He giveth more grace. I love
that. I'm glad he does. Let's read verse. 12 once again. Wherefore, my
beloved. As you've always obeyed, not
as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work
out. your own salvation with fear
and trembling. Work out your own salvation. Now what does that mean? When
we say I'll work it out, what do we mean? I'll work it out. That means we'll give attention
to the problems. I'll work it out. And he says to do so with
fear and trembling. Now we believe, and I'm thankful
for this, in the eternal security of God's elect, don't we? If
Christ died for you, your sins are paid for. You must be saved. Aren't you thankful for that?
We're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
Kept by the power of God. And it also says, work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling. And I believe the fear he's speaking
of is something we all fear. We read scriptures like grieving
the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit. And we fear
doing that. It makes me afraid. I don't want
to grieve and quench the Spirit of God, the fear of him withdrawing
himself from us as far as his influence. It happens to churches. It happens to individuals. And
in the context, he was talking about the strife and vainglory
that existed in Philippi. Now, if you read the epistles
of Paul, every epistle deals with particular problems in the
churches, every single one of them. You read Romans and he
devotes the 14th chapter to them judging one another. If you read
the two epistles to the Corinthians, he spoke of the envy, the strife,
the division, and the immorality that was going on. If you read
Galatians, they were going back to the law. The Ephesians, the
fourth chapter is filled with things that he told them not
to do. And you'll remember that our Lord said regarding the church
in Ephesus, you've left your first love. With the Colossians,
they were letting themselves be affected by the philosophy
of the world. The Thessalonians had those who
were disorderly and insubordinate in their midst. And if you read
the letters of the Lord to the seven churches in the book of
Revelations to five of them, he said, I have somewhat against
thee. Now, he even spoke of removing the
candlestick from them. And without doubt, there is much
in all of us to work out, isn't there? When he says, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. There's probably
many things that come to our mind, but you know, this verse
would terrify me if it wasn't for verse 13. Aren't you thankful
for verse 13? This blessed assurance for it
is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do. of His good pleasure. Aren't
you grateful for that? You work it out, and if you work
out, it's only because God is working in you, both to will
and to do His good pleasure. Now, like I said, that verse
would terrify me, verse 12, if it wasn't for verse 13, and verse
13 is glorious. Well, verse 12 is glorious, too,
but let's look at what led Paul to make these statements. In
Philippians chapter 2 verse 1, he gives four ifs. If there be, therefore, any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies. Now he's not saying do these
things exist. He's saying if this is real with
you, if there be any consolation in Christ. Now when he's talking
about in Christ, there isn't anything that I love to talk
about more, to think about more, or feel more unqualified to talk
about than this thing of being in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is speaking of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there any
consolation in your heart, in your experience? Is there any
consolation from being in Christ? Now, I love that passage of scripture
in Ephesians chapter 5, where Paul says the two, talking about
man and woman, shall be one flesh. I speak a great mystery, for
I speak concerning Christ and the church. He said, I'm not
really talking about marriage. is given simply to picture this
relationship, the oneness of Christ in the church. And I remember
I used to read that passage of scripture where it says, he that
loveth his wife, loveth himself. And I remember thinking, well,
is that, what's that mean? Well, here's how real union with
the Lord Jesus Christ is. When the Lord Jesus Christ loves
his bride, he loves himself. That's the most glorious. Do
you find consolation in that? That you are himself. That when
God sees you, he sees his blessed son. There's so many examples
in the scripture that give us some idea of what this thing
of union with the Lord Jesus Christ means. But there's three
scriptures that I thought of. You know, you're either an Adam
or you're in Christ. and Adam all die and Christ shall
all be made alive. Now, we're familiar with that,
but the first scripture I thought of was Romans 512, where Paul
said, for by one man, sin entered the world and death by sin, so
that death passed upon all men in that all have sinned. He didn't say Adam's sin is imputed
to everybody. Although it is, but that's not
what he said. That's not what's being taught
in that passage of scripture. He says, when Adam sinned, me and
you sinned. We actually did it. We ate the fruit. He doesn't say it's as if we
sinned. He doesn't say that sin was charged to our accounts.
