Let's turn back to Philippians
chapter 2. I have entitled this message,
Work Out What God Has Worked In. I think you can see where
I got that title. Let's read the verses again.
Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 12. as you have always obeyed, not
as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We read in our text of the good
pleasure of God. I like that. Love it. The good pleasure of God. Our Lord said, fear not little
flock. It is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. Turn back to Ephesians chapter
1, a few pages. Verse 5. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the what? The good pleasure of his will. You know the Lord's pleased with
everything he does. And when he wills something, he's pleased
with what he wills, and whatever he wills comes to pass. Look
in verse 9 of the same chapter, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself. Now, his good pleasure, his will,
will be done. His gracious design. The Lord
has got a gracious design in making everyone who believes
on Christ just like Him. That's God's good pleasure for
every believer. That's His purpose. To make me
perfectly conform to the image of Christ. It's God working in
you. Isn't that encouraging? He works
in you. both to will and to do His good
pleasure. And He never works in vain. If He works in us both to will
and to do His good pleasure, we will do His good pleasure. Now, you'll notice I'm starting
at the end of the text, working back toward verse 12, but this
will make verse 12 understandable if we understand what's being
said in verse 13. He says, it's God that works
in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. Now, you can't
work out what God has not worked in. He must work in you before
that can be worked out. Now, who is he speaking to in
this passage of Scripture? Well, look in verse. Back in
Philippians, Chapter two. He says in verse 12, Wherefore,
my beloved, he's speaking to believers. He's not speaking
to unbelievers. You can't tell an unbeliever
to work at your own salvation with fear and trembling because
an unbeliever doesn't know anything about salvation. He's not saved.
He's speaking to believers. He says, Wherefore, my dearly
beloved, work at your own salvation. That's a precious phrase, your
own salvation. I'm not just talking about a
definition of salvation, but I'm talking about your own salvation. What is salvation according to
the Scriptures? Well, Matthew chapter 1 verse
21 tells us, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. So my own salvation has something
to do with me being saved from my sins. My sin and my sins. Now, what is salvation? What
is salvation from sin? Most folks, when they think of
salvation, they think of salvation from hell. And that's a good
part of salvation. I don't want to perish, do you?
I don't want to go to hell. I want to be... I want to go
to heaven. I don't want to go to hell. But
that's a very small part of what he means when he's talking about
salvation from sin. Now, if I'm saved from sin, that
means, first of all, thank God for this. I'm saved from the
penalty of sin. I deserve to be damned. I deserve that. I really do. But do you know,
in Christ, I'll never have to pay for my sins. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. I stand
before God without sin. Now, that's salvation, isn't
it? That's justification. I will never be condemned for
my sin because I'm justified. I have no sin to be condemned
for. My sin became Christ's. His righteousness becomes mine,
and I stand before Him justified. That's salvation, isn't it? I
mean, that is salvation. But not only am I saved from
the condemnation and the penalty of sin, I'm saved from the power
of sin. What do I mean by that? I'm saved
from the power of sin. Well, there was a time When I did not
understand what sin was, I did not understand that I was under
the complete dominion of sin. I thought if the circumstances
were right, I could avoid certain sin. Now, the circumstances never
got quite right, but I thought if they did, I could avoid sin
and I could keep from doing this and keep from doing that. Now,
at that time, I was under the complete Blinding dominion of
sin. I didn't have any understanding
what it was. But when I'm saved from the power of sin, that's when I find out I'm a
sinner. I'm no longer under its dominion and under its power.
I didn't even like to see who I am and who the Lord Jesus Christ
is and how He saves by His grace. That's salvation from the power
of sin. That's what happens in the new birth. Sin shall not
have dominion over you. What a precious promise that
is. Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under
the law, but under grace. I've been saved from the power
of sin. I believe on Christ right now. There was a time when I
couldn't. There was a time when I didn't understand what it meant
to believe. There was a time when repentance
was a mystery to me. I'd hear the preacher say, repent,
and I'd think, what's that mean? I understand now. I've been saved
from the dominion of sin and Salvation is salvation from the
presence of sin. Now, according to Romans 8, verse
30, I've already been glorified in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
I have been saved from the presence of sin. People say, well, I was
sure for heaven as if I'm already there. I'm already there. In
Christ, I'm already there. That's how secure I am. Now,
that's salvation, isn't it? Salvation from the penalty of
sin. Salvation from the power of sin and salvation from the
condemnation of sin. Your own salvation. I'm saved. And I don't say, I
got saved. I hate when people say, well,
I got saved or he got saved. I didn't get saved. The Lord
saved me. He saved me by His grace. He saved me by His mercy. You know, there are several phrases
that speak of our salvation. I'm saved by grace. By grace
you're saved. I'm saved by hope. Romans 8,
24 says you're saved by hope. I'm saved by mercy. I'm saved
by His life. His life is my life before God. I'm saved by calling on His name.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm saved by faith. Thy faith
hath saved thee. I'm saved by entering in by Him,
by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. I'm saved by persevering. He
that endureth to the end, who continues believing on Christ,
the same should be saved. My own salvation. Now, that is
so precious to me. Isn't this precious? Your own
salvation. What the Lord God has done for
you. Now, he says, work it out. Work out your own salvation. Now, I have to say this. There
is a very real sense in which there is nothing to work out.
