful thing when one's willing. There's two yokes mentioned in
the Bible. In the Old Testament, there's
a yoke of iron and a yoke of wood. And Christ's yoke is called
an easy yoke. It's a yoke of wood. And today,
they're under the yoke of iron. A heavy yoke. Oh, that's what
the sinner's under. We find our very hearts. We find
that we are weak. The devil's against us. The world
is against us. But what would happen this morning
if he didn't exert that of his power? I tell you, if it wasn't for
his power, we wouldn't be able to meet here this morning. I'm
telling you. If it wasn't for his power, we're
thankful that we can meet. As many stumble, many fall, the
Bible says make a shipwreck of faith. The psalmist cried this,
says, Lord, hold thou me up. And that's to be our prayer,
that we'd be safe. But I submit unto you this morning
that the Good Shepherd doesn't leave that of His lambs. He defends us. We live in the
midst of wolves. but we have the Good Shepherd.
You know, the Bible sets Him out as the Chief Shepherd, the
Good Shepherd, and the Great Shepherd, doesn't it? It sets
Him out in different ways. He provides for our safety. The
Bible tells us to walk in the narrow way. And it's a path of
righteousness. It's a fight of faith. The Bible
says, if you live in the flesh, you shall die. So there's God. And there's His
preserving that of us. He tells us that He saves us,
and He tells us also to work out our salvation, that which
is working. He was begun a good work. And I tell you, it wouldn't be
any comfort this morning If we thought that God did not continue
His work, there wouldn't be any comfort with it. If God did not continue His work,
I'm glad He's going to continue His work and His people. He's
going to complete that in your very soul. He's going to complete
it. You can't thank Him for delivering
you from hell if He might cast you into hell. But God, what He does for that
of His people, He's going to keep them. We find that He's
already predestinated that you'd be conformed to the image of
His Son. Isn't that what Romans 8.29 tells
us? would be conformed to that of
His Son. Jeremiah 31 verse number 3 says,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. That's great comfort this
morning. Can this love be thwarted? Can
this love fail? God's love fail? John the 17th chapter says that
we are committed unto His trust. We've been given to Christ. Just think about that. Given
to Him. Committed to Him. That's a wonderful
thing today for the child of God to think about. That He is
our Redeemer. That He is our surety. That He
is our Shepherd. And one day the Scripture says
that He is going to present us thoughtless. Thoughtless. Before that of the throne of
God. And that's the whole of His redeemed. All of them. Thoughtless. I tell you, there's
a lot of blessings in this Word, aren't there? For the child of
God. He died for that of His sheep.
He preserves that of His sheep from this evil world. They're
going to triumph. And the Lord said in the end
time, He said when it comes to this, He's going to say, Behold,
I and the children which thou hast given Me, here they are. I tell you, we are indebted to
the Trinity. We are indebted to the Father
that ordained salvation. We are indebted to that of the
Son that purchased and the Holy Spirit that effected salvation
and applied salvation to our hearts. It's called a blessed
work. It's called a renewing of the
Holy Spirit. By His mercy, He has saved us
by the washing of regeneration. He's the Comforter. And we are,
as His people, are entrusted to that of His love. It's His
love and His care for us. If one of the fathers, if one
of His children, if one of them perished, he'd be defeated. He's not going to be defeated.
If one was perished, the son would be disappointed. He shall
not fail. If one was to perish of his children,
the spirit would be disgraced. Christ would never see the travail
of his soul. And the Bible says that he shall
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. I'm telling you,
He's going to be satisfied for all eternity for what He did when His children were gathered
around. Satisfied. John the 6th chapter, verse 39. And this is a Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should
lose nothing, or shall lose nothing, but shall rise up again in the
last days." That's our Lord. The vessels of mercy, they're
going to be in glory as He's ordained. Christ is a mighty Savior. There's nothing feeble about
our Redeemer. Nothing feeble. He's mighty to
save. And I tell you, there's the world,
there's the flesh, There is a devil that is against his people. But
the Bible says this, He shall save to the uttermost those that
come to God by Him. That's a good verse, isn't it?
