And the Lord saved some folks
there. Lydia, one of the first, the
Philippian jailer, one of the first, established a strong church
of believers. And Paul's writing this epistle
to that church at Philippi. And I want you to notice, first
of all, in verse 1, the humility of this servant of the Lord. He says Paul and Timotheus, that's
Timothy. First thing I note is that he
includes young Timothy in the salutation. It's Paul and Timothy. Timothy didn't write this epistle.
Paul did, by the Spirit of God. But Paul included Timothy in
his salutation to the people. Very humbly and graciously, Paul
and Timothy. And then notice, secondly, he
said, the servants of Jesus Christ. He didn't say, now keep in mind,
I'm the apostle. And Timothy is the learner. He's
the young man, though he was, he was the young man, he was
the learner, he was Paul's son in the ministry, but that's not
the way Paul looked at it. He said, Paul and Timothy, both
of us, are servants. of the Lord Jesus Christ, bond-servants,
bond-slaves, willing, loving bond-slaves of Jesus Christ.
And then he says, I'm writing to all the saints, all the saints, all of God's
people, every believer is a saint. I'm writing to all the believers,
all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with their
bishops, that's the pastor, pastors and deacons, pastors, their teachers
and preachers and the deacons, those who waited on the tables.
But there's that great apostle's humility and grace in his regard
and concern for others. And then in verse 2, I want you
to note the love and compassion that Paul had for these believers.
I do believe that you cannot preach the gospel of God to people
unless you love them. And the more you love them, the
more effectively you can preach the gospel to them. And Paul loved these people,
they were special to him. He says in verse 2, he prays
for grace and peace to be unto them. Grace be unto you and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace be unto you. In our Sunday
school lesson last Sunday, when our Lord appeared to his disciples
the first time, When He came before them after the resurrection
to the disciples for the first time, the first words to fall
from His lips were what? Peace be unto you. He said it
twice. Peace be unto you. Peace be unto
you. Oh, what a blessing from God,
His grace and His peace. But grace is before peace. Brother Gerald and I were talking
about that before we came in here tonight. You can't give
peace to people unless God has given them grace. When our son
Robbie was killed several years ago, my phone began to ring. People noted the strength and
comfort and grace that God gave to us and to this church in that
time of crisis and time of trial. They began to call me and ask
me to go and give to some more folks the comfort and peace I
had in the death of my son. And I didn't tell them this,
but they said, my sister lost a child, my brother lost a son,
this person lost their, would you go and help them? And I wanted to say to them,
God has to give grace in the heart before you can have peace.
You can't know the peace of God until you know God. I can't give
anybody peace. Christ gives peace. Grace and
peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when He renews and regenerates the heart and dwells within,
peace comes. Peace comes. Verse 3, he says,
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. He had some wonderful memories,
some blessed memories of fellowship with these people, some sweet
times, some sweet memories. Sweet memories. Like we have
here, we've had some difficult times and we've had some precious
times. Let's dwell on the precious times.
Precious times, sweet times. I thank my God. Every time I
think of you and remember you, I thank God for you. And he says
in verse 4, and I pray for you, always in every prayer of mine
for you, for you all, making requests with joy. When
I pray for you, it's always with joy. It's not like Moses prayed
for backslidden Israel. He didn't have much joy over
them. But I'll tell you, I told Doris
this morning at the breakfast table, when I went down to the hospital
and sat by Cash as Ethel departed from this world, and as Ruth Adkins a few weeks
ago, I am so thankful that the people to whom I've preached
for all these years and Ethel and Cass Salyers have been with
us for 40 some odd years and Ruth. Am Adkins was on the pulpit
committee and called me his pastor of this church 44 years ago.
He's the only member of the pulpit committee that's left, just me
and you Am. But I told her, I said, what
a joy to me that the people to whom I've preached all these
years can leave here with such joy and such confidence and such
happiness and peace in Christ. I haven't labored in vain. I
have not labored in vain. And those that are left behind
have the grace of God to give them the strength they need.
