Philippians chapter 2. I'm going
to have to beg your pardon and take my coat off. I want us to read in verse 12
and verse 13. Before I read this, let me say
that Brother Wayne provided me with my text this morning. You
were here, you that were here the other night at the Bible
study. Remember that we were studying
on the Sabbath and what it meant. It was a Sabbath of rest, that
the work has been finished. We don't work anymore. We rest.
And we were studying that. And then Brother Wayne made mention
of these two verses, especially verse 12. What do we do then? What do we think about this verse?
And that was a good question. It got me thinking, Brother Wayne.
So I went home that night. And I began to look at this.
And I thought, well, that's a message. I'll preach that Sunday. So Wayne,
thank you. So how do we look at this? If we're to rest in
Jesus Christ and the work is finished, then what about this
verse that tells us that we work? Let's read it. Philippians chapter
2 and verse 12. Wherefore, my brethren, 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 tremor. In verse 13, for it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now, we look at the Sabbath and
we know it's rest. I asked somebody the other night,
I said, what do we do when the work's finished? When there's
nothing else to do, what do you do? You rest. You rest. And that's what the
Sabbath is. It presents to us the finished
work of God in creation. He saw everything that he had
made and he rested because the work was finished. He rested.
It represented The Jews rest that they were brought out of
bondage. They were to rest and keep the Sabbath and remember,
I was a slave down in Egypt. I'm not a slave anymore. Every
Sabbath day, they were to rest and remember, they weren't under
bondage anymore. And we looked at Jesus Christ,
and He finished His work. He purged away sin. By His blood,
He justified His people. And He sat down. He's resting.
And you and I, the Sabbath represents to us that we enter unto His
rest. We're not working to justify
ourselves. How could we justify ourselves? We've not sewed one
stitch to that everlasting righteousness that Jesus Christ brought in,
have we? If we put a stitch to that, you
know what we'd do. You know what we'd do to it.
It wouldn't be a spotless garment to cover my shame, nor yours.
We rest in Christ and we cease from our own works. God justifies
the ungodly. How does he do that? Not by their
doing, not by their working, but by their faith in Christ. He justifies the ungodly, not
by doing, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Well, how then do we
come here now and look at this text? Well, there's two little
words, and I think that this, I think this clears up the whole
thing and helps us to understand these two concepts. And here they are, for you and
in you. That's the difference there. When we talk about the work of
Jesus Christ on our behalf, it was for us. He gave Himself a
sacrifice, an offering to God. He suffered for your sins. We can't add anything to that.
That's what He did for us before any of us was ever born. He finished
the work for us on our behalf. But our text says this, in you,
in verse 13, it's God which worketh in you, both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. There's already been a work for
us. That's finished. That's accomplished. Thank God
for that. Don't you thank God for that?
As you live your life as a Christian in this world, when you have
those days that you're so conscious of your sin, And you're in that warfare and
you say, oh, wretched man that I am. Or you say with Jacob,
Lord, I'm not worthy of the least of your mercies. Or Job, Lord,
I'm for myself. You can look to Christ and say,
yes, but he stood in my place. He represented me before God. Yes, I'm unworthy. Yes, I'm a
poor sinner. But He's my substitute. He purged
my sin away. It's finished. And I rest in
Him. I fill the sin in me, but I rest in Him. And you find rest
for your soul, don't you? Thank God for that. But here
it's different, isn't it? Here it's different. Work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God
which worketh in you. in you. And listen to this, just
as the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is finished, it's accomplished
because it was perfect, you can't add anything to it, you know
the work of God in us is a perfect work. Now let me show this to you.
I want you to look in some places, just two or three places with
me. Turn back over here in Ephesians, back to your left, in Ephesians
chapter 5. Look in Ephesians chapter 5.
Just as the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is complete, it's
perfect, it's without any flaw or fault on our behalf, God's
work in us is a holy and perfect work. You know what? You remember
what Moses said, God is our rock and His work is perfect. His
work. Everything. He looked at the
creation and He said, It's perfect. It's good. It's absolutely good.
