If you'd like to follow along,
please turn to Philippians, the book of Philippians, chapter
one. I wanna read like the first seven
verses. Philippians chapter one, beginning
in verse one. Paul and Timotheus, the servants
of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at
Philippi with the bishops and deacons. Grace be unto you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer
of mine, for you all making requests with joy, for your fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident
of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, even as it is
meet for me to think this of you all. Because I have you in
my heart, and as much as both in my bonds and in the defense
and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. I'm gonna stop right there. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you, it's verse three. Always in every prayer of mine
for you, for you all, making requests with joy. Why? For your fellowship, for your
fellowship in the gospel. From the first day until now. Now, I don't want to be presumptuous.
Now you understand, that's what people say who are about to be
presumptuous. But I'm trying not to be presumptuous,
really. Because by context, I think I'm
correct. And I do understand that no prophecy
of the scripture, and indeed, period, no scriptures of any
private interpretation. But I think I know how Paul feels
right here. I think I have that in here myself. I believe I know what he's saying
here because I feel the same way about you people here. I
thank God for you people. I thank God for this assembly,
Walter. What? For your fellowship in
the gospel. That's key. I mean, that's key. I mean, Paul might have had a
lot of friends. He might not have, but you never know. But
here's the thing, this fellowship's in the gospel. And he says it
this way, and I find this wonderfully comforting, from the first day
until now. Until right now. And that's the
way I feel about this assembly here. From the first day until
now. Because whenever I do think of
you people, I thank God for you. I don't do it often enough. But
this being Memorial Day weekend, I think it's a good day for it. Now I'm gonna brag on you a little
bit, but I'm not gonna brag on you at the same time. Because
I do thank God for this assembly. Because I remember back over
30 years ago, two assemblies joining together as one. There's
two local assemblies now. Now there is only one true assembly. There's only one true church,
there's only one flock of God, and there's only one good shepherd.
But there are local assemblies. And two local assemblies, 30
some miles apart, joined together, and here's the thing, we joined
together as one. How is that possible? In the
gospel. Our fellowship was in the gospel.
with Earl Cochran. Our fellowship was in the gospel.
Actually, our fellowship is in the gospel. What, from the first
day until now. I remember joining together and
I remember those who were there at the time. And I remember those that stayed. And I thank God for every one
of them. And I remember you who are still here and those that
have joined since then. And I also understand, and hopefully
gonna preach here, the same old gospel, the same old story. There is no new gospel. There's
nothing new. You understand, every Sunday
when we gather together is a day of remembering. because that's all we have is
what he has in here for us. The gospel has never changed.
We change all the time. Sometimes for the better. Not
always, but sometimes for the better. You understand my, I'm
not gonna try, I'm trying not to brag on myself, but my understanding
of the gospel has grown. You understand? If you're not
growing, if you have not grown in the grace and the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, you might want to make your calling and election
sure. I don't want to be the same place I was 30 years ago,
although 30 years ago, it was a great place. It was. And it's still in my
mind. Y'all don't, I mean, y'all probably
do know, but it's a very rare occurrence for two local assemblies
to come together as one and have it work. That's the grace of
God that did that. It was the grace of God in you,
in me, in everyone there, in everyone here, and in Earl Cochran,
and those that have gone on before. This is an amazing place where people from disparate,
different, spread out, and different backgrounds all gathered together
to hear one Lord preached. And then two separate places
came together and have been fellowshipping in the gospel from that day until
now. That's just, it just boggles
my mind how it works out. And I understand a little bit. For me, it was nothing. You know,
like, yeah, that's what we ought to do, Mason. That's what I thought. Walter asked me about it. I said,
okay, I'm good with it. We needed an elder pastor. You
know, we were doing the best we can with what we had. And
we weren't, as far as I know, telling any lies. We were mistaken
about a few things, but that's something else. We were correcting
those as we went. But here's the other thing. I also remember those who left.
Now I'm talking about those who left the gospel, those who went
out from us, who were not of us, because had they been of
us, they would no doubt have continued. I'm not talking about
people who had to move away. as some are gonna have to do
here. But I remember those who left.
