So let's just imagine a little scenario. Maybe it's one we can relate to. A lot of us might relate to. But let's just say you have a very good job. I mean, you generally like it. It pays well. It's fulfilling, et cetera. But then as jobs go, sometimes things change. And suddenly, you get what seems like some impossible tasks. And things are mounting up. You feel overwhelmed and a lot of pressure A lot of angst. How am I going to accomplish this? I don't even know if I can do this, if I have the ability. I don't even want to do it. I don't really like all this pressure. And so maybe I should be looking for another job. You know, have you ever been through that? And you're just going through this kind of anxiety and pressure and feeling overwhelmed. And then maybe let's say a few co-workers come along and come along your side and just even talk to you about the task or walk through it with you or talk about how important it is or how it's worth it, what an opportunity in terms of maybe your career or whatever. And they're kind of just stirring you up and encouraging you that this is worth doing. And then let's say even several of them come alongside and do the task and do it with you. the parts that you were most stressed out about or worried about, they're actually doing it or taking care of it. And the result is you really do appreciate the value of your job and the value of what you're doing, and there's joy, and you have gladness. And you can even beam with that gladness and rejoicing. So maybe, can you relate to that? I know probably the part about people coming along and helping and taking the burden away, probably not. But we can feel overwhelmed, and what am I going to do, and how is this ever going to get done, and I'm not even sure I want to do it, et cetera. Well, is this scenario really true of us in our lives? And may I assure you this morning that it is definitely true of us, at least in our spiritual life. And our walk with the Lord. God wants us, as we know, if you look at many passages, to become holy as he is holy. God wants us to be fruitful in these types of things. And as we focus on these things and that output, we can get stressed out. And we can feel anxious. And, well, how? And how is this being done? And how have I been doing? And we can end up doing, just getting ourselves in a real pickle. And it's easy to get overwhelmed, isn't it? Get your eyes on the task and gauge all of the pressures of performance. And maybe there's community expectations that we put on one another and pressures. And we have this sense that we have to do it, and we have to do more, and we have to do it faster. And we get stressed, and maybe even seems like less gets done. So what do we do? And we're going to see from our passage today, you work it out. And let our passage explain that, as we'll hopefully, by the grace of God, find it to be very encouraging. Very encouraging for us as we walk through the details of our life. So the context, if we see, begins in actually chapter 1, verse 27. And here Paul is going to, I'm just going to put a brief outline up here. Paul had, earlier in chapter 1, been talking about how he's imprisoned and he's in Rome. Some were preaching the gospel with good motives around him and some were not. Some had wrong motives, some were trying to add to his peril. And then he kind of ends all of that with an imperative. And verse 27 actually begins a section that kind of flows through and ends in chapter 218. And the imperative is that he wants these fellow believers in Philippi to stand fast, to be firm. And the way that we would know that he would, or excuse me, he wants them to let their conduct, excuse me, to be worthy of the gospel. So let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. And the indication of that, and a positive phrase here, is that they stand fast. And then he even gives a little description of standing fast. This is striving together. for the gospel. And as you're striving together, you're not terrified of your adversaries, which is a proof to them and to you. And this proof is from God. So the two things, I think they got mixed up on my outline. They're striving together and not terrified are together in the same line. So striving together, there's unity here. and you're not getting freaked out or getting overwhelmed by your adversaries. And he says the fact that you're not being overwhelmed by your adversaries is actually a proof to your adversaries of their future destruction, and it's a proof to you of your future salvation that's coming. So, and then he points out, and this proof, this actuality of you not being terrified, well, that's from God. And so we're hitting an early glimpse already. Here is God providing something that is a great refresher. So he ends chapter one with this first admonition, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. He then goes into chapters two, one through 11 with several more. And he's the first one in verse one was you fulfill my joy. And his way of seeing that another positive phrase is that Fulfilling my joy would be indicated or would be seen as you being like-minded. So you be like-minded, having the same love of one mind, esteeming others better than themselves, and looking out for the interests of others. I'm just reading through it here because I don't want to take, we're not really focusing on this passage. We're just using this as the context to get to our passage, which