This morning we're in Philippians chapter one. If you would like to turn there. When trouble arises, I wrote an article on this very subject, but it goes with Philippians. When trouble arises, our hardest thing for the believer to do is nothing. To wait on the Lord, to be still, and see the salvation of the Lord. You remember, that's what the Lord told Moses, tell the children of Israel, be still and see the salvation of the Lord. Don't move a muscle.

And our flesh is so prone to try to do something. And actually, it stems from our ego, our pride, our self-justification. Nobody in here doesn't deal with those things, I promise, including myself. We have self-justification. Even this week, one of my daughters did something and I looked at her and said something about it. But I didn't know it, whatever she said, you know, and I'm like, okay, it's self justification. Got it. And that's what we do. We justify ourself. The Lord, thankfully, has given us understanding of some things.

Whenever it comes to spiritual things when it comes to election, when it comes to predestination, when it comes to eternal life, when it comes to the things of the Lord, we are certain that God is absolutely sovereign and we don't take those matters into our own hands. We don't try to do anything with that. We leave that, if I could put it that way, we leave it where it is. We don't mess with that. We don't, we don't question the election of the Lord, the salvation of the Lord, the things that the Lord has accomplished.

But it's so funny because surprisingly enough, whenever a little pebble gets thrown into our pond that creates a ripple, we get all bent out of shape over that, don't we? A lot of times we'll try to fix the ripple and just create a massive wave, a tsunami or something that causes us a lot more problems. That's just how we are by nature, isn't it? So what the Lord has done is caused us to realize here in Philippians, what he's writing is to cause them to realize, don't look at the circumstance Look at the giver of the circumstance.

Don't look at the trouble and try to immediately find a solution, but look to the one that sent it, knowing that all things work together for good, to them that love God, to them are thee called according to his purpose. He's reminding, and Paul, he expounds abundantly on the love that he has for them and the relationship that they've built and what the Lord has done in building the church there. So it's a very heartfelt letter. And I believe most, I mean, all of Paul's letters are, but he expounds on it very much so in the first chapter. So Here in our text, Paul's reminding the Philippians of where our rest is, where our confidence lies, where our assurance is. It's not in ourself. Can't be in ourself. Because if it's in ourself, we'll be let down, won't we? So let's read this together.

Philippians 1, 1-7. 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, and that word perform translates finish, finish. He will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. Even as it is meet for me to thank this of you all because I have you in my heart in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace. Now I want to notice verse six this hour. That's the verse as I was going through different passages, trying to see where the Lord might lead us. Verse six is where the Lord gave me peace on going into Philippians. Being confident in this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Our confidence does not reside in man. Our confidence cannot reside in man nor the things of man. Our confidence doesn't reside in ourself when it comes to spiritual things. And it's interesting because our flesh lives by sight. So everything that we see, we try to do in order to fix something that's broken.

But yet the spiritual man just rests in the Lord at all times, rests by faith, resting in him. This is all by the Lord's design.

But I forgot to mention the title, I apologize. This very thing, this very thing. being confident of this very thing. Our title is This Very Thing this morning. So Paul is reminding them, first and foremost, his love for them, his prayers for them, the joy for them, the thanksgiving that he has when he remembers them. And then he says, we have confidence. We have confidence in this very thing. So he's immediately drawing their attention back to where their confidence lies.

And it's not in themselves. It's not in the Lord's. It's not that they started a church. It's that God started a church. It's not that they are have taken matters in their own hands. It's that or they're going to take matters in their own hands. It's whatever it is, is it's of the Lord.

What they're dealing with here is. The Lord is being misspoken of with strife and. contention. Some of them, it would appear as though some of them are debating over the gospel. Some of them are debating over what Paul has said or debating over what each other thinks. And Paul's addressing this particular issue. So first he says, being confident of this very thing.

Our confidence does not reside in men or mankind. It's not a promise we've prayed, a promise we made or a prayer we've prayed. Our confidence is in the election of God. Our confidence is the redemption of Christ. Our confidence is the regeneration of the spirit and the power that we are kept thereby. It's not in what we do, it's what he has done.

I love how this verse sounds like He, and it could be interpreted that he is still performing it. He's still performing it. When in actuality, everything that's coming to pass was already before ordained, before time ever began. So the performing is just, and it came to pass and it came to pass. and it came to pass.

