Philippians chapter 2, two verses
of scripture. But I want you to remember before
I start, remember Annie's going to have a hip replacement Tuesday
down in University of Tennessee in Knoxville. And Danny's going
to have a knuckle replacement Wednesday. So you certainly want
to remember those folks. That's going to be painful for
a while. Look with me here in verse 2,
verse 12 of chapter 2. I'm going to read two verses
of scripture here. I pray the Lord be pleased to
enable me to say a few things about him. Wherefore, my beloved,
As you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." I want to
talk about what is it to work out your own salvation. What
does it mean? Now I do know that when Paul
is saying this, he is talking only to believers. He is talking
only to Christians. We know that without a shadow
of a doubt. And how do we know that? Look in verse 1 of chapter
1. He says, Paul and Timothy, service
of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are Philippi,
with the bishops and deacons. He is addressing the Lord's people. That's all he's addressing. And
here he calls these people at Philippi, calls them saints.
Calls them saints. That's what they all are. God's
people are saints. And the first thing he says about
them there in verse 12 is, wherefore my beloved. He calls them my
beloved. Has great, great affection for them. Great affection for
them. The apostles often use that word,
beloved. Because they had great affection
for the people they preached to, the people that they were
with. That's how we know we've passed from death unto life,
because we have this great affection. It's something only the Lord
can do. And what He's going to say to them, since they're His
beloved, He's going to say to them, is out of pure love and
concern for them. Because He loves them, and loves
them dearly. And then He says, after that,
He said, as you have always obeyed. Now unbelievers don't obey. Unbelievers
don't obey the gospel. Unbelievers do not have any love
like the apostles talking about. But as you have always obeyed,
the gospel is what he's talking about. You believe it. You abide
in this gospel. You abide in this will, the revealed
will of God. You believe and obey the Lord
Jesus Christ. You receive Him as your prophet
to teach you. to expressly take the scriptures
understood to you. You believe him and obey him
as a priest, the one who offered the only sacrifice acceptable
to God. You're high priest who's right
now in the very presence of God. He said you've obeyed. You obey
him as king. You love him being king. You
love the crown on his head. You love the truth that he is
sovereign in his power, sovereign in his glory, sovereign in his
salvation as he sits on his throne. He said, as you've obeyed, always
obey. Now watch what he says this,
not as in my presence only. What he said is, oh, he said,
and he goes on to say, not in my presence. You didn't obey
just when I was there, but now much more in my absence. Oh,
you done these things when I was present with you. You done these
things when I was present with you, but now much more in my
absence. You obeyed when I was there.
But now and I'm gone and I'm not there with you, but how much
more in my absence have you obeyed? You obeyed carefully, you obeyed
cheerfully. Not only when I was present,
Paul is saying, but he says when I was absent from you and wasn't
there with you, he says you much more obeyed. They weren't eye
servants. They didn't wait till somebody
come around and put on their religion. They didn't wait till
somebody come around and act like they was real, real good
believers and strong believers and talked about their faith
and all that. They were honest, sincere people and they did it
heartily, heartily before the Lord. And that's what I love
about people who believe the gospel. I tell you, this is one
of the marks of people who love and know the gospel. They do
not put on religious airs under no circumstances. They can get
together, half a dozen of them can get together and have the
best time and be men and women enjoying and laughing and having
the best time and not have to act religious. Don't have to get together and
hold hands when we pray and get in a circle. Let's get in a circle
now. Close your eyes. Don't have to put on all that
make-up and robe. Don't have to put on a cross when we go
out to eat. You know, let everybody know we're Christians. When's
the last time you prayed over a hamburger at McDonald's? That's what Paul's saying here.
He said, I didn't have to watch you. I didn't have to be there
to know. You obeyed the gospel. You obeyed Christ. You loved
Christ. You loved the will of God when I was there. And how
much more did you when I wasn't there? Because what you have
is real. What God's done for you is a
reality. And you enjoy it and you are
not I servicing men pleaser. And then he says here, so work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now what in the
world does he mean, work out your salvation? Well, I'll tell
you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean a man can earn
salvation and do something to merit salvation or work for salvation. It doesn't say that. It doesn't
say that God does his part, now you do your part, and then God
will do a part in your salvation and you work the rest of it out.
