Sometimes in life we hear it said that an individual has bitten off more than they can chew. And of course the meaning is they have set about a project, they are going about their business, they're seeking to complete that project, but perhaps they've been a little too ambitious. They've taken the project on in good faith, but it's too large for them to handle, and they cannot complete the task. It's too much for them. That little phrase, a bridge too far, is often used as well. I was looking at that phrase and I looked the meaning up on the internet to describe an action that is very complicated and challenging to execute, so much so that it is likely to fail. Something is a bridge too far. A task has been started. The intention is to finish that task, but it's too difficult. The individual cannot complete the task that has begun. The commitment was made, but it was too much. And we know that to be the case in life. So often we start out on a task or a project and we have the best intentions. We're seeking to see this through. We want to see the task completed and finished, but for whatever reason, it proves to be a bridge too far. We don't get to completion. That can never be said of the Lord. When Almighty God starts, he finishes. Philippians 1 and the verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Paul's speaking of salvation here. What the Lord begins, he finishes. In Paul's letter to the Philippians, here he's seeking to encourage the young Philippian church. He speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives a little of his own testimony as a man who was formerly saw, but was saved by the grace of God. And here in Philippians one and the verse six, we see some of these little nuggets of encouragement that are scattered throughout the book. and we're reminded of God's work of salvation here in verse six. What the Lord begins, what he starts, he will finish, he will see it completed. And so this morning in the time that remains, we want simply to consider God's completed work, salvation, God's completed work. We look at verse 6 together, and we notice firstly, God commences his work in believers. God commences his work in believers. Verse 6 says, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you. Salvation, that is what is spoken of here in verse 6. The work of salvation is God's work. It is a sovereign work. It is Almighty God who reaches down to us in love and mercy and saves us. We were singing those words in Psalm 40 a few moments ago. He lifts us up from the mire. He rescues us and saves us. One commentator points out that salvation always begins with God. Perhaps that seems obvious this morning, but it's something we need to remember. Too often we forget this. Salvation always begins with God. Now do not misunderstand what I'm saying this morning. Those of us who are Christians, who are believers, can point back to that time in our lives when our hearts were broken before God. We were convicted of our sin. We realized that our sin deserved to be punished. We're separated from God. And the Lord spoke into our hearts And we realized that the Lord Jesus Christ was our only hope of salvation. Christ God, the son who came, who lived the perfect life, who went to Calvary, who died and rose again. And it was that point where we submitted to almighty God, where we bowed to him, we exercised faith and repentance. For that's what the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught, faith and repentance for salvation. And we thank the Lord as believers for those times in our lives where the Lord dealt with us and we turned to him, we fled to him for salvation and mercy. We rejoice in those times. But we cannot forget salvation always begins with God. Yes, to be saved we must exercise faith in Christ, but let's not forget Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the grace of God, it is the gift of God. The gift of God. We are reminded that even the faith that Christians have in the Lord Jesus Christ, that faith that saves, is the gift of God. Do we not marvel in our hearts we who are rebels against God. And yet he provided his Son to take the punishment for us, and then he gifted us the faith so that we could be saved. Salvation begins with God. God commences his work of salvation in believers. If we turn to our catechisms, again, we will see evidence and proof that salvation begins with God. What is a factual calling? It is a work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of sin and misery, enlightening us to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and renewing our wills. We're persuaded and enabled to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as freely offered in the gospel. And the Lord draws us onto himself in mercy. And the Lord draws near to the sinner, and the Spirit works in the hearts of those who are lost, and the lost are drawn onto God. And we are shown our need, that we must repent and believe. And so when we come to Philippians chapter one and the verse six, we can say, God hath begun a good work in us. And surely our hearts as believers are encouraged. There's security here. God has commenced the work in the lives and hearts of believers. There's security. We remember God is the one who is the creator. He is eternal. He does not change. In Ephesians 1, we're reminded that God has chosen a people unto himself before the foundation of the world. And if he has chosen a people unto himself and he is eternal