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Wherefore, my beloved, as ye
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 which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. do all things
without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day
of Christ, that I have not rung in vain, neither laboured in
vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon
the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice
with you all. For the same cause also do you
joy and rejoice with me. Amen. And again, may the Lord
bless the reading of his word to our hearts. Let's bow in prayer
and we'll ask the Lord just to give us that help that we need
this morning as we come to the preaching of his word. Gracious and eternal God, we
humbly bow in thy presence this morning. And as we would come
to this time around the word of God, having already sang thy
praise, heard thy word being read, having already entered
into the spirit of worship, we ask, O Lord, that you would now
speak to us and that you would communicate to us through thy
divine truth. We ask, O Lord, that as the word
of God is preached, that you would give help to declare it
boldly and yet accurately, that this would be thy word. We ask,
O Lord, that as it is preached to us, that the spirit of God
may take that word. and apply it to our hearts and
lives. We realize, O Lord, that no church or no Christian can
merely get by in the flesh. We need the working of the Spirit
of God upon our hearts and upon our congregation. And we ask,
O Lord, that the Spirit would come and work upon our hearts
this day, that the word would be a living word to us, that
it would become alive to our very souls, and that you would
give help both to the hearer and to the preacher to preach
the word of God. Lord, give me clarity of thought
and clarity of speech, we pray. And I ask it as I would open
up my mouth that you might fill it with thy praise. For we ask
it in the name of thy only begotten son, in his wonderful name. Amen
and amen. If you were to ask a large group
of people the question, why are you working? Or what do you hope
to achieve through working? I believe the majority answer
that you would get in response would be something along the
lines of retirement. I am working, so someday I do
not have to work. And this today is the popular
motive behind why people enter into employment, get engaged
in a career, but they always have it in the front of their
vision that they hope someday to end that job and to finish
that career and retire. Now the idea of retirement began
in the Roman Empire through the Roman Empire providing a pension
for those who had served in the military. But it was really introduced
into our modern world by the conservative German Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck. He did this in reaction to the
communists who were stoking up political trouble in the nation
at that time. And he introduced it to, and
essentially all those over 70 years had to retire. They were
forced into retirement, but in turn they would receive a pension
from the state to sustain them. This would open up more jobs
in the economy, in the workplace, for the younger people to engage
then in employment. fast track over a hundred years
and the idea of retirement has become an ideal for many irregardless
of age. Much of the money advice that
you hear today is how to retire young and early and retirement
has become this fixation of which we have in our minds. Now the
text before us this morning reminds us of the work that we are called
to engage in as the Lord's people. It says there in verse number
12, and I'll focus in on this one part, where it says, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling. Now as we will come to consider
what this work is this morning, I want you to keep in your mind
that this is a work that you as a Christian are called to
for the entirety of your Christian experience in this world. That
there is no retirement from the work that is before you as a
believer, as a child of God. Yes, we are working on our way
to glory. We are working on our way to
heaven. But we will work as believers and we will work as we'll come
to see in sanctification until the day that we die and we enter
into our celestial home. There will be no sick days from
this work. There will be no days off from
this work. There will be no holiday period
or long weekend from the work that we are called to be engaged
in, in holiness in our lives. Now notice it says then in verse
number 13, and here we have the two main statements that I want
to bring together and to consider with you today. In verse number
13 it says, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure. It is God who works in you. And so the question might be
then, well, which is it? Is it we who are called to work
or is it God who is working in us? And the answer very simply
is both. It is we who are called to work
and to labor in the area of sanctification, but it is also God who by His
Spirit works in our hearts to sanctify us each and every day. And so the passage before us
in the two verses that I primarily want to consider with you this
morning is teaching us concerning the cooperation that there is
in our sanctification. that there is a cooperation in
our Christian experience, whereas we work and we labor to become
more holy and godly and conform to the image of Christ, so God
also works with us and in us for his own glory and good pleasure. And so the subject that I want
to bring out this morning for you is entitled, Working Out
the Inward Work. Working Out the Inward Work. Now, as we think again of this
section, we've already dealt with the previous verses of chapter
number two, and there was two main subjects that we had considered
together. First of all, we considered the
humiliation of Christ, and then we considered together the exaltation
of Christ. And Paul has not begun a new
argument here, nor has he begun a completely new distinct section
of thought disassociated from what has come before. For I want
you to see the important word there that connects everything
in verse 12, wherefore. And so having considered the
truth that God blesses the humble, having seen the reality, lived
out in the experience and example of Christ, that God will exalt
the humble and bless the humble and reward the meek. We, in light
of that, are now to live out our Christian lives with that
thread being woven right through it. Paul here gives three exhortations
in this section. He says there in the verse number
12, work out your own salvation. Then in verse number 14, do all
things without murmurings and disputings. And then in verse
number 16, hold forth the word of life. But how are we to do
these three things? And they'll be the basis of the
next few sermons. But how are we to do these things?