That's not what he's talking about. And if salvation were
by the works of man, By anything man did in and of himself, by
any means or any way in the world, then the death of Christ would
absolutely be in vain. And man would have something
to boast about, something to glory in, if he had any part
in it at all. You keep Philippians, and look
over in Romans chapter 4 with me a minute, let me show you
what I'm talking about. Man by nature is going to glory. He
cannot help himself. And if he has any part in his
salvation or any part of anything that he is going to tell somebody
about. Walked that old sawdust trail.
I remember when I came to Jesus. I remember getting on that old-fashioned
altar and praying through. I remember all that. And I tell you what, if this
salvation, work out your foul salvations, not God works a part
of it, and then he leaves you to work the other part of it.
That's not what he's talking about here. And look what he said here
in Romans chapter 4 and verse 2. He said, if Abraham were justified
by works, If his works acquitted him before God, acquitted him
before man and everybody else, he can glory then. But you know
one place he'll never be able to glory? He said he'll never
be able to glory before God. Man can glory in all his works
if he wants to, but he said when you come before God, one thing
will happen. Your mouth will shut up. You'll
not glory in what you've done by yourself or for yourself in
God's sight. And so he goes on to say, for
what does the scripture say about Abraham? Abraham believed God. And it was counted unto him for
righteousness. Now, to him that works, if you're
going to be justified by works, to him that works, his payday
is not God of grace, but it's what God owes him. But to him that works not, that
I mean sits down and says, I ain't fixin' to try to do something
for Jesus. I want the Lord Jesus to do for me. I'm not gonna stand
up and start doing all these wonderful works in Jesus' name.
I want the Lord Jesus Christ to do something for me. But to
him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies, who? The
ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness.
And David said, I'll describe this fellow. David describes
this man who does not work but believes on him that justifies
the ungodly. David said, this is the kind
of man he is. He's the man that God imputes righteousness without
works. That's who he is. And then he
goes on to say, David said, well, I tell you, blessed are those
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So we found out
real quick that he's not talking about here about man having to
do something to boast in. And I'll tell you something else,
you cannot work out something that hasn't already been worked
in. So what is it? Paul said here and back over
in our text. He says, work out your salvation
with fear and trembling for it is God which worketh in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. Now it's God which
worketh in you. Now how in the world do you know
that God has worked salvation in you? That's what he's asking, that's
what he's saying here, you know. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling for it's God which works in you that fear. It's God that works in you that
trembling. It's God that worked that salvation
in you. How do we know that God worked this, is working in us
and worked this salvation in us? It's as simple as a nose
on your face. You believe the gospel. You hear the gospel, you believe
the gospel, you rejoice in the gospel. You know, you know, and
then the gospel I'm talking about is the gospel of substitution
and the gospel of satisfaction. The gospel that the Lord Jesus
Christ took a sinner's place, took your place, my place, if
we're believers. He bore our sins, your sins,
if we're believers. This is the salvation God works
in us. He says before us, the Lord Jesus
Christ as a substitute and one who satisfied God and everything
that God required of Him and we do not dare trust in ourselves
in any respect. Is that not right? Look over,
you keep Philippians, look in Ephesians 1 just a minute. Oh,
we believe the Gospel, we believe it wholeheartedly. We don't believe in a gospel,
you know, and have a gospel that God does His part and we do ours. We don't believe in this gospel
that our will enters into it in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
The only thing you and I can do with our hands and the members
of our body is if apart from the grace of God is sin. I was
reading one of them songs in the songbook. He said, you know,
quit your sin. Quit running around with bad
people. If you gonna lie, don't lie on
Sunday. lie six days a week, but when
you get on Sunday, don't you tell a lie on Sunday. Oh, I tell
you this, hell ain't half full, I'm telling you it ain't. But
look what he said here in Ephesians 1, 12. This is what I'm talking
about. We believe the gospel. That's how we know God's working
in us. That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first
trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, After that you
heard the word of truth. You trusted in Christ. The gospel
of your salvation. The gospel that God brought to
you and you said, that's it. I believe it. I rejoice in it. I put my heart and soul in it.
