Would I have gathered thee, like
a hen would her chicks, under his wings? Pull him in tight
under his wings, but you would not. You had no interest. Turn with me now to the book
of Philippians. Philippians chapter one. I'm going to be using basically
one verse of scripture, but I want to read for you all three verses. The title of the message this
morning is Being Confident in This. Here is a portion of scripture
that talks about assurance. He talks about having some confidence
before God. Now if you're strong you can
have a little bit of confidence in your strength and so on. It may apply in a lot of worldly
ways, but confidence here has to do with our confidence before
God. And that's what Paul's talking
about here. Now the church at Philippi had its beginning with
the Philippian jailer. That was the beginning of this
little church. And all of his house and Lydia and all of her
house. And no doubt others who are not
mentioned here in the Book of Acts. I don't know why, but according
to God's own will, he isolates certain individuals and records
their lives or happenings in their lives. We don't know anything
at all, really, about that Ethiopian eunuch. But there was one little
portion of his life that God preserved and put it in the scriptures.
And to me, that was probably the only portion of his life
worth remembering. I know that's the case with me.
These were men and women who were favored with God good providence
and who by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit heard the
gospel, bowed to the sovereign Christ, and confessed to Christ
that they believed in public baptism. God had begun a good
work in them. Now let's read my text together.
Philippians chapter one, beginning with verse three. I thank my
God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of
mine for you all making request with joy. It was not a burden
for Paul to pray for these people who were converted under his
ministry. He knew firsthand how they come to know the Lord. He
saw the work of God in them. He heard their confessions and
he is thankful for it. He made requests for them with
joy. And he said he was thankful also
for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. Fellowship in the gospel, not
just on the first day and never again, but from the first day
even to now. Being confident of this very
thing. Now if Paul can find confidence
in them, my hope is that we can find confidence
for ourselves. If there's something here that
he can find confidence in, then we ought to be able to find it
and have confidence ourselves. 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. As I thought about these things,
my mind was turned to this congregation. I know a little bit about its
beginning. Very few of us here were around
when it began. but there's still some who were.
And I know a little bit about it. I come up and preach for
this congregation nearly 40 years ago. I was just a skinny little
boy without a whole lot of understanding and preached for this congregation.
So I know a little bit about them and I know how they came
out of old established religion. to worship and serve the true
and living God. Now I'm gonna tell you something,
if you ever come to know the true and living God, you won't
be able to worship where you was raised. Now I know people who swear up
and down and they'll spit out these doctrines of grace and
they'll do all that and then they go back there to that old
church and they sit there and listen to those lies and sing
those lies. You know, it's as wicked to sing
a lie as it is to preach it. Sure it is. And they're singing,
I'll fly away. When we all get together, we
all ain't getting together. God's gonna save his people. Will the circle be unbroken?
It sure will. It sure will. I know how that
you come out of old established religion and you separated yourselves,
you broke fellowship with them and begin to have fellowship
with them whose eyes had been opened to see the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. Nothing else will satisfy a believer.
That's what he has to hear. He don't care if the earth's
flat or round. He don't care if it's oblong. I don't care
if it looks like a football. What I need to hear is about
Christ. I need to hear and see the glory
of God in His face and in His person and in His works and in
His eternal appointments and all things concerning Him. That's
what I have to hear. That's my necessary meat. The
rest of it just bores me to death. My personal knowledge of this
congregation goes back to the 1980s, some 32 years ago. And then I came here as your
pastor in the year 2008, almost 10 years ago. And I think I can
say with Paul to most of you that I'm thankful for your fellowship
in the gospel from the first day until now. We've not broken fellowship.
We've not parted ways. But we've had fellowship. We've
seen people come and we've seen people go. I've seen men and
women rejoice in Christ and I've seen some vent out their hatred
for it. So tell us, preacher, what's
your confidence for this congregation? What's your confidence? It's
exactly the same as the Apostle Paul for the church at Philippi.