It says we did it. That's how close union is. Whoever you're united to, whatever
they do, you yourself do. Look in Hebrews chapter seven.
Hebrews chapter seven. Verse nine, as I may so say,
Levi also who receiveth tithes. Now remember Levi was the great
grandson of Abraham. And as I may say, so say Levi
also who receiveth tithes paid tithes in Abraham for he was
yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. When
Abraham paid those tithes, scripture says, Levi did too, because he
was in his son. He actually paid the tithes. One other scripture, Matthew
chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20. Verse 20. Then came to him the
mother of Zebedee's children with their sons, worshiping him
and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her,
what wilt thou? She saith unto him, grant that
these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the
other on thy left in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
you know, not what you ask. Are you able? Now, listen to
this question. Are you able to drink of the
cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism
that I'm baptized with? What if the Lord said that to
you? What would you say? No way. No, I'm not able to do
that. But look how they answered. I
mean, it seems almost presumptuous and arrogant. We're up to the
task. We're able. We're able. Now, instead of rebuking them
for saying this, look what the Lord says. Verse 23, and he saith unto them,
you shall, you shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with
the baptism that I'm baptized with. You see, when our Lord
was baptized under the wrath of God, I was too. When he drank
of that cup, I did too, because I'm united to him. But to sit
on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall
be given to them for whom it's prepared of my father. Let's
look at one other scripture, Matthew chapter three. Verse 13, Then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John
forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me? Now you put yourself in John's
place. How would you feel if the Lord came up and said, I
want you to baptize me? You'd feel completely unqualified for
such a task. You'd say, this is not, something's
wrong here. I have need to be baptized of
thee. And cometh that of me? And Jesus answering said unto
him, Suffer to be so now, for thus it becometh us. Now do you see that us? Everything
the Lord did, he did as an us. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Now, do you get consolation from
that? That everything Christ is, that's
who you are. That's who God sees. And who
God sees is who you really are. Does that give you consolation? Does that console your soul?
If there be any consolation, in Christ. Yes, there is consolation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he said in Philippians
chapter two, if there be any comfort in love, comfort in his love,
we read in John chapter 13 verse one, having loved his own, which
were in the world. He loved him to the end. Do you find comfort in that?
His love? He said, as the father had loved
me, so have I loved you. Lord said that. Think about those
words. As the father loved me. Now, how did the father love
him? The father looked at him and said, he's lovely. This is my beloved son. Oh, every thought he thought,
everything that went through his mind, the father was pleased
with. Everything he did, the father
was pleased with. He's pleased with his son. His
son is altogether lovely. He can't help but love his son.
I mean, he looks at his son and he says, he's so lovely. He loves
his son. Now, the Lord says, has the father
loved me? So have I loved you. That is the way I love you. I see you as altogether lovely. Now, this is hard to get hold
of. As a matter of fact, the only
way you can know it by faith. Because in our experience, we think of
the Lord, and I've said this before, I'll say it again, we
think of the Lord tolerating us for Christ's sake. That's
the way we think. He tolerates us for Christ's
sake. But no, the Lord says, I see you as without spot, without
blemish, without wrinkle, without any such thing. Are you comforted
by that? That when God looks at you, he
sees you as you really are. Perfectly conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ. Holy and unblameable and unreprovable. in his sight. Now that's the
way God loves. Are you comforted from his love? You know, think in human terms
how it feels if a loved one is pleased with you. Oh, it makes
you feel good if somebody you really love and admire and respect
is pleased with you. And think of how it distresses
you if someone you love and admire and respect is displeased with
you. He's pleased with you. Can you get a hold of that? He's
pleased with you. And, well, I am comforted in
his love. And then next he says in Philippians
2.2, if there be any fellowship of the Spirit. Fellowship. Spirit of God that word fellowship
means is sharing in common with the Spirit of God and this is
You know every time I preach I think I don't understand any
of this I just believe it every believer is born of the Spirit
born of God partakers of the divine nature, that which is
born of the spirit is spirit. And we have, we share the same
spirit as God, the Holy spirit. That's, that's the new nature.
