I'm going to make three statements
in introducing this message this morning, and I want you to listen
carefully and prayerfully to each one. First of all, the preacher's
task is no easy task. The preacher of the gospel of
God's grace is commissioned to take the good news, the gospel,
of God's free and sovereign grace to a world of men and women.
You say, what's so difficult about that? It's to take the
message of God's sovereign, unchangeable, free grace to a world of men
and women who don't want it. That's what's difficult. He's
to go forth preaching a message that men by nature do not believe. They do not believe. Let me show
you that in 1 Corinthians 2. Of course, it's illustrated throughout
the Old Testament when our Lord sent out, sent his prophets out. He said, go to these people.
He said, they won't believe you. They won't receive you. They'll
stone you and cast you out, but you're to go anyway. And if you
don't go and warn them, I'll require their blood at your hands.
But in 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to it. Neither
can he know them, they are spiritually understood. Look back at chapter
1, just across the page, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18, for the preaching
of the cross. Well, Paul said in verse 17,
God sent me not to baptize or to organize or to promote, he
sent me to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, intellectualism,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. But the
preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. Foolishness. So the preacher's
task is no easy task. He's preaching a message that
men and women do not believe. He's preaching a message men
and women by nature do not understand. He's preaching a message, a mystery,
which men and women object to. They really object to it. And
when you call men sinners, you offend their dignity. When you
tell them that salvation is by revelation, you offend their
wisdom. When you tell them that Christ's death is sufficient
and effectual, you offend their pride. They want a part in redemption. When you tell them that Jesus
Christ is Lord and Lord alone, you offend their love of self.
What's this? The preacher's task is no easy
one because, secondly, he must call upon, he must exert men
to seek the Lord and call upon men to believe on Christ and
call upon men to repent of sin and call upon men to receive
the gospel, willingly, personally. He must exhort them, seek the
Lord, call upon the Lord, believe on Christ, receive the gospel,
and yet at the same time he must continually shut those same people
up to the fact that they cannot call unless God calls on them,
that they will not seek unless God seeks them, that they will
not believe unless God enables them by his grace to believe.
In other words, he's got to point men to Christ, shut men up to
Christ, And yet shut them up to the grace of God to believe
on Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest. And yet turn to John 6 and listen to it here. In the
6th chapter of John, he says this, verse 44, No man can come
to me except my Father which sent me draw him. and I'll raise
him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me." This is what
I'm saying. The preacher's task is no easy one, because he must
stress the responsibility of every sinner. And yet he must
give God all the glory for saving me. Thirdly, under the same head,
the preacher's task is no easy one, and this is what we are
getting into this morning. He must call upon believers to continue
in the faith, to lay hold on eternal life, to hold fast their
profession, to keep themselves in the love of God, not ever
to fall into presumption, not ever to take for granted their
interest in Christ. And yet he must encourage them
to believe that God will not suffer one sheep to be lost,
God Almighty will not suffer one son to be disinherited, God
will not suffer one soul for whom Christ died to perish. Not
one. In other words, the preacher's
task is to preach assurance without presumption, to preach confidence
without presumption. And that's what I'm going to
try to do this morning. to preach assurance without indifference,
and confidence without presumption. Now, you say, well, who's sufficient
for this thing? That's what Paul asked, who's
sufficient for these things? No one is. But I'll tell you,
he's sufficient, and his word is sufficient, and his word faithfully
proclaims and his word faithfully teaches that all these things
are true. We're to go forth and preach the glorious gospel of
God's redeeming grace to men who hate it, But God, by his
grace, will lead some to love it. We are to go forth and preach
a message that men by nature despise. It is contrary to their
very nature, contrary to their thinking. There is a way that
seems right to us, and the end is destruction. Our thoughts
are not God's thoughts, and our ways are not his ways. We are
to go forth and warn men and call men and persuade men to
receive Christ, and yet shut them up to the fact that they
will not unless moved by grace. We're to go forth and cry for
God's people to lay hold of eternal life, to rest in Christ, to keep
themselves in the love of God, to keep themselves unspotted
from the world, to continue in the faith of Christ Jesus, and
yet at the same time preach to them a confidence and assurance
not in themselves, not in their works, not in their faithfulness,
but in Christ alone. You say, is that possible? Well,
it's possible by his grace. And let me begin, if I can. Let's
go back to our text in Philippians. Now, my friends, the believer's
whole life is a series of miracles. The whole life of a believer
is a series of miracles. First of all, his birth is a
miracle. His birth is a miracle. You say you're talking about
when he was born of his mother and daddy. Well, that's a miracle.