and does not change, then those people can never be lost. There is your assurance, believer. There is your comfort. None that God has chosen can perish. For the Lord changes not. He will not let his chosen people go. There's encouragement also when we think even about our service. God commences this work of salvation. And so often as we go about in Christian service, we seek to give out tracts. We work among boys and girls, young people, gospel missions, open airs, whatever the case may be, we grow discouraged. And perhaps neighboring churches are doing the same things, and they're seeing many people saved. And the ones and twos are coming in, but we're discouraged because we seem to see so little fruit. Remember, God commences His work in believers. God begins this work of salvation. He has a chosen people, and those people will be brought unto Him. And the Scripture says they will be reached through preaching. And we should be encouraged because His people are chosen. Therefore, we press on. We keep preaching. We keep reaching out, for he will gather his people in. Sometimes, when we seek to speak a word for the Lord, we can grow very discouraged. We can beat ourselves up about our feeble efforts. We can examine our words after we have spoken with an individual one-to-one, and we think to ourselves, well, I didn't say that, and I shouldn't. And I wasn't clear in what I was presenting there, and we tear ourselves apart. We must remember that salvation belongs unto the Lord. It's not up to us to save that soul. Yes, we're faithful. We tell the good news of the gospel to everyone we meet. We share our knowledge of the Savior, but we cannot save. Salvation is off the Lord. We wait, we pray, we witness. God gives the increase. Verse six reminds us that this work begins with God. We cannot create salvation, we are only to be faithful. Surely we're encouraged when we see this work commencing here in verse six, because we see the sovereignty of God. Throughout the scriptures, there are examples of God drawing alongside lost and hopeless and helpless sinners, and drawing those people onto himself. Turn with me to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Paul testifies of events here in this chapter. Acts 16 and the verse 13, and on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And so they come across these women who are in a prayer meeting. Verse 14, and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us. Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And we see these men come to this prayer meeting, and they witness to these women, and they sit down alongside these women, and they witness. We don't read in these verses that they were pushy. We don't read in these verses that they were seeking to force a decision out of this woman. We don't read in these verses that some kind of a headcount was made after so that they could proclaim so many were saved. They were faithful. They sat down beside these women, they shared the gospel, and the Lord opened the heart of Lydia. Not Paul, not anyone else, the Lord. God commences his work in believers. Salvation begins with God. We are called to be faithful, to pray, to reach out. But salvation is off the Lord. What a comfort it is to believers to know that God commences this work of salvation. It begins with him. As believers, often we feel doubts, We feel that perhaps our faith is high and then some days it's low. The work of salvation begins with God. It is not altered by our emotions. And so we ask this morning to any who may be gathered with us still outside of Christ, the unsaved, have you felt the Lord dealing with your heart? Have you felt conviction in your heart? Have you realized, have you known Him dealing with you? Have you realized you're a sinner? Has the Lord been revealing unto you that Jesus Christ is your only hope of salvation? Are you going to continue to reject the Lord? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is clear, repent and believe. Turn from your sin. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, seek his forgiveness. Not only do we see God commences his work in believers in verse six, but secondly, we noticed this morning, God continues his work in believers. God continues his work in believers, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it. It's an ongoing work. It's not simply a case of coming to the Lord in faith, and after that, living in whatever way you please, going back into the sins that you always knew. We come to the Lord in faith and repentance, and we are justified. But after that, the Lord Jesus Christ is our King and Master. Our whole lives belong to Him. The process of sanctification begins. Sanctification is that process where we become more and more like our Savior each and every day. The old sins are put away. We seek to live lives that are holy and clean and righteous before the Lord. It's growth in grace. It's growth in the lives of believers. The Lord seeks to mold us and to shape us as believers. The Lord is the potter and we are the clay and we're shaped more and more like our Savior each and every day. Sanctification is a work of God and it's a lifetime process. It's a lifetime process. It will not cease until we're at home with Him. I recall hearing a story from the mission field a number of years ago. I think it was Kenya, actually. And some young girls had placed their trust in Christ. They were believing. The fruit was there in their lives. And they