And you and I find ourselves most of the time holding on for dear life, you know, to life, whatever's happening. We're begging the Lord not to leave us to ourselves, if that's a better way to put it. So he gives us confidence here of this very thing, that we have no confidence outside of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our bodies are frail. Everything around us is changing. The world's changing. The world, the scripture is very clear, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away.

So there's nothing to be confident in that we can see, and yet we still are prone to try to find something to be confident in. Look at what I have been able to accomplish myself. And then sometimes the Lord causes us to fall flat on our face and we cry out, Lord, save me. That's the best place a believer can be. Did you know that? If the Lord brings you back to being and brings you back to being a mercy beggar, that's the best place to be. You're at his feet at that moment. He's the doer of that. Although your flesh will hate it, my flesh will hate it. It'll kick the whole time. It gets frustrated and angry, but the elder shall serve the younger. The new man reigns over the old man.

Now notice these words here, this very thing, it's singular in its notation, meaning It's a single thing. It's not many, many things, but it's a single thing. That's important because what he's telling us our confidence is, is not a whole bunch of different things. It's one thing, just one. It's specific in its design to illustrate that nothing that we see can be what our confidence is. It's something that the Lord has to give because he says, being confident in this very thing that he which hath begun. So it's not that we begun anything, it's he hath begun it. Nothing on this earth is the believer's confidence, nor can it be because everything is changing. Everything around us is constantly changing. How can I be confident if something's mutable?

If I am, you get a vehicle and we have some mechanics in the room and some of us are garage mechanics, you know, we fix our own things, whatever. But the point I'm making is, is that you can get a new car and you can be pretty confident this car is going to last me a while. And that may be true.

But over time, it's going to deteriorate, isn't it? The more miles you put on it, and depending on how good you take care of it, it may become less and less dependable and more and more of an eyesore, because maybe it starts rusting and it gets cracks, dents in it.

That's the worst thing. You go to a store and you park a new car, you're going to get dented, because I think it just makes people mad that you have a new car and they don't. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. But it seems like that's the case. Well, now it's got all these dings and scratches on it, and now it's not dependable anymore. I have all these miles on it. I need a new car. It may not have to be brand new, but I need something that's gonna be more dependable. What's the point I'm making?

If your confidence is in something we can see, it's going to fade away. The Lord's people are made to have confidence in this very thing, that He, that's the confidence, it's the period, it's He, but he that begun a good work in you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. The confidence is that all things work together for good to them that love God or them are the called according to his purpose. Our confidence is not in men, not in the will of man, not in blood or by men's decree, but it's of God. Our confidence is of the Lord. How can we be confident in something if it's changing?

Do you know, since you all have been here, and since I have been here this morning, we've died a little bit. And I'm not gonna be morbid about it, but it's just true. Every second that ticks by, we're dying, getting closer to death. There is an appointed time, and every man is going to, and every woman's going to die. As it is appointed, for men once to die, after this, the judgment. God said it, it's gonna happen. And we know it's true.

So why am I confident in myself? Well, I have pride. I have self-justification, I have ego. And we spend our lives, we can be thankful that the Lord keeps his people from themselves. We just say it like that. He doesn't allow that pride and that ego to completely overtake our lives. But it's the love of God that constrains us. That doesn't mean my love to him. It's his love towards us that's shed abroad in our heart. It constrains us. He's the constrainer. We're kept by his power. No, brethren, the world is ever-changing. We can't hope in this place. Paul said if we had hope in this world only, we'd be of all men most miserable. Why? Because this is, our life's a vapor. Our life is a vapor.

Lord told Isaiah, go preach to the people. And he said, what should I tell them? He said, tell them they're grass. Tell them they're grass. And as the grass withereth and the flower that fadeth away, that's what they are. We're going back to dust from whence we came. So where's my confidence?

It's in this very thing. Not in me, not in what I can see, but it's in this very thing. Our hope, our peace, our rest, our confidence is not in this world. It's in the God that created this world. The only potentate, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our confidence. Our hope is this, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. So he's immutable. He cannot change. Our confidence is in this very thing, that first and foremost, our God cannot change. Everything around us changes. We are changing. Hair turns gray, mine's falling out. You know, it's just, everybody's changing.

And our Lord never changes. Isn't that amazing? It's impossible to believe without faith. Nobody can believe that, but our God never changes. Meaning if he was sovereign, he's always gonna be sovereign. It's glorious to rest in an unchanging, unchangeable King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's our confidence. Scripture says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Here's our hope, brethren, the sovereign creator saved his people from their sin.