I put all my eggs in this one basket right here. And the gospel
of your salvation. And after you believed, the Holy
Spirit came and set his seal on you that you were one of his. And He sealed it in your heart,
He sealed it in your soul, and made you know that you're one
of His. And that's why we know that God's working in us is because
we believe the gospel. We believe the gospel of free
grace. We believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ working
out salvation completely and entirely and fully and freely
for all whom the Father gave him in eternity. Our Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world to redeem a particular people and
we believe that. Whether it's anybody in your
family or my family or not, but we're not going to argue with
God over whom he redeemed and whom he paid for with his precious
blood. And that's why we're out preaching the gospel because
we know that men's got to hear this gospel and believe this
gospel. And I'll tell you, somebody says, well I believe all of it
but election. You don't believe any of it if you don't believe
election. If you couldn't be a sinner and
not believe in election, If you was really lost, you'd understand
that God had to choose you because you sure couldn't have chose
Him. Is that not right? And if you understand just how
awful you are, you'd know that Christ had to do all the dying
and all the work and all the blood shedding to do everything
for us to save us because that's how wretched we are. And that's
what he meant. He said, you work out that God
works in you this kind of a salvation. A salvation that makes you wipe
your hands of everything you ever said, thought, or done.
You're like the Apostle Paul. Oh, he said, I know that is in
me my flesh dwells no good thing. And he stood up, I count everything
I've ever done, everything I've ever did, all the preaching I've
done, all the witnessing, everything I've ever done. He said, I count
it, but done! Then I might win Christ and be
found in Christ. And oh, and I'll tell you another
way we can tell He works in us. He works repentance and faith
in us. And you know, repentance and
faith, they don't come, repentance don't come and then faith comes
later, or faith comes and repentance. They're twins born at the same
time. When God gives a man faith and repentance, it means a change
of mind. A radical change of mind. And
when God converts a man and puts faith in his heart, he automatically
repents. It's turning to God, turning
away from yourself, turning away from your hope, turning away.
And your mind changes dramatically about yourself, about God, about
sin, about righteousness, about what hope you have, what help
you need. It changes dramatically. And
both of those things happen at the same time. And I'll tell
you something else, if God worked them in you to begin with, He's
still working them in you right today. You ain't quit believing,
quit repenting, have you? No. We still, but you know, that's
how we know that we've repented. That's why we know God's working
in us. Faith and repentance works all the time. They're active
principles. How many times do you say, oh
Lord, forgive me? Oh Lord, help my unbelief. Why
do you do that? Because God's working this in
you. Oh my, do you know this idea
that I repented way back yonder and I'm okay? If you ever repented
there, you're still repenting. And if you ever believed back
there, you're still believing. That's what he's talking about.
I'll tell you another way we know God's working in us. And
he read it tonight. And mentioned it tonight, you
know, and he said, if any man's thirsty, let him come unto me.
Let him drink, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
And I tell you what, God works in us. He works in us. And this
salvation, He works in us. He works in us a hunger and a
thirst after righteousness all the days of our life. I want
Christ and I want His righteousness, don't you? I hunger and thirst
for Christ. I hunger and thirst for the gospel.
And God works that in us and never ever stops. It never stops. That's why we come to hear the
gospel. That's why we read the Bible. That's why we read the
scriptures. That's why we enjoy one another's company. We hunger
and thirst after Christ and His righteousness. And that's what our Lord Jesus
Christ says, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And he says no man can serve
two masters. And most folks that you find,
you know what they're hungry and thirsting after? Two things. First is they're hungry and thirsting
after happiness. You want to be happy. Everybody
wants to be happy. Everybody wants to be Henry Mahan.
Walter Grugel one time said, Walter are you happy? He said,
Henry happy ain't got nothing to do with it. He said, I'm here
because it's where God put me. And whether I'm happy or not,
it don't make any difference. I got to stay here and keep on
preaching. And if you make happiness to
be your goal, you'll be one of the miserablest creatures that
ever draw their breath. And the second thing everybody's interested
in is how much money I can accumulate so I can retire independent and
happy. But oh my, I tell you what, you
know who's happy? That word, that word blessed
means happy. It's the people who have God
for their God, the God of Jacob. That's what the word blessed
means. Happy are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Happy are they who are poor in spirit. Happy! That's what that
means. And when you realize that God
does everything, that'll make you happy. And oh, listen, I'll
tell you what, we hunger and thirst. to be righteous. Oh, we want to be righteous before
God. We long and hunger and thirst for this righteous nature. And
when this righteous nature starts, this old flesh starts rising
up against this nature that God put in us. Oh, we start praying
and say, Oh God, please continue to work in me. Don't leave me
to myself. Don't let my flesh have the upper
hand on me. Please, please. Oh, we want that
righteous nature. We love righteousness and we
desire righteousness. and to hunger and thirst after
righteousness. You know what it means? It means
to be desired to be free from self once it's for all. One of
these days I mean free from self. The most despicable creature
that we know is ourselves. And one of these days by God's
blessing and grace we'll take off self and it'll be done. Brad
preached a message a couple of years ago on dying to self. Our Lord Jesus Christ said deny yourself. And that's what this hunger and
thirst is. We just cannot, we want to deny
ourselves and we hunger and thirst and so we'll be done with self
one of these days. Oh, and we hunger and thirst
for grace to persevere. Oh God, give me grace. Give me
grace. Give me grace for yet today. Give me grace for tomorrow. Give
me grace to walk. Give me grace to talk. Give me
grace to live. Give me grace to rest. Give me
grace to believe. Give me grace, grace, and more
grace. I've got to have grace. I want to be kept right. He's like
David. I tell you, this man that God
works salvation, he's like David. David said, I tell you what,
I'm so hungry and thirsty, I ain't gonna be satisfied till I awaken
your likeness. That's when I'll be satisfied.
