The central theme of these four
chapters of the book of Philippians is found in the word joy. The message could be summed up
by verse 4 in the last chapter, chapter 4. Paul says, rejoice
in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. In the midst of terribly difficult
circumstances. Paul was in prison when he wrote
this. Down in verses 13 and 14 of chapter
1, he makes mention of that, his bonds being bound in prison. He was in there for preaching
the gospel of God's mighty grace and Paul still repeatedly speaks
of his unbridled joy Nothing's gonna stop him from rejoicing
in his God and Savior, and he calls upon us to join him. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. The words joy and rejoice appear
16 times in these four chapters. 104 verses total in this epistle. And of those 104 verses, the
Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned by personal name or pronoun,
he, him, 61 times. 61 times out of the 104 verses. So it's obvious. It's obvious
by that that Christ, that Paul's Savior, and not his circumstances,
was the source of his joy. The source of his joy was his
Lord and Savior. They could lock Paul in, and
they did, but they couldn't lock Christ out. Christ said, I'll
come to you. I'll come to you. I won't leave
you comfortless. And one great reason for the
believer's ground of rejoicing is what Paul mentions here in
chapter 1. I want you to look at one verse
with me. Chapter 1, verse 6. Chapter 1, verse 6. Paul tells us there that salvation
is God's work. Salvation is not the sinner's
work. Salvation is God's work for the sinner and in the sinner
and therefore Paul says he's absolutely confident. He has
no doubt about this. He's confident that what God
began, he'll carry on till the day of Christ unto perfection. Verse 6, let's read it together.
Being confident. of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it, perfect it,
complete it, until the day of Jesus Christ." When I was still
living in West Virginia, my soul, that's been almost 30 years ago
before I moved to Kentucky, but the place I worked for while
they were still in operation Every year they would close down
for two weeks in June because they supplied the mines, coal
mines, with the chain that we made, conveyor belt chain and
so forth. So that was the same time that
the miners would go on vacation, so they would close down as well. My children looked forward to
that time because that was the time we'd try to take a vacation. And they would start asking me
weeks before. Daddy, are we going to go to
Kings Island? Are we going to go camping this
year? And I would tell them, well,
the Lord willing. Well, they were young. They didn't
understand. They'd say, well, can you promise us for sure?
And I'd say, well, yes, the Lord willing. And they'd say, Daddy,
can you tell us we're going to go no matter what? And I'd say,
I can't do that. I'll tell you this, and this
is better, though they didn't understand it at the time. The
Lord willing, we will. We'll do that. We'll go there.
But to say, no matter what, your daddy can't tell you that. Paul
tells us here in verse 6, no matter what. No matter what. And that's the title of my message.
God who begins the work of grace in the heart of every sinner
will complete it, will carry it on, will not forsake the work
of His own hands, no matter what. No matter what happens. No matter
what comes your way. We've all heard the expression,
what you don't know won't hurt you. Well, that might be true
about some things, but not everything. Not this. Not this. Not this great work of God's
salvation. It's good to know. It's good
for a child of God to be reminded of. To hear again what Paul tells
us here. It's the basis of his confidence,
his assurance, because this is God's work. And it's good to
know that no matter what, he'll finish it. I like what brother
Bruce Crabtree wrote in an article. As a matter of fact, I think
it was in our bulletin several years ago. He and another brother
were talking about God's grace and God's salvation and God's
faithfulness and power and the mercy that's in Christ Jesus.
And just as they parted company and Bruce said, you know what?
You know what's best of all? I can't mess it up. I can't mess
it up. Oh, thank God. We cannot mess
this up. God's grace reigns. It abounds
over my sin. It'll keep me till the rivers
roll their waters at my feet, and then he'll bear me safely
over where my Redeemer I shall meet. I shall see, as Job said,
with my very own eyes. I can't mess it up, no matter
what. If salvation is not of the Lord,
then there is no salvation. That's just a fact. If salvation
is not God's work, then there's no sinner will ever be saved
because it's impossible for anybody other than the Lord Jesus Christ,
the triune God, to perform. Ask Jonah. Ask Jonah. I mean, he wouldn't argue whether
salvation was God's work in its entirety or not. And he didn't
have a problem. Oh, he was thankful to find out
that he who rules in the kingdom of heaven has his way all the
time. Jonah, when he found himself
in the belly of that great fish, was glad to find out that his
God rules and has his way all the time. And he cried out, salvation
is of the Lord. Somebody said that. That whale
must have been Arminian, must have been free will because when
Jonah began to speak those words, it left a foul taste in that
fish's mouth and he just spit him out. And I'll tell you what,
a lot of free willers will spit you out too if you cry that salvation
is God's work alone. This blessed truth was the source
of joy for Paul and Paul says, I want you to rejoice in it too. Be confident. Be confident that
you can't mess it up. Let me read you some verses from
Acts chapter 20, or you can turn there if you like. Acts chapter
20. This is where Paul is meeting the elders of the churches of
Ephesus. And he tells them, he warns them
that when he's gone, that wolves will come in, not sparing the
flock, not feeding the flock, but trying to fleece the flock.
