Now Philippians chapter 1, look
at verse 6, Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, I'm entitling the
message from the subject of verse 6. Let's read verse 6 and I'll
tell you what my title is going to be. Philippians 1 verse 6,
being confident of this very thing, of this thing, that he,
that is God, who had begun a good work in you, We'll perform it. We'll finish
it. We'll perfect it. We'll complete
it until the day the Lord returns, the day of Jesus Christ. So I'm entitling the message
from the subject of that verse, and the title is, What Begins
in Grace Will End in Glory. What begins in grace will end
in glory. The Lord Jesus Christ will give
his people all grace now, and then he gives us more grace,
and then he gives us exceeding abundant grace, which is eternal
salvation, and then he gives us eternal glory forever. Salvation, as it's revealed in
the Word of God, is all of grace. That means it's all of God. It is all of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His sovereign, free,
and eternal grace. You see, it's only by grace that
we believe the Gospel. We believe according to the working
of His mighty power. We believe by the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. For as much as you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich yet for
your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might
be rich. You see, it all gets back to
the grace of God. God saves sinners by His will,
His purpose, His grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
purpose and grace given us in Christ, now think about this,
given us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now
this church was here at Philippi, which was established here, had
a very small beginning, few converts. The prophet Zechariah said, despise
not the day of Small things. Lydia was converted. God opened
her heart. She heard the gospel. The jailer
was obviously converted. believed the gospel and confessed
Christ, both their families did, and maybe even perhaps this demon-possessed
girl that was healed. So there were a few onverts there
whom God saved by His grace. Paul was sent there by a special
calling, by a special vision from the Lord to go there for
one purpose. Remember we read in Acts 16,
he had that special revelation from God of a man calling, come
over and help us and preach the gospel unto us. That's the help
we need. We need a gospel preacher sent
to our heart. One of the greatest things, blessings
that any community can have is a God-sent, God-called preacher
of the gospel. It's nice to have jobs, and that'd
be okay, but what we need is the gospel. The gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord was pleased to send
this apostle to call out his elect through How? Preaching of the gospel. Preaching
of the gospel of Christ. The gospel God concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God does not change.
He's still doing the same thing today. He's still sending men
out to preach the gospel. I'm not here to entertain you
or to make you feel good about yourselves or to pump up or prop
up anything. or anyone but to preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased God through preaching
to call out His people. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the word of the Lord. You've got to hear the word in
order to believe the gospel. That church in Philippi had a
small beginning, but how did it start? It started through
God sending a gospel preacher. Now this minister here in Zebulun,
had a small beginning. One man had a dream in 1985. His name was Paul Thacker. He had a dream in 1985, a vision,
if you will, to have a gospel ministry here in Pike County,
right here, where we sit today. He bought that piece of property
across the road, that hillside. He bought this piece of property
here, was nothing but a swamp. He took off the dirt from that
hillside and put it down here and built this building that
we're enjoying right now today. It had a very small beginning.
One family, one man who wanted to have a gospel ministry here
in Pike County. And when he bought this and built
this building, he contacted Pastor Henry Mahan. to come and preach the gospel
here. This was in May of 1986. I had the privilege of driving
Henry and Doris up. I was their chauffeur that night.
Came up on a Sunday night. Came up here and heard him preach
the gospel to those who were here. And there was a lot of
people in the community that came just out of curiosity. Few
of them stayed, most of them left. Now here we are, some 30
years later, and the Lord has been pleased to keep this ministry
here. But you know what? One day it'll be gone. It will. One day it'll be gone. I pray
the Lord will keep it here while we are here, but one day we'll
be gone, and this ministry will be gone. But who knows the future? We have to say, Lord willing,
I know this, you look down through history where the gospel has
been preached in different cities, in different churches, different
places. I know this, there's no gospel church in Philippi
today. Is there? Not that I'm aware
of. There's many places where the
gospel was preached at one time and now the pulpit has either
completely vanished or those who are still there preaching
have compromised the gospel. I think about Charles Spurgeon,
his ministry. He preached there for about 30
or 40 years. And when the Lord was pleased
to take him out, he was just 58 years old. And when he was
gone, the ministry there was over. It wasn't soon after Charles
Spurgeon had died that those who tried to preach there denied
the very thing that that man stood for. They denied particular
redemption, death and atonement. His own son, Thomas Spurgeon,
compromised on the atonement. Therefore, he ceased preaching
the gospel. How about the seven churches
that we read of that are mentioned in the book of Revelation? Where
are they today? Ephesus, Pergamos, Smyrna, Thyatira. Where are those churches today?
