This morning we're going to take
a look at Philippians chapter 1. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 6. And we'll just mainly deal with
verse 6. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6.
Being confident, absolutely sure, confident of this very thing,
that he, and we know this is God, who had begun a good work
in you, Good work in you will get it done. We'll perform it
until the day the Lord comes back to receive us unto himself
and there shall we ever be with the Lord. So the title of this
message I'm going to give is this. What begins in grace will
end in glory. What begins in grace will end
in glory. The Lord Jesus will give, the
Lord Jesus Christ will give his people all grace now, more grace,
exceeding and abundant grace, which is eternal salvation. and
then eternal glory forever. Remember John chapter one of
his fullness, have we all received grace for grace? Salvation as
it's revealed in the word of God is all of grace, grace alone. And I mean by that sovereign
grace. He will have mercy on whom he
will. I mean by that eternal grace. I mean by that fetching
grace. calling grace. Salvation is all
of the grace of the Lord Jesus. Peter confessed at that conference
there in Jerusalem, we believe that we shall be saved even as
they by the grace of God. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. God saves sinners by his will,
purpose, grace, and mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ. God who
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, given us in
Christ, given us in Christ, saved us and called us, given us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. God purposed salvation
before we were ever born. God purposed salvation before
Adam ever sinned. Before Adam sinned, the Savior
stood as a surety. a savior of his people. Now this
church, which was established in Philippi, had a very small
beginning. A few converts. Lydia, who was
a businesswoman, sell her purple. God opened her heart, saved her
by his grace, and then later on we see the jailer, as Paul
and Silas were singing about the praises of God, being beaten
and imprisoned, yet they were rejoicing in the Lord. And God
sent an earthquake and God sent the gospel to the heart of that
jailer and saved him by his grace. Paul was sent there by a special
calling, a special vision from the Lord to go there in Macedonia,
come over and help us. What kind of help did they need?
Paul was a tent maker, but they didn't need tents. Paul was a
preacher of the gospel and that's what they needed to hear. And
God used that message that Paul preached and called a number
of people. The Lord was pleased to call
out his elect in that city with the gospel. Now that's his pattern
and method. It has not changed. That's why
Paul went everywhere preaching the message, and that's why we
take the message, the gospel, whatever means God gives us,
radio, internet, printed, the tracks, the bulletins that go
out. We use what God puts in our hands to preach the gospel. It pleased God through the preaching
of the word to call out his people. Faith comes by hearing the word
of the Lord. Faith doesn't come by hearing
the lies of men, but rather the truth of God. So the church at
Philippi had a very small beginning. This ministry here in Zebulun
also had a very small beginning. This ministry we have right here
had a very small beginning. One man with one dream. His name
was Paul Thacker. In 1985, he bought this piece
of ground, took the dirt off the hillside over there, brought
it over here, built this building, and established this ministry
here in Pike County. He bought this property and built
this building and contacted my pastor, Henry Mahan, to come
here and preach the gospel, the first gospel message in May of
1986. Little did I know when I drove
Henry and Doris up here that Sunday afternoon, little did
I know that one day I'd be the pastor of this church. I had
no idea. But the Lord did. And the Lord called me here.
in 1994. Now we've been here, this ministry's
been established for 35 years. The Lord has been pleased to
keep this ministry here but one day, one day just like the church
in Philippi, one day it'll be gone. I pray the Lord will keep
it here while while we are here but I don't know what the future
holds. When we're all gone and I'm gone,
I don't know what the Lord has in store for us. I know right
now there's no gospel church in Philippi today. Many places
where the gospel was once preached by the Apostle Paul, there's
no gospel ministry in Ephesus and Thessalonica. I remember
reading a story after Charles Spurgeon died the great preacher
of England, when his ministry was gone. And the man that followed
him was his own son, Thomas Spurgeon, who later denied the gospel that
his own daddy preached. So it's sad, but that's just
the way it happens. The seven churches that are mentioned
in the book of Revelation, where are they today? None of them
were preaching the gospel. You read about those seven churches.