We are to do them in view of Christ. We are to do them in
view of his example, how that he entered into this world in
his state of humiliation, and he lived out in this world a
life of constant humility. So as we consider this passage
today and in subsequent weeks as well, the exhortations to
unity in verse 14 and to hold forth the word of life, it is
with that essential truth woven through it. that we are to do
these things with humility, with lowliness of heart, esteeming
the other person better than ourselves, recognizing this truth
that God will bless the humble and God will exalt us in due
time. But here we see, as we continue
on here, that I want to just consider the first of these exhortations,
because you really can consider these exhortations in themselves,
standing in their own right. And so this morning, we're just
going to consider the verse number 12 and the verse number 13, where
we have that truth of God's work in our work of sanctification,
God working inwardly in us and how we are called then to work
out that inward work. Now as we come to consider this
this morning there's three things that I want you to see. We're
going to consider first of all the commendation. that Paul gives
to the Philippians who have already begun this work of sanctification. But then secondly, we're going
to see the exhortation that he gives to the Philippians to continue
on in this work of sanctification. And then thirdly, we're going
to recognize the divine work in sanctification and God's work
in the lives of these Philippians as he continued to sanctify them. Now you'll notice with me here
as we consider the commendation of the Philippians. It says here
the commendation of the Philippians. Notice here first of all who
he is addressing this to. He says wherefore my beloved
and the term beloved is a interesting term for him to use. Paul only
ever uses this term in reference to believers. It is a word that
he employs in several of his epistles to address the Lord's
people. And it is a word that identifies
the unique relationship and the unique love that he had as apostle
to people and from people to apostle as well. Now, we must
establish this because as we will come to see, there are those
who would like to try and take this verse, wrestle it from its
context and say, well, see, we are to work in our salvation.
It's not just that God does the work, but that we are actually
to work out something in our own salvation. And of course
they misapply and misunderstand the word salvation there. But
they will try to take this as something that is to be preached
in terms of you must save yourself. That's the idea. Or you must
contribute something to your own justification in the eyes
of God. And that is not the sense. Because
we see here right from the start, who is Paul speaking to? He's
speaking to the beloved. He's speaking to God's people.
He's not speaking to the unbeliever. He's not speaking to the heathen.
He's not speaking to the unconverted. He's speaking to the Lord's people.
And so as we will come to see, this is speaking about sanctification,
not justification. We keep that in mind. It's one
of the reasons why we believe that, because this is being addressed
to God's people. But also as well, this word,
It continues to show us the deep affection that there was between
Paul and these Philippian believers. And this is something that we
ought to long for and pray for, that there would be among the
Lord's people Not just the use of the word beloved, but the
very essence of that word as well, that we would feel that
loving connection between one another as brothers and sisters
in the Lord. Having been united together by
Christ, having been bound together in Him for all of night time
and right into eternity, for all of eternity, we will be all
united together in Christ. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Oh, may the Lord increase even
the love that there is in affection between us. But notice here,
what did he command them for? What did he command them for?