Exactly the same. I'm confident of this very thing
that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to listen to
me for a minute. Because of the ignorance and confusion and deception
of antichrist religion, The first work of God, His divine intervention,
His powerful working within is often misunderstood and gloried
in by men who don't even know what it is. They want to take you back to
that old brush arbor, they want to take you back to that experience,
they want to take you back to something physical that they
felt or saw or did, or a dream, or a vision, or something, they
got to go back to that first work, that first work. It's because of the ignorance,
confusion, and deception of antichrist religion that the first work
of God and his divine intervention, this powerful working of the
spirit within, is often misunderstood. I want to give you four things
here in our text to help you find the same confidence that
Paul has expressed here in the scriptures for the church at
Philippi. First of all, let's consider the work of God in its
beginning in the center. The first work of God in the
center is a work brought to pass. You can write this down if you
want to. by both God and man. Both God and man. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
3 and 9 that we are laborers together with God. Isn't that what that says? We're
laborers together with God. He said you are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building. He tells us in 1 Corinthians
3, 5, who then is Paul? People running around there,
dividing with one another, saying, my salvation is more sure than
yours because I was converted under Paul. And another one said,
well, no, I was converted under Apollos. You've never heard anybody
speak like Apollos. I grew up in a Henry Mahan generation. God had singled that man out
and used him like no other man I've ever seen in that century,
Henry Mahan. And I think back on it, and I
had the same problem that they had here with Henry Mahan. I
was converted under Henry Mahan. And I was, but that's nothing
to glory in. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 3-5, who then is Paul? Who is
Apollos? But ministers, are you listening? Ministers by whom you believed
even as the Lord gave to every man. Who gave these men? God did.
Who'd he give them to? Every one of his sons. He said, I planted. Now some
of you in here raised gardens. You don't stay in the house in
the spring and then go out there about July looking for tomatoes,
do you? No, you gotta go out there and
sow the seed. Nothing gonna come up if you
don't sow the seed. Now Paul said, I planted. And
Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.
You can water all day long. God don't give the increase,
it ain't coming up. Will you hear me? God doesn't
plant seed. He has servants to do that for
him. This work is a work performed
by God in conjunction with the preaching of the gospel. In Paul's
second letter to the Corinthians, he tells them in chapter 3 and
verse 3 that they are manifestly, in a way that you can see, They
are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, written
by him, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living
God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the
heart. And such trust, he said, have we through Christ to God. We trust. He said, it pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them. I trust
God about that. I ain't got no control on it.
Wasn't my wisdom that devised it, not my power that performs
it. I do what I'm told. Such trust have we through Christ
to God. Not that we're sufficient of
ourselves to think anything of ourselves. but our sufficiency
is of God. Now listen, who also hath made
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the spirit, for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life. So this work that God begins
in the hearts of chosen sinners is a work done by a gospel preacher
working together with God, fellow laborers with God. And he plants
the gospel seed and some falls into good ground. Ground plowed and broken and
made ready to receive the good seed of the gospel. And then
there's another sense in which this beginning work is done in
conjunction with men. Those who are enabled of God
to hear his gospel are born of God. otherwise they'd never hear. That's right, they never will
hear. You need ears to hear in the heart. You can hear with
these, you can hear, but you don't really hear. Having ears,
they hear not. Having eyes, they see not. Those who are enabled of God
to hear his gospel are born of God, a new man, is created within. And Christ is that new man. Paul
said over in Romans chapter 8 verse 9, But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. And
if any man had not the Spirit of Christ, he none of his. Those
who are in Christ Jesus are in there by the Spirit of God. Man
doesn't have the spirit of Christ. If he doesn't have that understanding
of Christ, that rejoicing in Christ, that knowing Christ,
if he doesn't have that, he's none of his. He's none of his. And what does the scripture say
the hope of glory is? Christ in you. And now what it
says? That's the hope of glory. And
if any man be in Christ, the scripture said he's a new creature.
Old things are passed away and behold, all things are become
new. What passed away? Old limitations. Now think about it. Old inabilities. Don't you imagine that man stood
standing there in front of that church. He was there to get alms. And this was a day of worship.
Everybody was coming into the temple. And he asked alms of
Peter and them when they come. And they said, silver and gold
have I none, such as I have give I unto thee. Rise up and walk. Huh? Old inabilities passed away,
didn't they? He stood up. He told that paralyzed man, he
said, stand up, take up your bed and walk. Old inabilities
passed away. The man with a withered hand
stretched forth thine hand. Old inabilities passed away.