Matter of fact, the very day we came up for the first Sunday
was the very last Sunday for a family. And he got up in Earl's face
and said a few choice words, and Walter and I both stood up
supporting Earl. Because the man accused Earl
of denigrating the word of God. He was dead wrong. He was dead
wrong. You understand, this book is
paper and ink. This book, I know it says Holy
Bible here on the front, you can see it on TV. You know why? Because I couldn't find one that
didn't have that on there. I don't need that on there. You
understand? This book is not holy, but it
is the word of God. His word is holy. I can go down
to Walmart and buy me a cheaper version of this thing. I've got
one on my telephone. I've got it on my computer at
the house. And no matter where that word is, that word's holy. But this man was accusing Earl
of denigrating the word of God, and he was wrong. He was wrong. Earl said this book is ink and
paper. That's what he was talking about. But Earl believed this
word. Earl preached this word, and
I believed it. And I still believe it, what?
From the first day unto now. From the first day unto now.
Because here's the strange thing about the gospel, okay? I understand
this, the reason those people left is the same reason I stayed. Now ain't that the strangest
thing you ever heard? You understand, his word divides. He said he came himself to bring
a division. And you know what he did when
he came? He made a division. Walter read it a while back,
just a couple weeks ago. I'm gonna put a division between
the people of Egypt and the people of Israel. Who's gonna put it
there? Not Pharaoh. Who put it there? Not the Israelites. God put that
division there. And you know what, when God puts
a division there, there's a division there. Because some of those
plagues, a bunch of those plagues fell on both of them. Everybody
got it. But then it stopped. Then it
stopped, and the plagues fell on the Egyptians, and it didn't
fall on who? the ones God made a division
about. It did not fall upon the people
of God. Because there are some things that happen to the just
and the unjust alike. Good and bad, as far as we see
them. Now it's all good in God's sight, because he knows what
he's doing. But there are some things that happen to the people
of God, and guess what one of them is? It's fellowship in the
gospel. from the first day until now,
your fellowship in the gospel with me is sweet to me. The truth in God, the truth of
God, in the face of Jesus Christ, binds us together while others
walk away. I mean, that's what it said. We
are, it's all about preachers, are the saver of life unto life. What? The saver of life unto
the living in Christ. But we are the saver of death
unto those who are dead. Why? Because they don't want
the gospel. They don't want fellowship in
the gospel. Oh, they might want fellowship.
They might want your approval, your participation, but they
don't want the gospel. Because the reason why is because
they hate the gospel. And they hate the one who brought
it. That's the way it is. They'll
hate you because they hated me first, Jesus Christ said. And
guess what? They still hate him. I see these bumper stickers every
now and then, you'll see them, it says, wise men still seek him.
Guess what? Most people still hate him. But
they don't wanna put that on a bumper sticker. It's not corny, it's not nonsense,
and I'm not being flippant. Your fellowship in the gospel
is a dear thing to me. And I am grateful and I thank
God for it. But, like I said, I'm gonna brag
on you a little bit, but I'm not, because be very, don't get
puffed up. Paul says it in the next verse,
being confident of this very thing. Now Paul said he got no
confidence in the flesh. I've got no confidence in the
flesh. And by that I mean not my flesh and not your flesh either.
I'm confident of this very thing. What's that? That he. And that's the important he.
The antecedent of it is God. I thank God upon every remembrance
of you. Being confident of this very
thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of what? Jesus Christ. Our fellowship
in the gospel is because of our fellowship in Jesus Christ. Being confident of this very
thing. The confidence is in Christ Jesus. because of him We can
be confident of some things Understand he always comes before the things
the who always comes before the what? in the scripture Most people
get so tied up in the what they forget about the who? They get
to they get to fussing about doctrine and they forget about
Christ who is our doctrine They get to fussing about law. And they forget the one who gave
the law, wrote the law, and then told us about the law while he
was here. Narrowed it down to two parts.
