Good morning. If you've got your Bible, go ahead and open up to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter two, we're reading two verses this morning, 12 and 13. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. You may be seated. And the children can be dismissed to Sunday school. So this is from the book we call Philippians, written to the church at Philippi. And I'm going to give you a quick geography lesson. I'm not very good at geography and I have to flip it around so that it's the east is there and the west is there so it's backwards for me. But above the Mediterranean Sea to the east there's regions referred to as Asia containing a bunch of overlapping regions called Bithynia, Galatia, the cities of Ephesus, Colossae, Troas and others and there's too many to name, but it's a big area We now call that area Turkey then next to that moving west across the Aegean Sea is Macedonia where we support some missionaries right now Macedonia and below that is Greece sticking down into the Mediterranean and then across another little sea called the Adriatic Sea is Italy with Rome there, so Philippi is in Macedonia, kind of right above the Aegean Sea. It's inland, about 10 miles from a seaport called Neapolis. There were many gods that were worshipped there. The people came from all over, and they brought their religions with them, their beliefs. The hills and the rocks, they still see that there's carvings and shrines there for many different cults and deities. had been under Roman rule for a long, long time at this point, over a century, almost two centuries. And it had been made into a colony maybe 70 years before the time we're looking at here. It had been made into a colony, and what that means is that even though it was in Macedonia, it was counted as being part of Italy, part of Rome, part of Italian soil over there in Macedonia. This happened because Octavian, who was renamed Augustus, as part of a military and political victory, took people that he wanted to reward and gave them land, homes, et cetera, in Italy, which meant that the people who were there had to be moved somewhere else. So they moved across the Adriatic Sea to Macedonia into the place Philippi, which was now a colony. So kind of sad for them. They got relocated. They didn't rank up with the people who received this land here. But they received this new land. They received tax-free status. They didn't have to pay taxes. And they were Roman citizens living in Roman soil, even though it's in Macedonia. And they could buy and sell land. So that was part of the deal. Scholars believe that that was a matter of pride for the ones. Several generations have gone by by the time Paul is there. But it was a matter of pride for them, being Roman citizens, being part of the colony, not being like the local people from Macedonia. So it may have been a matter of pride. And so scholars believe that's why Paul reminded them in Philippians 3.30 that our citizenship is in heaven. Just reminding them that, yeah, we're proud because we're from over in Italy and here we are in Macedonia. But Paul reminds them that our citizenship is in heaven. So what is Paul's connection with the city of Philippi? How did this come to be a place that shows up in our Bible? Why is he writing a letter to the church there? Well, in Acts chapter 16, Paul begins his second missionary journey. And actually, it's a little bit before that in Acts chapter 15. They had completed their first missionary journey in this area we now call Turkey. They had made a loop through a bunch of cities, preached the gospel. And Paul says in Acts chapter 15, he says, he wants to go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. He wants to see, has it taken root? Are the people growing in their knowledge of the gospel? Are they walking in the faith? And he wants to see. So this second missionary journey, at least part of that at the beginning, was to go back and revisit those places and see how people are doing. That was something that was on Paul's heart to do. So they visited a number of regions. They picked up Timothy, who was a young disciple at some point, who joined them on their journey. So it's Paul, Silas, Timothy, and possibly others. At some point, as they're visiting various cities, they were prevented from going into an area called Asia and Bithynia. And it says the Holy Spirit prevented them. So they ran into some kind of trouble and they knew that God was directing them. These doors were closed. And then Paul had the dream of a man from Macedonia across the sea calling to them and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. So responding to that dream, taking it as a sign from God, they were in the city of Troas. They got on a ship, went through a place called Samothrace, an island, and then ended up in Neapolis, which is the port city that's 10 miles south of Philippi. So that's how they came to be there. It's at that point in the book of Acts that there's indications that that's when Luke, who wrote Acts, joined them. It changes from talking about he did this to we did that. So they assume that means Luke is now with them, and he joins them. So it's a team of them that show up there in Philippi. They're there for a number of days, but on a Sabbath day, they go down to the place of prayer by the river. And there they meet Lydia, who was a merchant woman, a seller of purple, purple dye, purple fabric. And she believed. She believed the gospel message that Paul brought. She believed along with their household, and they were baptized. And she invited them to come