Because Colossians chapter 2 verse 10 says, you are complete in
him. What needs to be worked out for
that? You lack nothing. When the Lord said, it is finished,
my salvation was finished. There's nothing to work out.
I'm complete in him. That's the work of Christ for
me. But not only does Christ do something for you, he does
something on the inside. Remember, he talked about God
working in you, in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure. Now, you work that out. Work
out what God has worked in. He's given every believer a new
heart. Now, just think of this physical
heart. My heart. You can't see my heart, can you?
You can't see it, but you can see the evidence of it by me
moving around. You know it's there by me talking, by me making
these motions. What's in the inside comes out
on the outside. Now, you can't see that heart,
but it's worked out by my moving. You know, I got a heart that's
working because I'm talking to you right now. If I was laying here
dead, obviously my heart would not be working. You can see from
the outside it's been worked out what is on the inside. Now, God has done something on
the inside. He said, a new heart will I give
you. And this is talking about the
new birth. This is talking about regeneration. This is talking
when He places a new nature, a holy nature inside of a person
that was not there before. The new birth is not God influencing
and working on the old and enabling it to do anything. That's wrong.
No, it's Him putting something there that was not there before. Now, work it out. What do you think of when you
think of a workout? Well, you think of physical exercise,
don't you? You work hard, you exhaust yourself. We call it
working it out. We work out what's on the inside. We work out problems.
We have problems and so on. We say, well, I'll work it out.
I'll work it out. I'll give attention to this thing
and I'll work it out. Work out what God has worked
in. Now, in the context, look at
the first verse of Philippians chapter two. If there be, therefore, any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any vows and mercies fulfill ye my joy, that you be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind. Now, he says to the Philippians,
I want you to think the same thing. All of you, I want you
to have the same thoughts regarding God. The same thoughts regarding
his word, the same thoughts regarding yourself, the same thoughts regarding
your brothers and sisters in Christ, the same thoughts regarding
how to save sinners. Think the same thing. If I believe,
and you believe, we better believe the same thing. Or one of us
doesn't really believe. Isn't that so? Think the same
thing. Have the same mind. I want to
believe whatever a believer believes. Work it out. He says, have the
same love. Love to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Love to His gospel. Love to His people. Love to men
that causes you to preach the gospel to them, to seek their
good. Have the same love. Being of
one accord, literally one soul and of one mind. Now you work
it out. If you see anything contrary
to this, work it out. That's what he's talking about.
Work out what God has worked in. Look in verse 3. Let nothing
be done through strife. That's ambition. Ambition, self-promotion. Let nothing be done through self-promotion
and vain glory. Now, if you have any honesty,
you see plenty of self-promotion in yourself, don't you? It's
there. It's there in me. It's there
in you. Plenty of vain glory. I'm just as vain as the next
guy. But you see that. Work it out. Work it out. Work out what God has worked
in. Let nothing be done through strive
for vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, true humility, a just
estimate of yourself. That's what humility is. It's
a just estimate of yourself. I am what I am by the grace of
God. And the only reason I'm not what I would be is by the
grace of God. A just estimate of yourself. Let nothing be done
through strife or vainglory, but in the lowliness of mind,
let each esteem the other as better than themselves. Now, do you hear what that says? You know, what I'm really like
is seen by how I view you. If you want to know what I'm
really like, harsh towards you, and critical toward you, and
judgmental toward you, and always suspecting you, that just reflects
what I am. That's me. How you view others
is really what you are. Do you view others in a harsh,
critical, judgmental light, or do you esteem others as better
than yourselves? The Word is actually superior
to you. Now, I know myself, and this
is so sad, This is so sad. I know myself and I really believe
myself as God is my witness. And I say this very carefully.
I believe myself to be the most sinful man in this room. I believe
that about myself. And what is so sad is I know
that if you said, I believe you are too, I'd get mad at you.
