Let us remain standing at this time and open the word of life this morning to the book of Philippians. And our text this morning comes from Philippians chapter 2 as we continue with our study through this letter. Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13. However, we will begin our reading at verse 5 and read up to verse 13. People of God, this is the word of our God. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Thus ends the reading of God's holy word. Let us pray for his illumination this morning. Our Father, we come to you with thanksgiving. We thank you for your word. Thank you, Father, for giving us this, your special revelation, something that the stars and the trees and the animals, all of the animate and inanimate objects here on earth cannot tell us. We thank you, Father, for this word, and we ask that you would, by your spirit, apply this word to us this morning, that you elevate Christ high in our midst and cause our hearts to deeply trust him this morning. Father, we pray all of this, trusting you in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. For some time now, we have given ourselves over to this rather lengthy unit of thought in the letter of Paul to the Philippians. And that unit of thought began back in chapter 1, verse 27, and it runs all the way through to chapter 2, verse 18. And over the past few weeks, we have been giving consideration to this inspired statement of faith or statement of confession that's found there in verses 5 to 11. And this most recent week, this past week, it was accented for us that within that confession is the significant word, therefore, that is found in verse 9. If you recall, verses 6, 7, and 8 highlight the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ and His humiliation. Jesus is the one who preexisted before all time with the Father, shared in the glory of the Father, But yet he condescended to earth in human flesh. He took upon himself the form of a servant. He did not come as a victorious king riding on the clouds. But no, he came as a bondservant in a humiliated state. From his birth all the way until his burial in the tomb, Jesus's life was one act of obedience that was a part of his humiliation. From his condescension all the way until his death, the Lord Jesus Christ throughout his entire humiliation was fully obedient to the Father. And what was the result of this obedience? Therefore, he was highly exalted. He is the one who, through his work of obedience, won a victorious triumph. And he will one day come again, riding upon the clouds in all of his glory to judge the living and the dead. Indeed, all of his creatures. And at that time, every knee shall bow. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ alone is Lord. Now, did you notice whose story that was? Did you notice that it is a story about Jesus? It is a narrative about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an account of Jesus's experience. It's all about what Jesus accomplished. As we saw even this morning in our study, it was Moses alone that was allowed into God's presence on the top of the mount. It was the high priest alone that was allowed to go into the presence of God, into the Holy of Holies. Highlighting for us that there's only one, there's only one who is able to go into the presence of God and not be consumed. and that is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, that is the gospel proper. The gospel proper is Jesus's story, Jesus's experience, Jesus's accomplishment, all that he accomplished through his obedience throughout his humiliation. It is a story that is outside of us. We are accustomed around Westminster to hear the word that was a slogan during the time of the Protestant Reformation, extra nos, outside of us. That was the news. That was the message of the gospel. It's a message about someone else's story. someone else's accomplishment outside of you, but yet it is something that was done for you outside of you. The gospel is not good advice. The gospel is good news, and that news is about Jesus's story, about what Jesus did in and through his condescension and through his whole life of obedience all the way to the cross. This is the good news. It's the news that we have for this world that is lost and perishing. It is the news for which many missionaries are willing to give their lives just so that this message can reach the ears of those that have never heard it. This is the message, the only message we have for those within our own household. For those who are our neighbors, this is the message. It is all about someone else. It is a message about someone outside of you that he has done for you. And by faith alone in Christ alone, all that Christ has done outside of you and for you, all of those saving benefits can be yours as you believe upon him and are united to him. Well, we now transition to verses 12 and 13 in our text this morning. The passage before us this morning is one that is very frequently quoted and is highly memorized. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if many of you in the room had memorized this at some point in your walk. But what we have before us in chapter two, verses 12 and 13 is a cause and effect passage. And when one comes across a cause-effect passage, there's different ways that you can approach tackling its meaning. One of those ways is to begin with the effect and then work your way to the cause. Or you can do it vice versa. You can start with the cause, begin with the cause, and then lead up to the effect. It's kind of like taking the sentence, he opened his umbrella because it began to rain. Well, you could begin by explaining the details of him opening up his umbrella, sliding it up the shaft and overshading his head, and then move on to the reason why that umbrella was opened. The reason, the cause, well, it began to rain. Or you could do it the other way around. You could work backwards and come back into the sentence by beginning at the end. You could begin with the cause. You could begin with the reason. It began raining. And then work yourself back to the effect. He then opened up his umbrella. Well, in the case of our passage this morning, as odd as it may seem at first, it is beneficial and there's good reason for us to back into this passage. by beginning at the end of the passage and then working our way up to the front end of the passage. And we will, in effect, ultimately be moving from cause to effect. Therefore, this morning, our focus is going to be exclusively on verse 13. We're going to split this verse kind of down the middle, and we're going to examine the first half of verse 13, and then the second half, and oh, are there many riches, gems in this very passage, and our next sermon will be working our way up to verse 12. Well, notice that Paul sets before us here at the close of verse 13, It is God who works in you. Did you notice something? Did you see it? God is at work in you. God's at work within you, inside of you. Do you see it? There's movement. Paul is moving us from verses 5 to 11 that is an outside of us message. He's moving us from something outside of us externally in the person and work of Christ that has nothing to do with your participation, has nothing to do with your contribution. It's his story. And he's now moving us from the outside, and now he's going to speak to us about a work that's being done within you, not outside of you. Something that's done internally. There's movement here. You see, he's moving from something that's been done for you, accomplished on your behalf, to something that's done to you, where you're now acted upon. So it's a for you outside of you to a to you within you. That's the movement that we have taking place here at this point in Philippians. For it is God who works in you. This is an internal work. Now, we usually refer to this ongoing internal work in the soul of a Christian as sanctification. Of course, sanctify itself can take on the meaning of to make more holy or to purify an internal renovation of the soul. And as Christians, brothers and sisters, it's our desire to be shaped and molded into greater holiness, isn't it? And to have ever increasing purity in our hearts and in our lives. Now, why all the stress about this movement from the outside to the inside? Why all the stress of the for you versus in you? It's because of significant heresies that have resulted from getting that wrong. Significant heresies that have resulted from getting that backwards. It's only faith in the triumphant one, the one who has won your salvation outside of you and has saved you the one who was accepted by God in his favor, it's only because we being united to that Savior that we are accepted by God in Christ Jesus. And only because that is true, we have a work of sanctification going on in our hearts. It's never the case that our level of sanctification and renovation is a measure of our acceptance by God. One of our treasured hymns in the Trinity hymn book is the one entitled, A Debtor to Mercy Alone. And there's a very powerful line in that song. And it's very relevant here. And the line goes like this, it says, more happy, but not more secure, are the glorified spirits in heaven. Meaning that those spirits of the saints that have gone before us, Christians that have died in the Lord, died in Christ, they are now with Christ. Their bodies are in the grave, but their spirits are with Christ. It says they're more happy than we are. Oh, absolutely they are. Don't you know it? Their happiness and their joy in Christ exceeds our comprehension. But they're not more secure than you and I. They're not more accepted by God than you or I. You know why? Because all of our acceptance, all of our hope of salvation is found outside of ourselves. It's found in the Lord Jesus Christ and His work. It's only because we're united to Him that all of us are secure eternally. Did you know that? You are as eternally secure in Christ now as the saints in glory. More happy but not more secure are the glorified spirits in heaven. What a delightful, delightful phrase that we sing. So you see, our level of sanctification is never a barometer. of our salvation. Our level of sanctification is never a barometer of whether or not I'm accepted by God or will be accepted by God or whether I have his favor now but might lose it and maybe get it later. No. Sanctification does not precede our salvation. No, it's because I'm already saved, already accepted in Christ, already I am in Christ victorious and I am as secure in Christ Jesus as the saints in glory. The favor of God rests upon me because I'm in Christ. And because I have that status of salvation, I now actually have a work being done inside of me now, a work of sanctification. Because of what he did for you to save you through faith in him, you now have a work being done to you, in you, by the Spirit of God. Now, our text says that it is God who works in you. We have already considered the in you part. But there's two other things in this phrase that are immensely profitable to our souls that we need to give attention to. First, it is that God is at work or he is working. He's at work in you. The verb there is actually a progressive verb. It's not that he did work. He is working progressively in you. And that's why we must always remember, brothers and sisters, that sanctification is indeed progressive. It's progressive. Some of us may need to hear this this morning out of your frustration over your walk. Progress means process. A