I never cease to be amazed at the wonders of birth. have it from almost nothing,
microscopic seed of babies formed and developed and born into this
world. That's a miracle. But I'm talking about the miracle
of that second birth, that God makes a child out of nothing.
Someone said this, that the womb of our nature is as dead as a
sailor's womb, that bringing life out of death, God bringing
life out of our death and beauty out of our corruption is like
dipping a cup of pure water out of a dunghill. That's a miracle. Suppose you're walking along
in the woods and there is just a rubbish, a garbage heap where
people have been dumping garbage and trash and filth and the rats
are everywhere and all manner of insects and animals and all
of these things. And you take your cup for a drink
of water and dip down in all that mess and pull out a cup
of pure, sparkling, free from germs water. You say, that's
impossible. That's what I'm saying. Out of
our nature of corruption and evil, God Almighty has spoken
life, the pure life of Jesus Christ. Somebody else says that
bringing life out of our death is like producing a flame of
fire from an iceberg. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leper his spots? Neither can you do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. So the Believer's life from his
from his birth is a miracle. Now, watch this. Not only is
his birth a miracle, but his entire pilgrimage is a miracle. I don't want to shock you, but
I believe this. It's only by the grace of God
that I live and walk and continue in faith. Someone said it's a
miracle that new life begins. It's a miracle that men begin
to live. That's God's miracle. It's a
miracle that we're in the kingdom of God. It's an even greater
miracle if a man continues. It's a miracle if a man begins
the walk of faith. It's a greater miracle if he
finishes it. Most do not. Most do not. And this is the reason, when
an instructed, enlightened believer sees himself and knows himself
as he is, and sees his enemies and his surroundings. He knows
this, that he walks, someone said he walks like a traveler
on a slippery ridge. Destruction is on every hand,
just a slippery ridge on which he's walking. There's a pitfall
here and one there, and there's wind blowing, and he realizes
that he has no strength or power in himself to deliver himself
or to complete this walk so he trusts completely in God and
holds tightly to his almighty hand and he finishes that walk.
But the man who begins like Peter to look around and find some
reason for his walking in his own strength and self, he'll
perish. He'll sink every time. And then
someone said this, that the believer's life is like a flower blooming
in a desert dependent on one source of water from above. If
that water does not come, that flower dies. There's no way it
can be sustained, there's no water from beneath, there's no
water from around. And then he's like a believer
going through life, he's like a defenseless deer running through
a forest that's filled with hunters on every side, seeking his life. Will he make it through? Only
by the grace of God. I understand what he's saying.
I understand that the believer's life, beginning of it, is a miracle. It's an even greater miracle
if he finishes the walk. And then thirdly, what's this?
What about his resurrection from the dead? Is that not a miracle?
Is that not a miracle? The fact that God Almighty speaks
life out of nothing brings pure water out of a dunghill, that
God sustains us, surrounded by all kind of enemies and pitfalls
and tribulations and trials, he keeps us, but one day our
bodies are put in the grave, and actually, redemption is not
finished and complete until God raises our bodies and we're made
just like Christ. So that's a great miracle, God
raising us from the dead, miracle of miracles. that man or woman
whom God was pleased to save and keep, that man or woman stands
one day, finally, in the presence of God, perfectly conformed to
the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. My purpose this morning from
Philippians 1.6, let's look at it. This is what Paul is saying,
being confident of this very thing, that he who begins this
work, this work of life, this This spiritual birth, if it begins,
if he begins it, and he who keeps it and sustains it throughout
this pilgrimage, whatever the years, 10 years, 20 or 30 or
40 or 70 or 80 years, he will someday, when our Lord comes,
that he will perfect it and finish and complete that which he started.