There's our confidence. Now, you and I can't be confident in this flesh and what we think about. circumstances, how we're going to handle them. And nobody, I don't want anybody leaving here thinking, okay, well, Caleb just told us to quit our jobs and stay home. No, that's not what I'm talking about. No, don't do that.

No, everybody has been given the task to take care of what the Lord's give them in charge to do. So there is things, the lot, the scripture is clear. The lot falls on the lap, but the whole disposing of the Lord. So we continued pressing towards the mark, which is Christ looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. And we do whatever our hand finds to do with all of our might, as the scripture says.

That being said, when trouble arises, when fear assails, whenever you have a storm that pops up, comes out of nowhere, and you're blindsided by it, and that fear overtakes you, May the Lord calls us to remember the God of the storm. There's nothing above him. He's God and he can't change. Even when Christ came to this earth and spoke to the winds and waves, all he said was, peace, be still, three words. And the winds and waves remembered his name. Why? He created them. He created, he's God.

So in whatever storm you may have in your life, whatever storm I may have in my life, we're just waiting for the master to say, peace, be still at the appointed time. If he never sent the storm, we would never say, save me. That's the only time Peter cried out, save me, that it's written in scripture. Lord, save me.

When? He was going to drown. That's when. When he saw the winds and the waves boisterous, he said, I can't do this. This is too overwhelming. This is too difficult. He said, Lord, save me. And immediately, the Lord saved him. Why? Peter realized, I can't be confident in my faith. I can't be confident in Peter. I'm confident in him to save me, though. Because I can't save myself, but he can.

And he did. He saved his people from their sin. He successfully redeemed them by the sacrifice of himself. This is what he hath begun. Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work. That's the good work he's talking about. He's talking about the salvation that was wrought by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross.

Now I want us to, I'm breaking this down a little bit at a time because so many times we read these things and we pass it by so quick. But I pray the Lord gives us a simple understanding. I like simplicity. I try to stay as simple as I can. I don't have fancy words like other men and don't want to. I want to make sure that Christ is seen and heard. That's my desire this morning. He says specifically, he hath begun. My brain can comprehend that. I understand that it's he, God. He is the doer of it. He is the author of it.

And you better believe that if he's the author, he's gonna be the finisher. He's not gonna start something that he doesn't finish. That would make him a failure. We might start things in our life and not finish them and not even think about it anymore, but God cannot fail at anything. Otherwise it would be an attempt to see that you'd be trying to do something. That's not God, that's us. We try, he don't try. He purposes and does. He purposes and things do according to his will. He's God. So he, our confidence is this, he hath begun. Meaning I didn't begin anything. It wasn't something that I chose. It wasn't something that I did. It wasn't something that I thought. It wasn't something that I prayed. He hath begun a good work in you. He is the author and finisher of our faith.

He's the, he's the, what does the scripture say? In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. What does that mean? In the beginning, God, just right there, leave it right there. That's, he's the beginning. All things were made by him and without him, there was not anything made that was made.

He hath begun a good work in you. Sometimes we begin looking at circumstances whenever, and I said this already, but I want to try to say this a different way. I look at circumstances that are so small sometimes in all reality. A good example of that would be, tell me the trial that you were facing 10 years ago. this today, 10 years ago today, and everybody, we start, I was gonna say, our squirrels start running. You understand what I'm saying. We're trying to remember, trying to remember. Why? Because the present trial is the difficult one to bear.

We've already seen the Lord's faithfulness. We see goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life. We've seen that. We've seen the Lord's goodness. We've seen the Lord's glory. And yet the present trial is always the most difficult. Why? Because you're in it. You're facing it right now. But the God of the last trial is the same God of this trial. And he's, you know what his name is? Faithful and true. That's my confidence. That's our confidence, isn't it? Not me. Not my choice, He begun a good work in you. That means everything that's happening right now is coming to pass according to His purpose, according to His will, by His determinate counsel before the foundation of the world ever was laid.

The Lord is not... figuring things out. No, he doesn't figure. That's another way of saying calculate, isn't it? He doesn't calculate. He knows. There's nothing that he doesn't know. He's omnipotent. There's nowhere he's not found. He's on the present. He's everywhere all the time. He's God and he hath begun. Good work in you. He is the supreme being over all things. He has all power, all authority.

Him being the author ensures the end result. You love that. Him being the author ensures the end result because if he wrote it, he's going to perform it. Christ said, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, which was, which is, and which is to come. He hath begun a good work in you. He is the first cause. Something that's truly glorious about our Lord is If the Lord began a thing, it was not begun in time. Think about that. If he'd begun a thing, he didn't begin it in time. He'd begun it in eternity. Why? He's an eternal being. Do we see that?