And I'll tell you something, this salvation God works in us,
this hunger and thirst that I'm talking about, it is real and
it is natural to the new nature. And the old nature came hungry
and thirst after righteousness. They can't hunger and thirst
to live to the glory of God. No, the old nature never did,
could or would. And I tell you, sometimes it's
intense, and sometimes it's not so intense. But I do know this
also, that hypocrites are satisfied where they are. And a believer
finds only satisfaction in Christ. And that's why he's constantly
seeking, seeking, seeking after Him. That's our lifelong, that's
our vocation in it. That's our life. And then back
over to our text, he says, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling. Fear and trembling. Oh my. Fear God. Fear God. This is one of those things that
God works in us. Fear and trembling. Bruce Crabtree
called this morning. We was talking about preaching.
And I said, Bruce, this business of preaching, it's a different
kind of a thing, ain't it? He said, it is. He says, every
time we approach it, we do it with fear and trembling. Fear
and trembling. And I'll tell you, fear God.
God works in us this fear. He said, fear God and honor the
King. And this fear of God here is a reverence and an awe and
a worshipful attitude. God, we just, you know this is
one thing the gospel does and the flesh can't do it. That's
why we just, we got to keep the flesh. The gospel causes us,
the gospel has such mystery to it. and such glory to it that
it causes us to get out of ourselves and we actually get caught up
to worship sometimes and see the holiness and the glory and
the all that God is and we are allowed to get up in our minds
and heart and soul and can actually enter into a worship sometimes.
When you start talking about God making Christ to be sin,
what mystery that is. He who knew no sin and God made
him to be sin? Explain that to me. Now that will cause your heart
to back up and say, Oh Lord, You made him who knew no sin
to be sin? You took that holy harvest sinless
Son of God and you yourself turned your back on Him and He cried
out for mercy and you wouldn't show it to Him. Oh, we're talking
about worship. We're talking about mysteries.
And if you've got a gospel and ain't got no mystery, no awe,
no worship to it, you ain't got a gospel at all. That makes me want to bow down
and bless His holy name. Praise Him. Oh my, bless His
name. That's the salvation He works
in. How do you know God's working salvation in you? You just absolutely, about the
time you think you know a little something, somebody come along
and say something, you just back up and say, whoa, wait a minute. Oh, listen. Oh, there's forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. Oh, we wouldn't offend God in
any way. We want to displease God. And
this fear of God is the very opposite of presumption and pride
and vain glory. Just the opposite of it. And
this fear of God is an act of faith. It's an act of faith.
And it produces joy and contentment. Look in Hebrews 12, just a moment.
This fear in God is an act of faith. You know that? I've had
several people tell me over the years, Hebrews 12 and verse 28.
Tell me over the years, you know, talk about fear in God. Well,
why in the world would you fear God? He's love. That's what Oprah Winfrey tells
everybody. My God's a God of love. Why are you fearing? He loves everybody. He ain't
going to send nobody to hell. He certainly ain't going to punish
sin. When's the last time you ever
noticed anybody die and lost? When a man dies, he becomes the
best fellow in town. He might have been a drunk, he
might have been a whore monger, he might have beat his wife,
might have beat his children, might have done, no telling what
all the things he done, but when he dies, he becomes the best
man in town. Best daddy, best husband, best grandpa. But while
he was a living, he wasn't worth a salt when in his biscuit. You
know why that is? No fear of God. No reverence of God. No worship of God, no concept
of God at all. God got Mama up there and she's
looking down at me, she's watching over me, she's guiding where
I'm going. That's what I'm talking about. God works this kind of salvation
in us. This awe and this reverence and this fear. And oh, look what
He said here in Hebrews. And it's an act of faith and
it produces joy and contentment. Wherefore we receive a kingdom
which cannot be moved. Oh, this kingdom that God put
us in, it ain't going to be moved. So let us have grace whereby,
see, we may serve God acceptably, listen to it, with reverence
and godly fear. Reverence and Godly fear. You
see these fellas on television, you see these here as faith healers
and all that, and they'll command God to do something. God, I command
you in Jesus' name, HEAL! Well, I tell you, they're going
to hear God's voice one of these days when that trumpet sounds.