is coming up. So he wants this mind to be in them. And then he says, when this is over, secondly, he's going to use the example, as we even saw parts of with Philip in Chapter 2, of Jesus Christ. And how Jesus Christ was equal with God, became a servant in the likeness of man, humbled himself, and came to the obedience, and through the obedience even, of leading on to death, and the death on the cross. So, note the conditions in chapter 2 verse 1, though, that Paul starts this admonition with. He says, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, that means any encouragement in Christ, if there's any encouragement that about Christ, and we know of course there is. And he says also, if there's any comfort of love, and of course we know love is very comforting. And if there's any fellowship of the spirit, which we know there is, and affection and mercy. If these things are there, then fulfill my joy. and be like-minded. And just note the order that he says. We see there's consolation in Christ, there's encouragement in him, and this is going to lead to the comfort of his love as we see that. And then we see the fellowship around that. Just imagine how one thing kind of leads into the other and one flows into the other. And we're going to see that especially as we look at chapter 2 then and his being like-minded. Notice in verse 2, I desire that you be like-minded. And if we're like-minded, he now starts to give participles or illustrations of what that's like. The first one, having the same love. The second one, being of one mind and then esteeming others better and then looking out for interests of others. He starts with being like-minded, having the same love, which means the love of God. is the very thing that brings us in our thoughts and hearts and minds together. Because God so loved the world, God so loves us as beloved children. If you're saved, we know that we are objects of God's love. And having that same love, this can enable us to be of the same mind. And as we have this mind that is now united even by things like the love of God, we then can be esteeming others, This is how God would want us to see others and their interests and their affairs. And so be like-minded starts with this amazing love of God and then that leads right into the humility that we see about others. And the example of that then of Jesus Christ and his incredible descending from the heights of heaven to a cross on earth. And as a result of what he did, we end this passage in verses 9 through 11, therefore. And what does he say, therefore, if now we can look at chapter 2, verse Nine, therefore, God also has highly exalted him, and given him the name which is above every name. And then he says, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on the earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And this is the passage, then it ends, and we go right into our passage of study this morning in verse 12 from here. So we find ourselves, God responding to this humbled Christ who became a man and went to a cross, obedient even unto death, and is now highly exalted. God is showing the world his pleasingness, his pleasure in what Christ has done. done. And therefore, this is showing us how then God responded to that cross. And in light of his obedience and his faithfulness, this is where Christ is elevated. And there's significance about what happened at that cross. And that's some significance we want to make sure we're grasping before we go on into our study. What happened at that cross has just been shown how Christ became, though he's equal with God, became a servant, became in the likeness of men, humbled himself, even unto the obedience unto death, even the worst kind of death, the slave's death, the death on a cross. That's what Christ has done for the likes of humanity as we know he came to save sinners. So I can't use this illustration. I think I've maybe used it before. But as northerners, northern Minnesotans here, we've endured a few summers of armyworm. Right? Some are actually more like May or June. And these army warriors, unfortunately we haven't had them for some time, but you can recall the last time we've had them, how they are everywhere. And they are in mass, and they're moving, and they're destroying the trees, and they're gross, and they're disgusting. And clearly they're sinful, correct? They're just, right? And there's millions and millions of them, it seems like. I don't know what the number would be, but it's, they're everywhere. And, you know, when they go across a road and then cars go by and you can hear the, right, and the gross, everything. It's just like, ugh. Now just imagine that you decided to become an insignificant army worm, one of the many millions. and you came and became an army worm and actually for the purpose of sacrificing yourself and dying so these army worms could be somehow rescued from their pathetic gross existence. Right? And that's a picture of the gospel. This is our God in heaven looking down at a massive sea of humanity and what does he see but every individual all have sin and come short of the glory of God. So he looks down and he's a holy and a righteous and a perfect and a pure God. His heaven is without sin. His attributes are without sin. His whole existence is defined by his holiness and being without sin. And he looks at a world that he actually created for greater things and wonderful purposes, but it's gone