Good evening. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
one once again. Let's just read the first seven
verses of this chapter. Paul and Timothy, bondservants
of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi
with the bishops and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every
remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests
for you all with joy. For your fellowship in the gospel
from the first day until now. being confident of this very
thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to
think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, and as
much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. Well, we've
been looking at Paul's first words, I guess you would say,
to this church of saints there in Philippi. And this was a time,
this first century, was a troubled time. And the foundations of
the world were shaken. There were wars and rumors of
wars, earthquakes, plagues of diseases. And two, there were
plagues of ethical and moral corruption in every level of
society at that time. And the first century people
lived, I think we could fairly say, in perilous times. They
lived in times of great upheaval and uncertainty. And you know,
in a lot of ways, we could say the same is true today. And you
know, when we look at the word of God, we realize that things
really don't change that much. And this is one of the reasons that the word of God is applicable
in every age, in every place, because man just doesn't change. And we're a fallen race of people. And this is why letters like
these to the saints in Philippi and these other churches are
so helpful to us as the Lord's people. Because we know that
whatever the Lord has to say to these people, it's applicable
to us as well. And we know that to be true.
And and it's encouraging. It's always encouraging for me
when I read the word and and it you know it speaks to the
heart of the Lord's people and it speaks to us in exactly the
areas that that we need. And and I'm thankful for that.
And so it shouldn't surprise us that Paul, he's writing from
prison. He's been arrested. And he's
writing from prison, but he writes to them with joy. You can't escape
that. And as you read into the epistle,
there's a real note of real joy and rejoicing. And that's remarkable. It should tell us something about
the Christian life, for sure. And two, Paul writes later, to these people there, he says,
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And it's a blessing
to know that that's true of you and I today as well. Well, how
can Paul have such confidence and joy in these saints at Philippi? That's a question, isn't it?
They're people just like us. How can he give such assurance
to these people in these words that he writes to them? And the
reason is that Paul knows that something has occurred in them
that is of far greater consequence than all of these things that
are happening in the world. Something which will enable them
to overcome the world in all of its forms, whatever they may
be. And here is his confidence. Look
at verse six. What does he say? Being confident
of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. There's his confidence. That's
something to rejoice in, isn't it? That it's God who is doing
the work. And this is why Paul can say
the things he does when he's writing to them. Paul, as we
know, Paul has done a good work there in Philippi, hasn't he?
If there was, for a missionary to read these epistles of Paul,
You just have to think, you're just not a missionary at all.
I mean, here was a real missionary. He had done a good work there
in Philippi. And you know the story, how he
and these men with him had made long and treacherous journeys,
coming from Israel, coming up through that region, Asia. As I said, these were treacherous
times, dangerous times. And they came up and they finally
arrived in Macedonia after traveling across the sea. And they preached
the gospel to certain women by the riverside. And it says they
continued preaching for days there in that city. Then they're
harassed by that demon-possessed girl, you remember. And all that
resulted from that, the mob, that dragged them before the
magistrates and the beating that they were given with rods, thrown
into the prison, in the deepest prison. And there, Paul and Silas
are singing psalms and praying to God. And we know all that
happened there. And the Lord worked it that Paul
preached. to this Philippian jailer and
to his whole household. And so Paul, he did a great work
in establishing this church, and he's continuing to in writing
this letter to them, isn't he? But he makes no reference to
what he's done at all. Notice that? Nothing. It is God
who has done all the work. Paul knows that every circumstance
surrounding the establishing of this church here at Philippi
is God's work. God ordered everything to bring
salvation to these people in Philippi. If God had not begun
a good work in these people, they never would have known salvation,
and there never would have been a church in Philippi. This is
why Paul says that God, that he who has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Christ. This is a
great thing. This is the foundational truth
of the epistle in my mind. And it's this reason that Paul
can write to these saints and say all these wonderful things.
This work that God has done is a work of eternal consequence. and of staggering spiritual significance
for these people. And Paul reminds them at the
very beginning of this letter, as we looked at a few weeks ago,
when he addresses them as saints in Christ Jesus. What a marvel
of God's grace. They've been set apart in Christ,
and as a result of that, they live an entirely new, have an
entirely new spiritual relationship with God. and live in an entirely
new spiritual realm. This is God's work, and it's
a good work, Paul says. Well, turn over to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 for a moment. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And what we want to do is think of
this work. that God has done. Well, when
did this work begin? When did this work begin? He's
begun a good work in you, he said. But when did it, when was the
real inception of this work that God begun? I want to look at
that first. Then we'll look at that statement
of Paul, this work begun in them. And then we'll look at the extent
of that work. They're just those three things.