Well, he says here in verse number 12, Wherefore, my beloved, as
ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence." He commends them here for their
obedience. They have obeyed. Now, who have
they obeyed? Well, I believe there's a twofold
answer here. They have obeyed, first of all,
Paul. They have obeyed Paul. Paul is the one sent by God as
the minister to them. He had preached to them. He had
given to them that apostolic truth. He was preaching the word
of God, revealing the word of God, dividing, expounding the
word of God to them. And they had received that truth
from him. but also their obedience was
to God as well. They were obeying the word of
God. Yes, they had received from Paul,
but it was God's word, and so they were living a life of obedience
to him. Now, I believe this shows the
character of the people here, that these were a people who
were just taking in the word of God, drinking in what God
was saying to them through the preaching of the word, and they
were obeying it. They weren't trying to be stubborn.
They weren't digging in their heels. They were simply hearing
what the word being preached was and they were obeying and
submitting their lives to it. And here again, we see the wonderful
character personality of this people, just a willing submission
to the Word of God. Not trying to skirt around God's
commands, not putting up arguments against God's commands, trying
to get out of what the Bible would bind and require us to
do, but simply obeying, obeying. Now there are those that would
say, well, I don't follow man, nor do I obey men. I only follow
and I only obey God. And that sounds spiritual, and
yet it's not. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we
read that passage very clearly. regularly in our congregation.
Verse number one, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. And so here, Paul is saying,
follow me, follow me. The example that I'm setting
for you, the preaching that I am giving to you, the word of God
that I'm expounding, follow me in that word as I follow Christ. And this is what I believe the
Philippians were doing. As Paul commends them here for
their obedience, they were following Paul as Paul was following Christ. Taking in the word and being
obedient to it. But then he also commends them
as well for their persistency. Notice he says that ye have always
obeyed. They didn't pick and choose what
biblical doctrine to obey and what not to obey. They didn't
look down the 10 commandments as Paul would have been preaching
them to them as Gentiles and saying, well, we like this commandment,
but we don't like that commandment. No, they would have listened
to the entirety of the word of God. In all that God required
believers to believe and to do under the new covenant, and they
were always obey. Always obey. There is a persistency
in that. That as they would receive the
word of God, they would bring their lives into conformity with
that word. We are a people, and I believe
it's common of many people, we don't like change. Especially
the older that we get, we get ingrained into our lifestyle,
we get ingrained into our beliefs, we get ingrained into our actions.
And whenever something comes that causes us to change something
in our lives, there can be that resistance. We then go and look
for arguments against something that the preacher is preaching.
Or we say, well, I don't I don't think about that or I don't want
to do that. And there's a hesitancy. And yet here we have this example
as the truth of God was being given, as the truth of God was
being preached to them, they were just always obeying, always
submitting to the word, the biblical truth that they had received. But then there was also a commendation
of their consistency, their obedience, their persistency, but also now
their consistency. Because notice what he says,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. And he's commending them here
because he's saying to them, listen, you have always obeyed
You have been obedient, you have been persistent, but you haven't
just been doing these things when I've been there. In fact,
now that I'm not there and I'm not in your presence, you're
actually pursuing these things even more. And so he's commending
the believers here for the consistency of practice that there was. They
weren't doing these things simply for the minister or for the pastor. They were living a life, they
were serving, they were behaving like Christians, not to impress
Paul, but to impress God. To do it for his glory and for
honor. And here is something that in
many ways, many of us are guilty of. that we will do things for
other people, that we will behave, we will act, we will live in
a certain way, we will even serve in a certain capacity to impress
somebody else. There can be times whenever it's
the common expectation, whenever the pastor perhaps goes away,
and for some reason the church empties on the Sunday that the
pastor's away, and there's always the comment, and this is through
every church I believe, where did people go? And I believe
that's a great concern. I believe that shows a lack of
true spiritual religion in the heart of the believer. If it's
the minister that you're coming to church for, then let me say
to you, my friend, you have a very poor religion. If it's the pastor
or the minister that is drawing you into the congregation and
not the worship of God, my friend, that is entirely foolish because
God sees the heart. God sees the heart. Oh, I pray
that there would be consistency of obedience to the Word of God
in the presence of those whom we respect and even in their
absence, whether we be in public, whether we be in private, wherever
we are, wherever we be, that there would be a consistency
of life and of godliness in all that we would claim to be and
to believe. But notice then, secondly, with
me this morning, he gives to the Philippians an exhortation. And this is really the main thrust
of what we want to get into. He has already commanded them
that this sanctifying work that they were engaged in, it wasn't
just something that they were beginning. It wasn't just something
that Paul was coming along and saying, listen, you've dropped
the ball in this area. No, they were always obedient.