and stay in her house, stay with her household. while Paul ministered. While they were there, Paul also, they were being bothered by this slave girl who was possessed with the spirit of divination. And the owners made money off of her, she told fortunes, and Paul cast the spirit out, healed the girl, and then the owners of that slave girl were angry because they could no longer make money off of her having her tell fortunes because she was healed. And so they stirred up trouble. They got Paul and Silas arrested and they were thrown beaten first and then thrown into jail. And. While they were in jail, they were chained. God sent an earthquake. They were singing praises to God in the middle of the night. God sent an earthquake. All the doors opened. The chains came loose. The jailer was ready to kill himself. He's like, oh, my job's done, because they've all escaped. And Paul cries out, we're all still here. And he says, what must I do to be saved? And Paul says, believe on the name of the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. And he believed him and his household. He brings them to his house, takes care of their wounds from the beating, feeds them. And then in the morning, the magistrates of Philippi come and say, hey, you know, you guys, whatever happened yesterday is no big deal. You guys are free to go. That's when Paul brings up, oh, by the way, I'm a Roman citizen, and you did this unlawfully. That was a big deal there. The people had been imported from Italy, and so being a Roman citizen was a big deal. And here, they had just assumed he was some foreigner and mistreated him, thrown him in jail. And Paul just brings it up. Well, all of a sudden, they're very apologetic and plead him with him. And they're like, oh, please get out of here. We don't want any trouble. And so they go back to Lydia's house for a little bit for one last visit. And then eventually, they leave. And the language kind of indicates that possibly Luke remained there for a while while they continued on down to Thessalonica, Berea, and then into Greece, Athens, and Corinth. And then later on in Acts 20, we hear about Philippi again, and some people say maybe it's as much as four years later, they come back through, because Paul wants to see how these churches that he started, the people he prayed with and preached the gospel to, how they're doing. So they spend an unspecified amount of time there again in Acts chapter 20. So this letter was written to that church after many years. Paul is now in prison. And he's writing to them because he wants to see how they're doing. He wants to encourage them, the church in Philippi, he wants to encourage them in the faith. In chapter three of Philippians, Paul says, for me to write the same things to you is not tedious, which indicates that maybe there had been some other letters that he had sent to them to encourage them. uh... in the greeting in the very first verse he talks about it's to all the saints in christ jesus who are at philippi with the bishops and deacons the church there was not just a little group of people it was fairly big and it was organized there were there were deacons there were bishops elders who served and oversaw that church and made sure they were being fed in the word paul then uh... Just kind of an overview of the letter. After his greeting, he shares his prayers, what he's been praying for that church for. And I'm going to read that now if you want to follow along, beginning in verse 3 through 11. Paul writes, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making requests for you all with joy. for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ just as it is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart In as much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent. that you may be sincere without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. So I want you to notice just that this prayer really is about super important things. We pray for things that are important to us. We pray for our daily bread. We pray for our health concerns. But this prayer is a prayer for them to know God more, to grow in his love. And that's Paul's heart for them. Just thinking about something our pastor has been encouraging us to do, writing encouragement cards. How encouraging would it be to hear these words written to you. When you write an encouragement card, you can share your prayer that you're praying for someone. You can share scripture as an encouragement. So this is what Paul's doing here. He's encouraging them by saying, this is what I bring before the throne of God. When I get on my knees and pray for you. After that, after sharing his prayer for them, he also shares his current condition. He lets them know that he is in chains, he's imprisoned, he's under guard, and yet, he says, he's still preaching Christ while he's confined. And he also shows that his concern is for them because he has written this letter to them to find out how they're doing, to encourage them in the faith. Later in the letter, he mentions his desire to send Timothy to them. He wants to send someone. He wants to go himself, but he can't. But he wants to send Timothy to them. He hopes that maybe he will come to them. And then he also appreciates that they sent a helper to him, where he is. They sent Epaphroditus, who got very sick. but got better they heard about it they were worried and he sent him back with blessings saying thank you so much for sending help to me and then he also mentions at the end of the letter how the church at philippi after his first visit sent