And he says, not only that, there'll be some raised up from among
you. They'll not only come in from the outside, some within
will raise up and cause disturbances. And Paul says after that in verse
28, take heed therefore unto yourselves. and to all the flock
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. To feed the
church of God, verse 28, which he hath purchased with his own
blood. The church is precious to him.
Look at the price he paid for it. For I know this, verse 29,
that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among
you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own self shall men
arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them. Therefore, watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn every one
night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God." Doesn't that sound just like our text? I'm confident
that he which hath begun a good work in you will carry it on.
Paul says the same thing here. I commend you to God and to the
word of His grace which is able, able to build you up and give
you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. A few years ago, I was preaching
in the conference at Kingsport, Tennessee, where Brother Gabe
Stoniger is the pastor. And I tried to preach that Christ
is all. Christ is all. That's a big subject. That's bigger than me. I felt
like I just kind of stumbled around. But after the service,
we were having lunch, and a young man came up to me whom I knew
personally and known for years, and I knew he had shared with
me He was passing through some tough, tough times. Real tough
times. And he came up to me with tears,
John, just coming down his cheeks. He said, Larry, I want you to
know that was the most comforting message I ever heard in my life. And I just began to weep, too.
And I said, well, thank you. I thank God that he blessed it
to your heart that I was trying to preach Christ is all, and
he was putting into your heart a reminder that Christ is all,
and we both rejoiced together. Mr. Spurgeon made this statement.
He said, it's unfortunate for a Christian to be melancholy,
all the time sad. I mean, I've known professing
Christians. It looked like they were sucking
lemons off. It just looked sour all the time. Now, brothers and sisters in
Christ, as I said earlier, we're human. We feel, we hurt, we cry,
we sorrow just like everyone else. But thank God that doesn't
negate or make void or make false the reality of God's saving grace
in Jesus Christ. Our confidence doesn't lie in
our trials, our circumstances, but in our Savior who is Lord
over our trials and our circumstances. As Spurgeon said, it's unfortunate
for a believer to be melancholy. If there is any man in the world
who has the right to have a bright and clear face and a flashing
eye, it is the man whose sins are forgiven. My, so who in this
world has more reason to be happy than a child of God? What did
our Lord say? Be of good cheer. Your sins are
all forgiven. Go on your way. Be happy. Your sins are all forgiven. Samuel Rutherford said this,
our fluctuations of feeling, in our fluctuation of feeling,
it is well to remember that Jesus Christ admits no change in his
affections. Your heart is not the compass
that Jesus Christ sails by. Oh no, it's his own mighty sovereign
grace that he sails by and nothing else. No wonder Paul says this
makes it a well-grounded confidence. Why, Paul? Because it's God's
work. He wasn't looking to the Philippians
to do something. He was reminding them what God
had already done for them and promised to continue to do until
the day of Jesus Christ. It's all God's doing. Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, if any man be in Christ, He's a new creation. How about
that? A new creation. God put something
in that man not of this world. Oh no, Nicodemus, you must be
born from above. You must be born again by God's
Spirit. Nicodemus said, well how can
that be? He didn't have a clue. Like Brother Donnie would say,
he looked at the Lord like a calf looking at a new gate. He just
had no idea what he was talking about. Because creation is God's
work. Only God can create. In Genesis
1 and 1, concerning the natural creation we read in the beginning,
God created. God created. So-called smart people. And these
people claim to be smart. They call themselves doctors
and philosophers. They say it all just happened. It just happened. There was a
big bang. There was a little organism stuck
in the mud for a million years or longer. Then he did a double
black flip out on the shore out of the mud, and he laid there
another millions of years, and he grew legs, and he just kept
going and going, and voila, here's man. And they say, that's how
it started. There was a big bang. No, there
wasn't. There was a big God. A big great
God that said, let there be light. And there was, in the beginning,
God. And concerning this new creation,
this new creation, when Christ is formed in a man, this too
must be God's doing. Who else can do it? The psalmist
said, let us bow down. Come. Let us worship and bow
down. Let us kneel before the Lord,
our maker. Psalm 95 and 6. Psalm 149. Psalm 149 verses 1 and 2. Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto
the Lord a new psalm and his praise in the congregation of
the saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that
made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. Ephesians chapter 2, Paul said,
we are his workmanship. So far from doing the work, we're
the workmanship. We're not the cause, we're the
effect, we're the fruit. And that takes a miracle of God's
mighty grace. It took more of a miracle to
make children of light than when God created natural light. God, who made the light shine
out of darkness, has shined into our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Wow! What a miracle! What a miracle. Simon Barjona,
you're a blessed man because my heavenly father has revealed
to you who I am. No matter what. One of my favorite
passages, Isaiah 41, fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not
dismayed. For I am thy God, I will strengthen
thee, I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. O fellow pilgrim, the hand that
laid the foundation of the earth, the hand that spanned the heavens
is pledged to uphold you. Underneath are the everlasting
arms all the time, no matter what, no matter what. There will never be a storm,
a trial, a heartache, a sorrow that can remove you out from
underneath, being the everlasting arms. He's always there in His
hand. The only way that that could
be, if God Himself should fail, if His promise should fail, then
He might forsake you. If His love could cease, then
He might forget you. If his covenant can be broken,
then he might not uphold you. But this cannot be, it cannot
be. Therefore he says, fear not,
I will uphold you. The believer is absolutely sure,
isn't this a comfort? Isn't this reason to be confident?