They were always obeying. They were already doing this,
even in the absence of Paul. But now he continues on with
a fresh exhortation to them. For he says then in verse 12,
work out your own salvation. with fear and trembling." Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now we need to
look at this word firstly, salvation. Now we commonly use that word
in our evangelical language and vocabulary with the definition
that it speaks about our justification. And so whenever we speak about
salvation, we're speaking, I believe, commonly about that one single
aspect, that you're justified in the eyes of God, that your
sins have been forgiven, that you're on your way to heaven,
that you're saved from the wrath that is to come. And that's right,
and that's proper, and that's accurate. However, the word salvation
is a broad term. It doesn't just speak about that
singular aspect of justification, although there's times when the
word is used and only one aspect is being drawn out, just like
we have in the passage before us this morning. But it's a word
that encompasses our entire salvation. We are justified in the eyes
of God, declared innocent before him. But our salvation and the
benefits we receive continues on in the fact that we're adopted
into the family of God. Our adoption is a part of our
salvation. But then we also have our sanctification
being made more in conformity to the image and to the likeness
of Christ. That's also a part of our salvation
because we're not just saved from the punishment of sin, we're
saved from its power and dominion as well. And then we also have
our glorification when we'll enter into that celestial state
and we will enter into heaven and we will be truly transformed
into his likeness. That's all a part of our salvation. And so when we understand that
this is a broad term, we also recognize that this term can
be used in just selecting one of these aspects. And so the
question before us then in verse number 12 is, what aspect of
salvation is Paul referencing when he says that we are to work
it out? Well, let's go through it. Can he be talking about our
justification? No. For what does it say in Titus
chapter 3 in verse 5? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us.
Ephesians chapter 2 and the verse number 8 and 9, it is by grace
you are saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And
so the Bible is very clear that there is nothing of our works
that we contribute to our justifications. We cannot be speaking of that
aspect. But what about adoption? Well, the Bible says, let's just
turn to one reference for time's sake for that, we'll turn to
John. John chapter one. John chapter one in the verse
number 12, it says, but as many as received him, to them gave
he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
in his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And so how
are we born again? We are born by the power of God
entering into our hearts and into our lives. And how are we
brought into the family of God? We are brought into the family
of God by an act of God himself. He brings us in, he puts his
spirit within us, and he crowns us as his children. So it cannot
be adoption that it is speaking about. But what about glorification? Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
1 Corinthians chapter 15, and let's read together just the
verse 50 and the verse number 51. Now this I say, brethren,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." Here again,
you'll notice the passive language in this. Paul is saying that
the kingdom of God, this changing, this incorruption that he puts
on in verse number 53, is something he inherits. It's not something
that he has worked for. That's the idea of an inheritance.