aid to him several times helping him as him and his team continued on down through macedonia and to into greece So looking at our verse this morning, verse 12, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you. both to will and to do for his good pleasure. So I want to just go through this a phrase at a time and just think about the words. And so it begins with, therefore, my beloved. When we see therefore, it means it's there because of things that came preceding that. that led up to what he's about to say so looking back up the path that led to this verse i'm just going to read a couple verses but from chapter 1 verse 27 he says only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of christ so that whether i come to you and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit and with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." So it begins there that he's like, whether I'm here, Or whether I could be with you. I want to hear that you guys are are standing together that you're you're working together Uh striving together for the faith of the gospel He writes to them about facing persecution and suffering In uh, verse two of chapter two. He says fulfill my joy by being like-minded He wants them to have the same mind not be at odds with each other by being like-minded having the same love Being of one accord and of one mind. And then in verse 5 of chapter 2, a passage that we're probably all very familiar with. He gives the greatest example of this, of putting others first, of humbling ourselves and being a servant. He says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, and goes on to describe how Jesus, the Son of God, exalted from all eternity, humbled himself and came down to earth as a man, as a servant, and then continued to humble himself even further, to death even the death of the cross and therefore he is exalted he is our savior so all of this all of this just his heart for this church that they get along that they work together that they grow in the gospel that they grow in serving one another unity all of that leads up to what he's saying now in verse 12 therefore my beloved and their beloved he really does love them Moving on to the next phrase, as you have always obeyed. Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. So Paul's concern for them is continuing in the faith. I mentioned this earlier in Acts 15, when he left on that second missionary journey, he said, let us go back. He wanted to go back to the places where they preach the gospel. He said, let us go back and see how they are doing. That's what he's doing here. He wants to see how they're doing. in verse 27, which kind of led up to where we are, he says, whether I come to see you or whether I'm absent, he wants to hear of their affairs, and he wants to know that they stand fast in one spirit. So what he's saying here, he knows that they've always obeyed, not as in his presence only, but much more in his absence. He's like a boss with his employees. The boss Sees the factory humming away. Everybody's working and the boss goes to lunch. When he gets back, he doesn't want to see that everything's shut down and stopped because he was out of the building. He wants to see it humming along. A farmer with his field, he works that soil. He gets the soil good. He plants the seed. He comes back and checks on it. He wants to see that the seed is growing. He wants to see that his crop is coming. He wants to check its progress. Did he work in vain? Is it producing fruit? It's like a parent with a child. As parents, we pray for our children, we teach them, we try to encourage them in the right path. And when they grow up, we still pray for them because we want to see them continue in the faith. It's like a pastor with his church. Paul with his church, our pastor with this church. When the pastor leaves and comes back, he doesn't want to see that everything came to a standstill. We weren't just doing it because he was here. He wants to see that we're doing it because we're not just doing checkbox Christianity. Oh, I do this now. I do this now. Now I do this. Not just going through the motions, but living it out, living it from the heart. So that's what Paul's doing here. Next, moving on, he says, as you've always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So work out your own salvation. Taken out of context, just looking at that phrase, work out your own salvation. This could be misunderstood to mean, oh, I need to come up with my own plan for salvation. I need to come up with my own way of salvation. I need to work hard to keep my salvation and that it's somehow all up to us. But that would be a terrible misunderstanding of what's being said here. The scripture makes it clear that salvation is of the Lord. Jesus said, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent, talking about himself. Even our belief is the work of God, and that's the work God has for us, is to trust in his son. Paul writes in Ephesians, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves, the faith, it's not our faith, he gave it to us. And that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. And then in the little book of Titus, Paul writes that it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So from scripture, we see that salvation is of the Lord, including even our belief and our faith. It is God's grace shown to us. It's a priceless gift that we do nothing to earn or deserve. All we bring with us is our sin, and it's the finished work of Jesus Christ that saves us. His work, not ours. So what about growing in