process takes place in order for there to be progress. And you know what that takes? That takes T-I-M-E. That takes time. We need to remember that. Being united to Christ by faith is immediate. Receiving a justified verdict is immediate. Being adopted into Christ's family is immediate, but sanctification is not immediate. Sanctification is a process over time. You know, like an adolescent that gets so frustrated with being young and just cannot wait to be a grown-up. Sometimes we too can become quite frustrated over our immaturity, can't we? Quite frustrated over our immaturity. We can become frustrated over our lack of progress, our lack of growth, our lack of spiritual movement forward. We can become deeply disappointed by our backsliding tendencies. We can become disheartened by our shortage of fruit in our life. We can become very deeply frustrated over this. But brothers and sisters, we cannot and we must not be dismayed or despair, even if we do not see the progress that we so desire. Remember that sanctification is a process of progress. And it will not all come at once, as much as we would love to have an injection that makes us into a full-grown, highest maturity Christian. It does not all come at once, and in fact, it likely is going to come in seasons. But brothers and sisters, it will always be an ongoing work within you, this side of glory. It'll always be in progress. You could interview someone in this room that's the most mature Christian among us that's been walking with Christ for decades, and you could ask them about their maturity. Ask them about their progress. Have you arrived? No. The most mature among us would very honestly say, God is still working on me. There's much progress that's needed for me on this side of glory. There's much more need for sanctification. You know why that's the case? It will always be the case because on this side of glory, that process of sanctification inside of our souls is always taking place and always will take place until glory. It's a process of renewal and renovation that we pray for. It calls us to pray. And it also calls for us to be patient. For sometimes you may find that you feel as though you're in the winter of your spiritual progress, where you don't see any fruit, you don't see any forward movement. But guess what? I got some great news for you. Great news for you. And it's actually the second thing that we need to see in this little this little phrase. The text says it is God who works in you. It is God who works in you. Let me ask you, is that an imperative or is that an indicative? Thank God that is an indicative. That's an indicative, do you see that? That is great news for you and me. That's not a command, that's a statement of fact. God is at work. God is at work. It's a fact. He is at work within you whether you feel it or not. Isn't that wonderful news? It's a matter of fact that He is progressing your sanctification. That's an indicative. It is a matter of fact that His process of changing you is underway whether you realize it or not. It is underway. Let us be confident of this, that he who began the good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ. That means that he who began the good work in you is continuing that work. That brings us all the way back to chapter one, verse six. He still is at work. Thank God that he is at work within each and every one of us in Christ Jesus. And here's the glorious part. He doth never tire. Never gets tired. He never slumbers. He never has to rest or retire for the evening. He never sleeps and he never ceases and desists in his work. Never. Never. You know, you and I might put our hands around a wet piece of clay on a circular tray that is moving about, trying our very best to form that clay into some beautifully shaped piece of pottery. And as we do so, it slumps that way and slumps that way and falls that way. And we, in our frustration, may take that clay and throw it against the wall and say, I'm going to start over with another piece. Guess what? Our great potter never takes the clay and throws it against the wall and says, be done with it, I'm gonna start another one. No, our God never does that. Everything in your life, listen, everything in your life is part of God's sculpting project and he never hits pause on his sculpting project. It's His project. He's the one at work in you. And He is at work. It's an indicative. He doesn't abandon His work. He's not gonna abandon you. He's not gonna abandon your sanctification. He is at work in you. What a glorious indicative. And brethren, let that encourage your souls this morning to hear that statement of fact. God is at work in your soul. He's renovating you, whether you realize it or not. Take comfort in that this morning. Well, if God is doing a work within me, and this work is a lengthy process, and he'll never abandon his sculpting project, what is the work he's doing? That's the next question. If he's not gonna abandon his work and he's always ever at work, what work is he up to? Well, let's find out. Look at verse 13. He says here, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. That's it, that's what he's up to. Both to will and to do for his good pleasure. God is at work within your soul and this is what he's doing in your soul. He is about shaping your will and your actions into that which pleases Him. Your will and your actions into that which pleases Him. Remember, sanctification is a process whereby our hearts are renovated. It's almost like a house that has flooded and you've got to rip out the wet carpet. You come in and you're ripping that carpet out and you're throwing it out on the street, right? Well, the Holy Spirit is in a renovating project in our souls. And the Holy Spirit is ripping