Maybe we won't finish. We'll see. But in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, in writing to these saints in Thessalonica, Paul
covers the whole breadth of salvation in this one verse. Look at verse
13. He says, but we are bound to give thanks to God always
for you. You know, that's the same thing
he was saying with respect to the Philippians. bound to give
thanks to God. Why? Because God has done the
work. So he thanks God. Bound to give
thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord,
because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through
sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which
he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Why has God granted this
great salvation to these people? Well, what does he say? Beloved,
because he loved them. He loves them, they're beloved
of the Lord. You know, Jeremiah 31 is that
great chapter that speaks of the glorious promises of the
new covenant. We're so familiar with it. Well,
you know, in the beginning of that chapter, we read something
that's just very wonderful. This is what we read. The Lord
has appeared of old to me saying, yes, I have loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I have drawn you. God has loved these people in
Philippi with an everlasting love. And with loving kindness,
he's drawn them to himself. It's his work. There has never
been a time that God has not loved these saints in Philippi.
This is a love which is an unchangeable love, a love which has no beginning
and no end. You know, we read in Isaiah of
the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity. His love for his people is a
love which inhabits eternity. This is the love of God for his
people. It's an eternal love. And this
is the love that from the beginning chose you to salvation is what
we read there in Thessalonians. The beginning for Lydia and these
saints there in Philippi, the beginning was not when God sent
the vision to Paul of this man from Macedonia pleading with
him, saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. No, that wasn't
the beginning. The beginning was not when God
opened the heart of Lydia to receive the things spoken by
Paul. No, no, that wasn't the beginning. The beginning was
the everlasting love of God. The father loved her, loved Lydia,
speaking of her as representative of this church. He loved her
in Christ before the foundation of the world. God has always
loved his people in Christ. And he's never seen them in any
other way. And he never will see them in
any other way. Do you realize that? He loves you and I in his
son, in Christ, and it'll always be that way. He knew that she would be born
into this world in spiritual darkness, dead in trespasses
and sins, alienated from the life of God, but he loved her
and he chose her from the beginning for salvation. He chose her in
Christ before the foundation of the world and every aspect,
every aspect of her salvation is found in Christ alone. Everything that God does for
his people, their entire salvation, your entire salvation, my entire
salvation are found in Christ, in Christ alone. It's only by
virtue of this eternal union with Christ that we are made
partakers of the grace of God in salvation. Turn over just a few pages to
2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter one. And here we have this letter
of the Apostle Paul, and he's writing to Timothy and encourages him to not be ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. But
share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the
power of God. Now listen, verse nine. who has
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been
revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. Well, God has saved us and called
us with a holy calling. That's what Paul is saying. It's
according to his own purpose of grace, which was given to
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. You know, this is what many of
the fathers of the faith have spoken of as the mystical union
of Christ and his elect. And I think that's a good term,
because it is mystical, isn't it? It's difficult for us to
understand all that is involved with that. And in many ways,
I don't think we ever will, because God, God is God. And he's eternal, and we aren't. But what we do know is that union
with Christ is what matters. Isn't that true? And we can't
understand that aspect, even if it's limited. God is spirit. God is spirit. And he eternally exists in a
realm outside of space and time. We just can't understand that.
We just can't. He sees the beginning from the
end. In Isaiah 46, we read, this is what he says, for I am God,
and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times,
things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. And that's what he does from
eternity to eternity. It's all one to him. If God ordains
it, then it's done. It will stand. If we're chosen
in Christ unto salvation before the foundation of the world,
then we can say that in the eternal purpose and counsel of God, the
elect are saved from eternity. That's true. God has ordained
it. It will stand. And this is most
certainly true, and it's a wonderful truth. But it was also God's
eternal purpose and grace that this salvation, which was ordained
from eternity, be accomplished in a specific time and in a specific
place in a world that he would create. You know, we can get
in trouble when we try and separate these two things. You see, Paul, in writing to
Timothy, says, who has saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before
time began. But he doesn't end there, does
he? What does he say? He continues, but has now been
revealed by the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who
has abolished death and brought life and immortality to the gospel. The revelation of God's eternal
purpose of salvation in his son is always put in this way. We
should be careful to never separate the things that God has joined
together. Let me give you another example.