It's something he has received. And again, this change, it's
passive language and so on. And so it cannot be speaking
of our glorification. And we know this even by not
just the scriptures, but by Christian experience as well. We recognize
that there was nothing that we had done in our hearts and our
lives in that time when we were born again. We realize even if
we cannot put a particular time or day upon when we were born
again, that whenever we received the assurance of our salvation,
again, our works did not bring that assurance to us. We're always
looking to Christ and what he has done. There was never a time
when we did something that suddenly brought us into the family of
God. We realize as we wait for that blessed hope, we are waiting
for that day in which we will be glorified. However, there
is an aspect within our salvation that we are exhorted to work
in, and that is the work or the grace of sanctification. 1 Peter 1, verse 16, For commanded
be ye holy, for I am holy, We read in the book of Hebrews chapter
12, Hebrews chapter 12 in the verse number 14, it says there,
follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord. And so when Paul is writing here,
work out your own salvation, I believe that he is referencing
Specifically, the work of sanctification and the progress of holiness
and godliness in the believer's life. Now the reason why he uses
the word salvation is because all of our salvation is connected.
As Paul would write in James chapter 2 about our justification,
you declare your justification by your works. It's all connected. A justified man will be living
as a sanctified person, will be progressing in sanctification. You don't get one without the
other. This is an unbreakable chain from beginning to end.
And so that is why he uses the word salvation. But before we
go any further, it must be emphasized that we are only working out
the reality of God's work in us. We are unable to make ourselves
holy or pure or godly. It is the power of Christ's resurrection
dwelling within us. that enables us to live as holy. And this is a point that must
be emphasized, because there's a mindset that sometimes that
we are saved by grace, but we are sanctified by law. Now my
friend, the law has a place in the Christian's life. God's law
has a binding standard upon you and I today, that we are to follow
it in obedience to it. But merely keeping the law does
not make you holy. It does not sanctify you. It
does not make you holy. It does not increase the spiritual
graces in your heart. It's only Christ can do that.
And so as we think about sanctification and how we must work in our sanctification,
that must always be in view, that we are only ever working
out what has already been worked in. And we are only enabled to
work out that sanctification because the power of Jesus Christ
dwells within us. As Paul would write in Galatians
chapter 2 and the verse number 20, He references there and he
says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Notice that word faith. How is
Paul living his Christian life? He's living his Christian life
by the continual exercise of faith in Christ. Yes, it was
faith that brought us to Jesus Christ and justified us and forgave
us of our sins and inequities. But faith didn't end there. We
continue on looking to Christ and believing in him that he
will sanctify us. So here today, we're going to
see the cooperation of this work, that you and I are called to
work, but it is only the working out of what has already been
worked in by the grace of God in our lives. But how are we
to work out our salvation? Well, let me read to you Romans
chapter six, and this will be a longer reading, but it's probably
the most applicable passage to us working out our sanctification
working out holiness in our lives. Romans chapter 6 in the verse
number 1 it says, What shall we then say? Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into
his death. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, and that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once. But in that he liveth, he liveth
unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin. but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive
from the dead. and your members as instruments
of righteousness onto God. Let me draw just two points here.
I want you to again go back to this important truth that we
are only sanctified through the working of Christ in our lives.
Paul instructs here and he says, don't yield your members, your
body parts, your instruments, your mind, any part of you as
an instrument of unrighteousness. Don't let sin rule you in your
body. But what does he base this on?