They're no longer here today. Those countries are overrun by
followers of Mohammed. There's no Christian churches
or no gospel preachers in that area that I'm aware of. There
may be some, the Lord does know. But we're confident of this,
as Paul says in verse six, we're confident of this very thing,
that God who has begun a good work in you, he will perform
it and he will perfect it. Where are all those believers
in that church there in Philippi who loved, heard, and believed
the gospel? Where are they at now? They're
with the Lord in glory, worshiping the Lord. God is going to populate
glory with a people that are predestinated to be conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Philippians
chapter 3. He says this over here, for our
conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it
may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the
working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. He has predestinated the people
to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
God's going to populate a people. God's going to populate heaven
with a people just like the blessed Savior. Remember what happened
to Paul and Silas at Philippi when they preached the gospel
there. They were falsely accused, tied
to a post, beaten, and thrown in prison. Doesn't sound like
The Lord is blessing Paul's ministry. Here he preaches the gospel,
the great apostle Paul, and he's arrested, beaten, beaten beyond
measure, beaten by Roman law, not Jewish law. By Roman law,
you'd beat a man until he died. Beaten and prisoned. It doesn't
look like the Lord's blessing his message. Yes, he is. He's
blessing his ministry. He says, notice what he says
there in chapter one, Philippians chapter one, look at verse 12.
But I would, you should understand, brethren, that the thing which
happened unto me hath fallen out rather to the furtherance
of the gospel, not a hindrance, not a hindrance, happened to
the furtherance of the gospel. Paul, once again, is in prison
in Rome for the gospel. But he never calls himself the
prisoner of Rome. He always calls himself the prisoner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, we studied from Acts
chapter 28, when we closed our study in the book of Acts, when
Paul is addressing those Jews there in Rome, he said, for the
hope of the gospel, I'm in this chain. For the hope of the gospel? What is the hope of the gospel?
Christ in you, that is the hope of the gospel. Paul prays for
these people. Look at verse 4. Verse three
and four and five, I thank my God upon every remembrance of
you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests
with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now. What a blessed fellowship the
Lord's people have one with another. Fellows in the same shape, fellows
in the same ship. sinners saved by grace and grace
grace alone he prays for them he not only preaches for them
and he prays for them look at verse 9 philippians 1 verse 9
and this i pray that your love may abound yet more and more
in knowledge and in all discernment he prays that they might grow
in grace not that they might have more money or health and
wealth he prays for their spiritual growth that you may approve the
things that are excellent that you may be sincere without offense
to the day of christ being filled with the fruit of righteousness
which are by jesus christ all this to the praise and glory
of god That's why we pray. We pray for God's people that
they might grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus. Turn back just a few pages. Let
me show you another example of that. In Ephesians chapter three,
verse 14, he says, for this cause I bow my knees unto the father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. of whom the whole family heaven
earth is named that he would grant you according to the riches
of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the
inner man that christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that
you may be rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth the length the depth
the height to know the love of christ which passeth knowledge
that you might be filled with all the fullness of God now unto
him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or
think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be
glory by the church Jesus Christ unto him be glory in the church
by Jesus Christ about all ages world without end amen So when
we pray we pray for things spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus that
we might grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ that
brings us to verse 6 Here's where we want to camp for a few moments
this morning Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 being confident confident
of this very thing, that God who has begun this work of grace
in you, this good work in you, will perfect it, perform it,
finish it. until the day the blessed Savior
returns. Paul's confidence and persuasion
of their salvation didn't rest upon a sinner's will, doing their
part or performing their part, but rather his confidence rested
upon the sovereign will of God, the doing and dying and performance
of the Lord Jesus Christ for us in our room, in our stead,
as our surety, Savior, and substitute. Psalm 57 says this, I will cry
unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for
me. Now I love that. He does what? He performed all things for me. SALVATIONS OF THE LORD, HE SHALL
SEND FROM HEAVEN AND SAVE ME. AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HE DID.