Now, this is what I'm interested in, deeply interested in this.
And this is my purpose, it's very clear, to set forth the
fact that Almighty God, if he begins this work, that he will
finish it. And I can have that confidence
and I can have that assurance, I can have that rest and that
peace, that God will complete that work. So let's begin that
in the message now, and we'll complete it tonight. But this
morning I want us just to look at the Apostle's words here in
verse 6. Just take a good, hard look at what he's saying in verse
6. Just set our attention on verse 6 and make that stand out
and see every word of what he's saying here in verse 6 of Philippians
1. I'm confident, Paul said, I'm
confident, I am persuaded, I'm certain of this very thing, I'm
certain of this. Now, remember, this is the Apostle
writing under divine inspiration. This is not some Baptist doctrine
of once saved, always saved. This is not some Baptist doctrine
of once in grace, always in grace. This is not some Methodist doctrine
of falling away or perishing or backsliding. This is God's
Word. That's the first thing I want you to see. This is holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This
is the Word of God, and the Apostle Paul is writing here under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is God-breathed. All scripture
is God-breathed. And let's take it exactly as
it's written, exactly as God Almighty has written in his Word.
I'm confident, the Apostle said, of this very thing, that he,
let's stop right there first, with whom does the work of salvation
begin? Who is the author of it? Who
begins it? This work of salvation. We're
talking about this work that's begun and this work that's completed. We're talking about salvation.
We're talking about the redemption of a soul, the redemption of
a sense. Who starts it? It says, I'm confident that he
which hath begun this work. He started it. Salvation is of
the Lord. Turn, if you will, with me to
1 Corinthians 1. You know, sometimes in reading
scripture, If we're not careful, we'll read over one of the key
words in that verse of scripture. And in 1 Corinthians 1, verse
30, I quote this quite frequently, and some of you quote it too.
You're very familiar with it. It says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse
30, "...of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." And what we
dwell on most of the time when we read this verse and talk about
it, is the fact that in Christ we have perfect righteousness,
perfect wisdom, perfect sanctification, and perfect redemption. But look
back here at the first three words of verse 30. What does
that say? It says, "...of him Of God, are
you in Christ Jesus, who is made untrustworthy? How did you get
in Christ? You see, you start with what you have. You start
here, I have wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
I have those things. And I have them in Christ. I
have them because of his obedience and his death and his redemption. That's the reason I have these
things. But how did you get in Christ? Of him are you in Christ? God put you in Christ. You see
that? It's of him, and that's what I'm saying Philippians 1,
verse 6 is stressing first of all, and this is further proof
of man's depravity and blindness, that in the face of scriptures
like these, that men should boast about free will, and boast about
their salvation being in themselves, or because of what they've done
for God. It says being confident of this very thing that he which
began the work, he who started the work is going to finish it.
