Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 1. Paul gives his usual salutation
here in Philippians. And as always, he speaks of rejoicing
on their behalf. because they were part of his
ministry. He was personally involved with
this little church. So that the reason for Paul's
rejoicing and giving thanks to God on their behalf, and it sprang
from his confidence and persuasion that the God of glory had begun
a good work in them. He wasn't rejoicing because he
did something. But he was rejoicing because
God through him had begun something real and something divine in
them. Look here at verse 6, Philippians
chapter 1. 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. Salvation is the work of God. And this apostle knew that. And
that's what he looked for. He looked for God's work. He
didn't look for his. Men can do work. We can do work. We can do all kinds of things.
But we can't do what's necessary in the heart. That's what we
can't do. We can love one another. We can
sometimes just shut up and listen to one another. And be sympathetic
to one another. We can do a lot. But we can't
do that work in here. We can't perform that. I have
to wait on God. And Paul was rejoicing because
he saw that work that he couldn't do. And he began to rejoice. Salvation is the work of God.
And this is what separates us who believe from all the other
religions of the world. We know this. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's His work. It's a divine
work. It's a work that men cannot do
for themselves. If we could do it, I'd do it.
If I could, I can't do it. I just can't do it. Salvation
is a work purposed of God before the world was ever formed. I
remember what a shock that was to me the first time I ever read
that in the Bible. I never heard that. Salvation
is a work. He was talking about this work
being begun before the foundation of the world. And he didn't just
say it once, but he said it over and over and over in the Scriptures.
Our Lord said, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning
or ever the earth was. I was set up. Set up where? Set up on His throne. Set up
as the one mediator between God and man. Set up as God's prophet,
His everlasting prophet. Set up as God's priest, God's
high priest. Listen to this, II Timothy chapter
1 verse 9. Paul said, God hath saved us. This is in his introductory remarks
to Timothy, the young Timothy, the preacher. And he said, God
has saved us, that past tense, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Isn't that what that says? When
Christ appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos, He said, I am
Alpha, And Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. And then in Ephesians 1, 3, it
tells us that God the Father blessed a people with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. And he goes on
to tell us that we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. Salvation is of the Lord. And
it was purposed of Him before ever a man was created, before
ever the planets and the stars were hung into the heavens. This
is something God meant to do from all eternity, something
God designed, something divine, something above us, above our
reasoning, above our philosophy. The salvation of God's elect
is according to God's eternal purpose of grace. They are the
called. Isn't that what He says over
in Romans 8, 28? The called according to His purpose. And then he writes the Thessalonians
and he said, 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. And I'm telling you this,
this was where Paul's confidence was. This was not just a preacher,
this was an apostle. This is one that God had set
aside and had spiritual discernment and the Spirit of God breathe
through him when he wrote this very book that we're studying,
inspired of God, infallibly inspired by God, those things that he
wrote. And Paul said, my confidence is this, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. God saves men on purpose, and
any gospel, any doctrine, any belief that does not have God
as its author and finisher is not of God. This whole thing
is about the glory of God. And if God's not glorified in
it, God's not in it. Period. And His purpose, that's the whole
purpose in all of these things. All things were made by Him and
for Him. They didn't just come to be.
They didn't just evolve from some paramecium that crawled
out of the ocean. These things were created by
Him and for Him. What do you mean, for Him? for
Him who was appointed by God before the world was. The Word. The everlasting Word. All things
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made. And His purpose is to manifest
His glory in the salvation of chosen sinners through the person
and work of Jesus Christ. Paul didn't say he was confident
that the church would be successful in their salvation. Or that he
was competent in their commitment. Or that he was competent in their
works, which he looked on. Or was competent in their willingness,
he said, being competent of this very thing. Because this was
the point of attack. This was the point that all the
legalists and all the universalists and all the Jews attacked, attacked,
attacked at this point. The free grace of God. The sovereign
grace of God. And He said, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will. I didn't say might. I said will. Perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ. So the question is this. Has
He begun a good work in you? Has He begun a good work in me?
