Thank you, Brother Mark. It goes right along with what I've
said many a time. Everything in creation, all of
time itself, is so that each and every one of God's blood-bought
children will be exactly where they're supposed to be in that
time. In the day of His love, He comes
to His children and calls them out of the darkness that we walked
in, and shines the light of glory of His Son in the face of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text today will be from Deuteronomy
chapter 3, but I want to ask you to turn with me to Philippians
chapter 1 first. Three points. Well, first off,
I'll begin by introducing today's message. It's titled, Thou Hast
Begun. And I'd like to bring three points
before you this morning. Who is the thou? What has he
begun? And what are the results? If you're with me in Philippians
chapter 1, Will you look at verse 6 with me for a moment? Philippians
chapter 1, verse 6. Paul, writing unto the church
at Philippi, wrote these words, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
being confident, he says, of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Paul is confident. And I want
to stop there for just a second and think about that. Paul is
telling the church at Philippi, I'm confident. I have confidence. I can trust in this. I know this
within my heart. I can say this with all surety.
That's what confidence means. I'm confident. Now think about
that for just a moment. What in this world could any
of us be confident in? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If I tell you I'm going to do
something, don't take any confidence in that because John Reeves could
fail. Everything changes, doesn't it?
Everything on this earth changes at one point or another in some
way or another. How can we take confidence in
anything? You don't know what's going to
happen this afternoon. World War III could break out and all
the stuff that we had promised we would do or all the stuff
that we thought we might be confident was going to happen. I'm confident,
I would like to be confident, that we're going to go to Tahoe
this afternoon after church and meet Brandon and Zeke. I would like to be confident
in that, but anything could happen. My cars, all three of them could
break down at once. I can't have any confidence in that, actually,
can I? What in this world could we have confidence in? Everything changes. People change
their mind. The rules change. If there's
anything those of us in Again, I'm, forgive me brother, I don't
mean to call you old, but any of those, anything that those
of us who have been around a while, and you asked my club was this, anything, for those who have
been around any length of time know anything at all is that
nothing of this world is sure except death. That's a surety,
isn't it? Some of us can't wait for that
day to come. And we'll be in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ, along with our brother Bill, just basking in the bliss
of our Savior and the glory of His grace to His people. We can
be sure of death. Oh, we know we try to avoid it,
don't we? We try to avoid it. But that's
in vanity, where death comes to every Everyone here, everyone
who hears this message, they know one thing for sure, without
fail, we all will face the doormark death at some time or another.
Paul is confident. What was he confident in? What
does it say? He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform. Now I want to stop right there
and think about that for just a moment. What does this word
perform mean? The King James Dictionary defines
it this way. The word is epitelio, E-P-I-T-E-L-E-O,
epitelio. It means to fulfill, to further, to further complete,
to execute. By implication, it means to undergo,
to accomplish, to do, to finish, to make perfect. So we take that
word, that word perform, he which hath begun a good work in you
will perfect it, will perform it. He's confident in this one
thing, that the one who started a good work will perfect it,
will complete it by himself. until the day of Jesus Christ. So what it's telling us is this,
it's telling us that the one who began the good work in you
will be the one to finish it. The day of Jesus Christ. You
know what day that is? To God's people, that's the day
we stand with our Lord in glory. The day of Jesus Christ came
that day on an evening, on a Friday evening for our dear brother.
The Lord took him from this world right there on his Harley. He
stood with God. He came looking for a message.
You know, that Bill came, he left his home, he got on his
motorcycle, he rode as far as a mile from the church here expecting
to hear a message, and he heard the word of God from his own
lips. Whoo! That's the day of Jesus Christ.
The Lord started a good work at Bill at some point in his
life, and he finished it. the day he took him home. Let
me ask you this, the one who does a good work and finishes
it, does that not remind you of this phrase, salvation is
of the Lord? The alpha and the omega, the
beginning and the end, Paul's thanksgiving and joy on
behalf of this church sprang from the confidence and the persuasion
that the work of grace that God had began in them would result
in their eternal glorification with Christ. Henry Mayhem. What
is this good work? What is this good work that has
began? And to whom is it began in? And what is the result of
this work? Turn over to Ezekiel chapter
36, if you would, please. Ezekiel chapter 36. In last Friday
night's Bible study, we considered the wonder of the Almighty Sovereign
God. The title of our study was Sovereign.
we looked at his attention to minute details. He had sent two
disciples into the town to seek out a colt, an ass's colt, a
young donkey, a young ass, one that had never been ridden, tied
up. And he said, when you find that
colt, untie it and bring it to me. And if somebody comes to
you and says, What are you doing? Tell them that the master needs
it, and they will let you go. And guess what? Exactly what
he said would come to pass, came to pass. Why? Because he's all
sovereign God. He's sovereign over everything.