And you know when He begins a work in a saint, when He begins a
work in one of His elect, you know He can say the very same
thing. This is a perfect work. This is a holy, righteous work. First thing He does when He begins
a work, what does He do? I will give you a new heart.
and a new spirit will I put within you." Being saved is not us turning
over a new leaf. Being saved is God beginning
a new work of creation in us. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. What kind of creature is that?
He's not the old creature remodeled. Even God doesn't mess with this
old nature. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God." There's foolishness into it.
God doesn't teach the old nature. He doesn't remodel the old nature.
He gives us a new nature. Now look at this in the Scripture.
Look in Ephesians chapter 4 and look in verse 22. That you put off concerning the
farmer conversation, that old lifestyle, the old man. What about the old man? He's
corrupt. He is still corrupt. According
to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your
mind, and that you put on the new man. Now look at this. Which
after God, he is created. How? In righteousness and true
holiness. The new man is not something
that's pasted on. He's not the old man that's remodeled. He is a new man that is truly
holy, coming from the very hand and breath of God Himself. Now look here at another passage.
Look here at 1 Peter 1. This is another amazing scripture. In 1 Peter 1, speaking of the
beginning of God's work, when He begins the work, He begins
with creating us. Just like He began in creation
back during the beginning of this universe when He created
the heavens and the earth. And look here how Peter says
it in verse 22 of 1 Peter chapter 1. In verse 22, look at this. Seeing
you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the Spirit. The only way to believe the truth
is by the Spirit's grace and help. Unto unhinged love of the
brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart firmly, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass, the flesh
is not born again. And all the glory of man is as
the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you." You're born of the incorruptible seed. Now, what happened when we were
born the first time? Why did you come forth from your
mother's womb, as the Bible says, speaking lies? Because your daddy
was a liar. Why did you come forth from your
mother's womb? Corrupt. Because your mother
was corrupt. And her mother was corrupt. We
were born of corruptible seed. We see it all the time in our
children, don't we? The little infants. That's the heart there. Born of corrupt. They can't have
it. They can't have it. But when
we're born again, when we're born from above, when we're born
of the Spirit, when we're born of the Word, we're born of the
incorruptible thing. What does that mean? That means
that new creature has no corruption about him. He's as incorruptible,
and I hesitate in a way to say this, but, brothers and sisters,
it's so. He is as incorruptible as God Himself. Now, ain't that
so? of his own will begot he us by
the word of truth." God is holy, and when he begets a child, he's
in the image of his father, and he's holy. Now, that's the work
begun, and that's a perfect work, a perfect work. The nature of
that work is perfect, and it's perfectly holy. Here is where
we face our trouble. Here is where the failing often
comes in. Here is where the struggle comes
in. You work out what God is working in. And here's what we face. This
new creature that's within us, he is perfect. I don't know how
else to say it. I don't know how else to say
it. If he's born of incorruptible seed, then he's perfect. He's
holy. This is a new nature, a holy
nature. And in that kind, it's perfect. It's perfect. But, it's subject
to growth. It's subject to develop. They
tell me, and I think this is true from the best I can figure
out from the medical science, there comes a point in time,
which that little infant, the little fetus, we call him in
his mother's womb, before he's ever come out of the womb, he's
perfect in all of his parts. He has all of his members. He
has all of his organs. And when he comes forth from
his mother's womb, he don't grow any new organs. He don't grow
any new members. Those members that are there
are there when he comes from the womb. He is a complete Being,
but he grows. He matures. Peter tells us that,
doesn't he? When he told us being born again
of this incorruptible seed. Look in chapter 2 of 1 Peter,
look in verse 1. Laying aside all malice and guile
and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow. We don't expect little infants
when they're born to start crawling. We sure don't expect them to
start running, do we? They're so dependent, all they
do is mess their pants and cry for food. And you don't give
them a steak, do you? What do you give them? Milk. Why? Because they're newborn. But as you feed them, even though
they have this complete body, absolutely complete, They begin
to grow. When you plant a seed, what happens?