wrong and the introduction of sin and we are sinners and it's, I can't imagine, is it really any different than looking at a sea of army worms? I don't even know if that illustration would even cover the gap between a holy God and a lost and sinful world. Imagine the love that you would have to have to do something like that. And that's why we're reminded in the famous verse of John 3.16, for God so loved the world. That's a word of amount, a word that's showing the extent. God so, just imagine opening your arms, so loved. He so loved the world. And if you turn here just in Philippians, just go to the book of Ephesians, or excuse me, to the book of Romans for a minute. And chapter five of Romans. Just imagine the love that has to be displayed here. And that is described in Romans chapter five somewhat here for us. When we take into account, beginning in verse six, that when we were Romans 5, 6, we were still without strength. In due time, Christ died for who? The ungodly. So there's a sacrifice. Christ, who's God, dying for the ungodly. In fact, we can relate verse 7, maybe, scarcely, possibly for a righteous man will one die. Maybe for my best friend. Maybe for my spouse. Maybe for a child. Perhaps for a good man someone would dare to die. We can think just limited right there. But God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So how are we described? Ungodly, and now in this verse, sinners, and again we see Christ died for us. with a personal intent in mind, with an awareness of each one of us. Christ died for us. And then he goes on and says, in verse 9, much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him for when we were, what? enemies. So a description of us in this passage is we are enemies, sinners, and ungodly, and that's who Christ came for. That's the rescue mission that God bankrupts heaven for, is for Him to save the likes of us, more specific, the likes of you and me, individually. Isn't that amazing? Think now about you doing that for an army worm, and I'm hoping you're all saying, no way! Right? We never would think that way. But this is the difference, that God so loved the world. One more verse, turn over to Ephesians chapter three. And here is something that Paul is even challenging believers in, people who know Christ, people who are saved. He still has this hope that we would come to a better grasp of what? Well, this love. As he says in Ephesians 317, his prayer and desire is that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in what? That our faith, that us, we are rooted and grounded in love. And we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height. And to know the love of Christ which surpasses, exceeds knowledge. that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. And to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we even ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ. Notice the exceeding, the words like exceeding and abundantly. Notice this, again, the term of love and comprehension. It's incredible dimensions. We really can't even understand it, but that love is on display. That love was demonstrated, and that love was poured out for you and I, Romans 5 told us, and John 3, 16 reminds us. God has the super-abundant, constant one-way love that is so utterly undeserved, it's mind-boggling. And that's what God wants is to stir up our hearts and stir us up to seeing this incredible value of what he's done for us at Calvary. He has sought us and died for us, and he's proving our value to him In spite of ourselves, in spite of that we don't see it in ourselves, God is demonstrating. We are of value. And our value, of course, is found in His created hand, the fact that we originated with Him. And He is desiring now for us to respond to Him. And the gospel says, for God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that Christ came and died for us, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For whoever ungodly sinners, enemies of him, whoever you are and whatever you've done, whatever your past, he has come for you. and His love was demonstrated for you and for me at Calvary. And it's in Him, and it's at that cross that you can find forgiveness, full forgiveness. It's there you will find acceptance. It's there you will find cleansing. It's there you will find life, because whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. It's there your eternal destiny is changed, and you become a child of God, and you have a new identity. And it happens at a point in time when you believe on Him, you put your confidence in Him that my way of getting into heaven, my way of finding eternal life and acceptance with God is only and through Him only and what He has done for me and the provision that God has made. And so it is by grace because it's at the cross that again, it is there at our worst where I love you breaks in and comes real. And you can know that, for God so loved the world. The cross is proving that. So your response, you'll see what is God's response at the end of Philippians 2, verse 10 and 11. His response is he's highly exalted him. God's response is he's taken this Christ who died for us, he is so thrilled, he's highly exalted him and given him a name above every name and every knee will bow. So that's gonna happen, that's a future reference, but now, friends, what is your response? As you hear and understand this love of God that's come for you, as the cross shows you not