Where are those congregations today? Those countries are overrun with
followers of, who are they following? Those countries over there, followers
of Mohammed, ISIS, the Islamic State they're going to establish.
Where are the gospel churches? They're gone. They're gone. I
tell you, my friend, we've been blessed to have a gospel ministry
here. Let's pray for it. Let's support
it. Let's love it. One day, He'll
be gone. We're confident of this, Paul
says in verse 6. We're confident of this, this
very thing. Here's what we know is going
to be established. Here's what we know is going
to continue. We're confident of this, that God who's begun
a good work in your heart. He will finish it. He'll perform
it. He'll perfect it. We're confident of this concerning
the salvation of God's people, His church. The Lord said, I'll
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. God is going to populate glory with a people that are
predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ. Turn
over here to Philippians chapter three, verse 20. Chapter three,
verse 20. where our conversation is in
heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus,
who shall change our vile body." Thank God for that. "...that
He may fashion it like unto His glorious body, according to the
working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself."
He's able. He's able. You see, He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. Remember what
happened to Paul and Silas at Philippi when they preached the
gospel there. They were falsely accused, tied
to a whipping post, beaten, and then thrown in prison. Doesn't
sound like the Lord's blessing the ministry there in Philippi,
does it? I mean, we would look at that event and say, well,
man, what a disaster. Paul, your ministry is a disaster.
Wouldn't we say that? You're in prison. He's about ready to break out.
God's gonna have a jailbreak. Set him free. Paul once again
now when he writes here in Philippi, he's now in Rome and now he's
in prison again for the gospel of Christ. But you know he never
calls himself the prisoner of Rome. He always calls himself
the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back a few pages
to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. Paul is
writing this letter to those at Philippi while he's in jail
in Rome for the gospel's sake. But he says in Philippians, or
Ephesians 3 verse 1, For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse
1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with
all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. Paul said, I'm a prisoner of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His testimony in the book of
Acts chapter 28, he said, for the hope of Israel, I'm bound
with this chain. Being chained up, he still preached
the gospel. And he writes back to these people
now, turn to Philippians chapter 1, Luke verse 3. And he prays
for them. I thank my God upon every mention
or remembrance of you. He had fond thoughts of those
who believed the gospel. Always in every prayer of mine
for you all making requests with joy. It says in chapter 4 verse
6, let your requests be made known unto God for your fellowship
in the gospel. Fellowship in the gospel. What
is fellowship? It's fellows in the same ship,
in Christ. Fellowship in the gospel from
the first day, from the first day that he met them, when they
were converted by God's power and grace until now. Oh, I think
of your fellowship. I pray for you. I pray for you.
What did he pray about? Turn over here to Philippians
chapter 1 Over here, verse 9. And this I pray, that your love
may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all discernment,
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 unto
the glory and praise of God. He prayed for these people. And
he prays for their spiritual welfare. He does not pray for
carnal, fleshly things. He prays for their spiritual
welfare. Now this brings us back to verse
6. And here is where we want to camp for a moment or two.
Being confident of this very thing, this thing of salvation,
that God, God our Savior, who has begun a good work in you
will get the job done." The gospel will be effectual until the day
the Lord is pleased to come back and take us unto himself. Paul's
confidence and persuasion of their salvation did not rest
upon the sinner's will. the sinner's doing, or their
part, or their performance, but rather his confidence was upon
the will of God, the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the performance of the Lord Jesus Christ on their behalf.