It matures into a tree, doesn't it? A baby matures into a man. God begins the work. Now, He
tells us, you work out what God has worked in. You work out what
God has worked in. God's work is perfect. But boy,
when we begin to work it out, when we get our hands on it,
ain't that amazing? I don't give what little part
the Lord gives us, even though He's helping us and giving us
grace, when it comes to our part, oh, we mess everything up. We
mess everything up. When I would do good, when I
would do good, And when God is working in me to do good, evil
is present within me. And you know one of the reasons,
brothers and sisters, we have such opposition. God can overcome
all His oppositions very easy. He has no problem with His oppositions.
All He has to do is speak and that's it. But bless our heart,
it's not that way with us, is it? When we begin to work out
what the Lord has worked in, we have the devil to oppose us. We have the world to oppose us.
We have our flesh to oppose us. And we find it difficult, don't
we? We find the struggle when we
begin to work out what God has worked in. And you know, this
is lifelong. This will be a work. You and
I will be working. Whatever this means, work out
your own salvation. I tell you, it's a lifelong process. And we won't cease from this
work until we rest our head and breathe out our last breath.
And then we'll rest from this labor, but not until death. Now
look here, let's look at it. Look back over in my text, and
let's look at it right quickly and see what we can glean from
this. Here's a work, first of all,
in verse 12. that concerns every child of
God. And I know this may seem selfish,
but you should be more concerned about yourself than you are anybody
else. I know we think about each other.
That's wonderful. We try to help each other, and
that's wonderful. But he says here in verse 12,
first and foremost and always, work out your own salvation. Your own salvation. Now, am I
not your justification? Do I have to keep repeating that?
I hope I don't have to keep repeating that. We're finished with that,
aren't we? We rest in Christ for that. He's
finished that. This is talking about, in our
daily lives, what God now is working in us. Work out your
own salvation. Not from the guilt of sin. Thank
God our Savior has already delivered us from that. But from the power
of it. working in our daily lives from
being slaves to sin for doing those things that are pleasing
to God. Work every day as God is working
in you, never to be a slave of sin again, and work as God works
in you to do those things that are pleasing in His Son. Ain't that what he says? Look
here in verse 13. It's God that worketh in you both to will and
to do, look at this, of His good pleasure. Have you ever made this silly
statement like your pastor has? If you have, you're going to
eat your words like your pastor has. Have you ever made the statement,
we can't do anything to please God? Have you ever made that
statement? That's true of lost people. Everything
they do to try to please God is abomination in His eyes. But
you know something? The believer can please God. If He's working in you to please
Him, you can please Him. In 1 Thessalonians 4, in verse
1, I think it is, Paul said, As I wrote unto you how you ought
to walk and to please God, you would increase more and more. A lost person can't please God,
but a child of God can please Him. And he can increase in his
pleasing of God. And here in verse 12, we're told
that it's the responsibility of every child of God to think
and to speak and to act and do and go whatever and wherever
it pleases His heavenly. Father. And how in the world
can this possibly be done? One way. Only as God sovereignly
works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now let
me give you what the Apostle said about that. Look over in
Romans chapter 6. Look in Romans chapter 6. The Apostle Paul was
talking about this very thing that The Lord has dethroned sin in
us. When Christ died, he said, he
died to sin once. He was buried and he raised,
and now he lives to God. And Paul said, reckon yourself
to be dead just like he died to sin, and alive unto God. You have such union with Christ.
You're as dead to sin as Christ is, and as alive to God as he
is. Reckon that to be so. Look what
he says in Romans chapter 6. Look in verse 11. When he told her in verse 10
that we were dead in Christ and we live unto God, Christ lives
unto God. Verse 11, Likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let not sin, therefore, reign
in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof,
neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin," but look at this, "...but yield yourselves unto
God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you are not under the law." but under
grace. What's he saying? He's saying
the Lord, when He began to work in your heart, He dethroned sin. It doesn't reign in you anymore.