He shall save to the uttermost. Those that He pardons, He preserves. Paul says, I know whom I have
believed and He is able to keep that which I have committed unto
Him against that day. Job said this, said the righteous
shall hold on to the way. They're going to continue in
that of faith and repentance and prayer. Aren't you continuing
in prayer and faith and repentance? Augustine talked about, said,
I was born for repentance. That's what Augustine said. I
tell you, that's a way of life. There's repentance in it. Way
of life. The psalm says He's not going
to forsake that of His saints. They're preserved. This morning
you're preserved if you're His in His love and in His favor. And His saints, they persevere
in faith and cling to Christ. Who do you go to? Do you go to
Christ? Trouble comes? Trials come? Who do you cling to? You cling
to the Lord. The Bible says they walk in the
light. There's He's in the light. They're sealed for the day of
redemption. His people walk, and their face
is toward God. They're looking toward Him. The
Bible says their affections are upon things above. Not upon the
things of the earth, but upon things above. Their conscience
of their sins, and they confess them. They seek grace, from the
throne of grace. We read of those that was once
enlightened. The Bible says they tasted of
the heavenly guilt. The one from the Old Testament,
he says, let me die the death of the righteous. But the Lord is our keeper. The Bible speaks that we continue
to follow the Lord That we walk the path of righteousness. The
Bible speaks of us being steadfast. That we endure to the end. That we deny self and take up
the cross. Just think of those in the past
that has walked with the Lord and abided with Him. How they
cling to that of the Lord. The Bible tells us to press forward
to the mark of the high calling. The Bible says continue in the
faith, grounded and settled. Hold fast to the confidence and
rejoice in the hope until the end. Run with patience that race
is set before us. Be faithful unto death. In this saving faith, We receive
the Scriptures as the divine revelation, as the very Word
of God. I feel bad, hurts me, when I
hear people talk about this Word. And they want to receive part
of it, but not all of it. The Bible tells us to voice the
strangers and not follow. It's Christ's voice. It's Him. It says, continue in my word
and you are my disciples. The Bible speaks of that false
Christ and false prophets and it says this about them, it says,
they have not deceived the elect of God. Those of saving faith will not
be overthrown. They hold to the faith without
wavering because they've been taught of the Lord. Isn't that
what it said over there in prophecy? It goes back to, they shall be
taught of the Lord. I'm thankful that you're a people
that's been taught of the Lord. It's not current opinions. It's
not that of modern thought. It has nothing to do with that. It's about faith and repentance. This morning you don't trust
for a little time and then you give it up. You don't obey for
a little while and cast it aside. But you live in faith. Live in
faith. Over in the book of Hebrews,
in chapter number 11, that great chapter of those saints of old,
it comes down to the end of it, and look at the hardships and
the things that happen in their lives, and all of this, it comes
down to the end of it. You know what it says? These
died in faith. I submit unto you this morning
that's the only way to die. Isn't it? Isn't that the only way to die?
To die in faith? They died in faith. The Bible
tells us over Peter that we're kept by the power of God through
faith. There's that continual reliance
upon Christ. I'm glad of this, that Christ
prayed, and he prayed, and there's Peter, and what happened to his
faith? It got weak, didn't it? Christ says, I prayed that your
faith fail not. And I believe that's a prayer
for every child of God. Isn't it? That your faith fail
not. I'm glad He prays for us. I'm
glad He's our advocate. I'm glad that He goes before
the Father for us. The soul is quickened with life
and there's a new birth. This Christian life is compared
to that of walking. And that walks to be steady.
It's to be called upon as a continuous action. The Bible says over in
the book of Jude, it says build yourself up, yourselves in the
most holy faith. Build yourself up. Praying in
the Holy Ghost. We use that means that He's given
us. And by the way, that's what we're
gathered here for this morning. This is the means that He's given
us. Given us. For our spiritual growth. And
we grow in Him. Build yourselves up, praying
in the Spirit, the love of God, and look for His mercy. I'm telling
you this morning, if you don't go forward, you go back. Look to Him. Please Him. Have
communion with Him. Doesn't it make life so much
better? when you're in fellowship, walking with the Lord. Do you ever get angry at yourself? Oh, this morning, the Lord's
people are a marvel. They plod uphill. Others go downhill. They go against the tide. Somebody
has said, it's like a tree that flourished in the midst of a
desert. It's like lambs in the midst
of wolves. This new nature is kept alive in the midst of all that's contagious is kept
alive. It's like a dove in the midst
of hawks. There's a wonder to it all when
we look at it. We should show forth His praise. This morning you might think
that it'd be the most excellent, it'd be the strongest intellects
Be the noble and those that have such a sweet disposition and
moral outstanding. But you know, God's way is different.
