Tonight, I invite you to turn with me to Philippians 1 as we read the first 11 chapters of Philippians. Philippians chapter 1, giving our attention to verse 6. Doing so in connection with questions and answers 114 and 115 of the Catechism. If you would turn in the back of the Psalter hymnal to page 56. There we find Lord's Day 44. You recall from last Sunday evening, question 113 deals with the Tenth Commandment. And in some ways, questions and answers 114 and 115 talk about, well, what's next? We've just considered the law of God. We've considered those Ten Commandments. So what's next with regard to that law? We want to consider that in connection with Philippians 1, verse 6. So first of all, giving our focus to questions and answers 1.14 and 1.15. But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? No. In this life, even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God's commandments. No one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly. Why then does God want them preached so pointedly? First, so that the longer we live, the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may never stop striving to be renewed more and more after God's image until after this life we reach our goal, perfection. Philippians 1, as we give our attention to the reading of the Word of God. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart. For whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the Gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer that Your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that You may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and the praise of God. May He add His blessing to the reading and preaching and consideration of His Word tonight. Beloved in Christ the Lord, as Christians, we are a work in progress. A work of God. A work for God. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what Paul teaches here. That's what we confess here in these questions and answers of Lord's Day 44. We are reminded that we are a work in progress. We are reminded of this in somewhat of a direct way with question 114, But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? And the answer again begins, no. In this life, even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. A small beginning. We are a work in progress. Now, after considering the law of God, as summarized in the Catechism, after considering each commandment one at a time, and being reminded with each one both what God forbids, And with each one, what God requires with regard to each specific commandment. We cannot then help but to ask, well, who is sufficient? Who is able? And with question and answer 114, we are clearly reminded, well, not me. I certainly am not. And it's easy then to get frustrated and say, well, then what's the use? Why should we even worry about it? And in a sense, question 115 kind of leans in that direction when it asks no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly. Why then does God want them preached so pointedly? What's the use? But you see, beloved, in all of this, in all of our consideration of the law of God as we have done it, we are given a lesson that we need again and again and again of the purpose of God's law for the believer. And that is not to get saved. But the purpose of the law of God for the believer is as grateful evidence of being saved. With the law of God, our God says in essence, do this and live, yet we couldn't. We couldn't even begin to. And instead, the law convicts us of our sin and the law of God drives us, points us to the Lord Jesus Christ because with the Gospel, Jesus in essence says, I have done it for you. I have kept this law for you perfectly so that you might live. And therefore, our confidence is clearly not in ourselves, which is a very good thing. But with the Apostle Paul, ours is confidence in Gospel power. And it is that Gospel power that gives the believer a new relationship also to God's law, you see. And Paul and the catechism together, I believe, address what we are to look for, what we are to see, and what we are to look forward to. He says, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Now, these questions and answers, 114 and 150, even though they're somewhat negative in nature because they remind us of our inability and what we cannot do, yet they're really positive and they are to be encouraging for you and me because as a summary of the Word of God, they give a good and a brief explanation, I believe, of that which Paul is confident in, of that which Paul is thankful for. And that is gospel power. And what I mean by that very simply is the Holy Spirit's application to you and me of the saving work that Jesus Christ accomplished. The Holy Spirit's power in making that yours and mine. And Paul's confidence in Gospel power is first of all of its certain beginning. Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you. A certain beginning. That is what we are to look for. Paul is confident of that certain beginning of the Gospel to transform lives and to transform those lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a good work, Paul says, an effective work because it is the work of God the Holy Spirit who has done it. He has begun it. He has done it effectively. He has given new birth to believers, as Peter says. He has given that gift of faith. As Paul says, Paul describes the Ephesian believers as those having believed. They have enjoyed that certain beginning. And therefore, believers are new creatures. Believers are justified by faith. Believers are at peace with God all because of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that certain beginning then also includes evidence through Gospel partnership. It's a beautiful thing that Paul says about the Philippian believers. Beginning in verse 