Lazarus, come forth. You see what I'm saying? You're not in the flesh, but
in the spirit. Old limitations passed away,
old inabilities passed away with God. He said with man it's impossible,
but with God all things are possible. Old confinements and restrictions. There was a time when man's mind
was enmity against God. It's enmity against God. It's
not subject to the law of God, the scripture said, neither indeed
can be. But now he has the mind of Christ,
and he serves the law with the mind of Christ, and with the
flesh the law of sin. Bible said the natural man, that's
1 Corinthians 2.14 if you want to read it. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned or spiritually understood. But he that is spiritual, that
man who is born of God, he that is spiritual, he understands
all things. Why? Because them old inabilities
and old restrictions are taken out of the way. All things have
become new. He's a new man. He's a new man. He now has the mind of Christ.
God creates by a new birth a new man. He's no longer restricted,
but he's been made willing in the day of God's power. He never
was willing before. Our Lord said to those, these
are probably the most outwardly religious people that ever lived
on earth, the Pharisees. And he said to them, you search
the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. And they are they that testify
of me, but you won't come to me that you might have life.
You will not. But in the day of God's power,
they will. And they did. And so will we in the day of
his power. God creates by a new birth, a
new man, and his will is no longer restricted. He's been made willing.
His mind perceives the character of God and rejoices in it as
he sees that character manifested in the person and work of Christ.
And this new man repents. He believes, he worships, he
loves, he forgives, he serves the true and living God. That old mind, it entertained
the imaginations of an evil heart, and so this new mind entertains
the thoughts of godly things. The spirit of God hath revealed
them unto us. That's what Paul said. Eye hath
not seen or ear heard, never entered into the heart of man
the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by spirit. The Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, even the deep things of God. Preacher, I still don't know
what you're saying. I'm saying that where there was once darkness
and vanity and limitations and condemnation, they're now new
creation. It's a new creation that can
hear and see and believe and rejoice. In 2 Corinthians 13,
5, Paul said, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. I love this article I read. It
was in David Fledger's bulletin, I think. And he said, people
talk about bringing their faith to God. He said, you don't want
to bring your faith to God. God's faith brings you to him. Is that right? Sure it is. They got it all turned around.
By grace are you saved through faith and batting out of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. God gives that faith and that
faith enables you to come to Him. There's now a new creation that
can hear and see and believe. And he said, examine yourselves,
whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be reprobates. Let me ask you some questions. Do you have a hope? If you leave
this place this morning and go out to meet God, do you have
a hope? or you're just gonna say whatever
will be, will be. Do you have a hope? Is that hope
by works or by grace? What kind of hope you got? Is
it based solely on the person and work of Christ? Do you rejoice
in Christ? Do you see yourselves fully dependent
upon God? Do you believe this morning if
God withdraws his presence from you and his blessings from you
that you're a goner? I have to have him. Only a regenerated man can see
these things and rejoice in them. All right, here's the second
thing. That's how the work begins. God doesn't believe for you,
you believe. God's not gonna repent for you, you're gonna
repent. But he'll enable you to do both. And his goodness
will lead you to repentance. And he'll give you the gift of
faith. Actually, faith comes before repentance. Here's the second thing. Now
we talk about what this first work of God is. Now listen to
this. What God has begun, God will maintain. You didn't have
anything to do with its beginning, and you don't have much to do
with what comes next. What God began, God will maintain. He will, Paul tells us by divine
revelation, perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. Oh, now wait a minute, preach,
that's once in grace, always in grace. Well, I don't know
what your definition of grace is, so I can't say I believe
that, but I'm going to tell you something. Knowing the true definition
of grace and having experienced grace in my heart, once in grace,
always in grace. You always were in grace. It
was grace that chose you before the foundation of the world.
It was grace that made all the appointments of Christ. It was grace that singled you
out. Grace that enabled you to hear.
It's all of grace. Oh, I tell you, we rejoice in
Christ. What God has begun, God will
maintain. God himself is the savior of
men. God the Father chose a people
in Christ to save by His Son for the glory of His great name.
And He gave to His Son all the eternal appointments to accomplish
our redemption. He appointed Him as the one mediator. God the Father did that. He appointed
Him to be our head and representative. He made Him surety of the everlasting
covenant of grace and appointed Him as our redeemer and substitute.
Made him Lord of the dead and the living. God hath made that
same Jesus that you crucified both Lord and Christ. He Lord, who made him Lord? God
did. Tells you that on the book of
Psalms. He said he set his son on that holy hill of Zion. Who
did? God did. And men down here saying
we gonna tear him down, we gonna take him off the throne. God'll
laugh at ya. He'll laugh at you. And then secondly, God the Son
is the medium of all grace. Of the Trinity, the Son took
to himself the seed of Abraham. He was made of a woman, made
under the law. And as a man, he did for God's
people what they could never do for themselves. He wrought
out by his own hands a righteousness. I used to hear men talk about
working their way to glory. There's only one who ever worked
his way to glory, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
did it. And he did it by his own hand.