And then you're going to hear people screaming out the same
people who cried that. They're going to say, Hell's
rocks and mountains fall on us to hide us from the wrath and
the face of the wrath of that Lamb. Oh my. And I tell you another thing
that we know that God's work to salvation is, we absolutely
have no confidence in the flesh. Do we? No, listen, look back
over here in Philippians with me just a minute, if you're not
already there. We don't have no confidence in the flesh. Look
what Paul said here in Philippians 3. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. That's how salvation works in
us. They don't have no confidence
in their flesh or anybody else's flesh. They don't have no confidence
in good works. They don't have no confidence
in how they were raised in a good Christian home. They have no
confidence in the profession they had before they ever heard
the gospel. Of everything they believe before
they hear the gospel. They say, I have no confidence
in that. I ain't looking to that no more. They know that what
they have and what they are is all by the grace of God. They're
like the apostle says, by the grace of God, I am what I am.
He said, what have you got that you didn't receive? And oh, a
man can't receive nothing unless it's given him from heaven. And
I also know this, that they know they have a treasure. They have
the treasure, but they also know it's in an earthen vessel, a
clay pot, that the power and the excellency may be of God. And I'll tell you something else,
God works in us. He works in us prayer. He works in us His
Word. He works in us worship. He gives
us all those things, and He works it in us. We wouldn't even know
how to pray. People say, you know, pray after
me. I wouldn't know how to pray. Pray the sinner's prayer? That's
all a sinner can pray is the sinner's prayer. Can you pray
any other kind of a prayer? What Scott used to call it, Mercy
Beggars? That's all you know. What other kind of prayer can
we pray? Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, we come before You
to thank You for this salvation. Thank You for Your Son. Thank
You for Your blood. And all His Word, if we know
anything about it, if we rejoice in it, if we have any understanding
of it, He worked that Word in us and gave it to us. And if
we have worship, and He's the One who worked in us to unite
with God's people. We would have never been together,
we would have never united together as a group of people here, apart
from the salvation of grace, apart from Christ, would we?
We would have known. And how can a church be a church
unless people are united and join together? And God joined
us together. He brings us together. He adds
to the church daily, wherever it's at, such as should be saved. Oh my. And I tell you something
else, the salvation that God works in is, how do we know God's
working His salvation in us? Those whom God works salvation
in, they desire truth above everything else. Tell me the truth. I've
got to have the truth. They want to know the truth about
God. Whatever you do, don't lie to me about God. And whatever
you do, tell me the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, make
Him high, make Him holy, make Him glorious, make Him the only
Savior they are. Make Him the only hope I've got.
Make Him, oh preach Him as my only righteousness. Oh, tell
me truth about Christ. Tell me, tell me that truth about
the salvations in Him, by Him. Oh, tell me that. Tell me that
old, old story. And I tell you, when they hear
that truth and desire that truth about all the things that they
hear from the Scriptures, you know what they do? Every single
one of them submit to that truth and say, Amen. Amen. Let God be true and every man
be a liar. If that's the truth, that's what
I want. And I'll embrace that truth.
I'll bow to that truth. I'll love that truth. That's the salvation God works
in us. Is he working that in you? Then he says this, and I'll try
to take too long on this. He says, whereas you've obeyed
in my presence, my beloved, not only in my presence, but now
in my absence, work out your own salvation. What does he mean,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling? Well, it's
the same thing Peter says, make all diligence to make your calling
and election sure. That's the same thing he's talking
about here. And what he's talking about is anything, anything in
this world that would come between you and your relationship with
Christ. Work it out. Look what he said
here in Philippians. This is some of the things he's
talking about and how he got to where he was going. Look in
verse 1 of chapter 2. Employ yourselves in the things
that accompany salvation. He said if there be any consolation
in Christ Philippians 2.1. If there's any comfort of love,
fellowship of the Spirit, any vows of mercy. And we know that
those are rhetorical questions. Paul's making statements here. We know that there's consolation
in Christ. We know that there's comfort
of love in Christ. We know that there's fellowship
of the Spirit in Christ. We know that he has a heart full
of mercies in Christ. And he says, so then you fulfill
my joy that you be just like-minded. You have love, and you have fellowship,
and you have this unity. Having the same love, you'll
be of one accord, you'll be of one mind. And don't let nobody,
nowhere, under no circumstances, let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory. Oh, you know what? Vain glory
is anything, anything besides giving Christ all the glory.