Let me show you another verse. Turn to James 1, verse 18. Here's another one that I use
quite frequently, and my purpose for using it is to show the necessity
of preaching the gospel in order for a man to be saved. I use
this verse showing that the gospel is the seed that is planted in
the heart by which men believe, by which they are convinced of
sin, by which they are convinced of Christ's sufficiency, by which
they come to Christ. But let's look at this verse,
James 1, verse 18, "...of his own will begat he us with the
word of truth." In other words, God takes the word of truth and
begats the sinner. But let's look at the first four
words, "...of his own will begat he us." It's not of the will
of man or the will of the flesh, it's of his will that he begat
us. That's how life started, by the will of God. Turn to 2
Timothy. Let me show you another verse,
2 Timothy 1. Listen to this, 2 Timothy 1.9, "...he hath saved
us, and he hath called us with a holy calling." 2 Timothy 1.9,
"...not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
in Greece, which was given to us in Jesus Christ before the
world began." See, that's where it started. Now, back to the
text. Let's don't stay there on that
one word all morning. That's the reason this thing
got too long. But here's the first thing to see. Paul says,
I'm confident of this very thing, that he who began the work, he
began the work. Well, what kind of work did he
begin? He that hath begun a good work. You say, well, salvation
is a good work. Yes, it means that in a sense. It's good for us. It's good for
our families, it's good for our community, yes, it means that
too. But what it's saying is this,
he that hath begun in you a perfect work, a perfect work. What are
you saying, Preacher? I'm saying this, that all that
God does for a sinner and in a sinner is without flaw, it's
without spot, it's without stain, it is a perfect and complete
work. In Christ I have righteousness,
I have a perfect righteousness. In Christ I have redemption,
I have a perfect redemption. Nothing need be added to it.
Turn to Colossians with me, Colossians 2, verse 9 and 10. Listen to
this, Colossians 2, 9 and 10. For in him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. My friends,
this is what I'm saying. I'm saying when that thief hung
on the cross, His hands nailed to the tree, his feet nailed
to the tree, and in the last hours of his existence on this
earth. By faith, he looked to Christ.
By God-given faith, he looked to Christ. And that man was redeemed. He never walked, his feet were
nailed to a tree. He never took one step for God,
not one step in service, not one step in obedience did he
take. He never worked for Christ, his hands were nailed to that
tree and that's the way he died. He never witnessed, he never
knocked on a door, he never won a soul, he never gave one single
witness to an individual about Christ. He never was baptized,
he never washed, he was nailed to a cross. And yet I'm saying
to you, that in Jesus Christ, by faith, that man was as holy,
as righteous, as perfected as any saint who ever lived for
Christ for a hundred years. Because, you see, our acceptance
is not in these washings and workings and walkings and deeds
and witnessing and so forth. Our perfection is in Christ.
He that hath begun a good And when God says, good, now listen
to me, good, the Lord God made the earth, and he said, it's
good. God made the heavens, he said,
it's good. He made man, and he said, it's
good. In other words, he's saying it's
perfect. It's perfect. And one day a man came up to
our Lord Jesus Christ and said to him, good master, and the
master, listen, the master said, why do you call me G-O-O-D, good? There's none good but God. If
I'm to you nothing but a man, I don't care how wise or how
smart or how brilliant or how respected. If I'm only a man,
I'm not good. There's none good but God. And
yet he says he hath begun in us a what? A good work. In me? In you? Good. Perfect. You see that, Colossians
2, verse 9? In Christ dwelleth all the fulness,
the fulness of grace, the fulness of righteousness, the fulness
of holiness, the fulness of justice, the fulness of the Godhead bodily,
and you are complete, you are complete at whatever stage in
your salvation, you are complete in Christ. That's subtle, absolutely
subtle. He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. We have in Christ a perfect righteousness,
perfect holiness, perfect redemption. God sees it, and God says it's
good. He began the work. And he says
it's good, and he says thirdly, it is a work. It is a work. It's not a work I finished, it's
not a work I began or a work I complete. It is a work that
he does in two ways. He does this work for us, for
us, that's first of all. In other words, before I was
ever born, I didn't even live on this earth, I was unheard
of and unthought of. I'm talking about back down in
eternity. That for me a surety stood. What is a surety? Well, I don't
know a great deal about this, but a surety is a guarantor.
If I go down to the bank and borrow some money and go down
on a piece of paper, on a note, and a friend of mine sits here
and he signs as my surety, or a guarantor or something, if
I forfeit the note, he pays it. Isn't that right? He pays it.
He stands as my surety. Well, in Adam, we all forfeited
the note. We all went bankrupt. We all
couldn't pay what God required. Christ stood as my surety. And
God Almighty didn't foreclose on this human race when Adam
fell because standing right beside him was our surety. That's what
I'm saying. Standing right there was my surety.