only just your sin and your need, but it reveals your created value. It shows you the demonstration of God's love. What is our response? Will you trust him? Can you say that you know for sure that you have eternal life? That's what it says. Whoever believes on him will not what? But has, right now, eternal life. So before we go on, I just would hope and pray that you can say, yes, I know for sure I have eternal life, that I have seen by faith this love for me. And as a act of faith, putting your confidence in Christ and his merit and his value and God's promise for you, you can clearly be cleansed and forgiven and saved. And the verse here says, have eternal life. So I hope that's true of all of us, as we can go back to Philippians 2, because this is who he's writing to as we go into context. We're in verse 12. He's now going to make another, therefore, another application. In light of this Jesus who came down from heaven and ended up on a cross, and in light of how he's been highly exalted, and he's the king of kings, and every name, the name above all names, in light of that, verse 12, the first word is what? Therefore, therefore. So he's building on what he has just presented. And he says, therefore, my beloved. There's our term of my beloved. And again, this is an adjective taken from the word agape, and it means a people especially loved by God. Paul is saying you're also loved by me. It means prized or valued, cherished. That's how he describes fellow believers. Is that how we describe each other? You're prized and cherished, my beloved. That's a challenge, isn't it? That's a challenge, but it's true. And if that's true of how God views me, and he's singled me out as this army worm who's cherished and prized, then perhaps he can now start working through me an acceptance and a way of viewing others as my beloved. So, this is his, my beloved, you could say dear friends. He repeats this in chapter four, verse one. He, by the way, calls them saints in chapter one, I think it's verse two. So clearly he's talking to believers, people who are saved, people who are heaven bound. And he gives this command in verse 12, work out your own salvation. So we already understand that these people are saved from hell, they're beloved, they're in Christ, So this isn't a evangelistic message, a verse, a verse you want to use for evangelism. What must I do to be saved? Work. And that sometimes even gets presented that way in certain circles. That's not what he's saying at all. So what is he saying? He's saying, work out your own salvation. First, or as he says that, work out your own salvation. This is the, if you're following on your, And your notes, let's see, I missed it. I didn't put it up on the outline, but those words are verse 12. The first one is work out. I've got to get my, sorry, hang on here. Well, yeah, we'll get to that. So the idea of the workout is the word work is to, it's a command, and it's an imperative to these believers. The lead into that is, as you have always obeyed. So this is where we put on your handout, this is nothing new. So he's talking about, this is nothing new. He's saying to these Philippian believers, his dear friends, and he's gonna refer how you've always obeyed, even in my presence or if in my absence, you've always obeyed, now here's my command, work out. So we've got, here's Jesus, highly exalted, name above all names, every tongue will confess. And then he says, and as you've always obeyed, and then therefore now work out. Now, the always obeyed, there's no specific references in terms of the scripture. We don't know what he's exactly referring to. Maybe it's Acts 16, if you know that's where this church was born, and the Philippian jailer, that story. Maybe it's how they obeyed the gospel, so to speak, and believed the truth. Don't know. But for our purposes, because Paul is referring to this in a positive way, he is trying to encourage them to move on and continue to obey. The idea is as you have always obeyed, let's continue that here. And he's using something positive to stir them up, isn't he? As you've always obeyed. This is nothing new. Let's continue on. I'm just reminding you of this. And for us, who's here going to raise their hand and say, yep, that's me. I've always obeyed. Just don't if you think you are. So who's always obeyed? We can just be encouraged, can't we, that what Paul's really after is, you know, any one of us can have, can we not think of a time where we have obeyed, think of a time where we've enjoyed the Lord, think of a time where we've responded to him, think of a time where there's been fellowship. Hopefully we can think of a lot of times, hopefully it's really recent, but it doesn't matter. Because I'm sure every one of us can say at some point, at some time, and Paul's just saying, no, with that, just with that, remember that? So just like how that was good, just like how that was going, Now, now, do this. And that is to work out your own salvation. The word to work out just means to accomplish, put something into effect. But the idea to work is a word that can also be used even in an agricultural sense to work out, to cultivate, to stir up or cultivate. Warren Worsley talks about how this was used in an agricultural sense, also used in a mining sense, to continue to work a mine until you've exhausted as much as you can out of it. So you're working the mine, or you're working the soil, cultivating, stirring