the faith? What about keeping our salvation? Is that our work to do? Scripture says, continuing in Ephesians, following that that it's by grace we have been saved through faith. It says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. He who has begun, at the beginning of this book we're looking at, Philippians, he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews, the author calls Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. And Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. So from scripture we see that we are kept in the faith by the Lord, and he is the one who grows us in holiness. God's works, or I'm sorry, good works do not save us, but good works follow our salvation. And those good works aren't things that we're supposed to come up with on our own. He has prepared them that we should walk in them. Okay. Now I want to say this about this phrase, work out your own salvation. The word here is not just the word work, it's the word work out. It's one word that is best translated in English as work out. So even though I talked about works, it's really about working out. And what does that mean? Work out. It's not telling us how to get or how to keep salvation, but what to do with it once we have been saved. We've received salvation. We need to work it out. We need to exercise it. We need to put it into action. I'm sorry, I lost my place. It's what we do with it once we've been saved. Oh, I'm sorry. We live in it, and we grow in it. Think about this. Who receives a gift and doesn't unwrap it? You get a gift, and you put it on a shelf, and you close the cupboard, and you forget about it. Years later, your friend comes by and asks about that gift. Did you enjoy it? Oh, yeah. It's right there in the cupboard, still wrapped the way you gave it to me. We don't do that. We open it up. We want to open it up. We want to say thank you for the gift. We want to receive it joyfully and we want to put it to good use. And we want to let the people know that we appreciate that gift. And how much greater is our salvation? Such a great gift. God has given us our salvation, but it's not something we just sit there and admire. It's something we work at, we put it on, we exercise it, we walk in it. It also says work out your own salvation. It's personal. You can't do this for someone else, and they can't do it for you. There are some things in life that require personal attention, and this is one of them. It says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So when we hear the word fear, there's lots of verses we see in the Bible about fear. One that some people think of in regards of our relationship with God is that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love, and they don't, They have trouble with the idea that do we still fear God now that we are saved, now that we are in that perfect love in Christ? And it's because there is with God two kinds of fear. There's the fear of punishment. There's the fear of condemnation. There's the fear of God's wrath for people who desire to flee from God, who are not converted. And they have that kind of fear, that fear that says, get away from me. I don't want to be near God. That fear is not present for Christians, because there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have been forgiven. So we don't have that kind of fear. But there's the other fear. It's a fear of, in a sense, disappointing. We don't want to disappoint people we love. It's really a desire to please, a desire to please the one that we fear in this way, which is an aspect of worship, which is reverential awe. And that's what we have for God. We don't want to disappoint him. We want to please him. We want to bring him joy. So it says, hear that it's fear and trembling. It puts those two words together, fear and trembling. And these two words are put together because it means we need to take the working out of our salvation seriously. We need to take it seriously. We need to treat the working out of our salvation as something that's very important. How seriously should we take it? How seriously should we take, he says, with fear and trembling. So how serious? The question we can ask ourselves is how serious was the father in obtaining your salvation by sending his son? It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He sent him to earth, but not just to earth, but to earth to humble himself and to die in our place and take our sin upon himself. He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. How serious was the Son of God in paying the price for your salvation? We read here in Philippians that he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. And after paying for our sins, did God leave us to ourselves? Did he say, well, now that you're saved, you're on your own? No. He gave us the helper, the Holy Spirit, who will, it says, guide us into all truth. He says that we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. So God is very serious about our salvation. And he did so much to bring us this great gift. And so when Paul writes, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, he's saying, take it seriously. This is important. We want to put effort into it. Here comes some encouragement, the next verse, verse 13. It says, for it is God who works in you. For it is God who works in you. This is great encouragement because it's not all on us. That's the mistake. If we only read that last verse, it's like, whoa, this is a tall order. How can I do this? How can I work out my own salvation with fear and trembling? The encouragement is that God is