The believer is absolutely sure that an invisible hand is always
on the world's helm. And that wherever providence
might drift, Jehovah steers the vessel. That reassuring knowledge
prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters
of time and sees Jesus. Just like the disciples that
night. They weren't being disobedient. The Lord said, get in the boat,
pass over to the other side. He stayed on the shore. And a
great storm came. And in John 6 it began to grow
dark, the waves got larger and larger, the storm more fierce,
and Jesus was not yet come. But He'll come. He'll come. Whatever it takes, whatever it's
required, He'll come. And they look, and lo and behold,
lo and behold, Peter said, John, is that Him? Do you see what
I see? Look, would you look at that?
Jesus Christ comes walking upon the water because He's Lord of
heaven and earth. He's the Creator. Billows obey
His voice and He says to them, it is I, be not afraid. God's saints, men and women,
Their biographies is nothing but a history of God's miraculous
work on their behalf. They're miracles themselves,
aren't they? Pentecostals talk about miracles,
hoopla, fleshly, glorying in the flesh. A believer himself
is a miracle. What a miracle the salvation
of a sinner is, my soul. what was required, what God had
to do in order to save a sinner. And all around us, all my life,
people try to convince me over and over again, salvation is
easy. It's easy. Oh, how dishonoring
to God. It's easy to walk an aisle. I'll
grant you that. It's easy to make a decision
for Jesus. It's easy to do those things. But the salvation of a sinner
is anything but easy. Jesus Christ himself said, it's
impossible except God. It's impossible for man but not
for God. The salvation of a sinner required
that he send his son in the likeness of flesh. What about that? It required that the son of God
who was rich be made poor. It required that God Almighty
be made flesh and tabernacle among his people. It required
him to be made sin. Now you think about God being
made flesh and that's more than I can wrap my little brain around.
And even more so this, that he that was made flesh was also
made sin. That wasn't easy. That wasn't
easy. One writer put it this way, it
took a miracle to put the world in place. And it took a miracle
to hang the stars in place. But when God saved my soul and
he cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of his mighty
love and grace. Yes, salvation is God's work. And it tells us it's a good work. It's a good work. because it's
done by His good pleasure, according to His good purpose, by His good
grace, all for His good will. Turn, if you will, to the book
of Genesis, the book of beginnings. In Genesis chapter 1, we read,
God saw the light that it was good. Then again in verse 10,
God saw that it was good, chapter 1. And then again in verse 12,
God saw that it was good. And you go on down the chapter,
again and again, time and time again, after every creative act,
we read those words. God saw that it was good. Until after the creation of Adam. It doesn't say that anymore.
God says it's not good. It's not good that the man in
verse 18 of chapter 2 And the Lord said, it is not good that
the man should be alone. I will make him a help meet for
him. So God, verse 21 of chapter 2,
and the Lord God called the deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he
slept. And he took one of his ribs and
closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord had
taken from man made he a woman and brought her to the man. And
Adam said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because
she was taken out of man. And that was the Lord's doing. When Adam saw Eve, he said, well,
this just happened. No, God created her and brought
her to the man. And listen to this. That's exactly
what the Lord said concerning his son. It's not good that my
son shall be alone. And you all know that familiar
passage in Romans chapter 8. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to this purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. We were chosen
in Him. We were given to Him by the Father
before the world began. But just like Eve disobeyed God
and fell and became separated from her husband, so did we.