You don't need to turn there, you're familiar with this. In
1 Peter chapter one, we read, knowing that you were not redeemed
with corruptible things like silver and gold from your aimless
conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot. He indeed was foreordained before
the foundation of the world. But listen, he was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you. Who through him believe in God,
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your
faith and hope are in God. Why is this so important? Why
am I emphasizing this aspect? Because the gospel of God's grace
directs our faith directs our hope not to the Lamb foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but to the Lamb of God
crucified upon the cross of Calvary in Jerusalem in the first century. This is where the word of God
from the beginning to the end directs us, directs us in terms
of our faith and our hope. It's to Christ and Him crucified. And that's why Paul emphasizes
that as well. I determine not to know anything
among you except Christ and him crucified. And we should never
separate this aspect of God's eternal decrees with his outworking
of the salvation that he accomplishes in his son. You know, there's that great
hymn, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted, and he emphasizes,
the songwriter emphasizes this aspect of looking to Christ and
Him crucified. Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears the awful load. Tis the word, the Lord's anointed,
Son of man and Son of God. Hear we have a firm foundation. Here, the refuge of the lost,
Christ, the rock of our salvation, is the name in which we boast. Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
sacrifice to cancel guilt, none shall ever be confounded, who
on him their hope have built. We'll turn back to Philippians
chapter one, The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
salvation for us upon the cross of Calvary. But then we think,
well, when does this salvation become our possession? It's accomplished,
but when does it become the possession of the elect? It becomes our possession. when
God does a work in us. And that's what Paul is speaking
about when he writes to these saints and says, being confident
if this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Christ. When God reveals his
son in us, what does Colossians say? It's
Christ in you. the hope of glory. There's our
hope. And this is the beginning that
Paul is referring to when he writes, being confident of this
very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you, in you, will
complete it until the day of Christ. God has begun a good work in
you, says Paul. And this is true, I trust, of
you. If God has begun a good work
in you, it's a glorious thing. It's a
glorious thing because it's God's work. And how we can rejoice in that
and give thanks. The wonder and the glory of the
life of the believer is found in this, that it is God who is
doing the work in the soul, and he will complete it until the
day of Christ. Let's just think of Lydia. God has loved her with an everlasting
love. And we saw that with loving kindness,
he'll draw her in his perfect time. In his love, he has saved her
and called her with a holy calling, according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given to her in Christ Jesus before time
began. I like to think of it in this
way. God's call originated in eternity, didn't it? It originated
in eternity, that's what we're told, and it's been coming down
through eternity, before time, down to the foundation of the
world, to the beginning of time, and then down through the ages
of this world, of our creation. And it comes. to this place in
this time, to this woman, Lydia, beside that river, and it finds
its destination in her heart. When the gospel is preached to
her and the Lord opens her heart. And that's how it is for every
one of the elect of God. He calls, and that call finds
its fulfillment in the heart of everyone, everyone, when he
calls them by the gospel. Lydia arose that morning without
any knowledge or expectation of the things that God would
do for her that day. Lydia, as we know, was a seller
of purple. She was a businesswoman and in
all likelihood a prosperous prosperous woman. And it would seem too
that she was probably a widow because there isn't any mention
of her husband. And she was going about life
as usual. And in this peaceful setting
beside the river where prayer was customarily made she had
come and Some, no doubt for some respite, were told too that she
was a worshiper of God. Since the Sabbath, it was the
Sabbath perhaps, she was a proselyte. I don't know. And she'd come
and she, but this was where she was. And Paul and these other
men with him come and to Lydia, these are just strangers. They're
from a far away country. And they sit down with these
women. and speak to them. And as Paul
spoke the gospel, the Lord opened her heart to hear. Something so momentous put in
those words, God opened her heart to hear. Lydia didn't open her own heart. God did that. How did God do that? Well, we
know it's by that operation of the spirit, that powerful, wonderful
work of the Holy Spirit, which comes in power according to the
promise of God that he would take away the stony heart out
of the flesh and give a new heart, enlightening the eyes of her
understanding. And here is Lydia. Think of it.