He's basing it on the fact that these people are in union with
Christ. that they are in a saving relationship
with him. And being united to Christ, they
have died onto sin, just as Christ has died. They were buried in
that grave, and now they have come forth with newness of life,
and they are living that life as a witness to the resurrection
power of Christ. And it's through that that they're
enabled to live in righteousness. It's through that power that
they are enabled to die more and more onto sin. And so my
friend, it is not as if Christ has justified you and then just
slapped you in the back and sent you out into the world and said,
go now and live holy. No, Christ has justified you
and he is still with you, sanctifying you, cleansing you, bringing
out that good work in your heart. As Paul would encourage the Philippians
in Philippians 1 verse 6, he that hath begun a good work in
you will perform it. He'll keep working in you until
that day in which he comes again. But yet there is an aspect, a
true aspect, in which we are to work in sanctification. Now
I believe Romans tells us here what that work is. If we could
narrow it down to one verse, it would be the verse 13. And
there's two aspects to our work in sanctification that are both
contained here in the verse number 13. And let me give you the theological
terms and then I'll give you a simpler term. The first one
is mortification. Mortification. And the second
one is vivification. Vivification. Mortification and
vivification. To mortify means to kill, to
put to death. And vivification means to live
on to. And we as Christians are to live
on to righteousness. So these are the two aspects.
As a Christian, you are called to work in your sanctification
every single day with no retirement, with no day off, with no long
weekend, with no respite. You are engaged in a holy war
against your flesh. And in this war, you are to put
to death sin and you are to live and practice righteousness. Paul
would say in verse 13, neither yield ye your members as instruments
of unrighteousness unto sin. Put sin to death. Don't give
in to it. Kill sin. As Paul would write
again in Colossians chapter 3 and the verse number 5 where he would
say, mortify therefore your members. Mortify the lusts of your flesh.
Mortify your body. If a sinful thought comes in,
put it to death. If there's a sinful action that
you're tempted to perform, put it to death. We are to kill sin
in our lives. Now to take this even further
in a more practical direction, how do we kill sin? How do we
kill sin? Every one of us here this morning
wrestles and fights with sin. And it is true from Christian
experience that there may be a sin that you will struggle
with that I may not. maybe struggle with, but there'll
be sins that I will struggle with more than what you will
struggle with more. And there'll be common sins that
we will all struggle with and so on. But how do we deal with
sin? No matter what that sin is, whether
it's lust, whether it's lies, whether it's Sabbath breaking,
whether it's not putting God first and loving him with all
of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, whatever it may be,
how do we kill sin? First of all, we kill sin by
separating ourselves from it. We must kill all known sin in
our lives. Matthew chapter 5, the Lord Jesus
gives us the best instruction of how to deal with sin. Matthew
chapter 5 in the verse number 29 to 30. Notice he says there,
and if thy, let's read verse number 27, ye have heard that
it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery,
but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after
her hath already committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from
thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into
hell. And if thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. For it is profitable
for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy
whole body should be cast into hell. The Lord Jesus Christ is
employing the use of hyperbolic language here. We know that this
is not a literal command to mutilate our bodies in any way. That would
be a violation of the sixth commandment to preserve life and so on. Violation
of the Old Testament commandments as well. He's using hyperbolic
language and strong language at that. And he's saying whatever
causes you to sin, cut it off. Cut it off. Don't try and change
it. Don't try and just put up a little
fence. Get rid of it. Get it out of your life. Whatever
that temptation is, get away from it. Cut it off from you
completely. There's a struggle with lying.
Set a watch before your mouth. Wake up every day and pray, Lord,
let me not lie. Not even in the smallest of degrees. Lord, make me conscious of every
word that I speak, that it would not come out of my mouth and
sin. It's a problem with lust, no matter what it is, cut it
off. There's something that you're watching. Don't trifle with it.
Don't say, well, I can get over this. No, get rid of it. Get
rid of any exposure to it. Get rid of any opportunity to
it. If you're in the workplace and there's somebody in that
workplace and they're flirting with you, you cut it off. Don't
try and be nice to the person. Don't try and be polite to the
person. You just kill it there and then. Never trifle with sin
in any way, no matter what sin it is. Never trifle with it. Kill it. Separate yourself from
it completely. Now we know that there are times
that although we try to separate ourselves from sin, yet sin will
come to us. We think about Joseph back in
the book of Genesis and how Joseph was seeking to live a godly life,
working hard in Potiphar's house, laboring for him. And what happened
to him? Potiphar's wife came. And so the second way in which
we deal with sin is to flee, is to run from sin. Paul would
write in 2 Timothy 2.22, flee youthful lusts and follow after
righteousness. And so again we see the requirement
in us if we are to mortify the flesh, we are to cut off any
sin, we are to flee from sin, but not just that. We are to
not just kill the act, but we are also called to kill the affection. It's easy in many ways, or I
should say it's easier to kill the act. It's easier to set up
boundaries. It's easier to cut things off
and say, I'm not gonna give myself to that. It's easier to watch
over these things, but it's a lot harder to kill the affection.
