Now let's open our Bibles this
morning back to Philippians chapter 1. This morning I've entitled this
message, God's Good Work in You. And I took that title from verse
6 of Philippians chapter 1, where the Apostle Paul expresses his
confidence in the Lord, not his confidence in the people, but
his confidence in the Lord, when he says, being confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you," that
is, God, will perform it or finish it or complete it, bring it to
its completion, until the day of Jesus Christ, which is referenced
to the final judgment. God's good work in you. Now, I want to deal with this
subject in this message and another message, but in preaching some
messages through the book of Philippians. But before I get
there, go back to verse 1. Let me just bring you up to date
here on these issues of this church. This, you know, Paul,
this is an amazing short epistle or letter that the Apostle Paul
wrote to the believers in the city of Philippi. Paul wrote
this letter to his close friends, the believers in this city. You
know where Paul was when he wrote this letter. Now, this, and think
about this, you know, sometimes this letter, this book of Philippians
is called the Epistle of Joy, and it is an epistle of joy.
Its theme is the unity of the brethren in the joy of Christ.
That's what it's talking about. Our joy is Christ. You know,
it has some profound language here, profound truths that are
founded here and expressed here. For example, I think in Philippians
chapter 3 and verse 3, you have one of the best definitions of
a Christian you'll find in the Bible, where he says, for we
are the circumcision, which he's speaking there of spiritual circumcision
by the Spirit of God, which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Now, that word rejoice there
means to have confidence in. It means to glory in. Sometimes it's translated glory.
For example, in Galatians 6, 14, Paul wrote, God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
same word translated rejoice here. And so he said, I'm expressing
my confidence in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence in the flesh. Have
no confidence in me. No confidence in what I do. But
my confidence, my glory is in Christ." Now, the word confidence
there, have no confidence in the flesh, is the same word that
he expresses positively over here in verse 6 of chapter 1.
Being confident in the Lord, being confident of this very
thing. So here we have the epistle of joy. And you know where he
was when he wrote this letter? He was in prison. He was in bonds. You just don't think a fellow
would write an epistle of joy when he's in chains, when he's
in jail. Now, Paul's prison wasn't like
what we normally think of prison. He was under house arrest in
Rome, where he was, because Paul was a Roman citizen. And he was
a Jew, but he was also a Roman citizen. And so he had a right
when he was arrested elsewhere to appeal unto Caesar for justice.
And, of course, we know what happened to Paul eventually.
He was beheaded. But before that, he was under
house arrest in Rome, and he was able to preach the gospel.
God, in his sovereign power, had enabled Paul to preach the
gospel even while he was in prison. And so he's expressing joy to
this church in another city called Philippi. It was named after
Philip of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, right
above Greece. And it was the first church that
was started on the continent of Europe, the Philippi was,
the Philippian church was, the gospel going out. So here's Paul
under house arrest, and he's waiting for his court appearance
before Caesar, probably around 61 A.D. And this church here
was established some 11 years before that on Paul's second
missionary journey. You can read about it in Acts
chapter 16, it's an amazing story. You know, usually when Paul went
into a city to begin preaching the gospel, the first thing he
looked for was a synagogue, because there was usually a number of
Jews there, enough to start a synagogue. Synagogue means a gathering of
people, people gathered together. And so he would go to the synagogue,
and then he would take his turn, and he would stand up and preach
the gospel of Christ to these people, and anybody else who
would listen, if there was a synagogue there. But there was no synagogue
in Philippi. You know what there was? There
was a bunch of women who met down by the river, and they were
known to pray. And there was a woman there.
When Paul went down there, he went down there to preach the
gospel to these women and anybody else, and there was a woman down
there named Lydia. Now, she wasn't from Philippi.
She was from another city called Thyatira, but she was a merchant.