Remember that psalm, I often quote Psalm 57, I will cry unto
God Most High, unto God that performeth all things for me,
for He shall send from heaven and save me. He's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by Him, seeing that He
ever lives to make intercession for us. Remember our study in
the book of Ruth about the kinsman-redeemer? Boaz is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our kinsman redeemer, who has the right to redeem,
the will to redeem, and the power to do so. Aren't you glad he's
able? He has all power to give eternal
life to as many as the Father had given to him. We are confident. We are, aren't you? We are fully
convinced And we're confident, there's no confidence anywhere
else. We're persuaded that salvation is of the Lord. We're persuaded
and confident that salvation is all of grace. Our confidence
flows out from our confidence in our great God, who cannot
fail. Look at Philippians chapter 3,
verse 3. whose will cannot be frustrated, whose will cannot
be defeated. Philippians 3 says, we are the
true Israel, we are the real circumcised in the heart, which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, we worship
God in Spirit Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence
in the flesh. None. No confidence in the flesh. I'm persuaded, as Abraham of
old, that of all that God has promised, he's able to perform. I'm persuaded that nothing can
separate us from the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded he is able to keep me. I've committed
everything to Him, and I'm persuaded He is able." Is that your persuasion? That's what Paul says here, I'm
persuaded. That word confident, then it's translated other places
in Scripture, persuaded. I'm persuaded. Well preacher,
what are you persuaded of? There's four things in this verse
I want to point out to you, in verse 6. I'm persuaded. Here's the first point. Being
confident of this very thing that he who hath begun a good
work in you, he'll get it done. Now, here's point number one.
Whose work is it to accomplish salvation? Whose work is it to
accomplish salvation? Clearly, here in this text, and
all through Scripture, salvation is the work of God alone. We are saved, not according to
our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. If not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy, He saved me. by His grace, not my works. By our deeds shall no flesh be
justified." Right? Salvation begins with God, ends
with God. He's the Alpha and He's the Omega
of all our salvation. He's the beginning of it. Salvation
begins in Him and it's consummated in Him. It ends in Him. Salvation
we say As the scripture said, salvation is of the Lord. Aren't you glad? What if salvation was partly
of the Lord and partly depended upon you? Where would that leave us? Bad
shape. Bad shape. Aren't you glad that
salvation is of the Lord? Salvation is all of God's grace
and purpose in Christ. We often say those five points
that Spurgeon brought out. Salvation is of the Lord in its
origination. He planned it from the foundation,
before the foundation of the world. Salvation is of the Lord
in its execution. Who executed God's purpose in
salvation? Is it left up to us? Man, that
would be a terrible thing, wouldn't it? Salvation is of the Lord
in His execution. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. Salvation is of the Lord in its application. It's God
who has begun the work in you. Who applies salvation? Does the
preacher apply it? Come forward and make an application
and I'll say, well, okay. That's a terrible thing to say,
isn't it? Salvation is of the Lord in its application. Salvation
is of the Lord in its sustaining power. He has to keep us by His
power. I cannot keep myself. Salvation
is of the Lord. Whose work is it to accomplish
salvation? Salvation is of the Lord in its
ultimate perfection. We are predestinated to be conformed
to the image of Christ. You see, it's all of Him. Well,
what part do I have? None. None. You mean I can't
have a part? Oh no, not in the doing of it.