By himself purged us from our sins. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy ragged. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. Christ accomplished our
redemption by his own righteousness and by his death on the cross. And then God, the Holy Spirit,
he's the administrator of all this grace. If God does a work in you, it'll
be by the Holy Ghost. He does the inward working in
men. He speaks to you. And he speaks
with an irresistible wooing. I don't know how to describe
it. I've read countless men talk about the Holy Ghost and how
he, there are no words to express what it is. He just does it.
And when he does, it's irresistible. It's irresistible. One old preacher
said, God saves men against their will with their full consent. And that's exactly what he does.
That's exactly what he does. Paul said he knew the election
of the Thessalonians because his gospel came not in word only,
but in power and in the Holy Ghost. Paul exhorted the Philippians
to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. to walk
with the mind and heart of Christ, to discern spiritual things as
they are declared. It is God, listen to him, he
said, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. What God has begun, God will
maintain. If your salvation is not consistent
with the work of the triune God, there's a good chance that He
never began a work in you. The same God who purposed it,
the same God who purchased it, and the same God who applies
it, works in all His elect. And so there ought to be some
consistency there in their faith, shouldn't it? All right, thirdly,
What God has begun, he will maintain until the day of Jesus Christ.
I can help you here if you let me. One of the most common reasons
why men and women doubt and worry about their salvation is trying
to establish its beginning. Oh, it just causes knots to arrive
in your stomach. Did I really hear What I think
I believe, huh? There's an old preacher out of
New Orleans years ago. He wouldn't let you have any
assurance. And Henry invited him up to preach. He got down
the front row with his deacon. Do you believe? Well, yeah, we
believe. Are you sure you believe? And he'd keep going and going
and going until nobody believed. He'd strip you of every bit of
assurance you ever had. I think that's where most of
the problem comes in. But tell me this, what's going
on right now? What's going on in your heart
right now? Because what God began, he'll maintain. Are you with me? You don't have
to go back there to find out what's going on. What's going
on right now? Do you have a clear understanding
of the gospel of Christ? Do your hopes in His person,
in His work, do you hope in God? Do you rejoice in the true and
living God? Do you long for the day when
we gather together and worship and fellowship in the gospel?
Do you look forward to it? Do you hunger for it? Boy, I
used to look forward to Sunday. I just a little old fowler. I
look forward to Sunday. That's the only day that mom
cooked for a whole family. And she'd always have fried chicken
and biscuits and gravy and all this stuff on the table. Man,
I look forward to Sunday. I knew she was gonna set a table.
Brethren, the preaching of the gospel when we get together is
the table. And what we serve is Christ.
As far as I can remember, we never had anything but chicken
on Sunday. That's all we had. But boy, we looked forward to
it. We sure looked forward to it. And Christ is what we have.
That's what's on the Lord's table, Christ. He even gave us an ordinance
and called it the Lord's table. You long for that day when we
can gather together to worship and fellowship in the gospel?
Let me ask you this, whose servant are you? Whose servant are you? Know you
not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servant
you are? That's whose servant you are,
whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.