And she sold fabric which had been dyed purple. The Bible says
there in Acts chapter 16, she was a seller of purple. And what
that means, it was fabric that was dyed in purple because the
city of Thyatira, where she was from, was known for that. And
there was Lydia. And you know, one of the first
things it said about Lydia, it's an amazing thing, it says, a
woman whose heart the Lord had opened. Now, Lydia had already
converted from paganism to Judaism. because he was down there praying
with the Jews. Not enough to establish a synagogue, and there
was no men mentioned at that time, so they wouldn't have been
able to establish a synagogue anyway. Back then, ladies, you
wouldn't have been able to form a church. You just couldn't do
it. There had to be at least ten men present to have a worship
service under the Jewish law in the synagogue. So here these
ladies were, and Lydia was there, and God opened her heart. What
is that talking about? That's talking about the new
birth. God, you know, we've talked about the parable of the sower
and the seed, the seed being the gospel, the sower being the
gospel preacher, and the ground of which it falls on, talking
about the heart. And you remember how many types
of ground there were. There was the wayside here, there was the
stony ground here, the thorny ground here, and then there was
the good ground here. That's the heart that God has
opened. Ezekiel said it this way in Ezekiel
36, he said, I'll give you a new heart and I'll take away the
stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh,
not flesh in the sense of sinful flesh, but a heart that listens,
a heart that's pliable, bendable, bow to the Word of God, a heart
of conviction, a circumcised heart. We read about it there
in Philippians chapter 3 when Paul said, we are the circumcised.
That is, our heart's been pricked with the Word of God. We've been
convicted of our sinfulness, and we see our need of Christ
and the grace of God in Christ. And that's what happened to Lydia.
And right after that, it talks about Lydia and her faith and
how she supported Paul and Silas, and I believe Timothy was there
with him, preaching the gospel in that city. And Paul came upon
a woman who was sort of like a demon-possessed sorceress.
And she would try to predict the future. And she had some
masters who would make a lot of money off of her. And Paul
got into their economic security by casting out the demon. Made
them mad. So they stirred up people against
Paul and Silas and Timothy, and Paul and Silas was put in jail.
This is in Philippi now. This is how the church got started.
They were put in jail. So Paul was no, you know, Paul
being in prison, he was no stranger to the jail. There he was, him
and Silas, and they were in that jail, and you'd think they'd
be there. Well, man, if the Lord was in this, we wouldn't be here. No, that's not what happened.
They began to sing hymns while they were in jail. And there
was a jailer there, a Philippian jailer. And you know what happened. The Lord came down and shut that
place and dropped the chains off of those bars and Paul and
Silas came out. And the jailer, knowing the penalty
for letting a prisoner escape, you remember what he did? He
started to kill himself. Paul said, don't do that. And
he began to preach the gospel to them. And the jailer took
him home with him, took these two men home with him, and he
preached the gospel, and the jailer and his household believed
the gospel. The Lord opened their heart.
And then that's the beginnings of the Philippian church. Isn't
that something? What a miraculous story, talking about God's good
work in you. Well, you know, he's talking
about the church collectively as well as individual believers
in the new birth. Christ said he will build his
church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
I mean, you can put his ministers in jail, but still the gates
of hell will not prevail against it. And out of that, out of that
adversity, out of that trouble, came the church at Philippi.
And there it is, you see. You read about it sometime in
Acts chapter 16. We're getting ready to study it in the coming
weeks in our Bible study on Sunday morning. But here, look at this,
look at verse 1 of Philippians 1. He addresses three groups
of people here. He says, Paul and Timotheus,
that's Timothy, that's his Greek name, the same one that he wrote
the letters, 1 and 2 Timothy. He says, the servants of Jesus
Christ. Now, many of you have studied
this before. You know that word servant there
is not just a regular, run-of-the-mill slave. And that's what it would
be translated as, just slave, but it's a bond slave. Paul identified
himself in many times as a bond slave of Christ. What's the difference
between a regular run-of-the-mill slave and a bond slave? Well,
that regular run-of-the-mill slave, he was forced into submission,
forced slavery. But a bond slave, usually back
in the Old Testament, you can read about it in Exodus 25, it's
talking about one who got so far in debt that he had to give
himself over as a servant to his debtors. And he had to serve
so many years, I think it was seven years, in order to pay
that debt. And once that seven-year period
was up, he had the choice. He could leave as a free man
or he could stay as a willing, loving bond slave because he
loved his master. And you remember what the law
said, that whenever A person who, because of his love for
his master, he actually became almost like an employee that
way. But he was going to serve his master, not because of legal
restraint, but because he loved him, because he wanted to be
there. He desired to be the servant
of his master. And if he did that, the master
would take, and they would take an awl and bore his ear through,
and he would wear a ring through that ear. And that's the way
you could tell the difference between a bond slave and a regular
slave. This man's a bond, he's serving
not because the law says you've got to. He's serving because
he loves his master. And that's what a true believer
is. He's not, he doesn't serve Christ because of the restraint
of legal law. He serves because God has opened
his heart and given him a love for his master. And he desires
to serve his master. That's a beautiful picture, isn't
it, of salvation. Willing, loving bondslaves of
Christ. And this is what Paul identifies
himself. He doesn't say, well, I'm Reverend
Dr. Paul, the apostle who got knocked
down on Damascus Road and who just while back there busted
open a jail cell. No, he says, I'm a bondslave
of Christ. And that's enough, isn't it?