TURN BACK TO GALATIANS, THE BOOK OF GALATIANS CHAPTER 4. GALATIANS
CHAPTER 4. THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE
LETTERS THAT PAUL WROTE WHILE IN PRISON. Galatians chapter
4 verse 4 when the fullness of the time was come the time God
sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons now watch it and Because you are sons God has sent forth
the spirit of his son in your heart crying Abba father father
father wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and
a son and heir of God through the Lord Jesus Christ God has
performed all things for us in salvation Christ is our kinsman
redeemer you remember our study from the book of Ruth how Boaz
was the near kin to Naomi And that is a picture of Christ,
our kinsman redeemer. The kinsman redeemer who has
the right to redeem. And that was true of Boaz redeeming
Naomi and Ruth. He had the right to redeem, the
will to redeem, and the power to redeem. And that is true of
our Boaz. Our God and Savior is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is near kin to us. The word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He has the right to redeem. He's a sovereign Lord, he'll
have mercy on whom he will. He has the right to redeem, the
will to redeem, and the power to redeem. Aren't you glad he's
our redeemer? He's a strong savior who has
all power to save. We're confident and fully convinced
that we should have no confidence anywhere but in Christ. Remember,
turn to chapter 3, Philippians 3, verse 3. For we are the true
circumcision, the true Israel, which worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, And we have no confidence in the
flesh, none whatsoever. Matter of fact, we count all
things done that we might win Christ and be found in him. We are confident and fully convinced
that Christ is everything in salvation. We are persuaded beyond
all measure that salvation is of the Lord, all of his grace. Our confidence flows out from
the confidence in our great God and Savior who cannot fail, whose
purpose will be done, who cannot be frustrated. That's our confidence. It's not in us. I don't want
you to have any confidence in me. I want you to look to Christ. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner just
like you, weak and frail, wicked, A sinner saved by grace. Don't
have confidence in me. Don't have faith in me in Christ. I point you to Him. Look unto
Him and be saved. Look unto Him. He's the able
Savior. He's able to save to the uttermost all that come to
God by Him. He's able to save them, those
covenant people. Now, let's look at verse 4. Four things I want to see here
in verse 4. I want you to see these with
me. First thing is this, whose work it is to accomplish salvation. Being confident of this very
thing that he who hath begun the good work. Now whose work
is it? Whose work is it? It's God's
work. Clearly, here in this scripture and all through the word of God,
salvation is described as a work of God not according to our works
but according to his mercy he saved us by our deeds And by
the deeds of the flesh, by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh
be justified. Salvation begins with God and
ends with God. He's the Alpha. He's the Omega. He's the first. He's the last.
Everything in between. He's everything in salvation.
We're confident of this very thing. That God, who hath begun
the work, he'll get the job done. So we say, As we often have said
over the years, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is because
God is. Salvation is of the Lord because
it originates with him. And salvation is of the Lord's
doing. We had that outline on the radio
this morning. And that was a rerun, but it
was a message worth hearing again and again and again. Salvation
is of the Lord and its origination. God planned and purposed it from
all eternity. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Salvations of the Lord in His
execution. We studied that last week. Isaiah
53 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him in our room and in
our stead. Salvations of the Lord in His
application. When will a sinner be saved?
When it pleases God to reveal Him to our heart. Salvations
of the Lord in its sustaining power were kept by the power
of God. and salvations of the Lord in
its ultimate perfection. We are predestinated to be conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, for man to say that
he does not believe in predestination, he's saying that he does not
believe in the Word of God. Because the truth of God, God
says that he predestinated the people to be conformed to the
image of Christ. Not once, not twice, not three,
four times. Twice in Ephesians and then in
the book of Romans. You have Ephesians chapter one
there right close to you. Turn back a few pages. Ephesians
1 verse 3. like a verse 11 Ephesians 1 verse
11 in whom also we have obtained an inheritance we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted Christ
so You can't call yourself a believer and believe not the biblical
view of what predestination teaches. Now, the very nature of the work
of salvation, we must conclude, and if any sinner is saved, it
has to be by the doing and the accomplishments of God alone,
because it must be perfect to be accepted. The atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ is a perfect atonement. How do we know that?