working in us. This is the part that we're going to consider in in a moment how God works in us. It goes on though it says he works in us. Both to will and to do, two ways he works in us. Sometimes we lack the will. The will is we just don't have the desire. The inclination of our heart. The psalmist says, he prays to God, God, incline my heart to your testimonies and not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your way. That's a prayer that's psalm 119 verses 36 and 37. That's a prayer of someone who loves the lord But realizes their heart isn't always right their eyes aren't always looking the right way their affections are not always Directed towards the lord and we pray god turn my eyes back to you and climb my heart back to your ways So sometimes we lack the will sometimes we lack on action, on carrying out that will. Jesus said when the disciples were sleeping, when he was asking them to pray with him, he said, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And that we find is true in us, sometimes just because we're tired, sometimes because we've got more to do than we can possibly do as a human, and sometimes because of the corruption that remains sin. We want our way instead of the Lord's way. But in both these ways, God's working in us to will and to do. Both of those, and that's important. It goes on, it says, he works in us to will and to do for his good pleasure. It's not about us. It's about pleasing the one who saved us. I want you to remember back when I talked about the two kinds of fear. The good kind of fear is the fear of disappointing the one that we love. It's really, it's a desire to please him. And this is for his good pleasure. This is for pleasing God. Hebrews 11, six says, but without faith, it is impossible to please God. to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." So what is faith? Does having faith mean just knowing facts about God? James writes that faith without works is dead. If faith is just believing facts about God, it's a dead faith. It's just some knowledge. But faith is believing God, it's trusting God, it's relying on Him. It means doing what He says. God says it, I trust Him and I obey Him. And that's where we see faith come alive. It's working its way out in our life. So to kind of restate verses 12 and 13, we could say, I believe that God is working in me, both to will and to do. So there's faith. I believe that, that he's doing that, just like it says. So I will diligently work out my own salvation with a desire to please him. So we've got faith, obedience, and we have something that's very pleasing to God. What we do, what we work out, it's far from perfect. We fall short in everything we do. But God's work in us is the amazing part that he works in us to accomplish his will and it's for his glory and it is pleasing to him because we are in Christ. So what is this passage about that we're looking at, verses 12 and 13? about obedience, about God working in us, about changing our hearts, changing our inclinations as he works in us. It's about being sanctified. It's about the work of the Holy Spirit. He regenerates us, and then he works in us to bring about holiness, to sanctify us, At the beginning, we repent from sins, we turn to God, but we continue throughout our life in that repentance. We continue to walk away from that old life, our old way, and to follow the Lord. So if the Holy Spirit is doing that, this verse says, but we need to work out our own salvation. Well, how can that be if the Holy Spirit's working? But it also says, for it's God who works in you, both to will and to do. So it's got these two halves, and it's like cooperation. But when I was studying this, there's people who do not like the word cooperation because it suggests that somehow we have an equal share in this. God and us are partners, equal partners, and we do our part, he does his part, and it all works out. But it's not like that at all. At the beginning of Philippians, Paul writes, I am confident that he who began a good work in you will complete it. Our sanctification is completely of the Lord. It's his work. Yet part of our sanctification requires that we grow in obedience and growing in obedience means that we obey. And so we do have The fruit of our salvation, part of that is wanting to do what God says and actually walking in it, doing what he says. So it's not this cooperation that's an equal partnership, but that's how he works in us. He works in us and brings forth obedience. And we walk in faith, we exercise our faith as we walk in the spirit. So I wanted to talk just, briefly on a few things, and there's so many things that we could include in this list, but just a few things about how the Holy Spirit works in us, both to will and to do. What the Holy Spirit does in us is supernatural. Salvation, regeneration, bringing someone who is dead in sins, making them alive in Christ. He leads us into all truth. He gives us understanding in the word. He brings us to repentance, makes us aware of our sins. He sanctifies us. Some of what he does He accomplishes using very ordinary outward means, though. Ordinary things, just plain things that we would say, there's nothing very spiritual about that, it's just, you know, we'll go through these things. There's the word, the Bible. Sometimes we read the Bible and it doesn't make sense to us, and we wonder, well, how can reading God's word change me if I read it and it doesn't make sense? There's prayer. Prayer is an example. I picked that because we pray, but we're just talking. It's not very active. It's very