Jesus Christ did that, I didn't. Everybody talking about the 10
commandments and 10 commandments. Put up the two. And the number one
will knock your socks off. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, all thy soul, all thy mind, and all thy
strength. And guess what? You can't. You can't either. And you never have. And neither
have I. But he did. He did. And the second's like unto it. Love your neighbor as yourself. As yourself. Yeah. Try that one
on for size. Whenever you go buy the groceries,
buy your neighbor some groceries. The same amount, the same thing,
not the cheap canned stuff. That's right. I know how food
banks work. I'm sorry, folks. That's the
way we are. That's the way we are. I'm not buying filet mignon
and taking it to the food bank. And neither are you. That's the
way we are. Paul read this morning, the poor
you're gonna have with you always. He says, and if you will, take
care of them. And if you can, I say it, take
care of them. But that ain't the gospel. You
understand, that woman anointed Christ's head with oil. What,
precious. It was considered precious. Guess
who else is considered precious? in God's sight. His beloved son,
no, his son's blood is precious that he shed. Oh my. We have confidence in him. You understand? The one who spoke
the worlds into being. Who said it and it was done.
We've got confidence in his, what? In his work. His work,
his work. that he which has begun a good
work in you. You understand, we talk about
a lot of things Jesus Christ did for us. There are things
that he has done in us. Oh, that's what Paul's writing
of here. First of all, he says that he, the confidence is him
and confident of his work. Matter of fact, I don't trust
my own work. Ain't nothing personal, folks.
I don't trust yours either. Although I might trust yours
a little more than mine because I don't know you as well as I
know me. I don't live with you 24-7 like
I do with this up here. And this is the thing that can
just drive you up a wall. My sin is ever before me. And
thank God, I can forget it sometimes. Otherwise, I don't know that
I could function. But here's the thing. Every sin I've even
thought of, my Lord has paid the price. And guess what? I can be confident in that work. In that work. You understand? God the Father
accepted Jesus Christ after, after he had laid all our sins
on him. You know James, one thing to
consider, Jesus Christ was accepted when he was walking around and
perfect and holy and never said a word, never thought a thought
out of the way. Much less a sin. He had no sin. but after God laid his sin, our
sin, excuse us, on him, after he paid that price, died
the death that I could not die, shed his precious blood, our
Lord accepted him and he raised him from the dead as a sign that
guess what? He's still holy. And in him,
We are just as holy as His Son. We are not holy in and of ourselves
at all. We have no confidence in the
flesh. But we have confidence of Him. And this one here begun
a good work in you. One of the reasons, I preached
this about a year ago. Which is okay, I don't mind.
I'll preach it again later, I'm sure. But here's the thing that
kinda got me thinking along these lines. Walter quoted this and spoke
just a minute on it a couple of weeks ago when I wasn't here,
I listened to it. There's a verse which describes
the work that Christ began in us that Paul's referencing here.
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 13, excuse me, chapter two, verse
13. Very familiar and very profound. But we are bound to give thanks
all way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's be clear. The beginnings
of Christ are glorious. And so are the endings. And so
is the middle. All of our Lord's work is good. All of our Lord's work is good.
We may not see it. We certainly a lot of times don't
understand it. But here Paul's clear. He's talking
about the good work in you. What's he talking about? He's
talking about and to the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi. He's referring to being a saint.
He's referring to salvation here. God which has begun this good
work in you, and guess what? Because of that good work in
you, there's good work done by you. He's put in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure. But here's where it starts. He
begun a good work in you. God doesn't do anything halfway.
No matter what any preacher may say. You understand? God has
never done all he can do, and then the rest was up to you.
Never happened. Never will happen. Not scriptural. It's a lie, actually. It's a
lie. He's writing of salvation in
Christ Jesus, and what's the beginning of that good work?
Well, it begins with God, and it doesn't begin with you. It begins with God, and it doesn't
begin with me. It doesn't begin here, it began
here, up there. What? Before the foundation of
the world is where it began. But here it says, God hath from
the beginning chosen you what? To salvation. How? Through sanctification of the
spirit. Now that's not your spirit, that's his spirit. The sanctification
of the Holy Spirit in you. What did John write? Jesus said,
you must be born again. And what'd he say about that?