Should we rise any higher than that? I don't believe so. That's
a good title for every sinner saved by the grace of God. But
now look at the next one. He's speaking to the saints,
to all the saints in Christ Jesus. Now, who's he talking about there?
Surely there must be some really dedicated people in that church.
Well, he's talking to every sinner in that church saved by the grace
of God. That's what a saint is. A saint is a sinner saved by
the grace of God. A saint is not someone who's
been voted on by the Church or the Pope or anybody else. He's
not someone who's been canonized. He's not someone who's performed
so many miracles. He's not someone who's led so
much of a life of dedication that he has a position now high
above everybody else and we're to pray to him. No, sir. Every
person in this building today who is saved by the grace of
God in Christ is a full-fledged, 100 percent saint." Saint means
sanctified one. It means you are set apart. We
were set apart before the foundation of the world in divine electing
grace. We were set apart in Christ when he died for us on the cross
and took our sins away and gave us his righteousness and justified.
And we were set apart by the Spirit of Christ when he gave
us spiritual life in the new birth, opened our hearts, circumcised
our hearts, and brought us to Christ." A saint. Stories told about a little country
in Europe in the medieval times that whenever a person committed
a crime, it was customary for them to take that person, if
they were not executed, and brand their crime on their forehead.
And one fellow was stealing sheep. That wasn't a capital crime,
but they caught him, and so they brought him to the guy who was
going to brand him, and he branded him. He said, I'll put an S and
a T on him. S.T., Sheep Thief. Well, in the years to come, by
God's power and providence, that man heard the gospel, and the
Lord opened his heart, and the Sheep Thief was made a saint.
Didn't have to change the brand at all. Now S.T. stood for saint. That's what he is. And that's
what every sinner, saved by the grace of God. Now, every saint
doesn't always act saintly. Isn't that right? We don't always act saintly.
But thank God by his grace that he which began that good work
in us will finish it. And that's why we're saints in
Christ. That's what he says, saints in Christ Jesus. Saints
in Christ Jesus. What is a saint? He's one who
looks to Christ Jesus. He's one who rests in Christ.
Oh, yes, he's a follower of Christ. And then he says, those which
are at Philippi. And then he mentions another
group, the bishops and the deacons. Now, bishop, that word means
overseer. Bishops are talking about pastors,
elders, those who have the responsibility of leadership and the word of
God, teachers. And then he mentions the deacons.
The word deacon just means a minister, a servant, those who serve the
Church. So this is who Paul's writing
to. Verse 2, he says, Grace be unto you and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's Paul's common
greeting. He mentions grace first because
grace is the whole basis of our salvation. We're saved by grace. We're kept by grace. and will
be honored and glorified by grace in Christ. None of it, no part,
now listen to me, no part of salvation is conditioned on the
sinner. It's all conditioned on Christ,
and he met and fulfilled every condition. Everything, what does
grace mean? It's all of salvation. It's everything
that God requires of me, I find complete in Christ, blessed with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now,
grace is not only what Christ does for me, it's what he does
in me, too, because he sheds abroad that grace in our hearts.
He brings us to him and gives us the desire to follow him.
And that's why he talks about peace here, peace. Peace comes
from grace, peace with God. God reconciled to his people
through Christ at the cross. God, a holy God, was reconciled,
became at peace with his children, sinners, in Christ. The blood
of the cross of Christ made peace between God and sinners. God
must be just when he justifies. He must be a righteous judge
as well as a loving Father. And then in time, when God sends
his Spirit into the world to open our hearts, he reconciles
us to himself. You see, we're at war with God
in our minds before we come to Christ. You say, well, I never
was at war with God. If you didn't know Christ, you
were. You just didn't know it. That's right. But in your heart and in your
mind, before you came to the Lord Jesus Christ, before you
came to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
you were at war with God. How do I know that? Because this
book says it. You say, well, I didn't feel
like it. what this word says. But when you came to Christ,
peace was made in your heart with God. You were reconciled
to God. You bowed to Christ. And now you see that all of your
salvation is wrapped up in him. And that grace and that peace,
he says, is from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's who it's from. It's not from you, it's not from
me, it's not from the preacher, it's not from the denomination.