up, because you want something to be accomplished. You want the most amount of wealth you can get out of the mine, or you want the most of produce you can get out of your soil, etc. So you're bringing something to a completion. Another way it was described is working out a math problem. That's kind of a bad illustration, I guess, but you know, you keep at it. until you come to your completion. And what is the completion as we're working this out? It's going to be from other passages we know that God wants us to be conformed to the image of Christ, or some measure of Christ-likeness. And he says now, as you have always obeyed, so there's nothing new here, so think back at those times, reflect on that, and recall that, and he's working out your own salvation. And we know this is not being an evangelistic sense. working out your salvation in a second tense or a sanctifying way. This is having your salvation that you have becoming effective or manifested outward and through you. Because again, we think, is he really saying cultivate and stir up your own rescue from hell? That doesn't make sense, right? It makes way more sense to think of cultivate, stir up your own salvation so that it works outward. So, work out your salvation. Cultivate, stir up your salvation. So God has gifted all of us uniquely. He has enabled all of us through a gift of the spirit, et cetera, to function within a greater body in a community called the church and the local church and then beyond that even. And he's gifted us. carry out what he has designed or wants to have brought forth. And so clearly there's variety. The Bible will talk about that in 1 Corinthians 12 and other passages. We all have a different gift or a purpose. So notice, work out your what? Your own salvation. And what sometimes I think we like to do is try to work out and emulate his salvation. or her, and I want to be like her, and I want to speak like him, or I want to do these things. And we end up kind of getting into a cookie cutter mentality and a massive group think that's not necessarily a good way. Obviously group think in terms of truth is good, but there's variety here. Aren't you glad we're not all in the same boat? We're not in the sense of where we go to different neighborhoods, communities. There's subcultures. Aren't you glad we come from different backgrounds? Amen. And so work out your own salvation. So how the Lord might want to use you in this setting and that setting. There's common truths that feed us, but then we go out and God is using us individually in our places and ways. And so this is encouraging us that God has a specific desire. He's gifted us. There's something he wants to bring forth out of us. And so what is the attitude? We're to work this out with an attitude we mentioned in our passages with fear and trembling. And why is this fear and trembling? I mean, some I've read take it as, you know, because someday you're going to stand before the Lord and you're going to quake and you're going to be afraid and he's going to smash you and whatever. But as that doesn't seem to flow here, how about just looking back at every knee will bow before this king of kings with a name exalted high above every other name. How about just seeing how this Lord came and became an army worm and did what he did for the likes of me and now he's restored in the highest of highest and I'm filled with praise and awe and high regard. Does that make sense? And when he's incarnate, I thought it's so interesting, when he's incarnate with John, John was the apostle that loved him, and they had this obvious intimate relationship, and the sense of closeness, and Jesus loved John, and he's the disciple that John loved. But in Revelation 1, when John is on the Isle of Patmos alone, Jesus appears before him. And he doesn't go up, hey buddy, high five, it's great to see you. What's the difference? Jesus is not incarnate, he's glorified, he's God. And what does John do, if you remember? We don't have time to look at it, but he falls as dead. And Jesus has to come and touch him and say, do not be afraid. So this Lord, who in the scriptures, and we know that he's in us, we have this tremendous intimate relationship with him, this tremendous friendship, et cetera, in the incarnate sense of Jesus Christ. But in his glorified sense, we don't hesitate to acknowledge that he's God, perfect, holy, righteous. And what's amazing is I don't have to be terrified of that in the sense of, oh, I have awe and respect for that. And in fact, because of grace and because of his love shown to me on the cross, I can look and behold his holiness as beautiful. Psalm 27 talks about that. Beautiful. Though I'm going to have a definite sense of respect and regard, aren't I? Because he's God. I hope that makes sense. So the fear and trembling here is just, I would take this in light of the verse just before as a respect and a regard for the mighty king of kings. And yet, we're gonna see in the very next verse, that mighty king of kings is living alive in you. Tremendous, both sides of the coin. So that is our attitude. And then we wanna look at who is the one working? Why this works. Why this works is because it's God who works in you, verse 13. So Ephesians 2 goes on to say it is God who works in you. That's a tremendous verse. He works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And so God is working. And actually, in the Greek construction here, God is