out old desires, ripping out old passions of the flesh, ripping out old loves and old goals and old delights He's replacing it. He's replacing them with what? Desires that please God. Delights that please God. Goals that align with God's will. Passions that accord with His pleasure. With new loves. A love for obeying Him. With a will that accords with his will. That's what he's replacing it with. He's working on your will. Now, brothers and sisters, if you've lived the Christian life for a moment, you know that that renovation project can be quite painful, quite painful. Because that means it's developing a disgust for things that your flesh very much delights in. It's changing out pleasures, reshaping and renewing your pleasures and delights. It's quite a work that the Holy Spirit's doing. And it's much more radical than taking carpet out of a house. We're talking about loves and desires and intentions. You might say, you know, I often have a desire to please God, but I don't find my heart actually following through and carrying it out. Welcome to Romans chapter eight. That's what Romans chapter eight's all about. What is it that Paul says there? This is the apostle. He writes, for I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate. You hear the conflict that even Paul is wrestling with? His heart has a desire to obey God, but yet he doesn't see that always following through in the way that he behaves. His actions, there's inconsistency. Welcome to sanctification, right? There's inconsistency there, and that's part of the frustration that we have. You read Romans 8, and you can almost feel the apostle Paul's frustration with his own heart. I know you and I feel the same. Well, guess what? I got great news for us this morning, and it's right here in this passage. The great news is that God is not only working on your will, His work in your heart is not only shaping your will, He also is at work in giving you the power to carry it out, to actually fulfill His good pleasure in your life. That's part of His work as well. He's not only working on your will, but He's also working on your actions too. That's part of His work inside your soul. Isn't that beautiful? The Holy Spirit that indwells you, that has taken up residence in your soul, hasn't taken up residence there to take a vacation. He's taken up residence within your soul to engage in the deep, effective, renovating project. of your soul, the renovating project of your will and your actions. He is at work, hard work if we can put it that way, tearing out your will for what displeases God and replacing it with a will that pleases God. He's at work enabling you to actually do what pleases God. In other words, He is at work causing you to love God's will and to do God's will. That's what He's up to. That's what He's doing inside that soul of ours. He's causing us to love His will and to do His will. Isn't that our desire, Christians? Isn't that our desire? Isn't that what we pray for? Father, My will needs work on. That's what we pray for. That's what we long for, right? Well, let us find confidence this morning, brothers and sisters, in these precious words from Philippians 2. God is at work in you. And he is shaping you. He's molding you. And let me ask this question. this shaping and this molding project, that he's molding and shaping our wills and our actions, who does it remind you of? Guess who the one is that the Lord is shaping us to be like. It's none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. What is it that characterized Christ? Above all things, what characterized him? He loved God's will and he did God's will. That's Christ's work. There is the gospel. He loved God's will and he did God's will. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. And you see what God is doing with us in this sculpting project? Who is He sculpting us and shaping us to be like? The Lord Jesus Christ. That's who He's molding us to look like. He's molding us so that we look like Him. The Lord Jesus willed and worked for the pleasure of His Father. He willed and he worked for God's pleasure. And he did that for us. Now, that's being done to us. Now, that's being done within us. What he did for us in loving God's will and doing God's will is the very target of his sculpting and molding and shaping. We are now being acted upon. He's doing a work to us within us. May we respond with blessed be the Lord. Brothers and sisters, be encouraged this morning by verse 13 of chapter two, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Father, for the gems, the many gems of truth that our hearts need to hear. comfort and encouragement and confidence that we're in need of. And Father, we thank you for this particular text. It communicates to us that grand indicative that you are indeed at work in us. And you're going to continue to shape and mold us by your power. more and more into Christ's image, which is in part loving and doing your will. Oh, Father, we welcome you to do your renovating work as painful as it may be. We welcome you to tear out our old desires and passions and loves and shape, Father, our wills so that our passions and our loves are for your pleasure. and align with pleasing you, doing your will, and not gratifying the flesh. Our Father, we look to you and your power to enable us to do that which you've called us to and that which our hearts long to do. Cause us, Father, by your Spirit. to love your will more, and to follow through and fulfill your will in our life, all to the praise of your glory. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. We'll receive now the blessing from the throne of God to the people of God. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace, both now and forevermore. Amen.