It doesn't come from anywhere but God. God is the only source
and originator of salvation. Christ is the ground of it and
the cause of it. Paul then expresses his love
and his care and his concern for these people. Now this, you
know, I often say when I go through these things, these are not just
hallmark greetings. These are not just a card you
send to somebody. Paul is really expressing the
desire of his heart here. And he says in verse 3, he says,
I thank my God upon every remembrance or every mention of you. That's
what he's saying. Anytime you're mentioned, he
said, I thank God for you. When your names come up, I thank
God for you. What a testimony. Paul gives
thanks for his brethren. Oh, I tell you, we need to thank
God every day for each other. We do. We need each other. And he prays for them. He says
in verse 4, always and every prayer of mine for you all, making
requests with joy. He prays for them with joy. In
other words, it's not forced prayer. It's not like, well,
I don't like that guy, but I've got to pray for him anyway. He says, I pray for you with
joy. I want to pray for you. I desire to. This is the epistle
of joy. That joy is in Christ. And then
in verse 5, and you know, that's an expression of love when we
pray for each other. And even when we pray for our
enemies, it's an expression of love. Somebody said, well, sometimes
I have to force myself. Well, you just don't have perfect
love yet. I don't care what anybody says.
You don't yet. You will if you're in Him. Neither do I. The letter, verse
5, he says, and I thank God for your fellowship in the gospel
from the first day until now. He says, never let up. From the
first time God opened Lydia's heart, back in Acts 16, until
now, and here I am sitting in a Roman prison, he said, I still
thank God for your fellowship in the gospel. You see, Paul's
in Roman prison. These fellows are in the city
of Philippi, but their fellowship is still there. It's a bond of
fellowship which cannot be broken by geography, by distance, By
circumstance, it's a fellowship in the gospel. You notice there,
he says, our fellowship in the gospel. It's not fellowship in
anything else. It's not social. It's not even
friendship now. Somebody says, well, I want to
be where my friends are. Well, if your friends aren't
in the gospel, you better be careful. You better stay away. You know, there are a bunch of
folks who are thieves who are good friends. But you don't want to be with
them. And that's the case, you see. Our fellowship is in Christ. Our fellowship, John says, is
with the Father and the Son. It's by the Spirit in Christ. And it's a bond of union that
cannot be broken. Even we can't break it, even
though we might think we do. We might get mad, get angry. and part company, but if it's
in the truth, it will stay. It's a fellowship in the gospel.
That doesn't mean that believers can't do wrong. It doesn't mean
that they cannot lessen this fellowship by their actions,
but it's a fellowship of grace. And it's in the gospel, the good
news of how God saves sinners through Christ. Now, with that
in mind, look at this verse 6. He says, being confident of this
very thing. What Paul is saying here is,
I'm persuaded. I mean, I'm absolutely convinced
of this. And this confidence, being confident
of this very thing, that he, the he there, is God, the God
of all grace. I'm confident that God, my confidence
is not in man. My confidence is in God. You
see, this is the God who, great is his faithfulness. We sang
that song. Now, you may look at men and
you may admire this one, that one, that one, but your confidence
cannot be in men. It's got to be in God and God
alone. You see, God will not share his
glory. And he said, I'm absolutely convinced
of God, his power, his faithfulness, and his willingness to bring
to a completion that which he began in you. You see, what Paul's
saying here is God's going to finish what he started. Have you ever not finished something
you started? I have. They talk about great
composers who died before some of their greatest works were
finished. Mozart was one of them, had an unfinished Requiem, I
think it was. Well, Mozart never did finish
it. Some fellas come along and tried to finish it afterward,
but I guarantee you it wasn't like Mozart would have done it. They think about going in, the
famous painter, I can't think of his name now, they went into
his studio after he had died, and there was four or five unfinished
paintings. But you see, God is not like
man. He never starts something that he doesn't finish. That's
right. God's going to finish it. And
let me tell you this, too. God, now listen to me, God has
never tried to do anything. Now, we may try to do something
and can't do it, but that's not God. Whatever God does, he does. He can do, will do. He never
tries to do anything. Somebody, a preacher said, well,
God's trying to save you. Oh, no. God never tried to do
anything. God does it. Isn't that right? God does it. He's not a trier. He's a completer. He's a finisher.