God said their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Salvation is of the Lord in its origination, execution,
application, sustaining power, and ultimate perfection. David
put it this way, this is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous
in our eyes. The Father in choosing us, the
Son in redeeming us, the Holy Spirit in regenerating us and
making us new creatures in Christ. It's all of God. What part do
I have in it? In the accomplishment of it,
none. None. What we have, we have by the
gift of His grace. If we have faith, what is faith? Faith is a gift of God. If we
have repentance, You say a sinner must repent, a sinner must believe. That's exactly true. Where does faith repentance come
from? the gift of God. You'd never believe a gospel
without his grace. You'd never repent. And repenting
and repenting, it's a constant believing and repenting apart
from the grace of God. So the first point, you've got
it? Confident of this, God begins the work. It's his work. Salvation
is of the Lord. Secondly, what kind of work is
salvation? Well, it says here it's good,
but it's a good work. Whose work? It's a good work. Whose work is it? Well, it's
His work. That's the only reason it's good.
A good work, complete salvation, a perfect one. Now the scriptures
teach us that there's none good but one, right? That's God. So to be a good work, it must
be the work of God. There's none good but God. The
Lord is good. We studied Psalm 136. Wednesday
evening. You remember the text 136 verse
1? Oh give thanks to the Lord for
the Lord is good. Everything he does is good. Everything
he does is right. All the Lord Jesus accomplished
for us is good, pleasant, satisfying, and acceptable to God. The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I'm going to shock you here. The atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not offered to men. It's God's sacrifice
for sin. The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ satisfied God. That's the important thing. That's
the only thing. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied
God for us and we're only accepted in the beloved. It has to be
perfect to be accepted. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
do the redemptive will of God, accomplishing the work of salvation. He accomplished the work. Now
you remember when he was very young, his parents, Joseph and
Mary, Joseph being his stepfather, foster father, God is his father.
But when they went to observe the Jewish law, when the Lord
was in the flesh, just 12 years old, and they completed their
business in Jerusalem and headed back to Galilee, Well, two or
three days later, they figured, they found out, well, where is
Jesus? And he was nowhere to be found.
They went back to town and found him sitting with the doctors
and lawyers and confounding them. And the Lord said, don't you
know I must be about my father's business? He came to do the redemptive
will of God, and it was redemptive work that the Father had given
to him to accomplish. Now, I've showed you this before,
but let's review again. Turn back to John chapter four.
I'm saying that the work he did was a good work, and it was a
good work accomplished on our salvation because he's nothing
but good. It's the work that he did for
us. John chapter four. verse 34 my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work see it's a
work that he did for us that makes salvation by grace unto
us now another reference turn to john 5 36 But I have greater witness than
that of John, for the works which the Father had given me to finish,
the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father
has sent me. Got the idea? Turn to John 17. I remember a dear friend of mine
one time walked up to me, he said, I've come to the conclusion
that salvation is by works. I said, whoa, wait a minute,
wait a minute. He said, yeah, salvation's all
a work His, not mine. And that's true. Look at John
17, the Lord's prayer here in John 17. Verse four said, I've
glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work you gave
me to do. Salvation is a work that He accomplished
for us. It's His doing. So turn to John
19, verse 30. He came to do the redemptive
will of God, the work of God, working out salvation for us. You remember one of the last
things the Lord said upon the tree? John 19, verse 30, you
see it there? When Jesus therefore has received
the vinegar, he said, it's finished. bowed his head and gave up the
goat. What's finished? The redemptive
work the Father gave him as the surety of the covenant. Satisfied
the law, satisfied justice, redeemed his people, and did all that
to the glory of God, to the will of God, to the praise of the
glory of his grace, his grace alone. Christ did a work, a good
work, for us as a surety and mediator. He put away all our
sin by the sacrifice of himself, redeemed us from the curse of
the law. He was raised from the dead to justify us. He brought
in and established eternal justifying righteousness for us, freely
gives that unto us. I like that word freely. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things, justified freely
by his grace in the Lord Jesus Christ? I've jotted this down,
1 Corinthians 2, verse 12. Now, we've received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. Salvation
is a free gift of God. It cost him everything that it
might be free to us, that it might be by the grace of God
alone. Now here's the third thing. God who begins the work of salvation,
he's done this work for us, he will complete it, he will finish
it. This good work of salvation is
not only for us, but look what it says there, being confident
of this very thing that God who hath begun a good work In you. You see that? In you. He will perform it. He will perfect
it. In you. Christ in you is the
hope of glory. Turn one page, Philippians 2
verse 13. Philippians 2 verse 13. For it is God which worketh in
you both the will and the do of his good pleasure. God has
done a work for us. We saw that last week, wounded
for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity. He has done
a work for us, but there is that work of grace, regenerating grace
that he does in the sinner's heart, making us new creatures
in Christ Jesus. God must do in us what we cannot
do for ourselves. We cannot give ourselves life.