And he says, my name's on the line there. In his place I stand
and I pay the debt as his surety. Now, he did that for me. And
then one day he came down here to this earth in human flesh.
He was born like I was, as a woman. He got his nourishment from his
mother. He was doppered by his mother
and carried far, and he grew up just like me as a boy. He
worked with his daddy in his daddy's carpenter shop. He was
under the civil law, the moral law, the Levitical law, the home
law, and all laws. And as a man, for thirty-three
and a half years, Jesus Christ walked on this earth as my representative. He did it for us. He met and
obeyed God's law. He did everything God required,
the law required, and justice demanded. He did it, fulfilled
it for me. He went to the cross, he was
wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. By his stripes I'm healed. He did that for me. See what
I'm saying? He that hath begun a good work for us, but not only
for us, but he does a good work in us. Now, brethren, let me
tell you something. This thing of salvation is not
a ritual that we go through up here in this world. That's not
salvation. You can be baptized over and
over again, go through all this outward form. This thing of salvation
is not reverently and quietly and coming to a table that's
spread real fancy and crosses and candles burning and a lot
of atmosphere to make it appear to be religious, and taking that
bread and dipping it in the wine and chewing it. That's not the
work God does. That's not what he's talking
about. It's not just opening my Bible and reading my Bible
every day and kneeling in a certain way and saying my prayers a certain
way or coming to the table and returning thanks and walking
through this life in an orderly fashion, in an honest fashion.
That's all outward. That's what the Pharisees did. They paid their tithes of anise
and cumin. They attended the synagogue.
They read their Bibles. They stood on the street corner
and prayed. They prayed over the table. They took the Passover
and ate here. They went to the synagogue. They
kept the Sabbath day. On Saturday they didn't walk
so far. The wives weren't allowed to go in the kitchen and cook.
The children couldn't play ball. You couldn't go swimming, couldn't
play golf, couldn't do anything on the Sabbath. They did all
these things. And our Lord said, on the outside they looked awful
good. He said you're like a grave. You've got the grass all cut
low, and the flowers planted, and the lilies blooming, and
all these things, and the marble washed and shining, and you look
beautiful, but inside you're full of dead men's bones. He
said, you're like a cup that you clean the outside real good,
but inside is filthy, nasty water. That's what you are. That's that
religiosity. That's that veneer of religion.
That's appearing beautiful to me. This work, this perfect work,
this good work, is done in us. You see the difference? It's
in us. It's the convincing of sin in me. It's not just my kneeling
on the outside, it's my kneeling on the inside before God. It's
not just my kneeling before you, it's actually in my heart I may
be standing upright before you, looking you eyeball to eyeball,
but in here I'm brokenhearted before God. It's not just going into the
water before you, it's going to the cross and being plunged
in the blood and buried with Christ and risen with Christ
in me. It's not just giving thanks.
You may sit around your table and go through, Oh, Lord, all
the different thanks and all. It looks good and it sounds good,
but brother, it's day by day walking the streets saying, Thank
you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
So inside, that's what I'm saying. He has begun a good work in you. And that's something where the
fundamentalists and the Catholics and Baptists and all the rest
of them can make little religious robots, and they can wind them
up on Sunday, and all week they go through their little religious
ritual, but they're lifeless inside. God Almighty doesn't
make robots and He doesn't make tin cans. Almighty God makes
sons who in their heart mourn over their sins, who in their
heart love their Redeemer, who in their hearts love other people,
who in their hearts are kind and generous, who in their hearts
have been barren anew, who in their hearts have been made like
Christ. That's what I'm talking about.
He began a good work for you. That's where it all is. That's
where the rubber meets the road, that fellow says, in here. Let's go to the next word. He
says he will perform it. See that word perform? That word
is finish. He will finish what he begins.
He must finish it. Now, watch this. This is what
I'm saying. I want this to be made as clear as I can make it.
I'm even going to take it to the ridiculous to make it clear.