And this is speaking here of completed salvation. That's what
he's talking about. What has God begun in us? He's
talking about salvation. It's of the Lord by his grace
in Christ Jesus. Paul said, look over at 2 Timothy,
chapter 1. It's the same thing Paul is expressing
over here, 2 Timothy, chapter 1. Paul is talking here about going
through trials. He's going through one right
now here as he wrote this letter to the Philippians. He's in jail.
He's going before Caesar's court of justice, which I don't believe
would be a very happy prospect in those days for anybody, let
alone somebody who's worshipping the one true and living God and
not worshipping Caesar. But he says in verse 12 of 2
Timothy 1, for the which cause I also suffer these things, I
go through these trials, nevertheless I am not ashamed. For I know
whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able." Now,
what am I persuaded of? That Christ is able. Paul's confidence was not even
in his own abilities. It was in Christ's ability. He is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. What have I committed
unto him? Everything in salvation. Everything I've committed unto
him. I've not committed one thing
unto me, because if I have, it's gone. It's unfinished. I'm just
trying, but I'm not going to make it. but I've committed unto
him. All the wisdom I need, I've committed
unto him, and he is my wisdom. All the righteousness I need,
I've committed unto him, he is my righteousness. All the redemption,
all the holiness, you see, it's committed unto him. For I know,
Paul said, that he is able to save to the uttermost them that
come unto the Father by him, Hebrews chapter 6. to save me
to the uttermost. I'm not able to save myself,
let alone to the uttermost, but he'll bring it to completion.
Look back at Philippians 1. He says in verse 6, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you. Here he's talking about the Church
collectively, as I said before. this good work that God does
in his Church. God has purposed to save a people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, and he's
going to do it. And this Church which was begun
in this city, God was going to bring it to its completion, whatever
he purposed for that time, but God is going to bring his Church
unto glory. and the gates of hell will not
prevail against us." They'll persecute you, they'll lie on
you, they'll say all manner of evil against you, they'll put
you in jail, and they'll even put some to death. We just studied
about it this morning where a man named Stephen stood up in Jerusalem
and preached the gospel, and they killed him. They killed
him. And the man who wrote this letter,
who was in jail over the gospel, stood there and held their coats
and was consenting unto his death. He agreed with them, kill that
man. And later on made havoc of the church. Now, you think
about that. Now, if that couldn't stop the church of God from prospering
and coming to its completion, what could? Nothing. Think about
that. And somebody said that Stephen's
death was the trigger that God pulled to shoot the church out
into the world. Do you realize that the reason
we're standing here today as a second cause is the death of
Stephen? Think about that. You say, well,
God would have gotten the gospel to us some way. You're right,
but that's the way he did it according to Acts chapter 7.
And that's amazing to me. The gates of hell will not prevail
again. But he's also talking about what
God has begun in each individual believer. You see, the church
is a living organism made up of individuals. It's not a building. It's not bricks and mortar, paint
and curtains and carpet. This is a building. But the church
is you, the people of God. That's the church. And how does
God bring people into his church? He brings them by his sovereign
mercy through the calling of the Spirit in the new birth.
you must be born again. And that good work which God
began in you, he will bring it to its completion. Salvation
is applied to us personally, experientially, and in time. And for us, the new birth is
only the beginning, just like our first birth, physical birth,
was only the beginning. The new birth is only the beginning.
And it will be finished. It will be completed in the end.
In the day of the Lord, he says, that's the second coming of Christ.
What that means will be completed until then. I know that when
we die, this physical death will be made like Christ, but in the
day of Christ, when he comes the second time, we'll be glorified. We'll be glorified together.
But the beginning of it is The Holy Spirit is called the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. That is, he's the down payment.
The cross of Christ is the guarantee. What Christ did on the cross
is the foundation and the basis of our home salvation. And the
Holy Spirit's work in us is the earnest. He's the first payment. He's a foretaste of glory to
come. And you say, well, explain to me that glory to come. I cannot,
because the Bible doesn't. I know this. Here's what I know
about it. Now, let me tell you what I know about glory to come.