passive. It just seems like we're just talking to God, not out there doing something. How does that help us grow in our faith? How does that help sanctify us? Another thing is fellowship. We get together with other believers. We get together And we saw how Paul was encouraging them to work together, to have the same mind, to have the same love. And yet when we get together, sometimes we find out that we can't even do these simple things that he's asking us to do. So how does the Holy Spirit use these three things, and there could be many more, to accomplish sanctification in our lives? So his word, He uses scripture to grow us in the faith of 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 says that all scripture, our Bibles, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So if we believe what God says about his word, we're like, well, this is how he's going to accomplish this in me somehow through his word. Psalm 119 verse 11, a memory verse for many of us. Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Taking his word into our thoughts, memorizing his word, and it helps steer us away from our own paths from sin and into paths of righteousness. How can the Bible help me grow in my faith? Well, we can read it. We can think on it, meditate on it. We can commit it to memory. We can remind each other of it. And as we do that, the Holy Spirit changes our thinking. He renews our minds. He makes us aware of areas where we need to grow. But what about what I said earlier? What about when we read it and we don't understand it? It doesn't make sense. Well, sometimes we'll read something that didn't make sense before, and all of a sudden it's like the light comes on. He works in us to give us understanding. But there's other times that that doesn't happen. But we'll be in church one Sunday, and the pastor explains from his word, and suddenly it makes sense. Well, that was the pastor explaining. Is that the Holy Spirit? Before anybody comes up here to preach from God's word, we pray, God, speak to us through your word. God, work in our hearts, give us understanding, and help us to grow. And so even if, It's the pastor up here explaining God's Word. That's the Holy Spirit working to give you understanding into his Word. It's just as much as if he's working inside you, he's working through the pastor, he's working through the preaching of the Word to change you, just like when you first heard the gospel and you were changed. When you read something that doesn't make sense, keep reading. He'll turn on the light. Keep listening when it's preached on Sunday morning. Listen to teachers of the word. Moving on, prayer. How does God use prayer to grow us in the faith? Prayer, as I said, seems like a passive thing, just talking. Yet it is when we pray that we're showing that we depend upon God. We're saying, God, I'm not gonna rush out and do this my way. I'm gonna bow before you. I'm gonna seek your will, not my own will. I'm gonna seek your help, not my own way. God wants us to pray, and we see that over and over again in his word. He wants us to come to him and pray. Come to him with our needs, to lift up our requests to him, and trust him for the answer. And as we pray, we grow in the understanding of this very important thing that apart from Him, we can do nothing. We need Him. We need Him more than we know. Our prayers, when we pray, our prayers include worship. We exalt God. We thank Him for what He's done. We acknowledge the past answers to prayer, His provision in so many ways. We confess our sins, too. And we know that we are forgiven. And then we also bring to them our requests. So those are some ways that the Holy Spirit uses something as simple as prayer, which seems very inactive, to help change us and help us to grow in our faith, trusting God, and help us to know where we need to grow, what we need to confess, what we need to pray, God, help me grow in this area. Fellowship, how does being around other believers help us grow in the faith? Paul was telling them to be like-minded, to have the same love, to look out for the interests of others and not our own interests only. Hebrews 10, 24, and 25 says, let us consider one another. Think about one another. Consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. This is something that, again, we can encourage one another in person when we're with one another. We can seek to stir up love and good works. Encouragement cards. We can do the same. Someone's not here. Write them a note. Let them know what you're praying for them. Write a passage of scripture that's an encouragement to you that would be an encouragement to them. We can't work out someone else's salvation, remember it says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, but God uses each one of us in one another's lives to help stir up love and good works, which is how he grows us in the faith. So the Holy Spirit is growing you, and part of how he grows you is by putting you in a fellowship with other believers who will provoke you, stir you up, encourage you, exhort you to grow in the faith. And many of those things are things we do. We have to forgive one another when someone offends us, or when I offend somebody, I need to seek forgiveness. We need to bear one another's burdens. We serve one another. We love one another. And in all those ways, we're following the example of Christ and growing in the faith. I'm gonna bring up one more, and I kind of mentioned this earlier, when we looked at just the first part, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, without that encouragement