4, In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now, from the time that they were converted. From the time that the Gospel grasped their hearts and their lives. They were partners with Paul in the Gospel in a variety of ways. We know that they supported him like a missionary for one thing. But the Philippian believers, we know, shared Paul's commitment, as Paul says in verse 7, to defending the Gospel, defending it from error and abuse and lies, and as well, confirming the truth and the power of the Gospel with their lives. Along with Paul, they were committed to the truth of the Gospel and its progress in the world, including transformed lives to practice obedience. Their own obedience. That's how they also partnered with Paul. In verse 27 of chapter 1, Paul says, Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And beginning at verse 12 of chapter 2, we read, Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe. Notice he says, As you have always obeyed. In their old lives they have enjoyed that certain beginning which is evidence through obedience. Yet, their obedience, too, like all those, as the catechism says, who are converted to God, was not perfect. It was not complete. Theirs, like all those converted to God, including you and me, was only a small beginning of obedience. And the catechism says even the holiest in this life have a small beginning of disobedience. Now that ought to strike us in a particular way. I was telling the catechism class this morning that the first time, or maybe it was someone else, but the first time that I thought about that or preached on that, I thought of my grandfather. I think I've said that here before too. He was 90 years old and I was 33, 34, and I thought if Grandpa, who is a godly man, has but a small beginning, what do I have? I have nothing. Now the point of the catechism here is not to make a distinction between the holy and the holier and the holiest as if the holiest have the most to be proud of and the holy ought to be, well, not so proud. That's not the focus of the catechism. But the catechism's purpose is to remind us that all believers are at a different stage in their sanctification, in their walk with the Lord, in their Christian life. Some are more dedicated to God than others. some are more faithful and obedient than others here we are all at different stages in our Christian walk with the Lord we think of Enoch or Abraham or Moses or David and most likely we would put them as well as many others in the category of the holiest yet all are ordinary people all are sinners prone to wander all need the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, even the holiest has a small beginning compared to the perfection that Jesus gave. Compared to the perfection that we are called to strive for. Yes, we are. And compared to the perfection that will be found in glory. It is a small beginning, so limited, so inadequate, so incomplete, so weak, so easily forsaken. And interestingly, as we get older, I think, even as I talk to some of the most elderly of the saints in this place, and I'm always blessed by those conversations because I see that you realize the older you get, you realize what a small beginning it is. You realize that more and more and then you find God's grace to be so much more amazing the older you get. This small beginning, beloved, is not to discourage any one of us. But it is to encourage every one of us. Because it is genuine. And it is exhaustive. This obedience is there. It's real. It's genuine. And the believer, as the answer 114 also says, Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God's commandments. Think of the Apostle Paul, boys and girls, on the Damascus Road. From the moment that he was converted, he began to live in obedience to God. It may be a small beginning, but it's decisive. It may be small, but it's real. This work is good also in its quality because the Holy Spirit accomplishes actually an amazing transformation in one's heart with a new direction and a new purpose and a new hope. And believers begin to dedicate, seriously dedicate their entire life to the Lord's service. And it is exhaustive. Not exhausting, but exhaustive. And what I mean is comprehensive. The catechism says, to all, not only some, but to all of God's commands. From the moment one is brought to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that one sees, maybe not as clear as an older believer, but that one sees the whole law as binding upon him in this new obedience. And the child of God does not then pick and choose the ones he likes and leaves aside the ones he doesn't. and He doesn't pick the ones that are easy and forget about the ones that are not. Sadly, it's true that some sins don't bother us as much as others. Sometimes I think speaking the truth is a difficulty for some because sometimes we want to speak the truth no matter what, no matter how hurtful it might be. And we hide behind what the Bible says. Well, I have to speak the truth. But we forget what Christ says. Speak the truth in love. In charity, to one's encouragement, not to their discouragement. To all the commandments, not just some. None perfectly, mind you, but all of them imperfectly. Beloved, only gospel power, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can transform hearts to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and transform lives to begin to obey God and to desire to. to want to. With a real and a true desire to please God who redeemed us from the darkness of sin and eternal death. And with a desire that is not content in sin and is not content in using the truth of this small beginning to justify our sin. To give the excuse, well, nobody is perfect anyway. What do you expect from me? The child of God will not be content giving that excuse we will not give perfect