We're dead in sin. Only God can quicken and give
us spiritual life. It is the spirit that quickens
the flesh, profiteth nothing. That's why our Lord said in Nicodemus,
she must be born again. If you're not born again, you
cannot see the kingdom of God. If you're not born again, you
can't enter into the kingdom of God. And it's this work that
God does in us. He must reveal himself to us. And that's what he does when
he saves us. He shows us who he is. He's hid these things
from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. When
it pleases God, He reveals His Son in us. So He must reveal
Himself unto us, and this is what He does in us. He must give
us saving faith to believe the faith of God's elect. We believe
only according to the working of his mighty power. He must
give us a broken heart over the guilt and ruin of our sin against
God. He's neither of a broken heart.
Save us such as be of a contrite spirit. He must make us new creatures
in Christ. That's the work of God that he's
done for us and in us. Christ in you. It is only by
his power that we are partakers of a divine nature. I have that
old flesh. That flesh which is born of flesh
is flesh. But thank God by regenerating
mercy, regenerating grace, we are new creatures in Christ Jesus,
partakers of a divine nature. Now here's the last thing is
this, mark it down, write it in stone, all that God has started
and has begun, he will accomplish and finish to his own satisfaction. He will, he begun this work,
good work in you, will perform it, perfect it, finish it, complete
it, when the Lord comes back. will be one with Him. He will
finish it and complete it. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. Whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. God does it that men should fear
Him." Now, There are some people in religious circles who believe
that God saves sinners or they say a sinner can be saved and
then by circumstances or different things that he can lose his salvation. My friend, that's not what this
book teaches. Those whom God saves by his grace,
he gives them eternal life. And he said they will never perish.
He gives us eternal life. None for whom Christ died can
be lost. We are kept by his power, we're
sealed with God the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.
Our Lord said in John 10, my sheep, they hear me. I know them, they follow me and
I give unto them, I give unto them, temporary life as long
as they hold out. That's not what he said. He said,
I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither
can any pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father
are one. We are eternally secured in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He will perfect it, perform it,
finish it until we're taken to glory. Christ will present us
to the Father perfect, complete in the day when the Lord comes
back. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us thoughtless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding, exceeding joy. Look at verse six again, being
confident of this very thing, that God who had begun a good
work in you will perform it, perfect it, finish it, until
the day the Lord comes back to take us home to glory. I'm confident,
how about you? I thought about this, what if
God has started What if the work God has started, what if it's
not completed? What if it's not finished? What
if God's work that he has started, what if it's not completed? What
if it's not finished? What does it say of his promise
that he gives them eternal life? What does it say of his power?
He said he has all power to say. If God's not able to finish what
he has started, what does it say of his love? He said he's
loved us with an everlasting love. Can we fall out of love?
No. What does it say of his purpose
if his promise is not completed? What does it say of his atonement?
What does it say of his intercession? Thank God that which begins in
grace will end in glory. All grace now and forever. What he says is so. I'm confident. I pray that God will make you
confident as well. And you can say with the Apostle
Paul, thanks being to God for the unspeakable gift of God. Thanks being to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Is that a good
verse?