Now here's our text for today. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. I'm going
to be speaking from just one verse of scripture. Let me give
it to you. Paul said in Philippians 1 verse 6. Philippians 1 verse
6. Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, We'll finish
it. We'll finish it. Perform it. Perfect it. Now that's the topic. He will finish his work. That's
our subject. He will finish his work. That's
what Paul's saying. I'm confident that he, our Lord,
which has begun a good work in you, he'll finish it. He'll perfect it. Up to the day
of his return until the day of Jesus Christ. Now the Apostle
Paul came to Philippi. This is the church to which he's
writing this letter. The church at Philippi. It's
the Philippians. And he came to Philippi to preach
the gospel. You remember the vision? You
remember when Paul tried to go here and there and yonder to
preach and the Lord said no? And that night A man appeared
to him in a vision, a man from Macedonia, and said to Paul,
come over into Macedonia and help us. Now Philippi was in
Macedonia. Philippi is the chief city of
Macedonia, military city. And this is where Paul went to
preach the gospel to Philippi. Now you're familiar with that.
You know Lydia? when Paul went down by the riverside
where the women were gathered to pray and he preached the gospel
to them. And the first convert, the first
person to come to know the Lord in Philippi was Lydia, of whom
it is written, the Lord opened her heart. I'll tell you another
one that you'll be familiar with, that's the Philippian jailer.
You remember that Lydia was converted and then the young lady who was
possessed of demons and made a great deal of money for her
owners, her masters and Paul cast the demon spirits out of
her and she came to know Christ and these fellas got awfully
upset and they had Paul put in prison and while he was in prison
the Lord revealed the gospel to the Philippian jailer so we
have Lydia we have the young woman And we have the Philippian
jailer who were converted at Philippi. These people were the
beginning of the church at Philippi. Now Paul is in prison in Rome,
and he's writing to this church at Philippi. And I want you to
look now at the book if you'll open your Bibles to Philippians
chapter 1. And the very first verse says
this, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ. Paul and Timothy was
with Paul. And Paul includes him in the
salutation. He said, Paul and Timothy, servants
of Christ, to the saints, to all the saints, and that's what
believers are called. They're called saints. Every
believer is a saint. Sanctified by the blood of Christ,
sanctified by the Spirit of God, sanctified by the Word of God.
And he's writing to all the saints at Philippi, with their pastors
and with their deacons. And verse 2, he says, grace and
peace. be unto you, from God the Father
and from our Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 3 he says this,
Paul loved these people. They were special to him. And
he says in verse 3, every time I think of you, I thank God for
you. Every time that I think of you,
every time you come to my mind, I thank God for you. And then
he said another thing in verse 4 and 5 and he said, every time
I think of you, I pray for you. When I think of you, I thank
God for you. And every time I think of you,
I pray for you. And in every prayer, I thank
God for your fellowship. I thank God for your fellowship
in the Gospel. They stood with Him in the Gospel. They encouraged Him and helped
Him in the Gospel. And He said, I thank God for
your fellowship in the Gospel of Christ from the first day
Until now. It was an unbroken fellowship.
An unbroken friendship. From the first time that he visited
this place, and these people came to know Christ, their fellowship
was unbroken until this day. Now that brings us to verse 6. And that's the verse I want us
to carefully and prayerfully look at today. Verse 6. And then
he says concerning this church, being confident. And that word
is certain. Being certain. Confident, certain. Of this very thing. Now what
is Paul certain of? What is the very thing of which
he's confident? Well now you listen. He said
being certain of this very thing. That he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it. perfect it, finish it, until
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, my friends, you ought to
just draw a circle around that verse. You ought to type it on
a piece of paper and put it in a prominent place so you can
read it, if you're a believer, if you're a child of God. Because
I tell you, if you can lay hold of what the Apostle is saying
in this verse of Scripture, it'll give you great comfort. It'll
give you great confidence. It'll give you great assurance.