And I tell you what it is. It's the Word of God. It's Christ. It's the gospel. That's what
enables us to leave here with joy, and enables us to give those
up with joy. Because of the gospel. And that's
what Paul is saying here, when I pray for you, it's with joy. Joy in my heart, because God's
done a work of grace in your heart, in your soul, brought
you to rest in Christ. That's a treasure and a gift
that only God can give. And so very few in this world
have that joy. And verse 5, for your fellowship. His joy in memory of them and
in his prayer for them was because of, listen, unbroken fellowship. Unbroken fellowship. From your
fellowship in the gospel from the first time I met you until
this day. Unbroken fellowship. And that's
in Christ. We don't always agree on everything. We do not always see everything. We agree on the Scriptures. We
agree on Christ. We don't always see everything
in this physical world and material world and other things alike.
But I tell you what we do see, and that's Christ, with the same
eyes, the same heart, and that gives us unbroken fellowship
from the first day until now. We're not divided by anything
from the first day until now. And one of the songwriters put
it this way, May He, by whose kind grace we meet, Send His
great Spirit from above, and make our fellowship in Christ
sweet, and fill our hearts with His great love. That is the fellowship. That's what John said in 1 John,
that your fellowship might be with us, and our fellowship is
with Him and His Son. That's where the fellowship is. That's where it is. Alright,
now verse 6. Here's the main verse I want
to look at for a while. Being confident, being confident of this very thing, that He which
hath begun a good work in you will finish it, perform it, perfect
it, complete it, until the day of Jesus Christ. You know, this
sounds a lot like his word to the church at Thessalonica in
1 Thessalonians 1. He said, knowing, brethren beloved,
confident of your election. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. Because our gospel came not to
you in old times in word only, but in power. in much assurance in the Holy
Ghost, being confident. And then John said this in 1
John 3, he said, we know, we know now that we're sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know this. When He shall appear, we're going
to be like Him. Confident. Now, he'll finish his work. Now,
when I finish this message, I pray that we may have a better understanding
of this fact. Listen carefully. It is not our hold on Christ
that saves us, it's Christ. It is not our prayers that saves
us, it's Christ. It is not even our faith that
saves us, it's Christ. Therefore, we look not to the
hope. Somebody said, I have a good hope. By God's grace, I do too. But I don't look to the hope.
I look to Christ who is the hope of glory. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. We look not to our faith. We
look to Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith. I've heard folks say so often,
and I guess we've all been guilty. I just have so many doubts. I
don't feel right. I don't feel spiritual enough. My faith is so weak. I'm so fleshly. But my friends, our business
is not with self. It's with Christ. Aren't you
glad? Our business is not with self.
Our business is with Christ. And that's what Paul is saying
here. Being confident of this The very thing that He, not that
you, but that He, which hath begun a good work in you, He
will perfect it, finish it, until the day of Jesus Christ. Now, first thing I note here
is whose work is it? Well, it tells us, He says, He
hath begun this good work. He did it. He did it. It's His work. Look at Ephesians
2. Tonight, Brother Flaming read
this scripture in Ephesians chapter 2. Whose work is it? It's his
work. In Ephesians 2 verse 8, Paul
says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that's not
of yourselves. Faith's not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. Did you know that? Sure you did. Repentance is the gift of God.
It's the goodness of God that leads me to repentance. God gave
me the faith. It's the gift of God. It's not
of works, as any man should boast, for we're His workmanship. Whose
work? His workmanship. Created in Christ
Jesus on two good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. He ordered our steps and ordained
them and gave us the strength and the grace and the direction.
He leads us in paths of righteousness. Paul said, of Him are you in
Christ Jesus? Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. That he that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. You know, I think this is further
proof of our fleshly sinfulness and our ignorance. that in the
face of such scriptures as these, being confident that he that
hath begun a good work in you shall perfect it, finish it.