actually a predicate nominative, and the subject is the working one. It's a participle. So the one working in you is God, putting an emphasis, again, on what's being accomplished. And this is a different word that's used here for work. We'll get to that in a minute. I want to first look at the location. Where is God in this verse, verse 13? God is where? Little prepositional phrase, in you. That's astounding. This incredible union with Christ. We know actually that we are in Christ and Christ is in us for an eternal union and closeness and identity. And yet we don't forget his glory and his God, he's God, and yet we are as his children and have intimate fellowship and connection with him. It's amazing. This is grace on steroids. And so, he's saying to do this with fear and trembling in light of who God is, and yet he is in you. And he's in you. God is working, which means he is the one who is producing or being effective or bringing about the results. So, God is in you. This is what makes us different, friends. I like to always remind us of this. What makes us different than the unbeliever that lives next door or is your cousin or the one you work with? What makes us different? Is it because we pray? Well, do unbelievers pray? Yeah, what makes us, is it because we read our Bible? No, non-believers read our Bible. Well, but we understand it better than most everyone else. Well, I'm sure there's someone out there who still understands it more than you who's not saved. You guys heard of Henry Thayer? He wrote this tremendous lexicon called Thayer's Lexicon of the Greek language. It went through every single word in the, just a tremendous tool that believers have used for centuries. I don't know, he was in the 1800s. And he wasn't a believer. So what makes us different? Is it the knowledge? No. Is it our prayer life? No. What makes us different than the unbeliever that we live next door to, or whoever, is that it is God who is in you. Colossians 1 says, to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this ministry among the Gentiles, which is what? Which is what? Christ in you. Where is he? He's in us. Is he in the unbeliever? No. Can he work his life outward through the unbeliever? No. This is tremendous. This is what makes you different. It's the only, it's the distinct thing. Christ lives and dwells and is in you. And that's because of your union with him, because you have been raised with him, because you've been co-crucified, co-buried, and you now have resurrection life, and he is in you, and he is in you. And what potential can flow from that? Right? We can all walk out here and say, God is in every one of us. That's astounding what could happen as we learn to really learn to consistently walk in light of that, as we're all desiring to do. So he's in us. This implies a central doctrine for the Christian life again, is Christ in you. And notice the hope of glory. What direction is the Christian looking? Backward at their sin, going, I'm so awful? Or forward at their future glory, because Christ is in me. And because I'm seated with him, according to Ephesians, in the heavenlies. I'm going to be united with him in a resurrected form forever. in him, a co-inheritor, et cetera. So many things you could look at. And this is a thrill, Christ in you, the hope of glory. So there is glory, there is encouragement that comes from this. So what is the source? It's God. And where is he? He's in you. And what is he doing? He is working out both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So these are easy terms to understand. To will is a word that means to desire or to want, to wish for something. And to do is pretty simple, right? The ability to actually do it. So this is tremendous good news, because let's be honest, have we not had our days in the Christian life where we wake up and we say, you know, Lord, I don't want to. I know what you'd have me to do, or I know what your will might be. I don't want to. I'm not into that right now. Have we ever been there? Of course we've been there. Or maybe we have a real good desire, but we have to admit, Lord, I can't do that. I can't be blameless. I can't be holy, or I can't whatever it is. And we struggle, and we get discouraged. This is overwhelming. I can't do it. How is this ever going to happen? And we're discouraged. Or we just say, I don't want to do it. We're also discouraged in a different way there. And what does this verse say? Do we have to be bogged down by that? Do we have to be defeated in that? No. Who's working in you? God. And what is he desiring to produce? What is he desiring to affect? A desire within you and a ability. And that is good news. Work out your own salvation sounds horrible, doesn't it? Be good to everything else. How am I ever going to do that? The next verse, oh, God will do it all for you. But there's going to be an element, we'll see, of our participation in that mentally. But this is the good news. It is not the Lord's way to ever crush our desires or our volition. He always desires to motivate it, to encourage us, to bring us along, to supernaturally woo us. And that gives us motivation, and he gives the ability then for those motives. So how does he motivate us? Well, just start thinking again how you're just an army worm amongst a billion, seven point, whatever it is, army worms on this earth. And you stand out and are right in his eye and he says, you're mine. That can be motivating