Kill the affection. And yet we are called not to
make a holy war just with our actions, we are called to make
a holy war with our affections as well. And this is the wonderful
thing of sanctification, as we work, God works in us as well. And God can truly sanctify you. God can change, and God can not
just keep you from those sinful actions, but God can change your
affections and bring you to a point where you actually hate that
sin and loathe that sin that you previously used to engage
in, indulge in, and love. He can so sanctify the human
heart and the human mind as to bring us into a state of victory. Now, we will always be susceptible
to sin. We will always have the old nature
that is there and can rise up. But is it possible for a Christian
to have victory over sin in their lives? I'm not talking here about
sinless perfection. Absolutely not. But I'm talking
here about sins that have warred against our flesh. Is it possible
to live in a state of victory? Absolutely. Absolutely. No, my friend, this could only
be done when we recognize that God is working in our sanctification,
but we are called to work as well. But then we are also to
live on to righteousness. Romans chapter six, verse number
three, we have considered there mortification, but now vivification,
we are to live on to righteousness. For Paul would write there in
Romans chapter six, verse number three, find it there. Sorry, the verse number 13. But
yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the
dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. And
so kill off this sin, kill off that practice, but now live on
to God. Live on to him. My friend, you
must give yourself to holy things. It is not enough for you simply
to deny yourself the indulgences of the flesh. If you would be
holy before God, you must practice righteousness. You must do the
things that are holy, even in your life. Now, all of these
things, let me remind you again, are only made effectual by the
Holy Ghost. There are many today across this
world that are not converted and they deny themselves these
things. They deny themselves these sinful
pleasures and they're not holy people. They don't possess true
holiness. True holiness is only possible
when there is the working of the Spirit of God in our heart,
lifting us up higher, making us more in conformity to the
image of Christ, increasing our love of holy things and increasing
our hatred of things that are unholy. And there ought to be
an increase. There ought to be a steady increase
in holiness in the believer's life. But let me finish with
this, and with this I close, the recognition of the divine
work in sanctification. The recognition of the divine
work in sanctification. If we were to simply end it at
verse 12, Go believers, go now, work out your own salvation.
And you were to go out into the world and you were to try and
deny yourself the lusts of the flesh and you were to try and
live on to righteousness. Guess what would happen? You
would feel. You would absolutely and totally
feel. The only thing that gives us
great confidence today that our sanctification, although it's
progressive, Although it takes time, although there will be
times when we feel the only thing that gives us encouragement that
there will be an onwards and upward trajectory of holiness
in our Christian life is the fact of verse 13, for it is God
which worketh in you. Go and work, believer. Go and
labor in sanctification, knowing that your God is working in you. And here we see the cooperation
that there is in our sanctification. Let me say again, there is never
this type of language used in regards to our justification.