Of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus. And then Paul's letter to Timothy,
he saved us, he called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose which is given
us in Christ before the foundation of the world in spite of all
those scriptures, so plain, so clear, so vivid, that we should
look to any duty or work to save us. Why do we do that? Why in the world? I'll tell you
why, because we're so fleshly and sinful. That in the face
of it, that the Scripture plainly declares, it's His Word, it's
not your Word. It's His Word. Doris and I was
walking down the street in Huntington yesterday, no, Tuesday morning. And this nice lady, Came walking
toward us and she stopped and she said, I know that face. Who could forget it, you know? But she said, I watch you every
Sunday morning. I said, I'm glad. She told me
her name. Travis, wasn't it? Last name
was Frasier. Last name was Frasier. That was
one of the Frasiers. Anyway, she said, I just enjoy
your messages so much. Just enjoy them. I said, well
I appreciate that. I'm so glad. I wish you would
have stopped right there. Wish we would have gone on. She
said, I got a question. She said, I've had a heart attack,
I've had shingles, and I've had all these things. Now she said,
why does that happen to us when we're doing the best we can? We walked on, Doris said, don't
you wish you'd have stopped before she said that? I said, I do.
I listen to you every Sunday, but I don't hear you. I listen every Sunday, but I
don't hear you. Do you hear this? It's his work.
Alright, John's his working. Chuck, who's working? His work.
It's not my work. It's his. Doesn't depend on me
in any shape, form, or fashion. Before or after conversion, it's
His book. I'm confident that He... Alright, notice the second thing.
He's begun the work. Brother May and you, and Brother
Tom, and all these elders preach, it's finished. Well, as far as
the law is concerned, it's finished. He's redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. His righteousness is
perfect and complete. I am complete in Him. That's
finished. As far as judgment is concerned,
it's finished. There's no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Who is He that condemns? It's
Christ that died. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
But let me tell you something. For Ethel it's finished. Not
for me. I'm still in this flesh. And
Paul wrestled with it, didn't he? He said things I would do,
I don't do them. The things I would not do, I do. Brethren, we're
not yet glorified. We're not yet like Christ, are
we? The three goals of a believer is communion with Christ, commitment
to Christ, and conformity to Christ. And that's not yet done.
I want to be like Him, don't you? Literally, actually, in
all ways, like Christ. And that will have to wait until
He raises me. That's right. Yeah, we are now
sons of God, and it's finished. Righteousness and peace in the
blood of Christ has put away the condemnation of the law and
the curse of the law, and we are accepted in the Beloved. But it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. But when He shall appear, we're
going to see Him like He is and be like Him. And he's begun this. And it says here he's going to
finish it. What kind of work is it? Well,
being confident of this very thing, he which hath begun a
good work. It's a good work. It's a good
work in that all that he does in this work is perfect. Nothing
lacking. It's perfect. Now turn to some
scripture. Hebrews 13, listen to this. Hebrews
13, that covenant of grace and mercy, that everlasting covenant
in which He made Christ our surety and chose us, that's a perfect
covenant. Nothing lacking, nothing needs
to be added. Hebrews 13.20 says, Now the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. It's
perfect. And I tell you something else,
not only are we in that covenant, perfected in the choosing and
the purpose and the will and all that God will do is perfect,
but when Christ came and died on that cross, that work was
perfect. Nothing needs to be added to
that, not to the covenant and not to the atonement. Look at
Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 12, listen,
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That rich young ruler came to
our Lord Jesus and said, Good Master, and the Lord said, Why
do you call me good? There's none good but God. And
I'll tell you, God does a good work. He hath begun in you a
good work, a perfect work. And I'll tell you this, in Colossians,
just a page or two over from Philippians, said in Colossians
1 verse 20, verse 21, that were alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in
the body of His flesh through death to present you perfect,
holy, unblameable, unapprovable in His sight." Oh my, it's a
good work. It's a good work. It's His work.