Remember when sin reigned in you? And you couldn't overcome it,
could you? Some of you, I've talked to some of you, and I
knew you when you was lost. Some of you, served open and
profane sin. You were just ungodly. But not
all of you. Some of you were self-righteous
little creatures, weren't you? It wasn't open and profane sin
that reigned in you. It was your self-righteousness.
Your pride reigned in you. Glenn, remember that? You wouldn't
see Glenn out here. and drunk and running to the
bars like clerks used to do. No, Glenn was playing his guitar
and singing Hallelujah in the churches. But both of them were
serving their sins. And what did the Lord do? He
came and dethroned sin. And He says, from this time on,
you are a new creature. Sin is dethroned in your heart.
Oh, it struggles there, doesn't it? It contends with you. But you know something? You're
not under the law, you're under grace. Therefore sin, because
it don't have dominion over you, therefore you're told not to
yield yourself to it. Because the Lord is working in
your heart to will and to do, therefore yield yourself to God. And we can do that, can't we?
We can do that. We do do that. If you're a new
creature in Christ, you do do that. Because He's working in
you to will and to do of His good pleasure. Yield yourself unto God as those
who are alive from the dead. Isn't it a blessing to know this,
that if you have a desire to live upon Jesus Christ, God's
put that desire in you. If you have a desire to serve
God and to honor Him in your heart and in your life every
day, isn't it a blessing to know that He put that desire there?
That's not natural. Shannon read it this morning
to us. He shall fulfill the desire of them that fear Him. He puts
the desire there, and then He fulfills it. Isn't that wonderful? If He puts a desire in you to
live upon Him, to be content with His providence and not complain
and be doubtful, He's put that desire there, and He'll fulfill
that desire in your heart. Godliness with contentment is
great gain, and to live such a life of contentment upon God
is to know that he's working in your heart to do it, and to
will and to do of his good pleasure. Here's how it happens sometimes.
It almost happens spontaneously. Brother Bill made mention of
it just prior this morning. All of us, I think, have been
on the road very long and have experienced this. We've got something
in our life. It may be a job. It may be our
finances. It may be our health. I don't
know what it may be, but we're just so anxious about it. We
lay up at night concerned about it, but as we sit under the gospel,
as we listen to the gospel, as we read, as we seek His face,
as we worship Him, it's almost like we wake up one day and say,
where's that anxiety about that that I had? Where's that fear? Where's that doubt? Where's that
worry? Now it doesn't matter. Did that
ever happen to you? Now I'm content with beholding
His face. That's it. It doesn't matter
about me. What if your job shuts down?
You know it really don't matter. What if you lose your security
in this world? What if you get bad health? I
don't want that, but there's one thing that's important. There's
one thing I'm concerned about. God be pleased. God's will be
done. That's what He said. You work
as God works in you to come to this place that it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you
live upon your Heavenly Father, that you're content with His
providence and care for you. That's all that matters. Oh my,
that's a game, ain't it? Godliness with contentment. You
know what that is? That's being like the Master.
God is confirming you to the image of His Son. Ain't that what He says here
in our text? Let this mind be in you that
was in Christ. Isn't that what God's working
in us to be? When He began His work, this
good work, you know what He did? He said, I'm going to cut away
everything that doesn't look like My Son. And when I'm finished
with this elect child, he is going to look just like my son. Well, here you are, and you're
content with the Father's will. And who does that remind you
of? Is that what God's own dear son
said in the garden when he was sweating blood, and he was facing
the prospect of taking our sins into his own blessed soul? And
he said, this is going to be painful. And he said, Father,
if you be willing, let this cup pass from me. And boy, he struggled
with that, didn't he? But what did he do? Bless his
heart. He said, Father, nothing else
matters. It don't matter how they're going
to treat me, spit on me, whip me. It doesn't matter how you're
going to turn your face. One thing matters. Your will
be And brothers and sisters, when
we reach that place in any aspect of our life, we can have this
assurance that God has put that desire in us. And we're working
to accomplish that desire to be content, His will be done
over everything else. And you know one thing I noticed
about myself, and you have too probably. I reached this one
area in my life that I've been so concerned about. and I can
rest and be content and leave it with the Lord. But just as
sure as I get there and say, man, I've accomplished that,
this other thing over here arises. The work is never done, is it? Aren't you glad that He says,
I've begun it and I'll never stop? Aren't you amazed sometimes
how patient He is with you? He says here in our text, And
back over in chapter 1, I'm sure you've read this, but be sure
and mark this verse. We're talking here about God
working in you, and we're afraid sometimes, is He going to stop?