obedience to god in this life yet that is what believers strive for while we are comforted in the blood and the righteousness of jesus christ alone because of his effective and perfect work our confidence in gospel power is in the second place of its continuing progress being confident of this very thing that he who began a good work and you will carry it on to completion. What we are to look for is that new beginning and what we are to see then is that continuing progress. See, Paul talks about the beginning and he talks about the completion, but you see along with that is an implied process, an implied progress, an implied growth. In 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3, he gives thanks to God for the Thessalonian believers. Why? Because their faith is growing more and more and their love for each other was increasing. In 1 Peter 2, verse 2, and in 2 Peter 3, verse 18, Peter gives in both places a call to grow, a desire. We are to desire to grow in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this continuing progress includes a growing knowledge of ourselves. Question 115 asks again, no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly why then does God want them preached so pointedly first? So that the longer we live, the more we may come to know our sinfulness. Now the word more there simply points us to the truth that it's a constant growth. We have never arrived. But notice what it says. The more we may come to know our sinfulness. Now that seems backwards, doesn't it? It seems depressing. We're talking about growth. How does knowing our sinfulness help us in our growth? but growth in faith and growth in the Christian life necessarily includes growth in understanding and in being conscious of our sinfulness and of our hopelessness and helplessness in and of ourselves and of our inability to do anything to find God's favor and of our desperate need. And someone might say, well, why? And very simply because without growing into this knowledge, one will begin to think very little of the grace of God in Christ. I don't really need that so much. But you see, beloved, like Paul, we need to see ourselves, not others. We need to see ourselves as the chief of sinners. As the worst of sinners. And as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes more and more to the truth of ourselves, then He also causes continuing progress through growing confidence in Christ. A growing knowledge of ourselves. And along with that, a growing confidence in Christ. The more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. You see, beloved, this growth, the result of this growth is truly that grace, The grace of God becomes more amazing. The more conscious that the believer is of his sinfulness, the more illumined the love of Christ becomes with a greater understanding of the depths to which He humbled Himself for me and my rescue. Boys and girls, we need to understand indeed just how terrible our sin is, just how terrible we are apart from God. We need to see clearly that we deserve nothing from Him. That we deserve to be thrown into hell forever. And as we see that as believers, then we also see even more the greatness of the work of Jesus Christ. How wonderful, how awesome that is. We see how Paul says in Philippians 2, how far he humbled himself. He left His throne in glory. He took on human nature. He humbled Himself all the way to the point of death on the cross. We know He suffered the depths of hell from the highest height to the lowest depth of hell. And with that growth, beloved, we are brought to see the truth more and more that it is worse with me than I thought and it is greater with Christ than I thought. And that is the growth, beloved, the Holy Spirit gives, and especially through the preaching of the Word. And specifically the Ten Commandments to those who believe. It's amazing. God has not only chosen the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe, but the foolishness of weak and sinful messengers by which to bring forth that Word. through which He promises to nourish our faith and cause us to grow. And then also, the Holy Spirit will produce progress through growing in obedience. Not only growing in knowledge of ourselves and growing confidence in Christ, but also then growing in obedience. Question or answer 115 continues. Second, so that while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may never stop striving to be renewed more and more after God's image. that is to be our desire beloved to grow in our obedience to God to grow in our desire to be more Christ like as we realize that the obedience that Christ gave for us then the believer wants to give back to God obedience back to God not in a decreasing measure but in an increasing measure simply to say thank you Thank you. Thank you. Praying that the Holy Spirit through gospel power and through His sanctifying work would then produce actual obedience in me in practice. With more humility and more gratefulness and more prayer and more zeal and more striving for that which pleases God. With more partnership in the gospel. Peter says it this way in 2 Peter 1, For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, as Paul says to the Philippian believers, you have always obeyed. But now continue to work. Continue to work out your salvation. Continue to work at it as God works in you. And this growth in obedience includes encouraging one another, beloved, in godliness. Encouraging one another as a community in Christ. Indeed, we are interested in each other's lives. We are interested in each other's daily lives and in each other's business, hobbies, activities? But is our interest, does it always have the proper focus? Are we interested in each other's spiritual lives? Not in a nosy, judgmental sort of way, but with a godly