And if I believe there is a work done, who did the work? That's
the question. How does God begin this work
in men? Paul said, He which hath begun. He obviously was able to look
on them and discern that a good work had begun. How did he discern that? How
does God begin a good work in men? Well, it begins with the
hearing of the gospel. That's where it begins. They
hear. They hear. How are you going
to call on Him in whom you have not believed? And how are you
going to believe in Him of whom you have not heard? And how are
you going to hear without a preacher? It begins with the hearing of
the Gospel. Listen to this in James 1, verse
18, "...of His own will..." Whose will? God's will. "...of His
own will begat He us through the word of truth." That's how
it began. That's how this good work began.
In Acts 13, verse 26, he calls it the Word of Salvation. The Word of Salvation that had
come unto them. In Philippians 2, verse 16, it's
called the Word of Life. The Word of Life. And in Titus
1, verse 3, he tells us that in due time, He manifested this
Word through preaching. And so in 1 Peter 1, verse 23,
telling us that we are born again of incorruptible seed by the
Word of God, he follows that statement with this interpretation.
And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. Paul knew the election of the
Thessalonians because his Gospel came to them. And it came in
power. It didn't come in word only.
It came in power. The Gospel, my friend, is the
Word of God to chosen sinners. It's the message of this Book
and the Holy Seed of regeneration. How does God begin His work in
men? Through the hearing of the Gospel
accompanied by the presence and power of God's Holy Spirit. When
you talk about one, you can't separate one from the other.
When he's talking about the gospel being the power of God unto salvation,
he's not talking about a doctrine that I stand up here and teach
like a college professor. He's talking about the Holy Spirit
accompanying that gospel and coming in power, regenerating
power, sanctifying power, life-changing power. Greater is He that's in
you than He that's in the world. He's talking about a transformation. You've been translated, called
out of darkness, translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. It comes through the hearing
of the gospel. And then secondly, I know this. Paul knew this work
was the work of God begun in him because the work is effectual. It's effectual. It stalks men
just like that in their tracks. Stalks them. Oh, they're going
headlong. Headlong running. Fast as they
can go into hell. God sends them a word and as
soon as they hear that word, they pull the shoulder and run
all the faster right into hell. I'm on the road and everybody
else is on the road. That's because it's the broad
road. But when that gospel comes in
power, it stops it. Just like he did Paul, he unhorsed
that proud Pharisee and put his face in the dirt. And that's
what he does with his chosen. He calls them. And when he calls
them, he calls them through the gospel. And the gospel puts a
halt to that direction they're headed. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
2. The Spirit of God accompanies
the preaching of the Gospel. He performs a work without equal
in this world. He performs an irresistible work
upon the heart and mind that overcomes the very nature of
the sinner and makes him willing and makes him submissive, makes
him teachable, makes him correctable. You can't teach a rebel anything. You're just wasting your words.
You can talk to that wall and get more success than you can
talking to a rebel. But I tell you, when God speaks,
the rebel listens. But why? Why did Paul know? Paul
looked at those Colossians. Oh, he rejoiced in this. He which
hath begun a good work. Well, how did he know it was
a good work? Because his gospel came to him in power. And then
the second thing is this, it's effectual. It's effectual. Watch
this here, 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. He said, For this cause
also thank we God without ceasing. Because when you received the
Word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the
Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, now listen,
which effectually, effectually, worketh also in you that believe."
It's effectual. You reckon old Lazarus could
have just kept on laying in the tomb? You reckon that was his
free will that brought him out of that tomb? You reckon he laid back in that
tomb and reasoned around in his head about things? No, the Lord of Glory said, Lazarus,
come forth. And he did, didn't he? He invited. He invited. He didn't come out there dragging
demons with him. He just come out. It's effectual. It's effectual. Well, does this
mean when preachers are preaching, they're infallible? No. No, it
don't mean that. What it does mean is that under
the influence and power of the Holy Spirit, men and women are
able to discern that this gospel is the gospel of God and meet
to rest their eternal souls upon. That's what it means. Paul said,
we which have believed do enter in to rest. And he said, we do
it though the works were finished before the foundation of the
world. This work begins through the
hearing of the gospel. It is effectual because it is
the Word of God, the Word of salvation, and the Word of life.