Is He going to grow impatient with me? I'm having such a struggle
with it all. But look here what He says in
Philippians chapter 1, in verse 6, 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. He's begun it, brothers and sisters,
and where He begins a good work of grace, He won't stop. He'll never leave it off. He'll
work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. I was reading someone, and they
said, I think it was Spurgeon talking about a sculpture, a
world-famous sculpture in his day. And he was saying that somebody
asked him, how do you take, how do you look at a big rock and
take your tools out and you chisel that rock and when it's finished,
there's this beautiful image. How do you do that? And he made
this sort of amusing statement. He said, when I look at that
rock, he said, I see the image that I want. And what I do is
just chip away everything that don't look like that image. And
he said, when I've chipped away everything that don't look like
that image, there's what I have. Isn't that what God's doing?
He's chipping away. He's consuming everything away
that doesn't look like Himself. Clarence was telling me a message
he's going to preach. You'll probably get mad at me
for telling this. He was telling me, he said, I've got something
I'm going to preach on sometime when I get an opportunity. He
said, the difference in how the Lord treated people as opposed
to how they treated him. What they give him as opposed
to what he gave them. Well, this tells you something.
This tells you what the Lord's doing in us. The Lord Jesus said,
you come to me and I'll give you living water. What did they
give Him? Vinegar. He told His own disciples,
He said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. But
how did they treat Him? Every one of them forsook Him,
didn't they? He preached the gospel to them. Such gracious
words come out of His mouth that they murder. What come out of
their mouth towards Him? Crucify Him. Crucify him. He's a deceiver. He has the devil.
Don't listen to him. Oh, what he gives them and what
they give him in return is very different, wasn't it? The Bible
says when he suffered, he threatened not. When he was reviled, he
reviled not again. You have any problem with your
temper? Do you have any problem wanting self-revenge when somebody
aggravates you long enough, and boy, the old man rises up and
he's going to get even? You know what God is doing in
us? He's chipping away. He's chipping away at that anger,
chipping away at that temper. He's confining us to the image
of His Son. And someday when we're in heaven,
you know something? We're going to be just like the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just like Him. We're going to
look like Him. Our attitude's going to be like Him. That's
what God's doing. And you know, He's given us a
part in this. Work out. Work out your own salvation with
fear. Look back over here at my text
again. Look over here at what he says.
I'm just going to get a little bit close now. If you're here
and you're wondering, well, why is there work yet to be done?
Well, let's look at it just a second. He tells us here in verse 12,
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Verse 13,
For it is God that worketh in you. And he says in verse 14,
Do all things without murmuring, without grumbling, and disputants. You think there's work, brothers,
to be done? You ever murmur? You ever grumble? I've sat around
and talked to some of you, and it's like I came to myself, and
I look at your face, and I see your reproof, because I've been
sitting there disgruntled. Just grumbling, grumbling, grumbling.
Grumbling about politics. Grumbling about how hard my life
is. Grumbling about my family. Grumbling, grumbling, grumbling.
And I look over at you and it's almost as if you say, Bruce,
please. Please. Please. Then I go off and somebody else
starts sitting there and grumbling and I recognize what you're doing
because I've been doing it myself. Do all things without grumbling. and disputing. There's work to
be done, isn't there, brother? Aren't you glad he won't stop
working until he's chipped away at your grumbling and your murmuring?