and you know that you're forgiven. Not once, not twice, but every time, all the time, of everything. And you know that you're loved. And he places an identity on you. And he takes up residence with you and brings you to such an elevated status. And as you think about these things and you allow any number of these truths to just ponder them, what can start to happen? A hard heart can start to get a little softer. The word of God and truth can start penetrating. Love is a tremendous motivator. And you know how 1 John describes that, we love him because he first loved us. And so if we just digest how he first loved us, then in time, if it's not immediate, but whatever, the spirit of God was going to start causing ourselves to respond. And the Christian life is responding to this truth, any number of these kinds of truths. And that's great. So you look at him, you see Jesus Christ just in our context, for example. You see him exalted, highly exalted, king of kings, the ultimate name, ultimate lord, totally sovereign as we take in Philippians 2, 9 through 11. And then you realize how you belong to him. You're forgiven by him. You're actually in his family. You're his child, and he is in you, and you are in him. And you have a divine union, and it's eternal, and it's never being taken back. And you start thinking about the cross, or love, or any of these. And these things begin to encourage our hearts. And so that's the invitation that we have, is work out your salvation, but remember, As we have the right attitude, fear and trembling, we recognize where this is happening is in me, that God himself is in me, that God is able to give desires, to tweak my heart, to motivate my thinking, to use his grace and his mercy to stir me up. And I see him as exalted. So back to that verb, to work out your own salvation. Remember telling the soil, working a mind to get results? And we're not going to finish just so you know. My goal is to finish verse 13. Because time has left me. So hopefully, give me about seven minutes, we can do it. But there's three passages I want to point to, which obviously, I'm going to just go through them quickly. The first is in John chapter 15. Or actually, one of them we've already seen in Philippians, so two passages. So John chapter 15, I'm going to say, put these three passages together, and we're going to see something that I know that we've been taught in the past as a great way of looking at it as active participation by way of the Christian, active mental engagement, but divine or God production. So the abiding passage of John 15 is a classic one. As we're told in verse 4, just dropping in, Jesus says, abide in me and I in you. Notice this beautiful union. Theologians will call it this mystical union with Christ. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. And so the essential, it's the imperative here, I can't remember, it's an inner, I can't remember what it came for, ingressive, what I can't remember, but it means of highest priority for us to abide. And that's good, okay, I gotta abide, still leaves the question, how? I remember for years I would look at this passage, usually ending in verse eight, and just think, so I'm understanding the importance of abiding, I'm getting the sense of what it is to be in connection and remain with him, but verse nine is where this really happens. Because now he reminds us, as the Father loved me, and just stop, how do you think God loves Jesus Christ? It's an infinite, right? This is an infinite, eternal, trinity, union, relationship, harmony, and love. As the Father loved me, well, that's also how I love you. Wow. That's how I love you. And then what does he say? Abide in that love. And when we really see that, do we even really need the command? The guy I can pick is Calvin. Are you here today? They're the newest newlyweds, right? Calvin, do you need to be told to just hang out with Annalise? Do you need to be told to just be around her? And he's going, no, right? No way. Abide. And that's all this is. Be around it. Be in the presence of. Remain. And so you have been loved when you connect verse 9 with an unbelievable love that Paul even prays in Ephesians 3 that we could even just begin to start to measure or understand the depth of this love. That is, that surrounds you, and you know that you can't shake and break out of that. You can't shake the love of God. Well, then this starts to motivate. And as a result, when you're abiding in Him, what does He say? He's the one who produces fruit. He's the one who works through you amazing things that are not even sourced in you. but how do you abide in him as responding to his love? But notice the connection in verse seven, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, there'll be this intimate closeness you can ask and so forth. And by this, my Father is glorified. But notice the connection I'm just after here, because we're out of time. It's the words. How do I abide in Christ if I don't know who He is? How do I abide in Christ if I don't understand the love that He has shown to me? How do I abide in Christ if I don't understand this connection? If I don't understand? I need the Word of God, don't I? And so actively participating, actively being involved in the scripture and seeing who he is, or seeing your position in him, seeing a promise from him, whatever it is, there's a lot of pages here you can draw some encouragement from, and you find