We shall see Christ as He is, and we'll be like Him. You say,
well, that's not enough for me. Well, you search it out, and
if you find anything else, come to me. We'll sit down and talk
about it. But there it is. John said it does not yet appear
what we shall be. But we'll see him as he is. And we'll be like him. We'll
be like him. This is the good work. And it
says here God will perform it. He'll perfect it. It's not perfected
in us yet. It's not now. But it will be. And it's not that what God does
in us is not good and perfect, it's that when it comes through
us, it comes through sinful flesh. You say, well, which side of
me is this, which side of me is that? That's a silly question.
You are you, and I am me, and that's it. We have a desire to
be like him, but yet we have sinful desires. We have a love
for Christ, but it's not yet a finished love. It's not yet
perfect. If it was, you could love perfectly. And we'd notice
it. We'd see it. You would too. Your
love is even yet contaminated by self-love. But one day you'll
be free of it. One day he that began that good
work in you will complete it. How do you explain all that?
I don't know. I don't know. Neither does anybody else. And
anybody else that tells you they can, get away from them. That's
mysticism. It's not truth. I cannot explain
it. The regenerated, born-again person
is an enigma. He's a mystery. You're a mystery.
You're all mysteries to me. But I am to you, too. We love Christ, and yet so many
times in my life I act in self-love. I have a desire, Paul said, to
be like him now. Right now I'm going to be holy,
but I don't even know how to be, Paul said. You notice what
he's saying in Romans 7? He said, to do what I should
do, I know. But how to do it, I don't know.
I don't know. I know I am to grow in grace
and in knowledge of Christ. I know that I'm to do my best
to make progress, to improve myself, to do what's right, and
yet I know at my best I still fall short, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death." Be honest,
that's all the Scripture says, just be honest. You may have one leg on a higher
plane than the other leg. I don't know. It doesn't matter.
But that's not what the Scripture teaches. And any progress we
make, now let me tell you something. Now listen to this very carefully.
As God is finishing this work, you know, it's just like the
couple, they were traveling where they hadn't been before and they
got on a construction side of the road. And here it was, they're
going on this bumpy road, and it said, construction for the
next 30 miles. And they were just bumping up
and down, the car got out of line, they were complaining and
everything, got mad at each other. And when they finally come to
the end of the construction, it says, end of construction,
thank you for your patience. And that's the way it is with
us. We're under construction. I don't believe in bumper sticker
religion, but there's some bumper stickers that are okay. And I
read one that said, be patient, God isn't finished with me yet.
Well, that's right. I don't know what the fellow
in the car really believed, but I know that term is right, right
here. What God, that good work that God has begun in you, he'll
bring it to completion. Thank you for your patience. But we're so often not patient,
aren't we, with each other. But God will perform it. He started
it, and he never started anything he didn't finish. He'll finish
it. But now let me say this. As we're
going through this life, and we're under construction, and
we make improvements or progress, that still doesn't make us any
holier than we are in Christ. That's not our holiness before
God. You see, the thing about it is, holiness has no degrees. I mean, what's one degree less
than holy? Sinful. So any progress we make, that's
not my holiness. I don't get up and crow about
that. Well, last year I was 50 percent, now I'm 60 percent.
Well, I'm still a sinner, and my holiness is Christ, and my
righteousness is Christ, and that's where it dwells in him.
And he imputed it to me. And God sees me in him without
sin because his blood has washed me clean and it continues to
wash me clean. And I'll tell you what, I believe
one of the greatest evidences of growth in grace and in knowledge
of Christ is as a believer sees himself or herself as more of
a sinner and sees more of the preciousness and the greatness
of Christ. Now, that's growth. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Well, this verse teaches the
eternal security of the saved, doesn't it? What God started,
he's going to finish. He started it, he keeps it. The
Bible says, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior be glory
majesty and dominion and power both now and ever. Amen." Now,
isn't that joy? He's able. And Jesus Christ is
the author and finisher of our faith. And when He comes again,
it's what it says, until the day of Jesus Christ, when He
comes again, God's going to finish what He started. He's going to
present all of His Church, every individual member, as glorified
in that kingdom and will exist eternally forever and ever and
ever in him.