You know, Paul is speaking to her and she's, since she was
a woman who worshiped God, no doubt she'd heard scriptures
before. But now she hears them in an
entirely different way. And it comes to her. And these
words speak to her. Because her God is doing the
work. What work is he doing? He's doing
a work of salvation. And he enlightens the eyes of
her understanding. And she sees Christ. Christ is the savior of sinners
like her. As Paul told that poor Philippian
jailer in fear for his eternal life. What must I do to be saved? And the answer, believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Well, we're not told
all the details of what Lydia, what occurred with Lydia, or
what words were spoken to her, what she thought, but what we
do know is the Lord opened her heart to heed, to believe the
things spoken by Paul. And she was born again of the
Spirit. called out of darkness into his
marvelous light, delivered from the power of God, and translated
into the kingdom of the son of his love. Well, Paul has one more thing to say
about this work, which is God's work in them. And he knows that
this will be the greatest blessing and encouragement to these saints.
What does he say? God who has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Christ. Now, I'll
tell you what my thoughts are. It's wonderful to see how carefully
the Holy Spirit is with the words he gives us to reveal the truth. You know, I've puzzled over this
for many, many times. He says, being confident of this
very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete
it, and we would expect he would complete it in the day of Christ. and it's a little awkward when
he says he'll complete it until the day of Christ. Well, what
are we to understand from that? What are we being told here?
Well, let me just substitute another word for complete, and
I think it'll be clear. If we use the word protect, then
we would say, he who has begun a work in you will protect it
until the day of Christ. We would understand that from
the moment the good work has begun, it's fully protected,
and it continues to be protected until the day of Christ. That's
what we would understand. In other words, it's not partially
protected and slowly being protected more and more, until the day
of Christ but it's protected right away and continuously until
the day of Christ. And I think this is what the
word of God is saying to us here, from the moment that the Lord
begins this work in you, you are complete in Christ and he'll
keep you complete until the day of Christ. I think this is one
of the most profound and invigorating truths of the gospel, that we're
complete in Christ. Turn over just a few pages to
Colossians chapter two, to that well-known passage which speaks
of this. From the moment you and I believe,
Hard as this is to understand in some ways, from the moment
you and I believe we're complete in Christ, we're not lacking in anything
to stand before the thrice holy God. Colossians 2, and look there
in verse six to nine. And let me just preface this
by saying there's so many people who believe, well, you can't
teach that. If you teach that, this'll just give license to
sin. It'll just promote licentiousness. It'll promote people to say,
well, let us sin that grace may abound. Well, look, verse six,
look at how Paul is beginning there, leading up
to this. He says, verse six, as you therefore
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted
and built up and established in the faith as you have been
taught, abounding in it with all thanksgiving. Beware, lest anyone cheat you
through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition
of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and
not according to Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him,
who is the head of all principality and power. Complete in him. You are in him, who is our wisdom
and our righteousness. in our sanctification, in our
redemption. You are loved in him, chosen
in him, called in him, adopted in him, buried with him, raised with
him, seated together in heavenly places in him, sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise in him. accepted in him. We could go on and on and on,
but it's all summed up right here, complete in him. And we will be kept complete
until the day of Christ. That's what I believe it's teaching
here. The scriptures, whether that is teaching That is the
teaching here or not, the scriptures testify of it everywhere, don't
they? When we don't see the fullness
of all that God has done, we rob ourselves of the richness
and the glory, the perfection and the transcendence of the
salvation which has been so freely given to us in Christ. Towards
the end of 2 Thessalonians 5, we're given this benediction.
You don't need to turn to these passages, we all know them. But
listen. Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul,
and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Are you going to be blameless
in yourself in any way except it be in Christ? Preserve you
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Will it happen? He who calls you is faithful
and will also do it. You see, it's a work of God,
isn't it? And he'll keep us complete until
the day of Christ. In 1 Peter 1 we read, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according
to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you. Now listen, who are kept by the
power of God. through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last day. Paul knows, and he wants
these saints in Christ to know that God has begun a good work
in them, and he'll keep it until the day of Christ. And what keeps
them? The power of God. Do you know that there's one
sin that a believer cannot sin? Have you thought about that?
What is it? Unbelief. A believer will never not believe. We're kept, notice that, we're
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. He'll keep
our faith. It doesn't matter what happens.
Doesn't matter how bad it is. He'll keep our faith. And in Jude, we're given another
benediction. And this is just another way
of saying, he who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Christ. Jude says, now to him who is
able to keep you from stumbling and present you faultless faultless
before the throne of glory with exceeding joy. To God, our Savior,
who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and forever. Amen.