And this work results in a change. What kind of change? A change
in thinking. Change in thinking. The believer
now has the mind of Christ. He doesn't sit around reasoning
about his works. How much sacrifice do I have
to do? How much penance do I have to
say? How much of this do I have to
do? How much church attendance and
offering and all of these things? And most people set something
in their mind and then they do it and then they weigh that and
they say, well, that ought to be sufficient. No, it ain't sufficient. Giving your life to be burnt
as a martyr is not sufficient for your salvation. This work results in a change,
a change in thinking. We have the mind of Christ. We
begin to see that there is no righteousness except that righteousness
of Christ. We see that there is no pentance
enough to absolve me from my sin. I have to be justified by
God. God's justice has to be satisfied. And it was satisfied with the
blood of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. It's
the whole basis of our thinking has changed. Old things have
passed away, and behold, all things have become new. We did
walk as the heathen walks in the vanity of their minds, having
their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that's in them because of the
blindness of their hearts. That's the way we used to walk.
Believers have the mind of Christ, and the mind of Christ rests
in Christ for all things. It finds a complete sufficiency
in Christ. It looks to Christ, and it doesn't
need a priest. It just needs Him. He's the priest. It doesn't need a sacrifice.
He's the sacrifice. It doesn't need a resurrection.
He's the resurrection. It looks to Him. It embraces
Him. And it finds in Him a full sufficiency. The mind of Christ understands
that by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, He sanctified
once for all. And the mind of Christ understands
that God hath made His dear Son to be our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And the mind of Christ understands
that God does the work and all the glory goes to Him. Paul goes
to him. You know, Paul gave that dissertation
there in Romans chapter 3. And when he finished up, he said,
where is boasting then? It's excluded. It's gone. It's gone. And the mind of Christ recognizes
a righteous authority of Christ in both him and his delegated
authorities throughout the earth. And they willingly submit to
Him and to all His authority. Paul wasn't looking to see if
he could find something good in their nature, something to
boast his confidence in. Job said this, God puteth no
trust in His saints. He don't put any trust in His
saints. Paul looked to see if he could
find some good evidence that God had begun a good work in
them, a work of repentance and faith, a work of love and humility,
a work of God. And finding good evidence of
it, he rejoices with them. And he rejoices over them and
he tells them with confidence. He said, here is my confidence
in you. God who hath begun a good work in you is going to finish
it. He's going to finish what He starts. And that's the thing
about sovereign grace. Now, God shows mercy. He can
show mercy in a moment and He can withdraw mercy. It's the mercy of God that unregenerate
men and women, that it rains on them. It rains on the just
and the unjust. That's the mercy of God. It's
the mercy of God that time continues to go and men continue to hear
the gospel. It's mercy that you still have
a breath, that you're still able to hear. That's the mercy of
God. But God can withdraw His mercy, but not His grace. If God ever sends to you a drop
of grace, you're going to get the whole barrel. When grace comes, it brings everything
with it. Because grace and truth comes
through Jesus Christ. Does that make sense? When God's grace comes, it brings
everything. It brings the fullness, the full
sufficiency of Christ to the soul. It brings all the hidden
things, all those hidden things that were a mystery to even the
princes of this world. It brings it to the believer.
Opens it up to him. And he sees things that wise
men couldn't see. Old Gamaliel in all of his pride,
and he must have been something. He was a teacher among teachers.
But he was totally blind to the Gospel. Totally blind. And so was Nicodemus until the
Lord opened his heart. God ever gives His grace to you,
He will not withdraw it until you in that day stand around
His throne completely and everlastingly saved. Listen to this here in
Hebrews 10 verse 39. He said, We are not of them,
that draw back unto perdition, but of them which believe to
the saving of the soul." You think about that. We're kept,
Peter said, by the power of God through faith. When I was a young
man, I wanted to be independent. I just wanted to be on my own.