That's what being born again is being born of the spirit of
God and the Holy spirit, the author of the new birth, all
we experience of God in Christ, we experienced through him. If
any man have not the spirit of Christ, I love the names of God,
the Holy Spirit, he's called the spirit of truth, the spirit
of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the divine paraclete, the comforter,
oh, the names of God, the Holy Spirit. And all we experience,
you think of this, I mean, salvation, there's experience, you experience
the guilt of sin, you experience your need of Christ, you see
his beauty, you see his glory. I love when you read there in
Psalm 90, let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. I thought
that I want the beauty of God to be upon me. Well, any desire
like that is the product of God, the Holy Spirit in you. And you
know, we have fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit. You know,
we, we, we think the same things he does. You know, he he knows
that Christ Jesus is all in salvation. He knows. And you know what?
We do, too. And we have fellowship with God,
the Holy Spirit. He knows his agenda is the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's our agenda. The fellowship
of God, the Holy Spirit. He's called the comforter and
how he comforts us as we hear and believe the gospel. Is there
any fellowship of the spirit? Do you, do you believe the same
that the Holy Spirit does that Christ is all you really believe
that you really believe he's all in your salvation. He's all
of you. That's fellowship in the Holy spirit. And then the
next thing he mentions in verse one is bowels and mercies. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows and mercies. Colossians 3, 12.
Vows, always in the scripture, represents the deep affections. Deep affections. And you know, in a believer,
there's deep affection. Now, I love God as he is. Now, I'm not talking about the
greatness or the strength of my love. Just forget about that,
but think about who the Lord is. Don't think about how much
you love him, but think about who he is. Do you love his holiness? Do you love his power? Do you love his grace? Do you love his loving kindness? Do you love his sovereignty?
Do you love his control of everything, all men and all of it? Do you
love his providence? Do you love his salvation, the
deep affections? That's what that vows, deep affections. God knows if they're there. I
mean, he knows. I mean, we can say they're there.
It doesn't matter whether we say they're there or not, but God knows.
He sees what's in our heart. I love the way he said to Peter,
Peter, do you love me? Hey, Lord, Peter, do you love
me? Hey, Lord, Peter, the third time, Peter, do you love my person? And Peter was grieved. And he
said, Lord, you know all things. I can't hide anything from you.
You see it all. You know that I love your person. Vows and affections, compassion
for the ills of others, the compassion of loving his people, being moved
by their ills, the bowels and mercies seen in a true sympathy
with what people are going through. So Paul says, if there be, and
this is the experience of every believer, if there be any consolation
in Christ, and there is, if there's any comfort of love, and there
is, if there's any fellowship of the spirit, And there he is. And he bows and mercies, there
he is. He says, in verse two, fulfill
ye my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, but in loneliness of mind, Let each esteem the
other better than themselves." Now, if you've experienced consolation
in Christ, comfort in his love, fellowship of the Spirit, vows
and mercies, Paul says, fulfill ye my joy. Don't be what I'm
talking about in verse three where there's strife and vainglory. And the word strife is not The
word that's used as an expression of enmity, it means somebody
who is self-willed and seeking to gain a following. Seeking
to step on people and bring them lower to bring themselves up
a little higher. That's what that means. Strife, vainglory
is what it says. Vainglory. Now, don't you see
in yourself a tendency to strife and vainglory? I know that's
there. I know it's there in me. And
Paul says, step on it. step on it. This is part of working
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He says in verse
two, fulfill ye my joy that you be like minded, literally that
you think the same thing. Now here's, here's true unity.
Unity is thinking the same thing. Literally thinking the same thing.
You know, I do, I think that The righteousness of Christ is
the only righteousness there is, and his righteousness is
my only righteousness. I think that. You think that?
You think the same thing. I believe that Jesus Christ is
altogether lovely. I think he's altogether glorious. You think that? We think the
same thing. That's what unity is. Unity isn't
something you got to try to work. No. Unity, you actually think
the same thing. You know, I love the fact that
God is sovereign. You love that? I surely do. I
love the fact that salvation is by grace. All of grace. Do you love that? I sure do.