Being confident. That's what Paul said. Being
assured. Being confident. Being certain of this very thing. That He, which hath begun a good
work in you, He'll perform it. He'll perfect it. He'll finish
it. He'll finish His work. If He has begun a work, He'll
finish it until the day that the Lord Jesus Christ comes back
to this earth. Now, I'll tell you what I'm going
to do. I'm going to take this verse almost word for word and
deal with several very outstanding words, prominent words. Now,
the first word is He. He, being confident of this very
thing that He, which hath begun a good work in you. Whose work
is it? Who began the work? Salvation
is not our work. Salvation is His work. He that
hath begun a good work in you. That's the title I gave the message. He will finish His work. You
see, salvations of the Lord. That's what Titus wrote in Titus
3 verse 5. He said, it's not by works of
righteousness which we've done. It's not our work that saves
us. It's not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according
to His mercy. He has saved us. He has called
us. He has redeemed us. I want you
to listen to something that occurred to me today in regard to this
statement right here. Whose work is it? Whose work
is it? This matter of the salvation
of a sinner's soul, whose work is it? I looked in the Scripture and
I found two groups of people who set forth their claims after
death in eternity. Two groups of people in eternity,
after death, at the judgment, who set forth their claims. The first group was found in
Matthew 7. And they stood before God and they said, Lord, we preached
in your name. We did many wonderful works in
your name. We cast out demons in your name."
What was his response? That's their claim. This is our
work. We preached, we built churches, we did wonderful works in your
name. And then will I say unto them,
depart from me, I never knew you. Our works, it's not by works
of righteousness which we've done. But what about the second
group? Others stood before the Lord and they said unto Him,
unto Him who sitteth upon the throne, Unto him who loved us,
who washed us with his blood, who made us kings and priests
to our God, unto him be the glory. And Christ said, Come ye blessed,
enter into the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. Whose work is it? He that hath begun a good work
of his own will beget he us with the word of truth. Romans 3 verse
20 said, "...by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight." It's not my hold on Christ that saves me, it's
Christ. I hold to Christ because He's
my Savior, but it's not my hold that saves me, it's His hold
of me. It's not my prayers that save
me, it's Christ, the one to whom we pray, in whose name we pray.
It's not even faith that saves, it's Christ in whom we rest,
to whom we look. You see that? It's not an act
of faith that redeems me, it's an act of Christ that saves me.
Faith didn't die for me, He did. Faith doesn't intercede for me,
He does. It's not my feelings, it's Christ. Our business is not with self.
If we want to find cause for our redemption, and calls for
God's mercy and grace. We don't look in here. We don't
look at our works. We don't look at our deeds. We
look to Him, our Mediator at the right hand of God. He which
hath begun a good work. Well, notice the next word. He
that hath begun a good work in you. He'll finish it. But it's
not finished yet. It's not finished yet. He hath
begun the work. This is talking to living people.
This scripture is talking to people who were in Philippi at
that time. They were going about their work,
their business, making a living, raising their families and worshipping
God. And the work wasn't finished. It was begun. Now as far as,
listen to me, as far as the curse of the law is concerned, it's
finished. Because Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. There's
no more curse upon the believer. That work is finished. As far
as our righteousness before God is concerned, it is finished.
He is our righteousness. That's what it says. He was made
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Already. Already the curse is
removed. Finished. Already the righteousness
is ours. Finished. As far as judgment
against sin is concerned, it's finished. That's right, there's
therefore now no judgment to them who are in Christ. All judgment
is taken away in Christ. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again, who is even at
the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. As
far as the curse of the law, it's gone, finished. As far as
righteousness, it's finished. As far as judgment, it's finished. Our sin's a purge. But wait a
minute. We're yet in this body. We're
yet in this flesh. We're not yet glorified. We haven't
yet died. We haven't yet been raised from
the tomb. And we haven't yet been made like Christ. Oh, beloved,
now are we sons of God. What manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called right now sons
of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is and be
like Him. Now then, that's when it'll be
finished. But it's not yet. He, whose work
is it? It's His, from Alpha to Omega,
from beginning to end. Author and finisher of our faith. He which hath begun Good work
in you. All right. It's a good work What
kind of work is it? It's a good work It's a good
work and it's in you Now all that our God does is good Everything
that God does is perfect every good gift and every perfect gift
Cometh from above from the father and this work this saving work.