I don't know how long it was from the time that Eve fell into
sin and from God and from grace and mercy I don't know how long
it was until Adam likewise failed too, but there was a span there. There was a time he was separated
from her and she couldn't get back to him. It's impossible. She couldn't undo what she had
done. So Adam, he disobeyed God in doing so, but Adam went to
her. She couldn't reach back to him,
so he reached down to her. He took the forbidden fruit and
ate it, and he fell as she did. And I think the reason that he
did so, out of his love for his bride. And that's what Jesus
Christ did. The bride, the church that was
chosen in him, fell. Fell into sin. And she couldn't
reach Christ, so Christ came down to her and took the forbidden
fruit. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians
5, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church,
not having spots or a glorious church, but that it should be
holy and without blemish. Verse 30, for we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause,
this is what, this is exactly what Adam said concerning Eve. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. One flesh. Yeah, Christ took
the forbidden fruit. But as Paul tells it in Romans
5, Adam, the first man, he acted in disobedience. But the Lord
Jesus Christ, he did it as an act of obedience to his Father.
When he who knew no sin was made sin for you and I, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. In Isaiah chapter 54, There's
a verse of scripture I want to share with you. Isaiah 54 verse
5, For thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, shall he be called. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. John wrote, I, John, saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. Pure, white,
without spot or blemish. No wonder Paul says, this is
a good work in you. This good work is something God
does in you. Most people think salvation comes
from without. Something that's done by the
church. I talked to a fellow one time years ago, and he was
telling me about the Baptist bride. He kept talking about
the bride, John, the Baptist bride. He was among those who
belong, those fortunate ones that belong to the Baptist bride.
What about me?" I asked. He said, well, you might be a
guest at the wedding, but you won't be the bride. All I could
hear was pride, pride, pride. They think salvation comes that
way or by being confirmed or reformed. Oh no, salvation is
not what we do for ourselves, but what God does for us and
in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And only God, only God can put
Christ in the center. Only God can put His Son in the
heart of a sinner, and when He does, He sees you and His Son,
and He's well pleased, and He says it's very good. It's very
good. I need this work of grace performed
in me. I can't do it. I must be born
again, but I can't do it. I must be made a new creation,
but I can't do it. I must be given everlasting life,
but I can't do it. But Paul tells us God can. God can. That's exactly what
our text tells us. Why shouldn't we be competent?
The salvation of a sinner we can point to and say, this is
the Lord's doing. And it's marvelous in our eyes. Here's the last thing. Paul says
he will perform this good work in you until the day of Jesus
Christ. Why till then? Because then it
will be complete. It'll be perfect. Because then
I will awake in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Imagine that. Then, I'll be satisfied,
the psalmist said. Then, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him. Then, we shall see him as he
is. Then, as Paul tells us in chapter
2, this will happen, that the Lord Jesus Christ, or chapter
3, I'm sorry, shall change our vile body that it might be fashioned,
verse 21, like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Child
of God, be of good cheer. Be full of hope, a living hope,
a blessed hope, a good hope, being confident that he which
had begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of the Lord Jesus Christ." There was a man by the name of, oh,
I believe I have it, James Guthrie, James Guthrie. These were his
last words. He spoke these words from a platform
on which he was beheaded for the preaching of the gospel.
He said that the people gathered around. I come hither to lay
down my life this day, and I bless God I die not as a fool. Not
that I have anything worthy of glory in myself. I acknowledge
that I'm a sinner, yea, one of the greatest and vilest that
has owned a profession of religion, and one of the most unworthy
that has preached the gospel. My corruptions have been strong
in many. and have made me a sinner in
all things, yea, even in following my duty. And therefore, righteousness
have I none of my own, all is vile. But I do believe that Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners, whereof I am chief. Through faith in his righteousness
and blood, I have hope. I have obtained mercy. And I shall attain unto the resurrection
of the just, and be made partaker of eternal life. I know whom
I have believed, he said. I'm persuaded, I'm confident
that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. I have preached salvation through
his name, and as I have preached, so do I believe. and to command
the riches of his free grace and faith in his name unto you
all as the only way whereby you can be saved." And with that,
he was absent from the body and present with the Lord. Isaiah
55 and 11, therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and
come with singing unto Zion. and everlasting joy shall be
upon their head, and they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow,
and mourning shall flee away. Your many sins are all forgiven. Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.
Go on your way in peace to heaven, and wear a crown of Jesus. And
when to that bright world above we rise to be with Jesus, we'll
sing around the throne of love His name, the name of Jesus,
no matter what. No matter what. Oh, glory to
His name. God bless you. God bless you.