for you can contribute nothing, no works or anything. But here
we have this cooperation. Again, the language that theologians
would commonly use, they would describe our justification as
monergistic, as the sole work of God alone, but our sanctification
as synergistic, in that there is a cooperation between us and
God, a working together, in our lives. Alan Kearns said it is
concerning sanctification. He said it is both a duty and
a grace. Regeneration is the work of God
solely and therefore it is a grace. In sanctification the believer
cooperates with the Spirit of God in the use of the means provided
and thus it is not only a grace of the Spirit but is also a duty
of the Christian. So yes, sanctification is a work
of God's free grace, but it is also a duty that you and I perform. But again, how is God then working
in us? How does God work in us? And
let me say this, God works in our lives to sanctify us, to
make us more holy through just the common means of grace. the
ordinary means of greece. He works through us through his
word. John 17 verse 17, sanctify them through my truth, thy word
is truth. He sanctifies us and works in
us through prayer. Matthew 6 verse 13, and lead
us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. He works in us
as we gather around the Lord's supper, and as we receive the
grace that is given through that supper. 1 Corinthians chapter
11, in the verse number 27 to 28. 1 Corinthians 11, the
verse number 27. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. There is grace that is given because there is an examination
that is done. We examine our hearts for sin, for
a lax in holiness, and we put it right. There's also the grace
that God gives in scientification through church discipline. In
verse number 32, but when we are judged, we are chastened
of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.
And so God even uses church discipline to correct people as a sanctifying
grace upon their lives, to say to them, listen, you're going
the wrong way, you're going the wrong direction, you're doing
something wrong, or you're being banned or not permitted to come
to the Lord's table. It's a warning to you that you're
not in fellowship with God. And it's a grace in and of itself
to sanctify you and to cleanse you. And so believer this morning,
if you would be holy, if you would be sanctified, how ought
you to live? You must bring yourself to the
means of grace. And in bringing yourself to the
means of grace, you are putting yourself under the working of
the Spirit of God to take the means of grace and to work holiness
and godliness in your life. My friend, a stable, steady diet. of the word, prayer, and sacraments
will sanctify you and will make you more holy. Perhaps you're
struggling with a sin this morning. And there are times whenever
particular actions of sins can have practical advice in terms
of how to deal with them. But in terms of sin, Whatever
that sin may be, whether that sin is an action, whether that
sin is an affection, how do you overcome it as a Christian? Through
the word, through prayer, and through the sacraments. That's
how you overcome it. That's how you become more godly.
Let me save you a lot of money on your Christian counselors,
that most of your problems are as a result of sin. Let me save
you a lot of problem or a lot of money and time in terms of
marriage counselors, because most of the problems in your
marriage are a result of sin. And how do you overcome sin? You overcome it through the means
of grace that God in Christ has provided. And the Spirit of God
works in your heart, using these things to show you your sin,
reprove you, draw you back, encourage you, build you up, to lead you
out of it. This is how God works. And if
you would be holy, this is how and what you must give yourself
to, that the Spirit would work in your heart. And notice just
in closing how God does this. It says, which worketh in you
both to will, to bring you into conformity with his will, and
to do of his own good pleasure. Why does God do this? Because
he has his good pleasure by it.
This is something that is an expression of the joy of God,
that he sanctifies his people and he cleanses them. My friend,
we as the Lord's people must give ourselves to the pursuit
of holiness, not as a means to attain salvation, but as the
express evidence of it. And I urge you today, pursue
holiness and pursue godliness and pray for one another, that
one another would have victory over sin and do war with sin
and recognize the danger that sin presents for all of our problems. All of the afflictions that we
have are all as a result of sin. If you would have a happy home,
fight sin within your home. If you would have a happy marriage,
fight sin in your marriage. If you would have a godly church
and a godly life, fight sin within your heart and in your life.
Have no peace with it. Do not make any truce with it,
but fight it with everything you have. For my friend, as one
of the Puritans said, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. I pray that God would give you
the grace and that God would through this word give you an
even greater burden to pursue the work of sanctification as
God would work even in your life.
Working Out the Inward Work
Series Exposition of Philippians
In this sermon we will consider the subject of "Working Out the Inward Work"
The Commendation of their Sanctification
The Exhortation to Sanctification
The Recognition of God's work in Sanctification
| Sermon ID | 1162414842803 |
| Duration | 51:47 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Philippians 2:12-13 |
| Language | English |
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