This redeeming work is a good work It's an eternal work It's
a blessed work. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And it's a work in
you. Now listen carefully. Listen
very carefully. Salvation is not just a work
for us. You know, we always say Christ
died for my sin. That's true. Christ obeyed the
law for me. That's true. And Christ put away
all my transgressions as my substitute. That's true. He chose us. He
obeyed the law for us. He gave us a perfect righteousness.
He died and put away our sins. He called us by His gospel. He adopted us into His family
and made us His children. But Paul said, He hath begun
a good work, not just for you, in your room instead, but in
you. In you. The love of God is shed
abroad in you, in your heart. This work of salvation is a work
in us. What did he say in Jeremiah?
I will give you a new heart. That's in here. He gave me a
new record. That's true. He gave me a new
standing. He gave me a new family. But
he gave me a new heart. And he gave me a new spirit.
His spirit. And he said, I'll write my law
in your heart so that you'll love it. And I'll write my law
in your mind so that you'll think on it. And if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. You familiar with words like
this, regeneration? That's a work in you. In you. Substitution, I know that's a
work for you. But regeneration is a work in
you. You heard the word conversion? That's the word in us. Justification,
that's the word for us. But sanctification is a word
in us and a new nature. John Newton said this. Some of
you read the life story of John Newton, the slave trader who
was brought to knowledge of Christ, famous hymn writer, famous preacher. He said this, he said, I'm not
what I ought to be, and I know that, and I'm not what I want
to be. And I'm not what I expect to
be, but I thank God I'm not what I used to be, because He hath
begun a good work in me. That's what Paul said when he
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, to call
me by His grace and reveal His Son in me. Not just to me, in
me. And I tell you, if a man's in
Christ, he has a new spirit, He has a new heart. He has a
new nature. He's a new man created in Christ
Jesus. Got a new attitude. That's right. New direction. New family. God
does a work in us. In us. All right, now, notice
the next word. Being, I'm certain of this, he
said. I'm absolutely confident of this. That He, Almighty God,
which hath begun that good work, that saving work, that eternal
work in you. He will perform it. He will. He started it. He'll finish it.
He began the work. He'll complete the work. He will
perfect it. He will perform it. He will finish
it in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ when our Lord comes again. Now, our hope, this is my hope
and I believe it's your hope, is to continue in the faith continue
in the faith of our Lord by God's grace I pray that you and I both
will continue in faith never depart from the faith of Christ
that we'll be able by his grace to die in faith like those men
in Hebrews 11 these all died in faith Moses and Abraham and
Enoch, not Enoch but Abel All these men died in faith. I want
to die in faith. Let me die the death of the righteous.
And I want to be raised from the dead, don't you? In the day
He comes, I want to have a part in the first resurrection. And
I want to be like Christ. Now then, who's going to do all
that for me? I can't do it. Two questions
are raised here. Who is able to do all this for
me? I can't do it. And the second
question is, if one is found who is able, is he willing to
do it for a fellow like me and you? That's the two propositions
that need to be dealt with. Is he able? Who's able? Who's
able to raise us, change our vile bodies and make them like
the Son of God? Who's able to finish this work? I can't. And secondly, is he
willing? Well, I'll tell you who's able.
He. easy. He that hath begun a good work
in you, he shall, he shall perform it. He shall, he's able, he's
able to do, Abraham said, all that he promised. He's able to
save to the uttermost them that come to God by him. He's fully
able. He's able to keep us from falling,
from perishing. He's able to keep that, Paul
said, which I've committed to him. And listen, he is able to
raise our vile bodies and make them liken to his glorious body. He's able. Ah, turn him loose. I found a ransom. If a man sinned
against a man, who's going to stand for him? One of the old
prophets say, let a man stand for him. But if a man sinned
against God, who's going to stand for him? No man is able. No angel
is able. No creature is able. But Christ
is able. He has somewhat to offer. He's
a high priest who has somewhat to offer. His own blood. Well,
here's the second question. Is He willing? Is He willing? Well, the Father said He would.