And that's just that's how ridiculous we are. But work it out. Work
that out. May the Lord enable us truly
to esteem the other as better. than ourselves. He says in verse
four, look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others. Work that out, quit being so
selfish, he's saying, and self-focused. Work that out. And now he gives
us the model, verse five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who Being in the form of God thought
it not robbery, thought it not a thing to be grasped for, to
be equal with God. And the reason he was equal with
God is because he is God. He didn't think it a thing to
be grasped for, to be equal with God. That's who he is. But here's
what he did. He made himself of no reputation. And he took upon him the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. and being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also
hath highly exalted 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. And wherefore, my beloved, as
you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation. And he's
talking about all those things that he just mentioned. Work
out your own salvation. With fear. And with trembling. Now, I've
preached from this passage two or three times, but I don't think
I gave I gave very much thought to this part of it. And notice
how he says, work out your own salvation, how? With fear. And with trembling. That's strong
language, isn't it? Not some kind of cocksure attitude.
Not some kind of indifferent attitude. Not some kind of presumptuous
attitude. But he says, you work out your
own salvation. You give attention to your own
salvation. And you do so with fear and with trembling. Fear. The fear of God. We just
read about it in the study. The wisdom is the fear of the
Lord. An actual fear of Him that makes
me This fear of God makes me afraid of myself. It makes me
hold myself suspect. It makes me paranoid about myself.
I can't trust myself. It makes me afraid of sin. All
from the fear of God. I'm afraid of sin because I'm
afraid of Him. Now you work out your own salvation
with fear and with trembling, shaking, quaking. What's that
all about? Think of that woman with the
issue of blood. She comes through the press.
She said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I'll
be whole. She knew she had to come into
contact with him, so she crawls through the crowd, and she reaches
out and touches him. And the Scripture says that virtue
came out of the Lord, and she felt in herself that she was
healed of that plague. And then the Lord turned around
and said, who touched me? And she was scared to death.
And the scripture says, she came with fear and trembling and told
him all the truth. And this is a reverence for his
person. You work at your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Look at the way Paul preached the gospel. Turn to first Corinthians,
chapter two. He says, and I, brethren, When
I came to you, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 1, and I, brethren,
when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. I didn't
try to wow you with my oratory, for I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now,
do you hear what he says? He says nothing else was even
pursuing. This is all I cared about, Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
and I was with you. How? in weakness and in fear
and in much trembling. And I, you know, in this thing
of preaching the gospel, I fear misrepresenting God. That's what
I'm afraid of. I'm not so much afraid of me
doing a poor job because I know I will. But I do fear misrepresenting
God. And I think of the Scared. Scared. Sometimes while I'm sitting
in that chair and getting ready to preach, I get so scared thinking
about the awesomeness of this thing. And it ought to be that
way all the time. Every time I preach, Paul said,
I was with you in weakness, conscious of my own weakness and my own
helplessness and fear and much trembling. That's the way the
gospel ought to be preached. And that's the way the gospel
ought to be received, too. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
7. Talking about Titus, bringing
back to Paul his report of the Corinthians, he says in verse
14, For if I have boasted anything to him of you, I am not ashamed,
but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting
which I made before Titus is found of the truth, and his inward
affection is more abundant toward you. Whilst he remembered the
obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received
him. Now, he's not talking about Titus.
It's talking about the gospel he preached. You received the
gospel in fear and in trembling, all at the gospel. Fear and trembling. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6.
This is the way our life ought to be. Ephesians chapter 6. Look at verse 5. Servants, Be obedient to them
that are your masters. Now you think of being a slave. And what does he say? He says
you be obedient to your masters according to the flesh. How?
With fear and trembling. In singleness of your heart as
unto Christ, not with eye service as bend pleasers, but as the
servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with
goodwill, doing service as to the Lord. And not to men, knowing
that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he
receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. Now you see
this thing of fear and trembling? When I preach, may God deliver
me from ever preaching in any other way. When you hear, May
God deliver you and me from hearing in any other way. This is to
be the characteristic of my life. Fear. The fear of God. Not some
kind of cocksure attitude. Now understand, this is not against
full assurance, but it sure is against presumption. We ought
to have full assurance because I'm fully assured that what Christ
did is enough. I don't need anything else. I
ought to have full assurance, but I sure don't want to have
presumption. He says, work out your own salvation. with fear
and with trembling. Now, back to our text, look at
verse 13. And this is such an encouragement. Let's read verses 12 and 13 together
again. 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. Now, here's the encouragement.
Four, it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do
of his good pleasure. Now, it's of God that works in
you. Both to will. Both to wish. Both to desire. You know, what
you wish for is what you really are. What you will, that's what
you really are. Now, listen to me. I would be
without sin. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's really what I
want. I would. I would bow to His Word in all things. I would
never sin again. That's what I want. That's my
wish. Paul said, To will is present
with me. That's what I would. I would
be like-minded with every believer in the context of this passage
of Scripture. That's what I want. I want to be like-minded with
every believer. I want to have the same love, being of one accord
and of one mind. That's what I want. I would.