I didn't want somebody telling me what to do. I didn't want
my parents butting into all my affairs. I didn't want them telling
me where I could go and when I could go and if I could go.
I didn't like it to be under their thumb. I didn't like being
told what to do all the time. I wanted to be on my own. That's
all I wanted. But I didn't understand what
this independence meant. What it means is you have to
work for everything you get. That's what that means. You have
to work for everything you get. You have to provide for yourself,
your own house. You've got to pay for your phone.
You have to pay for your car. You've got to buy your own clothes. You've got to buy your own place
to live. You've got to buy your own shoes.
You've got to pay your own doctor bills. You've got to treat yourself
when you're sick. And the same thing applies to
your salvation. To be independent of God, that
means you have to provide your own salvation. You don't want
that. I'm telling you right now, you
don't want independence. You don't want it. You don't
want it. That means you have to provide
your own atonement. You have to provide your own
righteousness. You don't want independence from
God. And that's the very heart of free willism. They won't be
independent from God. When God begins His work in you,
you begin to see His intervention in your life as an act of love
and kindness. You begin to see His authority
as that of a loving Father, not of an impersonal dictator. And
the more of it you perceive, the less you want to be under
your own power. And finally, you'll cry out with
Paul, oh, he said that I might win Christ and be found in Him
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
righteousness which is of God by faith. There's nothing under the rule
of Christ that is unjust or unrighteous. Creation tells men there is a
sovereign, all-powerful God, and conscience tells him that
this God is not pleased with his works. If you never hear
a word from God's minister or never read a word from his book,
you have creation as a witness of the eternal Godhead. God sits
on the throne, ruling and reigning. Creation bears witness of that.
And your conscience tells you that those little things you
trust in are not sufficient to put away your guilt. So that even those who have never
heard the gospel of God's saving grace are without excuse. I tell you, I get cold chills
sometimes when I think of how many times I heard the gospel
and shoved it away. Yet I rejoice in my heart, knowing
that as long as you're still alive and still listening, it
might be, it just might be, that He will yet begin a good work
in you. Boy, wouldn't that be something.
I'd like to see it. I tell you, when God does it,
you won't take none of the glory. He does it in a way you can't
take the glory. And then Paul says this in verse
7, Philippians 1, 7. He said, even as it is meet for
me to thank this of you all. He saw those things in those
people. Because I have you in my heart
insomuch as both in my bonds and in defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you are all partakers of my grace. That is, they were
all partakers of the grace of God through His ministry. And
they were being shown grace even while He was in His bonds. And
God manifesting His love and grace in them through their care
and giving and submissiveness even in his absence. God put
him down there in prison and that good work he began in those
people resulted in their care for him, their prayers for him,
their sending their pastor to him to see to his needs. For
God is my record, verse 8, how greatly I long after you all
in the bowels of Jesus Christ. Those in whom God has begun a
good work love one another. Now they do. They love one another. Does that mean we all want to
go spend the night with each other all the time? No. That
ain't what that means. What that means is we're concerned.
And if you have a need, I have a need. I have a need. It's my need as much as it's
your need. That's what love is. God took our needs to Himself.
Didn't He? Sure He did. He said, His needs are mine.
That's what love does. They love one another. Grace
has made us all the same. All those walls are petitioned.
Do you know, under the old Jewish law, there were strangers who
came into their camp who were circumcised according to the
law of God, and they were able to go down to the temple and
worship, but they couldn't worship in the same room of an actual son of Abraham.
They had a Gentile court and a court over here for the Jews.
Two courts. And God tells us in Ephesians
chapter 2 that He tore down. He made us both one in Jesus
Christ and tore down the middle wall of partition between us.
Tore it down. We worshiped together. Grace
has made us all the same, and the walls of partition and separation
have long been torn down. And we all stand on the same
foundation, Christ alone, grace alone. May God be pleased to
give us all an understanding of what Paul writes here in his
introduction to this church. This is the very foundation of
what we preach.