The Father said in Isaiah 46, I've spoken it. I'll bring it
to pass. God who promised eternal life
cannot lie. He said, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass. I've purposed it, I will do it. You can rest assured. The Son
said He would. He said, All that my Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. See, I came down from heaven
not to do my will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the will of Him that sent me. that all that see the Son
and believe on Him might have everlasting life, and I'll raise
Him up at the last day. That's my Father's will. I'll
do it." And then Paul said he would. He said, I'm certain,
I'm confident, absolutely confident that He which hath begun a good
work in you, He'll perfect it. He'll finish it. in the day of
Christ Jesus. Now then, I want to ask you four
questions, and I'll close. Four serious questions. Don't
you think about this. What I'm saying is, he that has,
what Paul is saying, he that has begun in you that good work
of salvation and redemption, he'll finish it. If he began
it, he'll finish it, complete it in the day of Christ. Now
here's the four questions. Number one, if God does not finish
the work of redemption, which he hath begun. If he saves a
man and then for some reason or other, cast him out. What
do we do with his promises? All the promises of God, when
he said, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, lo, I'm
with you always, even to the end of the earth. What about
John 10, when he said, other sheep I have which are not of
this foal, them I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,
and they shall be one foal, one shepherd. My sheep hear my voice,
they follow me, I give them eternal life, they'll never perish, neither
can any man plucked him out of my hand." What are we going to
do with those promises if he doesn't finish this work that
he began? See what I'm asking? If he doesn't
finish the work, what about all these promises? All right, here's
the second question. If God does not finish the work
which he began, I say that God saved me, you say that God saved
you. All right, if he doesn't finish
that work, what about his attributes? Preacher, what are attributes?
His character, his characteristics, his personality. What is God's
character? Well, he's all wise. Well, if
he started something and can't finish it, he's not very smart.
Where is his wisdom? To purpose and fail, to start
something and not complete. Where is his power? Where's this
Almighty? Is He not, is He part Mighty
God or Almighty God? Where's His power if He can't
finish what He starts? What about His love? He said,
having loved His own, He loved them to the end. Oh, He quit
loving them. What about His immutability?
You say, what's that? I am the Lord, I change not.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. If He starts a work
and doesn't finish it, He changes. Where's His justice? He said,
our sins were paid for, and they're not. Where's His mercy? I'll
be merciful to sinners, He said. He loves to save sinners. But
a fellow sins and He drops him. A human father won't do that.
A human mother won't do that. Send my boy to jail and I'll
still love him. But if one of God's children
commits a sin, He casts them into hell. Where's his mercy? Where's his love? Where's his
immutability? Can't be. Third question. If he does not give the Lord
Jesus Christ what he paid for and what he bought, where's his
justice? Where's the justice of God? He said in his word,
he that spared not his own son. How shall He not with Him freely
give us all things, all things that Christ bought, all things
that Christ paid for? Where's the justice? He put away
our sins and He called them back. He says you're forgiven, then
He says you're not forgiven. He says you're saved eternally,
now He says you're not saved. Where's His justice? I tell you,
when sins are put away, they're remembered no more. Here's the
fourth question. If He does not finish the work
which He began, What of the intercession of Christ? Our Lord Jesus Christ
prays for us. He intercedes for us. Scripture
says, he ever liveth to make intercession. He's asking the
Father for the children that he gave him, and if some of them
are lost, God didn't hear his prayer, didn't answer his prayer,
and that's an impossibility. I like what this old-timer wrote
in a song. Listen. My name, from the palms
of his hands, eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart,
my name remains in indelible grace. Yes, I to the end will
endure, just as sure as the promise is given. More happy, but not
more secure. are the glorified saints up in
heaven. Yes, he which hath begun a good
work in you, he'll finish it on the day that he returns.