We could go on and on. Believers think the same thing. There's a true fellowship. There's
a kinship of spirit because we really believe the same thing.
We have the same Savior. We're saved the same way. We
believe the same things. This is fellowship in the gospel. He says, fulfill ye my joy that
ye be like minded. Then he says next, having the
same love. I touched on this a couple of
weeks ago. I love Lynn. And she loves me. And I don't want her loving any
men the way she loves me. I want her to just love me. But there's one who I want her
to love infinitely more than me. I want her to love the Lord
Jesus Christ infinitely more than me. And she wants me to
love the Lord Jesus Christ infinitely more than her. I know she does.
And I want you to love Christ more than you love me. And I
know you want the same thing. We have the same love. We love
him. And our fellowship is around
him. A love for the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have the same love. Verse
two, next it says, being of one accord, literally one soul. And that's closer than being
like-minded. Now, how can that be? How can
we be one soul? That's a tall order. I mean,
that's a glorious thing to be one soul to where me and you
have the same soul. How do you do that? Well, if I'm a believer, I am one with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Both he that sanctifyeth and
they who are sanctified are all of one, for the which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. I'm one with Christ. If you're a believer, you're
one with Christ. Now, if I'm one with Christ and
you're one with Christ, you know what? Me and you are one. One soul. Turn to John chapter
17. This is the Lord's great high
priestly prayer for his people. And he says in verse 20 of John
17, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which
shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which thou
gavest me. I've given them that they may
be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Now that's truly one soul. He prays that we might have the
same mind, same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Literally the one thing minding,
one way to the Father, one thing with glory and one object of
faith, one hope, the one thing minding. You know, we have, Paul said,
we have the mind of Christ. Now let's go on reading in verse
three. He said, let nothing be done through strife, competition,
rivalry, or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, humility of
mind, let each esteem the other better than themselves. Now, there are different levels
of spiritual maturity. You read about the people in
1 Corinthians chapter 3, and Paul said, I couldn't speak to
you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes, unto
Christ. See, I've got to talk to you
like your natural men. There's ending, strife, and division, and so
on. He said that to the church accord. And if you go into 2
Corinthians chapter 8, when he talks about the Macedonians,
he said, I want you to know about the Macedonians, how they manifested
the grace of God. Two different people. One he
rebuked as acting like an unbeliever, and the other he just exemplified
as what a believer ought to be. Now, how is that person in 2
Corinthians chapter 8 that Paul commends going to esteem themselves
as less and consider these people in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 as
better than them when they're not? How do you do that? You know, it really is easy.
Because you know that apart from the grace of God, you will right
then be worse. If any man be overtaken in a
fault, you with your spirit shall restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Knowing
that if you are tempted like that brother is tempted, you
will do worse. And you really believe that.
And that brother who Paul is rebuking, you think, I'm worse
than that person in and of myself. And if I've been given grace
to not do what he's doing, it's only because God has prevented
it. You really believe that. And you're able, you're truly
able to see yourself as the very chief of sinners. That's having
the same mind, isn't it? We think Christ is all, and we think we're
the chief of sinners. We really believe that. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the
other as better than themselves. Verse four, look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Now I know this by definition. I don't think I much know it
by experience. Um, the surest way to unhappiness is to seek
to be happy. If you want to be happy, if that's
what your goal is, you're going to be miserable and you're going
to make other people miserable. That's all that comes out of
seeking happiness. The surest way to be happy is
to seek to make others happy. And when I read that, I thought,
oh my, you know, maybe I, I, well, I hope this is what I do
from now on, because I don't think I've done much of a job
of it, but seeking to make others happy. He said, look, not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others,
you'd be so much happier that way. Verse five, let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And you know what
the outstanding characteristic of this glorious passage of scripture
concerning the mind of Christ is? He humbled himself. He humbled himself. He emptied himself. He made himself of no reputation. He made himself vanity. He humbled himself and became
a man. and took all the limitations
that you and I have. He humbled himself and he became
obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Oh, how he humbled
himself when he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, made
sin, forsaken by God. None of us know what all that
means, but he did it. He humbled himself. That's the
outstanding characteristic of this glorious passage of scripture.