And everything He does is perfect. I get so weary when I hear these
preachers talk about what God wants to do and what God will
do if you'll let Him and if you'll make it work, but I'd mess it
up, wouldn't I? It's a good work. And notice
this, He said, He that hath begun a good work, perfect work in
you, in you, I wish I could get everybody to whom I preach, like
those folks that listen on television but don't hear. I wish I could
get everybody to see that salvation is not a profession of religion.
Salvation is not a doctrinal system. It's not being a Baptist
or a Calvinist or this, that or the other. Doctrinal system
is not even living a good life. Though the people who are saved
will live according to the commandments of Christ Jesus. But that's not
salvation. Salvation is not a duty or a
deed or a profession or a doctrine. It's a work of God in us. In us. In us, when Paul was talking
about his conversion, he said, God who separated me from my
mother's womb was pleased to reveal His Son in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. The love of God is shed abroad
in your hearts by the Holy Spirit. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature, he's a new person. There's a man who's attended
church here for a good while. And right now he's in deep trouble. And he came and talked to me
not too many days ago about his deep troubles, troubles. And it dawned on me as I sat
and talked to him, first time I've ever had a personal, private,
an intimate conversation with him. But don't know me, this
man's a stranger to the grace of God. He knows total depravity is a
doctrine, he knows election, he knows these things are doctrine,
he's a stranger to the grace of God. It's so obvious, so evident
that he's misdiscussed But salvation is not learning
a doctrine. It's not making a profession.
It's not joining the church. It's not coming here on Sunday
and doing your deeds and doing your duties and giving your money
and saying, well, the man's a good preacher. Listen, it's knowing
Him. It's to know God and Jesus Christ
whom He has sent. It's to be regenerated. It's
to be converted. It's to be changed. It's to be
made a new creature. It's to know God in your heart.
To walk with Him, to love Him, to talk, not only to believe
grace, to talk grace. Live grace. That's right. The experience
with God is a fellowship with the Lord. It's a relationship with Him.
A man came over to this country from England, Tom. Came over
and visited this country. And he went back to England.
It's a true story. I read this, it was read to me
out of a paper. He went back to England and someone
over there asked him, do they have pubs in America? You know
what the pub is over in England. The pub is the place where people
meet. When you were stationed in England,
you went to some of the pubs. Good food, good fellowship, play
darts, get together and have fellowship and talk and socialize.
That's where the people of a community meet, in a local pub. There are
about eight pubs in the little town where Bill Clark lives.
Because everybody goes to the pub. That's where people fellowship.
That's where they socialize. That's where they eat. That's
where they stay for hours, and talk, and visit, and have fellowship. And this man, they asked him,
said, do they have pubs in America? He said, no. They have churches. And the American church is the
answer to the English pub. That's where people go and pay
their dues and are entertained and have fellowship and socialize
and eat and spend their time. That was his summarization of
American church and he ain't missed it far. But I'm telling you that's not
salvation. Salvation is to know the living
God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. He has begun a good
work in you. In you. And if it's in you, it'll
come out of you. That's right. The conversation, it'll come
out of you. And it says here in verse 6 now,
it says here, being confident of this very thing, that he who
hath begun a good work in you, he'll finish it. He'll keep on
doing it. It'll grow. It'll mature. He'll, by experience and trial
and teaching and preaching and the Word, he'll grow. He'll grow up in Christ. Faith
will grow, grace will grow, love will grow, patience will grow,
long-suffering will grow. It will grow in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He'll finish it. Now
what he's saying here when he says he'll finish this work,
it's a two-fold thing that he's saying. God alone is able to
finish it. We don't begin in the Spirit
and make perfect in the flesh, do we? What He starts, He finishes. Every step I take is ordered,
purposed, planned in his good providence for my good and his
glory. He alone can do the work, he
alone can begin it, he alone can finish it. Now I want to
ask some questions in closing. this finishing the work and notice
when he said he was going to do it until the day of Jesus
Christ, the glorious day of our Lord, the day of his return,
the day of resurrection, the day when he'll take his bride
unto himself. He's going to finish that work.
All that my Father giveth me will come to me, and him that
cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. 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 of all which he hath
given me I'll lose nothing, but raise him up at the last day.