Many times it's the most unlikely. It's the most unworthy. It's His vessels of mercy. Romans teaches us that there's
a pile of those crack pots, and they represent us. Where clay cracked the sin. But he tells us, God, what does
he do? He reaches over and starts to remake, remold, redo that
old crack pot. Aren't you glad He put His hand
upon you? Put His hand upon you and started
working. Working in you both to will and
to do of His good pleasure. Made you a vessel of mercy. And reading old Saul, reading
his life, And standing there as he held the clothes of Stephen
as he is martyred, you wouldn't have thought he was a vessel
of mercy, would you? You'd have thought he was a vessel
of wrath. But he is a vessel of mercy.
God's mercy. I tell you, that humble sucks. Nothing about us. Just His mercy. That He had mercy upon us. We
were in a heap of clay pots. God reached forth, touched us,
put His hand upon us. Vessels of mercy. The Egyptians
in the Old Testament, they were the very intelligent people.
They were industrious people. The Chaldeans, as ancient, numerous,
and greatly civilized. And Israel was what? A stiff-necked
people. But that is His people. Turn
with me over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verses 26 and 28. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty nor
noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. and
abase things of the world and the things which are despised.
God has chosen, yea, the things which are not to bring naught,
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence." I tell you, God's way is opposite
of the world's. His way is opposite. The Lord's
people are a minority in this world. They're called a special
people. They're called a little flock.
And God leaves them in this hostile world. If you haven't found it
hostile, you will. You're in the enemy's territory,
and God leaves you here. And He leaves you here, then
you manifest love to Him. When the world's going one way,
you're to show the world you're going another way. You're going
the Lord's way. You're to show your allegiance.
You're to show what His grace has done. You'll be faithful
unto death. We live in a world that is contrary
to us. The grace of God has called us
out of this world. But God's providence sends us
into the world. But we're not in friendship with
it. And I'll tell you something else about God's people. They're
a constant rebuke to the world. The world would like to win you
back. It will flatter you. It will
smile upon you. Turn with me to Philippians,
chapter 2, verse 15. Look what God's Word says. How
are we to be in this world, blameless and harmless, the sons of God?
without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and a perverse nation. Maybe I'm just wising up to some
things. that I didn't know years ago.
I don't know what it is. It just, that myth of equivalent
and perverse nation, it seems to me that it's very pronounced
now. I didn't recognize it as bad
years ago as it is now. I don't know what the answer
to it is. I know sin's always been here. But it says here, that you be
blameless, that you be harmless, the very sons of God, without
rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and a perverse nation, and among
whom ye shine as lights in this world. There's a marvel this morning
of perseverance. The wonder of it. We're a mystery even to ourselves. You ever think about that? We're
sort of a mystery to ourselves. The old Puritan put it like this.
He said, it's like a fire burning in the midst of an ocean. And it's all by God's grace. All by God's grace. The Bible
says the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And it talks about us as being
lambs, and we're feeble lambs at that. But now, the Lord's way is a narrow way. It's a way of Christ's yoke. It's a way of hatred of sin.
It's a way of turning from our own righteousness to Christ's
righteousness. It's a way of giving up to Christ.
It's a way of turning from the old way to the new life. It's
a way of obedience. It's a way of subjection to the
Lord. It's a way of the cross. And
it's all a marvel. We learn that we can do nothing. It's His strength. It's His power. We are to grow in grace and knowledge
of Him. Being confident of this very
thing. He that has begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. He's going to perform that. Then
He tells you, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it's God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of
His good pleasure. May we thank Him that He's begun a good work. May we thank Him that He's going
to continue His work. Thank Him that He'll work within
you, both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. Paul put it like this. He said, I'm a straight between
two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is
far better. He said, if I go on, it's far better.
Again, we're to live here till He takes us home. May we serve Him. Maybe do things to His glory, because He's what it's all about. I thank you. I appreciate the
opportunity to speak to you and what God's laid upon my heart
for you today and for me. I thank you for His work and our lives. Without it, we'd be hopeless
and doomed. I thank Him for His grace. His
mercy. Mercy to us. We could have went another way,
except He stopped us and brought us to Himself. And we acknowledge
Him as Lord of all. I thank you.