that comes that God is working in us. Our failures, how can God use my failures to grow me in the faith? How does the Holy Spirit work with my failures? Well, when we attempt to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, we often fall short. We fail. We sin. When this happens, it is a reminder that we cannot do this on our own. Just as Paul wrote, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do, our failures should drive us back to praying before him and say, God, look at how much I accomplished on my own. I failed. I fell flat on my face. I blew it. I need you. Please work in me both to will and to do to your good pleasure. The Holy Spirit makes us aware of our sin and brings us to repentance. And this is the way that he works in us both to will and to do. So when we fail, we come to him and we confess, we receive forgiveness because Jesus has paid for our sins, and we ask him to continue his work in us, both to will and to do. We ask him who began the good work in us to complete it until the day of his return. And this is a prayer that he answers because it is his will for us. So there's a tension between these two verses. Work out your own salvation with fear and troubling, and it's God who works in you both to will and to do. There's kind of a tension between those two, and sometimes we get out of balance. Some may tend towards wanting to take things easy. Why? Because God says he's going to do the work. He's going to work in me both to will and to do. So I don't need to do anything. I can just relax. It's going to happen by osmosis. That's why Paul wrote, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. To those people who were saying, oh, God's going to just work in me. It's going to be smooth sailing. I can go enjoy my own thing while he does this. No, we need to be involved. And that's why Paul wrote that. He wrote, work out your own salvation. The Christian life is not a life of just changed thinking. It's not just changed thinking. As James wrote, we don't want to just say to needy people, oh, be warmed and filled without actually providing for their needs. You don't just say that, you do it. It's something you do. And a living faith is an active faith. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared that we should walk in them. They're not just something we look at. He wants us to walk in them. Okay, and Paul also wrote, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So this is to the people who wanna just take it easy, because God's gonna do it for me. With fear and trembling, we need to take it serious. How serious? Think on how serious our Lord was in saving us. There's others, though, who may tend towards it's all on me. I've got to do it all. I've got to keep my salvation. I've got to maintain my salvation. I've got to earn my salvation in some way, paying God back. And they feel like, oh, I've got to work it out. This is why Paul wrote, for it is God who works in you, both to will and do, according to his good pleasure. He began the good work, and he will finish it. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not me. It's not my works. And so is our sanctification. As he grows us in the faith, that is his work. We can't earn it. We can't repay it. It's a gift, and no one can take it away. So that's an encouragement to people who tend towards both sides. We've got to keep both in there. We need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Put it on. Walk in it. Be active in it. Live it. and then be encouraged that He works in us. For a conclusion, I want you to just listen to this passage from Matthew chapter 7. In verse 21, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. These people came to Jesus on that final day, and what were they trusting in? Was their faith in Christ? No, their faith was in their list of accomplishments. They were listing out their works, the things they had done. These things should get us in. These things should give us a place in heaven. Trusting in their works. But he says he never knew them. We know, as Christians, we know that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy that He saved us. We don't come before Him trusting in our works, but only in Jesus Christ. So having received this precious gift of salvation that Christ obtained for us by laying down his life, we walk in it, we exercise it, we work out our salvation living out the faith, remembering that it is he who works in us both to will and to do for his good pleasure, In this we are encouraged, and in this we have joy, and for this we will thank and glorify Him forever. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just give you praise right now for the beauty that we see in your word, the plan of salvation, how you didn't just save us and leave us on our own, but you gave us your Holy Spirit, and you work in us. You work in us, both to will and to do, to your good pleasure, that we could even please you. God is beyond our ability, and yet, because of Christ, and because of your work in us, we are able to be pleasing to you, and to give you glory, Lord. God, I pray that you would help us if we tend more towards one side or the other, if we tend more towards taking it easy and letting you do all the work, or if we tend more towards thinking we have to do everything. God, help us to find that balance, to live out this precious salvation that you've given us, and then God to trust you because you're working in us and to give you glory and to rest in that even. God, thank you for this and we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.