yourself responding because the Word of God is painting a picture of one that you're drawn to and you want to remain and abide with. Does that make sense? Active in my thinking, but divine. The Lord is going to bring out amazing supernatural things in my life that are sourced in him. One more is in Hebrews chapter 4. And in Hebrews chapter 4, a totally different writer. So we're seeing Paul, we're seeing John, and we're seeing the writer of Hebrews. And we just got to jump in as he's talking about God's faithfulness to the children of Israel in the wilderness and basically their issue with unbelief. And he says in verse 9, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. As the wilderness, the promised land was this picture of the rest for the children of God. So there remains a rest for them. And he who has entered his rest, verse 10, has ceased from his own works as God does from his. Let us therefore be diligent, make every effort to enter that rest, lest you fall according to the same example of disobedience, which in context is unbelief. So that, what? Make every effort to enter rest. But see, the issue there is we don't want to be an example of unbelief. How do I avoid being an example of unbelief? Well, I have belief. Great. What do I believe in? Well, I need words, don't I? I need information. I need truth. I need to digest what God has said. I need the Spirit of God then to make this real, et cetera. And that's why right after this, he goes into verse 12, the Word of God is living and powerful, et cetera, the value of the Word of God. And so here we'll see, make diligence, be active, make every effort. The idea is active participation mentally, pondering, receiving, studying, believing, rehearsing the word of God and all that it tells us about God, the person of God, and how we stand before him. Does that make sense? And as we are actively participating, engaging in this way, which has to be mixed with faith, then the Spirit of God is able to work outward. That's salvation. As we go back to Philippians, and try to wrap this up, chapter two. So, verse, he gives the ability. So we're looking at your handout, we see why this works. God, he's the source. Where is this happening? In you. The ability comes from him, the Holy Spirit, in you. That's good, and the result is, the last phrase in chapter two, to do his good pleasure. And there it is. Notice, not our good pleasure, but I want, but this, but this is what I want your will to be. No, it's his good pleasure, as he's sovereign. Remember, he's the ultimate Lord, just two verses earlier. He's the one on the highest on the, et cetera. And as we just are sitting and falling at his feet at the cross, and seeing his name highly exalted, yeah, we're willing to just say, yeah, Lord. What is it? You're the one. I am so impressed with you. I am so struck with awe and regard for you. I can't believe that at the same time we are intricately connected and unified together in Christ. I'm thrilled. And his pleasure, his will, what he wants becomes the issue. And that's tricky in our Christian life, though, right? Because I want something, and it might even seem churchy or Christy or whatever, right? Well, that doesn't mean, right? It's his good pleasure. So we just say, Lord, here's, we put something on the table, you know, something, and we just say, now you take it or leave it. It's your, right, your call, right? I really want this, Lord, and we just, you just take it. We may not want to let him, but that's the mentality we want to be at, because we're truly finding ourselves impressed with who he is. And so this becomes a tremendous promise. And so again, as we look back, way back in 127, he's saying, walk worthy of the gospel. Talks about unity in that, chapter two, verse one, he then brings in unity again, and the example of the humility of Christ and how he's highly exalted, and now, therefore, work out your own salvation with that proper thinking attitude and knowing that it's God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. And may we be able to Say amen, Lord. May we be willing to actively participate, be involved, and respond by faith to the things of Him, knowing that He is at work within. So we'll stop there, and let's pause and we'll pray this morning. Father, we thank you for these truths, Thank you again that you have chosen to come and to save and redeem a lost world of sinners, enemies, ungodly like us. And through Christ, you have perfectly taken, planned, and performed, and accomplished redemption. And through Christ, Father, any who will believe on him, any who will recognize his death and his resurrection are the solution can be saved. and have eternal life. So we just pray for any here, Father, that you could just make this clear on their hearts and just encourage them how much you have done for them and the simplicity of salvation through Christ and your grace. And for those of us who are saved, I just pray that we could also just be excited and be encouraged and realize that you are in us and always will be. And we are in Christ, and we always will be. And the majestic truths of that never change. So may we just find ourselves climbing up and increasingly abiding in these things. And that you would be more and more able to change our desires and give us ability. And in it, you are well pleased. So we ask you to work to that end in our hearts and lives. And we thank you now in Jesus' name. Amen.