He's sovereign over details. He's not just God over this. He's God of everything. Everything. His deliverance of his word is
mercy and grace, and the first work that must be done is regeneration. A new heart must be planted.
The old stony heart must be removed. And twice in Ezekiel, we see
this declaration. First in Ezekiel 11, let me read
that for you, and then we'll read from Ezekiel 36. He says,
all, and I will give them, this is God speaking to the prophet
Ezekiel, tell Israel, and I will give them one heart. And I will
put a new spirit within you. And I will take the stony heart
out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh. That's
the Lord's word. That's called regeneration. That's what the
Lord was talking about when he said to Nicodemus, you must be
born again. Nicodemus was confused about
that. What do you mean? How am I supposed to go back
in my mother's womb? No, that's not possible. Did you have anything
to do with your first birth? No. You don't have anything to
do with your second birth either. It's all of God. That's what
he was talking about, about the wind bloweth where the wind listeth. Our God controls the wind. Look
here at Ezekiel 36 with me, if you would, beginning at verse
21. Excuse me, Mike. Beginning at verse 21, we read
these words. Now think about this, folks.
This is not just talking about Israel of that day. This is talking
about all of God's people throughout time. Well, I'm not a Jew. If you're
a God, you are. Spiritual Israel is all of God's
chosen people, all for those who God went to the cross, the
Lord Jesus went to the cross and shed his blood for. That
is Israel. That is spiritual Israel, all
of them. So the prophet is talking to all of us. See if these words
don't fit you at one time or another in your life. Verse 21,
but I had pity for mine holy name. He had pity, not because
of them, but for his holy name. which the house of Israel, whoo,
there it is, had profaned among the heathen where they went. Every one of us know what we
were before God called us out of darkness. If God called you
out of darkness, you know exactly what you were before then. One
who profaned the word of God. One who took the word of God
and said he doesn't have the power he said he had. Profaned among the heathen whether
they went. Now look at verse 22. Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, thus sayeth the Lord God, I do
not this for your sakes. That means not because of anything
you could do. That means you can't earn it,
you can't buy it, you can't work for it, you can't make a decision
for it, you can't get baptized for it, you can't come to the
table for it. It's not for your sakes, goes on to say next, but
for my holy name, for my holy name's sake, because of Christ,
all blessings to God's people flow through him. That's what
we read in Ephesians chapter one, verse three. which ye have
profaned, this very holy name, which you have profaned from
among the heathen, whither you went. Verse 23, and I will sanctify
my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have
profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that
I, the Lord, saith, that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God,
when I shall sanctify in you before their eyes. Kathy used to wonder, what happened
to my husband? We used to go and ride on Sundays,
go hang out with our biker friends, stop at the bars, drink and eat
at the nice restaurants, run on Friday nights. We used to
do this and do that. What happened to my husband? Oh, that man Gene
Harmon. He brainwashed him. What happened
to John? Something happened. She knew
what it was. She knew something was happening. She may not have
been able to point her finger at it, but she knew something
was going on with her husband. I got to watch the day when the
Lord did the same thing He did to me and her. What a joy that was. What a special
day that was for me in life to see the Lord open my wife's heart
as He did mine. I shall be sanctified you in
you before their eyes. Verse 24, for I will take you
from among the heathen. Oh, some of us have been taken
from some pretty big heathen, haven't we? Catholics, Seventh
Day Adventists. Lamar and Carol, they were from
the Mormons. John Reeves, he was from the South. John Reeves. We've all been taken
from something, haven't we? And brought into the glory of
our Savior. For I will take you from among
the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring
you into your own land. The land of milk and honey. Verse
25, then I will sprinkle clean water upon you. And ye shall be clean from all
your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. You kind of made me wonder, why
didn't he say, well, you will put away your idols? Because
we won't. We sang the song, I'm going to
lay down my crowns, or lay down all my trophies. Folks, if it
wasn't for God, choosing me. I still have those trophies.
I still try to carry them at times. Thankfully, he won't let
me carry them very far. Are any of you like that? Do
you have trophies you carry around with you at times? Oh, Lord, help us to lay them
down. Clean us from our filthiness, from our idleness, Cleanse our
hearts, Lord, verse 26, and a new heart, regeneration. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh. I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes. Oh, Lord, cause me, Lord, bring
me, turn me, and I shall be turned, and ye shall keep my judgments,
he says at the end of verse 27, and do them. Now I want you to
turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 3. For His glory, God will do these
things, for the glory of His name. As you're turning over
to Deuteronomy, let me read over in Ezekiel, that we just turned
from there, verse 38. As the holy flock is the flock
of Jerusalem in her solemn feast, so shall the way city be filled
with the flocks, shall know that I am the Lord. For His glory
name, for the glory of His name, God will do these things. How
do I know that? For in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
29, and also in verse 31, it says these words, that no flesh
should glory in his presence, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, look with me,
if you will, at verse 24 of Deuteronomy chapter 3. Verse 24 of Deuteronomy
chapter 23. Moses. He says, and I besought the Lord
at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast begun. Moses, declaring unto God, thou,
you, O Lord, hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness thy
mighty hand, for what God is there in heaven or on earth that
can do according to thy works and according to thy might."