Whose servant are you? Now I'm talking about 30 years
ago, I'm talking about right now. Who holds the allegiance of your
heart? With the heart, the scripture
said, man believeth unto righteousness. Let me ask you this, do you love
God? I mean, just as he reveals himself,
do you love him? Oh, that broke Peter's heart
when the Lord asked him, do you love me? Is God just a necessary source
of benefits to you? Or do you call him Abba Father
with affection? Do I cherish his company, long
for his communion and delight in his word? Demas appeared to
for a little bit, but his true affection come out, he loved
this present world. The Ark of Noah would not have
saved a single soul, except God shut them in. That big door started
down here at the bottom of that ship. And it covered the first
story, and the second story, and the third story. And it was
big enough for two elephants to walk up it at the same time,
and support their weight, and get them inside. And two giraffes. Here they come. And when the day come, it said,
they all went in the ark, and God shut them in. God shut them
in. When God saves a man, he shuts
him up to Christ. He got nowhere else to go. Huh? I don't know, pastor, if I'm
saved or not. Well, let me ask you this. You
got somewhere else to go? Or has God shut you up to Christ? That's what he does. That's what
salvation is. God shuts a man up to Christ. He takes away all
the other avenues. They're gone. There's just one,
and that's Christ. Somebody said to Henry, Henry,
you still saved? He said, God's still on the throne,
Christ still at his right hand, I'm still saved. As sin once reigned under death,
now grace reigns under righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord. As
God works in the believer, he brings him, Ephesians 4 verse
13, into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, now watch this, unto a perfect man. Now, if you have the unity of
the faith, and you have a true knowledge of the Son of God,
you're looking at a perfect man. Isn't that what that's saying? You're looking at a perfect man. unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. And there's only one man under
which faith is enabled to look who's perfect, and that is our
perfect Redeemer. It says, it became him for whom
are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. For both he that suffereth and
they who are sanctified are all one. He is a perfect Savior by
his righteous obedience and by his death on the cross. You're
looking at a perfect Savior. No flaws. It wasn't a part-time
work. He's a perfect high priest. in
that he himself has suffered being tempted and therefore is
able to succor. You know what that word succor
means? We read these old English words and we don't even think
about what they mean. That word succor means to run to the aid
of the suffering. That's what it means. He's able
to run to the aid of his people in their suffering and take them
under his wing. He's perfect in his wisdom. God
has made him to be unto us wisdom. We don't need to go anywhere
else for wisdom. Just study Christ. He is wisdom. You read that book
of Proverbs, and in that book of Proverbs, he's constantly
talking about wisdom, wisdom, wisdom. Get wisdom. Wisdom's Christ. That's what
he taught. Just take that word wisdom and scratch it out, write
Christ in there, and then read the book of Proverbs. He's perfect in his wisdom which
God has made him to be unto us. And believers are not folks who
become more and more religious over time. They're folks who
become more and more centered on Christ. You don't get older and older
and then we sing more hymns and we have more things to do and
we find little duties and jobs and things so that you don't
go home. We don't get more and more religious, we get more and
more centered on Christ. Paul said, speaking the truth
in love. that you may grow up into him
in all things, which is the head, even Christ. And then fourthly,
and I'll hurry, there is a day fixed in the eternal counsel
of God that the work of Christ shall be complete. All his elect
shall have heard the gospel. All his elect shall have been
reconciled to God. His blood shall have been sprinkled
on every conscience of his beloved church. And this world completely separated
from the people of God. And when that day comes, a trumpet's
gonna sound. That's what the scripture said. A trumpet's gonna sound. There
gonna be a shout heard worldwide. A great shout heard from above. And then it says, as the lightning
shineth from the east even unto the west, even so the light of
the Son of God shall appear to men. And the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven and gather to himself all things which God
the Father gave him, both which are in heaven and which are in
earth. And then in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at
the last chomp, the dead gonna be raised incorruptible. That
old body, I think about Sue and some of the other ones that we
buried over there, their body gonna rise up out of that box.
Come up out of the ground. Just nothing, in some places
but dust. Nothing in some places but ashes
where they were burning the fires. They're gonna rise up. The dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. This corruptible will put on
incorruption, this mortal will put on immortality, and death
will be swallowed up in victory. His victory. And it shall be
known by all that God hath given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And they're all gonna say amen.
God's just. God's just. Now, therefore, he said, be ye
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor's not in vain. Being confident in this, that
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it. How long? Unto the day of Jesus
Christ. Well, what about this? Ain't
no what abouts. He's gonna perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ. And if they believe not, then
we're all filled with unbelief. Lord, we believe, help thou our
unbelief. We have unbelief. If they believe
not, yet he abides faithful, he cannot deny himself. What
he begun, he's gonna maintain. How long? all the way to the
day of Jesus Christ when it shall be perfected forever. That's
my confidence. That's why I don't have altar
calls. And that's why I don't have pledge
cards for you to sign. And duties and jobs for you to
do. My hope is by the Holy Spirit
of God that he'll shut you up to Christ. If he does, if he
begins that work and shuts you up to Christ, he'll shut you
up to Christ to the end. You'll, time to time, you'll
run away like a little kid. You'll run away and he'll just
get you by the shirt and bring you back. We're not of them who
draw back under perdition. We draw back. Peter did and some
of the others. They said we go fishing. of my soul, what a salvation
we have. May the Lord add his blessing
to the preaching of the gospel.