desire that each other grow in the Lord. That each other grow in our obedience in the kingdom of God, in our love for one another. Are we encouraging each other to that end? If we're not, let's start right now, tonight. Encouraging one another in godliness and as a community in Christ. Beloved, birth includes growing. That's true physically when a newborn baby comes into this world. We expect to see that child grow over the weeks and the months, but it's also true spiritually. For those who are given new birth in Christ Jesus, it includes growth in faith, in hope, and in love. Love demonstrated for God and our neighbor. And believers will be conscious of this growth, including being conscious that it is only a small beginning. And even though we are saddened and sorry for the sin that we still commit, that sin, beloved, ought not devastate you and me to the point of hopelessness. Because in Christ Jesus, we know that beyond a shadow of a doubt, it will not ever separate us from God. It will not ever put us on eternity's death row again because it has all been laid on Him. It has all been forgiven in Him. And the Holy Spirit uses our sin. He uses the conviction of our sin. He uses our confession and repentance. He uses the assurance of forgiveness that He gives. He uses it all as a part of our growth. As a part of our growth in the Lord and our growth in obedience. And He now drives us more and more to Him. In Him is gospel power and our confidence, finally, of its guaranteed completion. He will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The beginning of that good work is what we are to look for. Its continuing progress is what we are to see. And its guaranteed completion is what we are to look forward to. The gospel power preserves those for whom Jesus Christ died, rose again, and lives today. The perseverance of the saints, huh? And that guaranteed completion is the perfection of Christ's believers. The Catechism says until after this life we reach our goal, perfection. And we know, of course, we look forward to the perfection of heaven versus this wicked world, but this is talking about our personal perfection. This is talking about the work of the Holy Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit's goal in sanctification. That's what He is working toward. That's what He will achieve. Indeed, we are seen by God the Father in Christ Jesus right now, this very moment, for those who believe, we are seen as perfectly righteous. That's how God sees us. But day by day, we are being made more and more righteous. in our very being to be complete in glory. We have confidence right now of salvation. That salvation that will not be taken away, we will receive it in all of its fullness, which means that we will be made perfect. And God's people look forward to that day of Christ which was promised by Him. I will come back to take you to be with Me, He says. And the believer strives and looks forward to that day. As Paul says in chapter 3, not that I have already obtained all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Pressing on. Knowing that this work will be accomplished by Christ through His Spirit, Hebrews 12 says Christ is the perfecter of our faith. It will become sight. This guaranteed completion of perfection of Christ's believers, but also the perfection of Christ's church. It's not just about me, myself, and I. We are a part of a body. We are included in His bride. And His plan for her is outlined by Paul in Ephesians 5. He says, Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Dear believers, one day, together with all of God's children, we will forever serve God with full dedication, in perfect obedience and love, Never to be stained again. All because of His unfailing work. That's the glorious promise of Christ's work. It's not only a possibility. It is a reality. His work cannot. It will not fail. This is the certainty that we have in Christ Jesus, not because of our own obedience, but because of His perfect obedience all the way to death. Ours is simply evidence of His work in us and for us. And indeed, He is still at work in us while we are here through His Holy Spirit and by gospel power leading us by the law of God to live more and more to Him. Promising us that He will complete what He has begun and we shall live forever with the Lord perfect. Remember, nothing that enters heaven will defile, including us. And what a motivation to live for Him today, thankfully. God's law represents His holiness. And it represents what He is making us as He prepares us to live with Him forever. And may we find this beginning. May we look for and see this growth in our lives and praise God for His perfect and effective and good work in us. Today, we are a work in progress. His work. That day, perfect. A work completed by gospel power. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we just praise You for the continual encouragement that You give to us as Your people. indeed you have loved us with that everlasting love you have given to us salvation in Christ Jesus you have transformed our hearts and lives and given us the desire to do that which is pleasing to you and you show us exactly what that is and even when we fail Lord you continue to give us the assurance of your forgiving grace and thereby to cause us to grow in you to grow in our walk with you we just thank you and praise you so much for the glorious reward that we look forward to as we consider this morning that on that day we will indeed give to you without fail that perfect love and honor and obedience that you are so deserving of and until that day Father continue to work in us equip us never let us alone but strengthen us and help us and we will give you all the praise and the honor and the glory. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.