I want to consider what God has
revealed to us through the preaching of His Word, His greatness. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
1 if you would, please. Who is the thou? It is God. Man cannot give life to himself. Only God can give life. This
is what the Lord was telling Nicodemus. He says, don't worry
about being born again. Don't try to worry about that.
God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy. Man cannot give life to himself,
only God can give life, and Christ Jesus has authority over all
life. That's what we read in John 17
too, where the Lord praying to the Father says, as thou hast
given him, given Jesus Christ power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Who has power over eternal life? Jesus Christ the Lord. Lazarus,
who was dead, was given life that he would hear the word of
God when spoken to, when the Lord said, Lazarus, come forth.
God gave him life to hear those very words. God begins the work
of grace by the preaching of his cross, teaching us that once
we were dead, once we were separated from God by our sins, and by
his great grace, what great things are being shown, are being revealed,
What are the things that thou art revealing to me, the great
power of God? Life. Eternal life. Where we were once dead in trespasses
and sin, now we live in him. He begins a work of grace by
the preaching of his cross, teaching us that we were once dead, that
we were separated from God by our sins, and by his great grace,
he laid down his life for us, paying our debt in full. Do you
ever get tired of hearing that? Oh, I'm telling you folks, the
cup of Christ is abundant to us who are sinners. The grace
of our Lord is abundant to those of us who walk through this valley
of the shadow of death. What is his greatness? His greatness
is that he humbled himself and became flesh Spirit cannot die. God is the mystery. Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Spotless blood must be shed. Folks, you can spend eternity,
and that's exactly what you will be doing if God has not died
for you. And not one drop throughout eternity
will do any good for you. Why? Because your blood is not
spotless. Not one single person. Spotless blood must be shed to
satisfy the justice of the almighty, holy God, and righteousness must
be established where there was none. The blood of Christ, the
son of the living God, fills the demand abundantly in himself. That's what we read in Ephesians
2, verses 8 through 9. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. This is what the cross of Christ
is all about, folks. It's about grace. It's about
God's grace, sovereign grace. You can't earn that. If there
was anything you could do to add to that, and I say that,
Boldly, because too many people are out there hearing this thing.
God has done this, if you'll just do this. And that's a lie. It takes the grace of God and
puts it underfoot. It destroys the perfect blood
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Our Lord saved his people. He
didn't come and try. He saved his people. He saved
his people by sending the Son of God to be our substitute,
to be our scapegoat. As the Word of God says it, our
propitiation, our spotless sacrificial lamb. This is the greatness that
he has begun to show to his servant, to all of us. That was what I
saw the first day when I sat over here. God has done something. It's not that one that I heard
before in life about somebody who was trying to do something
and couldn't do it. It was he who did it. He's not waiting on me. He does
it. He doesn't need us for anything.
And the results of that is we praise his name. Oh, the grace
of God. What a praise for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you, Lord, for your grace and for your mercy.
I deserve death, yet I receive life through your Son, the Lord
Jesus. This is the greatness that he
has begun to show his servants. O Lord God, thou hast begun to
show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand for what
God is there in heaven and earth that can do according to thy
works, according to thy might. How great art thou works in showing
anything to this poor sinner. I deserve his wrath, but in thy
greatness thou hast taken my sins as thy own. The one who
knew no sin never once had he sinned, yet he took my sin as
his own and laid down his life for me that I would be made righteous
in him and have eternal life. And he says that to each and
every one of his children. When you get that new heart,
when the Lord gives a new heart, it's a willing heart. It's a
heart that comes to him. I want to come to God. I do come
to him now. I wouldn't have came before,
but I do now because of the new heart he's given him. It's all of grace, grace alone. Sovereign grace, what a great
God, how gracious are thy ways, oh Lord. This is the new song
that the people of God sing, great is thy faithfulness. Are you telling me, John, that
there's nothing I can do to better myself? Folks, of this world,
there's all kinds of things that we can do to better ourselves.
Before God, there's nothing. That's not fair. Who are we to question God about
fairness? What do you know about fairness? If you've seen If you've had
the sin in you revealed to you, then you know what's fair, is that we would be condemned
to hell forever. That's what makes the grace of
God so beautiful. As children of God, we know what we deserve.