Well, the Spirit goes where it wants. And you can't tell whether
it comes, whether it goes, only you might hear the wind passing
by. But you don't know where it's going or where it came from
or where it's going to. He chose you to salvation. Through the sanctification of
the spirit, what? And belief of the truth. You understand? If you don't
believe the truth, you've got no call to talk about the sanctification
of the spirit. These two are tied together,
totally and completely. There is no salvation without
the belief of the truth. Don't try and take credit for
your own belief either. Faith is the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. And Jesus Christ himself
said it, this is the work of God. What? That you believe on
him whom the Father sent. And Paul wrote in Ephesians also,
We believe according to the working of his mighty power It's a good work in you it's
a good work in you now it has results yes indeed many results Belief of the truth though is
a good work in you that he has worked and he will perform. He will perform. Being confident
in this very thing that he which hath begun a work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. His good work in you continues. He continues. Like I said, God
doesn't do anything halfway. He told us, I will never leave
you, I will never forsake you. What's that mean? That means
his good work in you continues. He's performing it. And because
of that, therefore, you continue. I continue. What is it? It's our fellowship in the gospel
from the first day unto now. If you're not continuing in the
fellowship of the gospel now, you never have. You understand? If you can leave, and I'm not
talking about just leaving us, you can get mad at me and walk
out. I won't say a thing. But you understand, if you turn
your back on his gospel, If you turn your back on his truth,
if you turn your back on this word, you don't know his word. You
don't know his gospel. And you were not of us. And it
was made manifest more than once here. because God never stops. God never quits. God has performed
a good work in you. He's gonna perform it until the
day of Christ, and you're gonna show it. Everybody's not gonna see it,
trust me. They may think you're weird.
They may think you're crazy. Because some of you people are
a little odd, you know? Not that I am, of course, you
know? Mind you, I'm just as sane as a, never mind. But that's
the thing. Why do you drive 30 miles to
come here? Well, it's not to speak, although
it is. But you understand, this is the
only place I know the gospel is preached. And that's why I'm
here. I come to hear the gospel. participate
in the fellowship of the saints, his saints. This is my assembly. That ain't
mine, but this is the assembly I belong to. This is where I'm
supposed to be. He may change that later, I don't
know. I'm not looking to go anywhere, not wanting to go anywhere, but
here's the thing, the fellowship in the gospel will continue.
Your fellowship in the gospel will continue if he which has
begun a good work in you performs it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
Because this is the perseverance of the saints. Perseverance of
the saints is not that we're so great and we're so strong
in the faith and we follow on no matter what, no. It's because
he performs the work in us. He that began the work, performing
the work. That's why we're still here.
And we'll be here until he's good and ready to split us up.
Or we all die off, whichever comes first. Or maybe there'll
be another generation, I don't know. I don't know, but I trust him. He's gonna perform the good work,
not only in us, but also for us, to us. And here's the last thing. And I like this thought. even
as it is meet for me to think this of you all. It's good for
me to think this of you people. It's good. It's meet, it's fit,
the word righteous. It's right for me to think this
of God's assembly, understand, God's assembly. Those of you
who have fellowship within the gospel, it's good for you to
think this of you all. Ah, I like that. This assembly
is a comfort to me. You understand? And I know it's
a play on words, but I'm gonna do it anyway. It's a comfort
because I'm comfortable here. I'm not comfortable in many places.
Especially not, Walter, religious places. I have been really uncomfortable
in some religious places. But it's good for me to think
this of you all. All of the saints at Philippi
and at Crow. It's good to know the people
of God, and it's good to thank God for the believers with whom
you assemble. because it's good to be with
the children of God. It's right that we fellowship
in his gospel. Paul tells us why, in as much,
well, ye are all partakers of my grace. Now, it ain't Paul's
grace, but it is Paul's grace. You know that. It's not Paul's
grace. but it is Paul's grace, but here's
the point. All of you are fellow partakers
with me in this grace. What? There's only one grace?
Yeah, there's only one. That's grace in Christ Jesus. In Jesus Christ is the only grace. that will continue. You know
why? Because he's gonna perform it in you. Why? Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Folks, that's grace. That's grace. And it's good, it's meat, it's
fitting for you and me to think this of us all. all the assembly
of the saints. Thank God for each other. Appreciate
it. This kind of stuff doesn't happen
everywhere. I'm gonna tell you something. I say it usually every week when
I come here. I'm glad to be here. And I am very glad to be here
with you all in Christ's name and in Christ's assembly. Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for this time, this place. Oh, what you've given to us,
this fellowship in your gospel. You gave your son for our sins. and you give us your spirit,
you give us your word, and you give it to us to believe and
to fellowship, trust in Christ Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for everything. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach, and Be with us all to hear your words in Christ's name. We pray. Amen.