Let's read it together. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, he
thought it not robbery. He thought it not a thing to
be grasped for, to be equal with God. That's why his enemies wanted
to stone him. It wasn't because of his good
works. He said, but you being a man, make yourself God. You
make yourself equal with God. Verse seven, but he made himself
of no reputation. He did this himself. He made
himself. He voluntarily did this. He made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of
a servant and he was made in the likeness of men. I think
of him going through Samaria and sitting on that well, wearied
with his journey and saying to the woman, get
me to drink. He was made in the likeness of
men. He was a real man. And being
found, verse eight, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Oh, how He humbled himself when
he became a man. Oh, what an act of condescension
that was. But when he was made sin, how
he humbled himself. That's the mind that's in Christ
Jesus. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
And what did he do? He humbled himself. Verse 9, wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name. Now let me tell you something. You don't humble yourself so
you'll be exalted. You're not humbling yourself
that way. But the Lord humbled himself. And he achieved glories. He achieved glory that he wouldn't
have ever achieved if he didn't humble himself. And everyone
that humbles themselves before God will be exalted, beginning
with him. Because he humbled himself and
became obedient to death, God has highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name. Don't you love to think
of that? that at his name, every knee is going to bow. And if
I, I tell you what, if I'm feeling down and feeling alone and feeling
isolated, here's a passage of scripture that always cheers
me up. God has given him a name, which is above every name, that
at his name, every knee is going to bow. heaven, things in earth,
things under the earth, and every tongue is going to confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Boy, that
cheers me up. I know that's going to happen
no matter what I feel like about myself. Doesn't matter. God is
going to highly exalt him. And you know, that's enough to
give any believer, that cheers our heart. to know he's going
to be glorified. You know, even if I'm brought
down, if he's going to be glorified, that's all, that's, that's great.
I'm, I'm good to go. If he's going to be glorified,
you know, a believer loves him that much to where they really
love his exaltation, but he humbled himself. Wherefore also God hath
highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every
name that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Now, wherefore, my beloved, as
you've always obeyed, not just in my presence, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation. with fear
and trembling. And you know where we begin?
Humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God. That is where you begin to work
at your salvation with fear and trembling. When you humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God. Hold your finger there and turn
to 1 Peter chapter 5. Peter says in verse one, the
elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God, which
is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly. Not for filthy lucre, not for
a paycheck, but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's
heritage, but examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd
shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth
not away. Likewise, you younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the
proud. and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Now, a great part of working
out your own salvation May the Lord enable me to do this, even
now, by His grace, to humble myself, to take the lowest seat,
and believe that's where I belong. Really believe that. And He says,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. We do. We fear grieving the Spirit of
God. We fear quenching the Spirit
of God. and quenching his influence because
of our pride or because of something we do or because of our sinfulness.
We fear that, don't we? We fear it. I mean, every time
I read that scripture, grieve not the spirit of God, whereby
you're sealed into the day of redemption. You only grieve someone who loves
you. If he loves you, you grieve him.
Don't quench his influence through your attitude. And we fear that.
You work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But
how thankful we are for verse 13. For it is God which worketh
in you. Aren't you thankful for that?
It is God. It just takes all the pressure
off. It is God. which worketh in you, both to
will. You know, Paul said, to will
is present with me. And you know, it is. I want to,
I want to believe the gospel, don't you? To will is present
with me. It's, it's, it's present with
me right now. Here's my will. I want to be
just like Christ. I want to follow him. Now, Paul
said, the will is present with me. And he also said now how
to perform it. When it comes to performing it, I find not.
The will's present with me. But it's God that works in me,
both the will and the doing. If I believe, it's because he
did it in me. If I repent, it's because he
did it in me. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. I love that scripture where Paul
says in Galatians chapter 1 verse 15, would it please God who separated
me from my mother's womb and revealed his son in me. And what hits me about that,
it's not enough for me to have Christ revealed to me. That's
not enough. I'll lose him. I'll forget. I need to have Christ revealed
in me. It's God that worketh in you. Both the will and to do is good
pleasure. So work out your own salvation
with fear and with trembling. Let's pray.