went to one of the missionaries, deeply concerned. Because though they had trusted in Christ, they had sought to repent, in their lives there were still sin, they still stumbled, they still failed the Lord, and they were lamenting. I am a Christian, I should not be sinning. They were justified, but they were still being sanctified. They were still going through that process where the Lord was making them more and more like the Savior each and every day. That's what the Lord does. He continues his work in the lives of believers. He's continuing to shape us and to mold us. We need to remember that. You know, sometimes as Christians, we let our past mistakes get on top of us. There are times as believers, we fail the Lord, we stumble, we fall into sin. And we're not justifying sin here this morning. That's not what we're doing. But when we do fall into sin, we must obey the Lord. We must come to him, we must repent, we must confess, and we must go on with him. We must remember that the Lord continues to work in the lives of his people. He's continuing to sanctify us each and every day. When we face temptation, do we remember that the Lord is continuing to work in the lives of believers? Sometimes we have this attitude, and we hear it often. Believers will almost excuse their sin. And they will say, well, there's a certain sin, and I'm susceptible to it. It's that sin which so easily besets me. And they justify it. And they say, well, I will always fall into that sin. There's nothing I can do about it. I have this weakness within me. We ought to be remembering that God continues to work in believers. And when we face sins we feel susceptible to, that thought should be at the forefront of our minds. God is continuing to work in me. That provides the strength, the courage to turn and walk away from that God is continuing to work in me, to shape me, to mold me, to sanctify me. Therefore, I must resist. I must walk away. As believers, we do well to remember that other Christians are also going through this process of sanctification. They, too, make mistakes. they too stumble and fall. There will be other Christians, and they will come along, and they will say things they shouldn't, they will do things they shouldn't, and it will offend us, and perhaps they will get at us and we'll be hurt. But we must forgive. We remember that those Christians too are being sanctified by the Lord. We remember that the Lord is continuing to work in those individuals as well. What a wonderful thought it is to know that the Lord sanctifies his people. He's continuing to work in his people. He's teaching his people, correcting his people, chastening, reprove, encouraging his people. Why? To make us more like Christ. More privilege. What a marvelous thought. God commences his work in believers. God continues his work in believers. But as we close, we notice God completes his work in believers. God completes his work in believers. Verse 6 says, being confident of this very thing. that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Here is the great confidence that Paul the Apostle had. The Lord has called the people unto himself. The Lord has redeemed that people through the blood of his only Son. The Lord cares for his people. He sanctifies them. He causes them to grow. He molds and shapes them. Is he then going to let those people go? No. He's going to complete his work in their lives until the day of Christ. These believers will either see Christ in death or they will meet him on the last day. God completes his work in believers. God has justified believers. He is sanctifying believers. one day believers will be glorified. They will be in the presence of their Savior and Lord. There's no doubt here in Paul's mind, certain. The Lord will never let his people go. He will complete that which he started. It is, of course, against the character of God. to abandon something he has started. You think about that. You look around you, you look outside, you see the trees, you see creation. Does any of those things, do any of those things give any indication that God began that work of creation and then gave up? Of course not. He finishes, he starts. There's certainty. And I have to say this morning, believer, struggling with assurance. Believer, struggling with doubts. Listen to the words of verse six. He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. What comfort. What the Lord has started in the life of a believer will be carried through. assurance. But again, as we close this morning, there's the challenge for any that are unsaved, any still outside of Christ. How often we hear it said, Oh, I'd love to be a Christian, but I could never keep it. Oh, I'd love to be a Christian, but I could not live that life. And of course, the Christian life is difficult. There are many challenges. There are sacrifices to be made. It's hard. But we need to remember that we do not keep a hold of the Lord. He keeps hold of us. He commences this work of salvation. He continues this work and he completes it. John 10 in the verse 28, And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. There's the assurance the Lord Jesus Christ gives. If you come, He will save. If you repent and believe, He will save. He will mold you. He will correct you. He will shape you and sanctify you, and he will never let you go. Do you have such assurance today? Can you say that the Lord God has commenced, continues, and will one day complete his work in me?