What an awful sin that is. You know, he told us that children
of Israel murmured and it displeased him. Don't be murmurers. Don't be grumblers. Stop complaining
as they always did. Look in verse 1 and verse 2 of
that chapter. Here's something else. If there
be therefore any consolation in Christ, if it be there, any
comfort of His love, any fellowship of His Spirit, if any vows and
mercies, fulfill you my joy that you be like minded, having the
same love, being of one accord and of one heart. Now, one thing I appreciate about
this congregation, you and I are in one accord, aren't we? We're
of one mind. We're in one agreement that God
in Christ gets all the glory for everything. Ain't that our
aim? Ain't that our goal? We've had people, let me say
this, we've had people to come here for a year or so and they
win our hearts. We believe them to be children
of God and they get in our hearts and we love them and the fellowship
is so sweet. And then they leave. And we call
them to find out what happened. What's wrong with your family?
We miss you. And they'll say something like
this. Well, we just don't agree with everything you're saying. I don't agree with everything
I say. Do you agree with everything I say? Our being in one mind and our
having unity of the Spirit doesn't mean we agree with everything. I hope you never come to the place
That you just believe everything I tell you without searching
it in the Scriptures. I hope you're not that way. And I don't
think you are. Because I've had some of you
come to me and tell me, I don't see that that way. But we're
one mind, aren't we? And some dear soul, some dear
child of God will leave us and they say, well, there's this
division. Well, dear soul, check yourself.
And see if the division is not in you. See if it's not in your
heart. And see what the motive is. See
why that you're feeling hard in us that you used to love.
We've not changed. We're still here saying, to God
be the glory. Great things He has done. We're
still here seeking it. We love each other. In the Spirit,
we've not changed how much. It's easy to find fault. It's
easy to just say, well, I don't agree with them, you know, and
I just don't have anything. Brother Larry went over Saturday
to preach in the conference, and I was talking with him about
it, and about what the fellows looked like, and what they bleed,
and what they did. And he said, well, you know.
He said, I didn't go over there to find fault. Well, that's good,
ain't it? I didn't go over there to straighten
everybody out. Ain't that what you said, Larry? He needs to straighten
it out himself. He went over there to help. He
went over there to see if there was some unity in spirit and
love in the truth. And to those dear souls that
have come here and joined our fellowship and they've left us
and say, well, dear soul, look at yourself. And you'll probably
realize there's some work yet to be done. And I wonder what
would cause that. What would cause somebody to
get lifted up and go up and say, well, they just don't believe
everything they believe. They just don't see it my way.
What would cause such an attitude like that? If you don't see it
like I see it, I'm not coming back. Sounds like a little pride,
doesn't it? Sounds like a little vainglory,
doesn't it? Sounds like something that's not like the master that
needs to be cut away, doesn't it? Well, look here in verse
3 of chapter 2. Let nothing be done, nothing,
not one single thing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man on the things of others. Let this mind
be in you which was in Christ. Can Christians get this way?
Can believers? Can children of God? Oh, my.
If you don't recognize this in yourself, dear soul, oh, I pray
that God work, God just work in you. You remember when When the disciples were sitting
around, they were in a debate. The Lord's children were in a
debate. They were arguing about something.
And you know what they were arguing about? The Lord sat them down
one evening. He said He saw them over there.
He saw them over there. And He said, What were you fellows
talking about? And I could just almost see the heads dropping.
Peter! You're ready to speak up. What
were you and John and James and the other talking about? I was
just talking about some vision, Lord. Peter, what were you talking
about? Well, Lord, we were just talking
about who was the greatest. The Lord took a little child
and set him down in the mist and he got him up in his lap
and hugged him up and said, here's what I want you to be like. I don't want you talking about
this, who's going to be the greatest. That's pride and that's vainglory. Be like this child. And lo and
behold, John said something right at that same meeting. He said,
I don't know if his conscience began to reprove him and he felt
guilty. I don't know if he was boasting
about it, but he said, Lord, I was over there, and this one
fellow casting out devils in Your name, and I told him, come
and follow us. But he said, no, I've got other
work to do. And I said, well, don't you ever
let me hear you casting out devils in His name again. I told him,
Lord. I stopped him. John, John. Our Lord went to
Samaria one day. He had his eyes set towards Jerusalem. The Samaritans hated the Jews.