Time's not subject to him. Time's not susceptible. Time doesn't alter, time alters us like all the, I mean, every second alters us in some way. In matter of fact, I find out most of my problems can be solved with time or money. That's pretty much what it comes down to, isn't it? That being said, neither of those affect him whatsoever. He owns everything and he made time. This is who he is.

That being said, if he began something, he didn't begin it in time, he began it in eternity. So therefore it's an eternal beginning and an eternal ending. It's going to come to pass. This means everything was predetermined before time ever began for the salvation of his people. Everything was predetermined about your life right now. If you're his, every breath you're gonna take, every smell you're gonna smell, every sound you're gonna hear, everything you're gonna eat, every hour you're gonna sleep in your lifetime, every hard time you might feel or hardship you might face, every sad time, every joyous time, every happy time, it's all his time. It's all by his determinant counsel. This is good news. If we are fearful of circumstances, look to the author, look to the author and finisher.

Because he didn't just start it and leave it hanging in the balance for us to try to determine how we're gonna take care of it. No, he finished the work given to him. And if he spared not his own son, but freely delivered him up for his people, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Are we worried about what we see with these eyes? Of course we are, we're in the flesh. But when the Lord shows us his face, he says, be still and see the salvation of the Lord. Peace, be still. And for a moment, we're able to look upon him and rest knowing that if he spared not his own son for us, what's he gonna withhold from us that we need? What's he gonna withhold from us that we need? He's going to give us everything. He's going to give his people everything that they need. Maybe not what we want, but it's what we need.

Father chastens. His children, the scripture tells us very clearly. The Lord chastens his people. And Paul said it clearly, though the chastenings of the Lord for the time being, they're not pleasant, but they are for our good. He said, the tribulation of your faith work with patience and patience, experience and experience hope. And that hope make it not ashamed of the gospel, which is shed abroad in our hearts. What is he saying? Everything that's happening right now, the Lord's trying your faith. The Lord's trying our faith for us to cleave to this one confidence, the Lord's gospel, to this one hope.

He begun the work. He finished the work. This is the believers. This is our, this is the very thing that we rejoice in. This is the very thing that we hope in. If our Lord began something, he began it in eternity and therefore it's timeless, it's not subject to time. So if there's something in time that's bothering us, remember that it is finished.

The salvation of the Lord is accomplished and all things are going to work together for the Lord's people for their good and his glory. And notice the next thing that he says, he hath begun a good work. Well, why is it a good work? Well, because he's the one that created it. He's the one that started it. He's the one that began it. He is good.

Remember the Lord, one of the rich young rulers came to the Lord and said, um, Good master, that's what he said. I was trying to remember the exact word. Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Good master. And he said, why callest thou me good?

There's none good but God. There's none good but God. It's a good thing because God is the doer of it. It's a good work because the Lord is the creator of it. All he can produce is good. You know all that we can produce in this flesh is bad. Isn't that something? But all he produces is good. Totally opposite of what we are. There's none good but God. You remember whenever Moses told the Lord, what is his goodness? Moses asked the Lord, he said, show me your glory.

Show me your glory. And he said, no man can look upon me and live, but there is a place near to me and I will take you and put you upon a rock and hide you in the cleft of the rock and whenever my glory shall pass before you, I'll hide my, or you'll see my hinder parts and the cleft of the rock protected. That's, that's a picture of Christ as we all know very well, but he asked to see his glory. And he said, I'm going to show you my goodness.

Why is his glory and goodness used? Why is those two words used? Because his goodness is his glory and his glory is his goodness. The Lord is good unto his people. The Lord is merciful unto his people, not giving us what we deserve, but giving us Christ who is our righteousness, giving us hope, giving us a set of sorrow, giving us peace instead of suffering, giving us joy instead of sadness.

Sometimes this flesh may feel those emotions, but I'm talking about spiritually speaking, when you lay your head on your pillow at night and the Lord's given you faith to believe that it is finished, You have a blessed hope that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it. This is the good work. Exodus 33 tells us, uh, Moses said, I beseech thee, show me your glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and show mercy to whom I will show mercy.

That's the goodness of the Lord. That's his glory that he chose to show mercy to some sinners, to his elect people. He chose to redeem them by his own blood, by his own work, all by his grace. He gets all the glory for it. He did this on the behalf of Christ, nothing in us or by us. It's he that begun the good work. It's not us that began anything. This was done before time. Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He begun the good work.