I would be without strife, without self-promotion, without rivalry,
without competition. I would be completely without
that. I would be done with vain glory. Now, the things that I would,
I can't do. I realize that, but this is what I would. I would
be without this. I would, in lowliness of mind,
this is what I want. I want to truly esteem myself
at the bottom and esteem everybody as better than myself. I would. It's the truth. You know, for
me to take the lowest seat in the house certainly isn't an
act of condescension. That's where I belong. I would have
this true humility of mind where I esteem my brothers and sisters
in Christ as better than me. I would. I would look not on my own things,
but also on the things of others. I want to be that way. I would.
I would have His mind. Paul said, to will is present
with me. And I know why. I know why I would those things.
I know why I will those things. Because it's God that works in
me both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now, listen
to me. Any believers that believe in
free will, not a one. Every single one of them know
that the will they have comes from the Lord. You know that,
because there's a time when you didn't will that. There's a time
when you didn't care about that. But you do now, and you know
the reason. It's God that worketh in you both to will and to do
His good pleasure. Psalm 110.3 says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Now, it's me that
wants to do this. I want to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want to be found in Him. I
want to serve Him. That's what I want. And I know
why I want that. He worked it in me. Paul said,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life that
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself for me. And not only does He
work in us to will, but He also works in us to do. Now, I do believe. I believe the gospel. And I know
why I do. He worked that doing in me. I'm
just as sure of that as I am that I'm standing here. It didn't
come from me. There's a time when I didn't believe, and I
found myself believing, and I know why. He worked in me. I do. Love the Lord Jesus Christ. I do. I love Him. I adore His
person. And I know why. He worked that
in me. I know that. I don't have to
convince a believer of this. You know that anything you do,
it's because God caused you to do it. You know it didn't come
from you. You know that in and of yourself, you're nothing but
sin. You know that that's all you are. And you know that if
you do love Christ, it's because He gave you that love. If you
do seek to honor Him, anything you do, you know it's Him in
you. It's God working in me. Does God ever work in vain? Turn
to Hebrews chapter 13. This Scripture is saying the
same thing. Verse 20. Now, the God of peace, what a
name for our God, that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus. That's where that peace comes
from. The resurrection of Christ and his accomplished salvation.
That great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will
working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through
Jesus Christ to whom be glory both now and forever." Now, he
does it, doesn't he? He works in me. And that's what
gives me some confidence about this thing of working out. Working
out what God has worked in. If he worked in, I'm going to
work it out. Now, if he didn't work in, there's
no working out what he hadn't worked in. But if he worked in
me, I'm going to work it out. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter
5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Paul says, beginning in verse
14, Now, we exhort you, brethren.
Warn them that are unruly, irresponsible. Comfort, comfort the feeble minded,
the depressed, comfort them. Support the weak. Be patient
toward all men. See that none render evil for
evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good. Both among
yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing in everything,
give thanks. For this, this thing that you're
having a difficulty giving thanks to God for, this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, whatever it is. So give
thanks. Give thanks. If it's God's will,
it's something to thank Him for, isn't it? Whatever he does is
right. Whatever he does is best. Give thanks. Quench not the spirit. Quench not the spirit of God
through your unbelief, through your pride and so on. Quench
not the spirit. Despise not prophesying, preaching. Prove all things. Prove what
you're hearing. Hold fast that which is good and abstain from
all appearance of evil. Now when he's saying abstain
from all appearance of evil, He's not talking about stay out
of bars, although you ought to stay out of bars. But that's
not what he's talking about. He's talking about when you hear
something that doesn't seem right, it doesn't feel right, stay away
from it. Stay away from it. It's not right. Watch out for
it. Abstain from all appearance of
evil. And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this encouraging word.
Faithful as he that calleth you, who also will do it. He will do these things for you
and in you. It's God. It's God that works
in you, both to will and to do is good pleasure. David put it
this way. Would you turn to Psalm 57? Verse
one. Be merciful unto me, O God. Be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God Most High,
unto God that performeth all things. For me. Now. In salvation by works. You're the one that does the
performing. A performance based religion. Somehow you got to
come up with the goods. But in the gospel, this is the
confidence we have. He performs. All things. For us. So I can work out. my own salvation with fear and
with trembling, for it is God that works in me both to will
and to do His good pleasure. Salvation is of the Lord in every
aspect, what He does for us and what He does in us. Salvation
is of the Lord. And aren't you glad? Let's pray.