Now you receive salvation by His grace, but you don't accomplish
anything. For the very nature of the work
we must conclude, if any sinner is saved, it has to be the doing
and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to be the accomplishment
of God alone. Because we read in Scripture,
Leviticus 22 verse 21, it says it must be perfect to be accepted
of God. It must be perfect. Well that
just slammed the door on me. Everything I bring is imperfect
and sinful. But salvation is by His perfect
work. The perfect choice the Father
made. God had chosen us unto salvation. The perfect redeeming work of
a Son in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of His grace. by the perfect
regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit. You see, it's His
perfect work. He had a perfect choice, a perfect
sacrifice, and He regenerates us perfectly, completely, making
us new creatures in Christ Jesus. You say, whose work is it to
accomplish salvation? It's God's work, isn't it? It's
God's work alone. Now, secondly, what kind of work
is salvation? It says here in the text, it
is a good work. It is a good work. It's a complete
salvation. That is, it is a perfect one. You see, there's none good but
God. The Lord is Good. I've never done any good
thing. Never. Say, well, preacher, aren't
you a good man? No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm a sinner. You hang around
me long enough, you'll find out. Just ask my wife. She'll bear
testimony that I'm a sinful man. And I am, truly. There's none
good but God. All the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
for us is good, pleasant, satisfying, and acceptable to God. His sacrifice
is a sweet-smelling savor unto God. He came, the Lord Jesus,
came to do the redemptive will of God, and as we studied last
week, He cannot fail. All that the Father giveth to
me, they shall come to me, and those that come to me I will
in no wise cast out. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
came down from heaven. He said, we read it through the
book of John, how many times? The Lord said, My meat is to
do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. Now whose work is salvation?
It's His work. And what kind of work is it?
It's a good work. The Lord Jesus Christ did a good
work for us. He prayed in John 17, Father,
I've glorified Thee on the earth. I've finished the work You gave
me to do. You see, salvation is His work,
not ours. It's His work. He said on Calvary's
tree, as He hangs between heaven and earth, having our sin, the
sin of God's people, charged to Him, laid upon Him, and when
He made full atonement for the sin of God's people, He said,
it's finished. It's finished. It's done. Christ
did a good work for us as a surety and Savior of that everlasting
covenant of grace. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, to the blood of the everlasting covenant. You see,
He did a good work for us. He put away all our sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. That's a good work, isn't it?
Who did it? He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. You
see, He done a good work for us. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. He was raised again from
the dead to justify us before God. He did that as a representative
man for us, didn't He? It was a good work for His people. He brought in and established
an eternal justifying righteousness for us and freely gives us all
things. 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? So salvation is a good work.
Salvation is His doing. It's His work. We are totally
dependent upon His doing, His faithfulness, His obedience.
If He stands, we stand. If He's accepted, we're accepted
in the Beloved. As He is, so are we now in this
world. That's what John said. Thirdly, God who begins this work will
complete it, will finish it. This good work of salvation is
not only for us, but it's also, look what it says there, God
who has begun a good work in you. You see, salvation is an
invasion. He invades your mind, your thoughts,
your heart, your motive, your will, your everything. It's an
invasion of Christ. Christ in you, Christ in you,
and you in Christ, is the hope of glory. Is the hope of glory. It says that in Colossians 1,
27, Christ in you is the hope of glory. God, our Savior, not only does it work for us,
but He must also do work in us. And He must work in us what we
cannot do for ourselves. What we will not do for ourselves.
What we cannot do for ourselves. Our Lord said, No man can come
unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. We have...
Listen to me carefully. We have no ability to come to
Him. We must even depend upon Him
for our coming. He said, come! And then He says,
you can't. You see, I must depend upon Him
to make me come. I must depend upon Him for my
coming, my faith unto Him. You see, by nature we have no
ability, no desire. We love darkness rather than
light. God must do in us what we cannot do for ourselves. God must raise us from the dead
and make us alive. You see, I cannot do that myself,
can I? It's a good work in you. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sin. He must reveal himself unto us. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. I can't just
open up my mind and have a revelation of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. He must reveal himself unto us. I can't do that. See, I'm dependent upon Him for
that revelation of grace to my heart. He must reveal Himself
to us. He must give us faith to believe.
We believe only according to the working of His mighty power.