I may start this road of righteousness, this road of salvation, and I've
joined the Church and baptized and all this, and go through
life walking with God and preaching and serving, and die and walk
right to the gates of glory and put my foot on the threshold
and my hand on the latch, I won't take that last step except by
his grace. See what I'm saying? That's exactly
what I'm saying. I'm saying that a man takes every
step by the pure, sovereign, free grace of God. And he may
stand before the very gate of heaven with one foot on the threshold
and one hand on the latch of the gate of heaven, but by the
grace of God, he'll fall right then into hell. Is that clear? That's what I'm saying. Priest,
are you taking that absolutely? You're saying it's all of God.
It is all of God. He that hath begun. a good work, a perfect work in
you, he will perfect it. I'm saying salvations of the
Lord in its purpose, planning, in its execution, in its application,
in its sustaining, daily sustaining power, and in its ultimate perfection. If one iota is left for me to
do in making me like Christ, I'll never be like Christ. Now,
if the Lord began a work of salvation in a sinner and did not finish
it, it must be for three reasons. Now, listen to me. It must be
for three reasons. Number one, he would have to
change his mind. Wouldn't you say that? You say,
and people are always preaching this, a man can be saved and
later on lost. He can be a child of God and
then perish. He can be regenerated, born again, redeemed, saved,
and then lost. You mean God began this work
and God didn't finish it? Then somewhere in here God changed
his mind. And yet the scripture says, I am the Lord, I change
not. I change not. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. Well, you say, that can't be
it then. No, that can't be it. Well, secondly, maybe this is
it. Maybe some power that's greater than God Maybe there's a power that's
greater than God. God began the work, but God didn't
finish it. This man started the way of grace,
but he perished and didn't complete it. What I'm saying is this,
that God never began that work or God would finish it, because
God never changes and there's no power greater than God. Turn
to Romans 8, the 8th chapter of Romans. Listen to this. In
the last part of the 8th chapter, he says, verse 38, I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There
is no power greater than God. No man, he said, can pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hands. Maybe there's a third reason. Maybe God just
didn't have the ability to finish it. Maybe God is like our Lord
Jesus Christ said, a man started to build a tower, and he didn't
count the cost, and he couldn't finish it, and people passed
by and mocked and laughed and said, look, he couldn't finish.
Is that true? Is the universe going to ring
and rock with laughter as some of God's precious houses, living
stones, temple of living stones which he began to build, he began
to work, and he got it up halfway and never finished it? Or maybe
three-fourths of the way. Or maybe he put a roof on it
and never finished the inside. He starts with the inside. You
see how ridiculous it is? I'll go further than that. You
give me one example of a work that God ever started that he
didn't finish. Find me an incomplete sun. Find
me an incomplete star. Find me an incomplete moon. Find
me an incomplete world. Find me an incomplete universe.
The breath of air, the animals, the plants, the sustaining of
life, everything God Almighty ever started, he finished. He
never changes his mind, there's no power greater than he, and
he certainly will not endure the mocking of the universe over
his lack of ability to finish what he started. All right, watch
this, and I'll try to wind it up. Brother, he says, I'm confident,
Paul said, I'm confident under the authority of God's Spirit
that he that began this work, that good work, that good work
which he did for us and in us, he'll complete it, he'll finish
it. When? He mentions a time in the
day of Jesus Christ. This is the second coming of
our Lord. And this work of salvation will be perfected when Christ
comes. Turn to 1 John 3. I'm going to
be so plain and honest with you right here. I'm going to tell
you exactly what I believe about this. 1 John 3. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should not now
be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it didn't know him. Beloved, right now, right now,
we're sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we'll be like
him, for we shall see him as he is." God Almighty began this
work, and he's going to perform and perfect it when he raises
this body and makes me just like Jesus Christ. This is what I'm surrounded with
in this day. The ceremonialist takes a little
baby, mother and daddy, comes down the aisle. Here stands the
godfather and the godmother, and there stands the mother and
father with that little baby in their arms. Now, I'm going
to be honest with you, now you listen to me. And that preacher
sprinkles water on that baby, saying what? What's he saying?