We know what we've earned. Nothing's changed. The difference
between me now and then is now I look to the true and living
God for everything. Whereas once I may have looked
to John Reeves, whereas once you may have looked to something
in the Catholicism religion or whatever religion you may have
gone to, now you look to Christ for everything. And he keeps bringing us right
back around to that. That's the graciousness of God.
revealing his mercies and his grace to us every day. New mercies. I know what I was when I woke
up. New mercies, God has saved me from that. Oh, this is the new song we sing,
great is thy faithfulness. Are you telling me there's nothing
I can do to deliver myself of this world? Maybe so, but before
God, that's exactly right, there's nothing. Well, that's foolishness. I believe there's got to be something
I can do. And you don't believe God. That's what it says in Romans
3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that do with God. Good, no, not one. I know I've done some good. That's
not what God's word just says. If you think that, then you don't
believe God. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of ask
is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness? Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way
of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Folks, the greatness of God begins
in those that he has loved from before the foundation of the
world, and that is belief. faith in his word. Isn't that
what we read in John 3, 16? Everybody wants to focus on God
so loved the world, and then they skip completely by this
part, whosoever believeth. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. And this is the word preached. Are you with me in 1 Corinthians
1? Let's begin at verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, writes Paul to the Corinthian church.
And then he says this, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross
of Christ should be made of none effect. What is the greatness
of God? The greatness of God is that
he has chosen to reveal himself to us through the preaching of
his word. The word of the cross of his
son. The power and the effectualness of his cross. Anything else would
make his cross of no effect. That's what that's saying. Our church, we help the poor. We do all this good stuff. We
raise money for the poor folks down in Mexico to get an ambulance
for him. That's not the gospel. That's
not the good news. The good news is Christ in him
crucified for his people. That's the greatness of God is
that he reveals himself through those words. Verse 18, for the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish, foolishness, but unto us which
are saved is the power of God. As one who was once lost, I have
been given sight to see his greatness in sending his son with all power
to accomplish my salvation. All power. What does that mean? That means that it's done perfectly,
it's done. Is there anything for me to do?
No. Do I have to worry about anything in the future? Uh-uh,
it's already paid for. You mean I have assurance in
what he's done? Yes. That's what that means. We can trust in him. By his faith, God-given faith,
that's trust in him. Verse 19, for it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? What's
the wisdom of this world? There's got to be something I
can do. Verse 21, for after that, in the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. In our Lord's greatness,
He is pleased to reveal himself to this poor sinner through the
preaching of his word. What a simple message it is.
A message even a simple mind as mine own can understand. A
childlike understanding. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter,
continuing on then in verse 22, for the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men, for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, there's
some, but not many, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty. And then drop down to verse 29, we read these words,
that no flesh should glory in his pleasance, but of him, ye
are in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now what is this
good work God has begun? In Ephesians 2, verse 8, we read
this, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
What is this good work that God has begun? The work of grace. Who is this great work of grace
begun in? In John 6, verse 37, when we
read these words, it's begun in all that the Father giveth
me, for they shall come to me. Not the whole world. Not everybody
in the world. But unto all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. What is the result of this great
work of grace? Well, follow that up. Backside
of verse 37. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. That's the result. him that cometh to me, I will
have no wives cast out. And then he tells us why. For
I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will
of him that sent me. What was the will of him that
sent me? That he should lose none. I have two children, two grandchildren,
and two great-grandchildren. I have no idea If they belong
to God, they show no sign of it whatsoever. No sign. I didn't either for 40 years. I know this with an assurance. If they belong to God, they will
come to him. Think about this for a moment.
David, King David, a man after God's own heart, on his dying
bed said these words. even though my house be not so. That means all of his family. Now, there's only one in David's
family that we know of that God blessed, and that was Solomon,
his son Solomon. Other than that, David had all
kinds of children. Even though it be not so with
my family, God has made a covenant with me. What a blessing. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will, which had sent me, that of all
which He hath given me, I should lose nothing. That every tongue,
that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may
have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up to the last day.
Look with me, if you would, at Psalm 121, and then we'll bring
that to a close. Psalms 121. A short psalm. This is the new song. This is
the song that we who deserve God's wrath sing now about the
one who has began a good work in us and who will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ. I will lift up mine eyes, verse
one of Psalm 121. I will lift up mine eyes into
the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by the day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
time forth and even forevermore. He who hath begun a good work
in us. We can take stock in that, folks.
If it's the good work of Christ, nothing is going to fail. All
I know, We stumble in our own sin, but it is He who brings
us to the feet of Jesus to lay all that before Him. To God be
the glory, the great things He hath done. Amen. Stand with me.