He'll finish it in that day, at the last day. All right, these
questions. If God does not finish the work
which He begun, what are we going to do with the promises of His
Word? He said in Psalm 37, the Lord
loveth judgment and will not forsake His saints, they are
preserved forever. If He doesn't finish the work,
what are we going to do with that? Jeremiah 32, God said, I'll make with
them an everlasting covenant. I'll not turn away from them
to do them good. I'll put my fear in their hearts
and they'll never depart from me. That's a promise. John 10, my sheep, hear my voice. I give them eternal life. They'll
never perish. My Father which gave to me is
greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand." If he doesn't finish the work, what are we going to do
with that? Secondly, if God does not finish
the work, what about His attributes? What are we going to do with
the attributes of God if He doesn't finish what He began? Where is
His wisdom? Did He purpose and plan that
which He cannot finish? Why would a wise God do that? Where is his power? Shall the
demons laugh at God for beginning a temple and it stands in ruins? What about his love, which is
called everlasting? Does God love us and then withdraw
that love because of some imperfection he sees in us later? Where is his immutability? He
said, I am the Lord, I change not. The gifts and calling of
God are without change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. If He doesn't finish the work,
where is His mercy? I will be merciful to whom I
will be merciful. Lord, if thou shouldest mark
a nick with the hoo and stand, but there's forgiveness with
thee. Is there? Ah, yes. You know there is. Third question, if God does not
finish the work, What will God say to Christ? Who is he? Son of God, Son of
Man. What did he do? He robed himself
in human flesh and came down to this earth to die on a cross. Why did he die on a cross? to
satisfy the justice of God and the righteousness of God and
to cleanse His people from all their sins. Where is he now?
At the right hand of God. What will God turn to him and
say? There is a flaw in your righteousness. Is something lacking in your
blood? No, sir. No. He shall see of the travail
of his soul By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Ah, but the last
question. If God does not finish the work,
what do we say of the intercession of Christ? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather is risen again. who is even at
the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. What do
we say of that advocate, that high priest, that intercessor,
when we say, God will not finish the Word. His prayers were in
vain. No such Paul said, I'm confident,
I'm confident of this very thing that he, which hath begun a good
work in you, will perfect it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. A man made a profession of faith
in a big religious meeting. under the pressure that goes
on everywhere today. And I hope none of you trace
your conversion back to such an experience. But under the
pressure of an altar call, he made a profession of religion
long years back. And he kept it up for a long
time. He did his duties, he paid his
tithes, he read his Bible, he went to church. But after a while,
his sins and his depression and his emptiness of heart and his
lack of peace and rest and foundation plagued him until finally he
quit going to church. He quit doing his duties and
he had no peace. And he said to a friend, this
is what he said, I've fallen from grace. I can find no peace
in anything. I've lost my religion. What would you say to a person
who said that to you? Well, the wise friend replied,
that's wonderful. That's wonderful. I'm glad you've
lost your religion. Now you can look to Christ and
Christ alone. and trust him and you'll find
in him peace. Some of y'all know something
about that. I do. I'm glad one day in 1950 I lost my religion
and I gained Christ. I quit trusting things and looked
to a person and he brought rest and he's been bringing rest all
these years. peace, and he began bringing
peace. And my name, from the palms of his hands, eternity
will not erase. Impressed on his heart, my name
remains, and yours, in marks of unchanging grace. And yea,
by his grace, I to the end shall endure, as sure as his promise
is given, more happy But not more secure are the glorified
spirits in heaven. They're more happy than we are
tonight. Ethel's much more happy tonight than we are. No more
tears. No more pain. No more heartache.
But she's not more secure. She was as secure yesterday morning
when she was having breakfast as she is right now because of
Christ. Isn't that right? because of
Christ. Look to Him. And I say it to
myself. I say it to you. I say it to
everybody here. I say it to all who will hear
this tape in other places at other times. We find in Him a resting place. A resting place. A foundation.