That a work is begun. Huh? That's what he's saying,
a good work, a work of God. A work of redemption, a covenant
work, is begun. It's in the seed, it's faint,
it's just beginning, but it is a good work. And that same preacher
will tell me that that baby may yet perish. That's what he'll
tell me. All right, let's see. The free
willer, he has a big revival meeting. And a man, he gives
an appeal, an altar call, he preaches a sermon, gives an altar
call, he invites people to come down here, and they come down
there and shake hands. And they say, he's saved. You know what
they say? They say, we had 20 saved, we
had 30 saved, we had 150 saved. They said, rejoice with this
man, he's saved. That means a good work has begun,
right? A good work has begun. They tell
me that man may yet perish. He may yet perish. That man may
yet fall from grace and die and go to hell. That's what they
tell me. Or we do this, the legalists,
the moralists. We preach law, we preach the
Ten Commandments, we convince people that they'll obey the
Ten Commandments and God will bless them. You do this and God
will do that. Or a man subscribes to it, he puts his name on the
line, he joins our Church. He even has hands laid on him,
he's baptized with the Holy Ghost. Now, good work has begun, right? It's begun! It's absolutely begun. You have to say that. You don't
say all of us are lost, we say we're saved. And they tell me
that man may yet perish. He may yet fall from grace. He
may yet sin. He may yet commit a sin, and
this is what they say, sin without repenting and he'll perish. If
he sins and before he has time to repent, he dies, he goes to
hell. In other words, listen to me, that sprinkling, that
eye-walking, That morality, that thing, either God didn't have
anything to do with it, or that man is going to be in glory. If he began the work, if he began
the work, he will complete it. Let me give you this illustration.
I'll close. The believer is said to be one with Christ. This is
what the Bible says. You are members of his body,
you are his flesh and his bones. Christ is the head, we're the
body. Can you picture Christ, the head, united to a body? The fingers are rotting and dropping
off. The toes are rotting and dropping
off. Or maybe one leg just quit and left. Here's the head, Christ.
You see how ridiculous this thing of falling from salvation or
departing from eternal life, or being saved and then losing
that salvation, you have our Lord, the head, the perfect,
complete head, with a disfigured body, with a deformed body, and
that's not possible. Well, what are you teaching,
Pastor? I'm teaching this right here, Philippians 1, verse 6,
this is what I'm teaching. I'm teaching that he, if God
does it, and salvation is of the Lord, He that hath begun,
and that work begins in eternity past. That work begins when I'm
born again. He that hath begun a perfect
work for you and in you through Christ. Bless your heart, I'm
confident he will complete it, he will finish it, he will perfect
it. When Jesus Christ split those
skies open with a shout of the archangel and the trump of God,
we're going to stand in his likeness. everybody whom he saved. The
hymn writer wrote these words, he said, My name from the palm
of his hand eternity will not erase. Impressed on his heart
my name remains in marks of eternal grace. Yes, I to the end shall
endure as sure as God's promise is given, more happy but not
more secure is Peter, Paul, James and John in heaven. That's so. Isn't that good news? That's
good news. Now, that's so, and that's just
the Word of God. He that hath begun a perfect
work in you, he's going to finish it when Christ comes again. Now,
I haven't said all I've got on this. I'm going to say some more
tonight. I've just got worlds of things here. And yet, at the
same time, the miracle of our new birth, brethren, if any of
us are made like Christ, it will be a greater miracle. Now, I
know that. I'm not presumptuous, please,
but I am confident of this very thing. Confident. I hope that's
help. That's what I want to be, is
a help to myself and to you, too, and I hope it's helpful.
Let's come back tonight and listen to this. We've got a little surprise
singer tonight. I'm not going to tell you who
it is, but somebody's going to sing. Not me, but somebody's going
to sing tonight. Let's stand for prayer. Mikey,
come up.