This was all done by his determinant counsel. And because we know our God's unchangeable, that means His election is unchangeable. His redemption is unchangeable. His regeneration is unchangeable. That comforts my heart. I can't lose it. Why? I didn't find it. He bestowed it freely by His grace. This is all for His glory.

Turn with me to Isaiah 46. Look at verse nine to the end of the chapter, Isaiah 46. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand that I will do all my pleasure. calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country.

Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it, hearken unto me, you stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry. And I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. My glory. That is the good work he hath begun. He hath begun. This is God's salvation. It's not by the will of men, not by the will of man, but of God.

This is the good work finished by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. His obedience in life unto the father, his service unto his father, his self-sacrifice on the cross. whenever he offered himself up freely for his people. This is his good work that he hath begun. Scripture tells us clearly that it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ is the one that pleased the Father. This is the good work which he hath begun, salvation in his people.

He performed this salvation all by himself. Hebrews chapter one, verse three says, when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Our Lord began the good work, but we can't stop there, because when Christ bowed his head upon the cross, after he had endured the wrath of God for his people, after his soul was made an offering for sin, after the Lord had made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, he cried with a loud voice, it is finished. One of the most simple but beautiful declarations in all of scripture that declares that the father was satisfied with the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the work that he hath begun is a finished work. This is good news because it doesn't depend upon me to do anything to add to or take away from it. It doesn't rely on me. It doesn't come to me. as an offer, but it is received by the Lord's grace, by the Lord's faith bestowed. And he gets all the glory for it. Understand when he said it is finished, he also said in John 17, similar words, he said, I finished the work thou has given me to do.

That's not a metaphor. That's not a metaphor. No, it wasn't that it was finished where we now have an opportunity or now there's a way made and all we have to do is this. That's not what he said. He said, it is finished. This is why we can have confidence is because it is finished.

This is the declaration of salvation being 100% achieved by the one and only Lamb of God. Him alone. Him alone. When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down. So the same one, it says, he hath begun a good work in you. This is the same one that purged our sins by himself. He's singular in everything that he does. He's God. He didn't depend upon Moses for anything. He didn't depend upon Abraham for anything. He didn't depend upon Noah for anything. God is self-sustaining. And he saved his people by himself, by himself. This is the good work that he began and finished, all by his power, all by his purpose, and all by his determinant counsel.

Now go back with me to Philippians chapter one. We've got one more thing to look at here. Look at verse six, being confident of this very thing, this singular thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Brethren, we are confident in Christ alone, that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is all by grace and Christ is all in salvation. We are confident in that. We are absolutely confident that salvation has been accomplished. It wasn't an attempt. We're confident that salvation has been achieved. He was successful in redeeming his people. He did everything necessary to save his people. We know that it is him that performed the work by himself, all for the glory of God.

Now, that's what Paul has said up to this point, until these last words, until the day of Jesus Christ. Now, what does that mean? Well, it's twofold, actually. First of all, the day of Jesus Christ was the day of the cross. But the day of Jesus Christ now is also the return of the Lord.

He said, if I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. So our confidence is in his salvation completely, his election, his redemption, his regeneration, and him keeping us until we're confident he's going to return. He's going to return for his people. Brethren, we're merely awaiting the return of our Lord for the final aspect of salvation to be realized, to be experienced. Glorification, glorification. Now, according to the scripture, we are seated in Christ in the heavenly, so it's happened in the Lord's eyes, but you and I, we haven't experienced that yet, have we?

We have confidence that we will experience it because of the finished work, because he began the work, he finished the work, and he will perform the work. He will allow everything come to pass to bring us to the knowledge of the truth and to keep us believing him to the last breath that we take if we're his until either we go by the grave or by the trumpet, one of the two. Scripture says, when he shall appear, we shall be made like him, for we shall see him as he is. Told Moses, no man can look upon me and live, but he's gonna make us just like him so we can look upon him.

Isn't that glorious? Gonna see him as he is. Scripture says, we'll awaken his likeness, his perfect image. This was already accomplished on the cross of Calvary. That's what substitution was all about. But we just haven't got to experience the last and final part yet. What does the scripture tell us in Corinthians?

The Lord shall descend with a shout, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be called up together to meet him in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. being confident of this very thing, that he, which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would give us no confidence in anything else but your truth. Bless us to our understanding for your glory, in Christ's name, amen. Let's take a break.