So, this morning, as I had mentioned last week, we're considering together in our series that we've begun in Philippians to pause and consider specifically Philippians 1, verse 6, the most comforting verse of Scripture that points to what we call the perseverance or the preservation of the saints. And with that, as you can see in the bulletin, I just want to bring your attention to a couple of verses from john chapter 10 and a couple of verses from romans chapter 8 which along with support this truth along with philippians 1 verse 6 john chapter 10 verses 27 28 we'll read 29 also and then romans 8 specifically 38 and 39 but a couple of extra verses there too but as we began And as we saw last week too, Paul gives thanks to God and he has joy because of the partnership of the Philippian Christians with him in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And for Paul, that was evidence for him of a most comforting truth, that perseverance of the saints. And therefore, it's good for us then to take a little bit closer look at Paul's confidence, which he has. And the comfort that that is to bring, that it brought to Him, it was to bring to the Philippian Christians and as well is to bring to you and I. John chapter 10, of course, we know is that famous chapter where Jesus is talking about the Good Shepherd and His sheep. And beginning at verse 27 then, He says, as we hear the Word of God, My sheep, listen to My voice. I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one. And then, of course, Romans chapter 8 is not a strange chapter to us as well. A very comforting chapter of Scripture. And in the very last portion, we'll pick it up at verse 35. Paul says, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Then again the text, Philippians 1, verse 6. Allow me to lead up to that again. Verse 3, Paul says, 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. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, what confidence. What confidence for the future. I'm not talking about the future as being tomorrow or next week or even 10 or 15 years down the road, but eternity. What confidence for an eternal future. Yet isn't it true though that when we compare this text and what Paul says with the real life around us, the real life that we experience from day to day, that at times we can't help but then to see a contradiction? You see, the text talks here about a good work. And in our way of thinking, oftentimes we would expect a good work to be done in a good way. But the truth is, life, the reality of life as we know it, in that reality, bad things, as the saying goes, often happen to good people. I'm not talking about good spiritual people, but you know what I mean. Those who we say didn't really deserve it, they didn't do anything wrong. They didn't torment others. They weren't out murdering and killing everybody. You know what the expression means. Bad things often happen to good people. And we see examples all around us with our sick, with our dying, with those who are going through tough situations for various reasons. Persecution. Again, we think of most notably recently of those three believers in Turkey who were brutally tortured and murdered. we think of those in that small town in kansas if you heard about that on the news it was wiped out 1600 people in the town the town virtually everyone lost their houses they don't even have churches to worship and they lost it all and of course sometimes these bad things are more serious sometimes less serious even a stubbed toe or losing your hair can be considered to be a bad thing and as i was told that dr godfrey said last week in adult sunday school we live in a bad world we live in a world where we are affected by natural disasters and by the effects of sin boys and girls where you fall off your bike and you skin your knee or break your arm we live in a bad world paul was one of those good people we might say to whom bad things were happening and think back to the Old Testament. Joseph. Is there any better example than Joseph? But Paul, for example, he suffered beatings and whippings and stoning and shipwreck and hatred. And recently, as far as this is concerned, our text, prison. But even in the midst of all of those difficulties, the reality that he was experiencing in his life, as difficult as it may have been, he He clearly teaches that for the believer, the truth of this text does not contradict the reality of life as we know it. Instead, the truth of this text is the place for us to turn for comfort and confidence in the midst of the reality of life. Because the whole of life, boys and girls, everything that we experience, everything you can imagine, it is all included in this good work that is being performed. And the comfort that we have for the eternal future affects this life's future. It affects how we face this life, how we deal with those bad things when we come face to face with them. And also the hope of this text is the very hope for which Jesus Christ died. The very hope for which He died that He might secure it for you and me. And therefore, notice together with me this morning Paul's confidence of the Christian's eternal guarantee. And the focus here, of course, is on that good work that Paul is talking about. And we want to notice its sovereign author, its specific nature, its supreme purpose, and its serious certainty. We find all of that in these few words. You see, with this powerful statement, beloved, Paul tells us what happens when one becomes a Christian. This is the essence of the process of the Christian's salvation. Very simply, a Christian is one in whom good work is being done. and it's being done by its sovereign author. And that is none other than God Himself, plain and simple. Almighty God Himself, the very God whom Paul thanks at the beginning here, is the He who began a good work in you. God Almighty is the sovereign author. In contrast, for example, with Paul himself. You see, Paul, in his writing here, he thanks God. He's filled with joy. But he's not taking credit for the Philippian church's partnership in the gospel with him. He's not taking an ounce of credit. Indeed, he was used powerfully by God to establish this church, to build it up. Yet he does not pat himself on the back. He does not say, looky what I have done. That wasn't Paul's way. Paul's way, just like Joseph in the Old Testament, remember, was to point to God. He pointed to God. His way was to praise God. For example, in Acts chapter 14, we read that Paul and Barnabas had returned to Antioch and they give a report of their first missionary journey. And in verse 27 it says, they reported on all that what? Not they did. But they reported on all that God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. It's the work of a sovereign God, not of Paul. Not even of the Philippian believers or any believers themselves. The Philippian believers did not pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. They had not decided to become Christians and start a church. It sounded like a good idea. Paul knew that they were no different than himself. He knew the truth of himself before he stepped foot on the road to Damascus. He knew that he was hopeless, he was despicable, he was wretched, He was a God-hater. He thought he was a God-lover. But he knew that he was a God-hater. He knew the truth of himself. He