Vain glory. But in lowliness of mind, this
is what he's talking about working out this salvation. Lowliness
of mind. Let everybody look to the next
one to them. Look at that fellow right beside
you and say, steam him better than yourself. Huh? And don't look every man at everything
I've got. I've got this, I've got that.
But oh, what does he say here? But also on the things of others,
look to them. And then he says, let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You let this mind
be in you, this disposition be in you. What kind of disposition
of mind did Christ have? Who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And this is the
mind he had. He made himself of no reputation.
He didn't go around making himself, but it took upon him the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, the death of the Christ. He said, let this mind
be in you. That's what he's talking about. Working out your own salvation.
Working it out. Ephesians 4.1 says, you know,
walk, walk worthy of the vocation we're with you called. That means
the life that you're called to do as a believer. Walk worthy
of being a believer. Walk worthy of that. Oh my. And then it says this, and I've
always said, for it's God that works in you. It's God that works
in you to do these things. I tell you our whole life is
made up in this business of salvation. Our whole life, ain't our whole
life involved in our salvation and Christ our life? Our whole
life revolves around that. Don't it? It really does. God works in you both to will.
You will to be righteous. You will to be faithful. You
will to honor and glorify Him. You will to believe the gospel.
It's God in you that done that. You will to do. He says both
to will and to do. Do you hear the gospel? Do you believe the gospel? Do
you hunger and thirst after righteousness? But it's God that caused you
to do. Huh? And you know what he did it for?
Look what it says. According to his good pleasure.
He pleased Him to do it. He told Samuel, or Samuel told
the children of Israel, and this is for you and me, while you
turn to Hebrews 13, 21. You know, he told, Samuel told
Israel, he says, you know God, It pleased the Lord. 1 Samuel
12, 22. You look at it yourself when you get off. It pleased
the Lord to make you His people. It was just His pleasure to do
it. And it's His pleasure to work in us this wonder of salvation. And so we work it out. We're
working out right now when we're here together. And look what
He said in Hebrews 13, 21. make you perfect in every good
work to do His will working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Oh my. You can't work out something
that God didn't work in you. And he worked it in us. I'll
tell you a little story, an illustration of what I'm talking about. A
fella, he can't miss something he don't have. And this is what's
going to be happening one of these days. If God hasn't worked
this salvation in you, then you don't miss it. And you'll think you're alright
until you get to the end. Paul Mahan left one time and
he left home without his wallet. And he went miles and miles and
miles and miles and got where he was going. He never thought
a thing in the world about it. Then he got where he was going,
reached in his pocket, he didn't have a wallet. And that's where people's gonna
be at this business of salvation. They're gonna get to the way,
and they don't think nothing about it, don't worry nothing
about it, ain't concerned about it, until they get to the end
of the way. And they're gonna have empty
pockets. God work in us, both the will
and the do. God work in you, the will and
the do. That's a good salvation, God works in us. It's a good
one. Our Father, oh, blessed be your
name. Oh, thank you for allowing us
this day, giving us this day. Oh, you said you gave us our
daily bread, and Lord, you fed us so good today. You gave us
the bread today. You gave us that manna from heaven.
You gave us that bread from heaven. You gave us that water out of
the living fountain, out of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, you
fed us. You take such good care of us. You meet the needs of our hearts.
You meet the needs of our mind. You meet the needs of our souls. Oh Lord, blessed be your name.
God bless these dear children of God. They got to go to work. They got to go face their problems.
They got to go face the things that goes on in their homes with
their children, their husbands and wives. And Lord, I know that
they rejoice in the great salvation they have and they keep looking
to you. God bless them. Preserve them and keep them.
Please be merciful to Annie and Danny and may they go through
these surgeries with your blessings and grace upon them and with
you be pleased to restore them back to their fullness. We bless you for it in our Lord
Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well, I hate to go but I guess
we all quit.