You see, we're totally shut up to Him. We must rely upon Him
to give us a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We must rely
upon Him to make us new creatures in Christ Jesus. You mean, preacher, to tell me
that everything concerning my salvation depends upon the Lord
Jesus Christ? That's exactly what I'm saying.
God who has begun a good work in you. Now, He'll finish it. He'll perfect it. He'll complete
it. He must make us new creatures in Christ Jesus. If any man be
in Christ, He is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. I have to depend upon Him for
everything. I'm totally dependent. You see,
without Him, without Him, it says in John 15, without Him,
we can do nothing. It's only by His power that we
are partakers of that divine nature in regeneration. Of His
own will begat He us. That shuts out free willism,
doesn't it? Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth.
It's not of Him that willeth nor of Him that runneth, but
it's God that shows mercy. Now, here's the last point. Mark it down. Write it in stone. All that God has started, He
will accomplish. He will finish. To His own delight
and satisfaction. He will finish it. It says there,
He will complete it. Complete it. It reminds me of
this scripture. Turn to Colossians 2, verse 9. 10 in Colossians 2 for in him dwelleth
all the fullness of a Godhead bodily and you are complete in
him We are complete in him Which
is ahead of all principality and power. We're completely pardoned
completely justified We have complete salvation in Christ
Jesus. We are, in Christ, completely
saved. God will finish that work He
began. He will complete it. He will
perform it. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, let me quote this to you,
verse 14. Know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. God doeth it that men should
fear him. Now do you think for a moment
that the Lord Jesus Christ could lose one for whom he died? We've studied in Hebrews chapter
2, where the Lord said, Behold, I am the children. He presents
His family to the Father, not one sheep being lost. He presents
us to the Father a complete church, glorified in Christ Jesus. We're kept by His power. We're
sealed with the Holy Spirit upon us. We're kept by the power of
God. No one for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ loves, no one for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died, will
ever perish. There is no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. Christ will present us to the
Father, perfect and complete in that day, when He comes back
to receive us unto Himself. Turn a few pages, go back to
the book of Colossians one more time. Verse 19, Colossians chapter
1, verse 19. Colossians 1, 19. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, having made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself. By him, I say, would there be
things in earth or things in heaven? And you that were sometimes
alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled. in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight." How
does He present us? Turn to the book of Jude, right
over there before the Revelation, just one chapter. 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude,
then Revelation. Jude chapter 1, verse 24. Jude 1 24, "...now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." How does He present
us? Faultless. Faultless in Christ
without blemish and without sin to the only wise God our Savior
be glory and majesty Dominion and power both now and forever
you see a sinner redeemed by his blood Saved by his grace. We are his workmanship Created
in Christ Jesus you see it's his work It's his work Salvation,
we can say, is by works. His, not mine. And you know what
that makes it to me? Grace. Grace, grace, grace. Consider this for a moment. What
if God had started a work and not able
to complete it? What if He starts a work and
not able to complete it? What does that say of His promise?
He's promised to give us eternal life in Christ. He's promised
that none for whom He died can perish. What does it say of His
power? If He's not able to complete
the job. What does it say of His power? We're kept by His power, aren't
we? What does it say of His love? If God starts to work and yet
some perish. What does it say of His love?
We have to say His love failed. We know that can't be so, because
God cannot fail. His love never fails. He saved,
He loved us with everlasting love. If God doesn't complete
what He starts, what does it save? His purpose. He purposed
according to His own will, an eternal purpose. What does it
save? His atonement. Can His atonement be anything
but perfect atonement, complete atonement? What does it say of
His intercession? If God has started a work and
doesn't see it through and doesn't finish it. What does it say of
His intercession? What says He ever lives to make
intercession for us? You see, the message of that
verse, being confident of this very thing. that God, who hath
begun this work of grace in your heart, He will perform it, perfect
it, complete it. And I'm confident. How about
you? I'm like Paul, being persuaded. God's able. God is able. God is able.