And because he was looking towards Jerusalem, they said, he ain't
going to come in here. And John and Peter said, Lord, let us
call down far out of heaven and consume these bunches separate.
Yeah, go ahead and do that, you proud bunch. Can believers be
proud? Can we be vainglorious? Can we
exalt ourselves? Can we look at our own things
and choose our own things more than the brethren? Yes, we can. And therefore, the necessity
of the Lord working in us. And I'm telling you what, brothers
and sisters, when this work begins, it's a humiliating work to the
flesh. This mind be in you that was
in Christ, who was meek and lowly in His flesh. Anytime we start thinking that
we're going to straighten somebody out, and we're just the people
to do it, there's when the Lord's going to cut that away. See the
need. This is a work that's not complete. It's perfect in its nature as
He does it. He can do nothing but perfection.
But, boy, when we join, when we become helpers together with
God, that's when the mess starts, and that's when the difficulty
starts. One last thing, and close it. What kind of attitude do
we do this in? He tells us here in verse 12. Work out your own salvation. Look at this. How serious is
this, Paul? Is this a game? What kind of
attitude should we be in when we read this? Fear and trembling. Work out your own salvation.
Fear and trembling. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
your life before God, limped out, day by day, is serious. What you do, subduing yourself,
keeping yourself under control, doing those things that please
God, thinking right, speaking right, doing right, is so serious
that your Christian life should be lived with this attitude.
Fear and trembling. Not fear of hell. That's not the fear. It's not
trembling, God's going to put us into hell. That's contrary
to Scripture. That's a mistrust, not a trust. He said, I give my sheep eternal
life and they shall never perish. It's not that kind of fear that
brings bondage. It's not a fear of going to purgatory
and having to suffer. What kind of fear and trembling
is it? It's an awe. Standing in awe of Him who has
chosen you, Him who has redeemed you and called you, standing
in awe and trembling to believe that He is condescended to begin
a work and carry it on in your heart. It's really a fear of
His goodness. It sounds so strange, but the
prophet said, they shall fear the Lord and His goodness. Only a believer can understand
such language. Don't you tremble to think that He's working in
you? Don't you tremble to think that He's glanced, He's gazed
upon you in mercy? Oh, we used to tremble with dread
to think that He looked upon us in displeasure. Now we tremble
with joy. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. That's the attitude that is done. There's forgiveness with the
Lord that He may be feared. You remember when the angels
said to those women that had come to the empty tomb of our
Lord, I know that you seek Jesus. He's not here. Come see the place
where He lay, and go quickly and tell His disciples and Peter
that He goes before you into Galilee, and there shall you
see Him." And listen to this, they departed from the sepulcher
with trembling and were afraid. But you know something, that
was good trembling. That was a good fear because listen now,
Matthew says, they departed from the sepulcher with fear and great
Joy. You leave here this morning with
this humble and trustful thought, the grace of my Lord is sufficient
for me. His strength is made perfect
in my weakness. How in the world can I overcome
Satan? How can I overcome the world?
How can I overcome myself? This way, brothers and sisters,
The power that works in you is a mighty power. It's a sovereign
power. Do you remember when He spoke
the universe into existence? That's the same power that works
in you. Do you remember when He raised Christ from the dead?
That's the same power that works in you. Do you ever read about
the Spirit of the Lord come upon Elijah and He outran Ahab's chariots? Wasn't that amazing? You ever
wonder about Samson taking the jawbone of a donkey and killing
1,000? Can you imagine the power that was working in that man?
The same power works in you. Be strong in the Lord and in
the glory of His might. The power of His might. I leave
you this morning, brothers and sisters, with that humble and
trustful And ask the Father in Heaven to work in you. And as
painful as it may be to the flesh, say, Father in Heaven, work in
me so mightily to subdue me and make me just like Christ. And
believe He'll do it. May God bless this Word. Let's
pray.