knew that he was hopeless until he had been transformed by a sovereign God. And remember, as far as this church is concerned, again, Paul didn't want to go to Europe. He had other plans, but the Holy Spirit, the sovereign Holy Spirit, shut the door to those plans. It was all God's sovereign work. Think of Lydia. As far as we know, the first believer there in Philippi. It's not that Lydia was impressed by Paul's preaching. She might have been impressed by his preaching. We don't know. But it's not that she was so impressed by Paul's preaching that she decided, hey, this Christianity thing sounds like a good deal. Let's give it a try. Got nothing to lose anyway. Now the Bible says the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. And Jesus, in Matthew chapter 16, in response to Peter's powerful confession, when he says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus says, this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. See, beloved, the Bible is clear that God alone is sovereign and powerful over all things, and especially the human heart. As the writer of Proverbs says, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He directs it wherever he pleases. God alone can raise man from the depth of sin. We are His workmanship. We are His project. And notice, too, the extent of the good work of the sovereign author. Paul says He will carry it on to completion. Very simply, from start to finish, He will perform it. He will perform it. We said that a little bit last week, that God does not do a half a job. He completes it. He is thorough. He leaves nothing undone. Christianity is the result of God's action and God's activity of the triune God. The Father initiated it. The Son accomplished it. The Holy Spirit applies it. And the church is the place where God is working powerfully in the hearts of men and women guarding, guiding, molding, shaping, directing, restraining. And that points then in the second place to the specific nature of this good work. Now, the arena in which it is being performed is the church, specifically in each elect child of God. Paul says, He who began a good work in you, not for you, not on your behalf. When we understand that it's not simply on our behalf, but in us, then hopefully that helps us make a little bit of sense of the bad things that we face. But this specific nature includes a new nature for you and me. He who began a good work. How did He begin it? As far as you and I are concerned, He began it with new birth in us. Regeneration. Being born again. Being brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. Now in many ways, this kind of flies over our head because for most of us, We don't remember a time when we were blatantly spiritually dead, do we? Most of us don't remember a time when we did not believe, Jesus loved me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. But how wonderful! A new nature, new birth. And that means that this is not simply a remodeled job. It's not simply a facelift. It's not simply that God makes me a little bit better than I already was. It's not that He simply improves the circumstances of this life for me, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ creates a brand new me. I am a new creature in Christ Jesus, with Christ Jesus living in me, with each thought and each motive beneath His control. Because the specific nature also includes a new focus. Those who are given new birth, those who are born again, are awakened spiritually with a new focus. that the blinders are removed and we are brought to see the truth of our state and our condition apart from God, that apart from Him, we are completely saturated with sin. We are guilty before Him, deserving of eternal condemnation. We are helpless to do anything on our own. Hopeless. Lost. Enemies of God. In grave danger. We are brought to see so clearly our need. But that's not it. Then we are brought to see the real meaning of Christ. And the real meaning of the cross of Christ. And the real meaning of His work. That He came and He gave Himself as a sacrifice for you and for me. Those who could not do it themselves. And He gave it all to us. And that new focus also includes new desires. Those who are given to see the truth are given new desires. A desire for God. A desire to be right with Him. A desire for life with Him. Not life in opposition to Him because we are brought to see and to dread the end of life apart from God. We are given the new desires to be delivered from the sin that so easily entangles us and makes us enemies of God. Is that your desire? Is that your desire, beloved, to be right with Almighty God? you see when you fight with your spouse or with your boyfriend or your girlfriend I trust that you desire to be reconciled with them to be made right with them again if not then you need to ask yourself has this work begun in me but for most of us I trust we desire to be made right again and to be reconciled and we humble ourselves how much more when we recognize almighty holy God whom we have offended over and over and unceasingly because of our sin. How much more then should we desire to be right with Him and to humble ourselves before His sight? The specific nature of this good work includes a new nature, a new focus, but also then a new confidence. The confidence of justification. The confidence of those who repent of their sins and by the grace of God turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our confidence is that all of our sins are forgiven. Every last one. We need to be reminded of this over and over again. And our confidence is that we are freely clothed in the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness. We are given peace with God because we are right with Him. Think about that. You know your sin. I know my sin. Yet we're at peace with God. We are right with Him. He sees us as righteous. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that utterly amazing? And along with all of this then, we also are given a new life that has lived this side of heaven, a new life in this flesh of sanctification. That process by which the Holy Spirit more and more day by day cleanses us from the pollution of sin and the desires of sin so that more and more we turn from the sin of the old man and take on the new man following the pattern of Jesus Christ in whose image we are being remade. That we might reflect and show forth the character of Jesus Christ. And that character includes love for the Word of God. It includes thinking His thoughts after Him. It includes a desire to do His will, to be obedient to Him, to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It includes demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ for others and each other. You see, we need to remember too that as God completes this work, He works to complete it in us as well. Through our obedience, through our love, through our striving, through our working out our salvation, through our partnership in the Gospel, all of it by His grace, empowered by His Holy Spirit. Yet we also know it's a work in progress, right? It's a work in progress. And sanctification is not always pleasant for us. It doesn't always seem good to us because it means. It means not finding out day by day more and more how good we have become. But it means finding out more and more day by day just how sinful we are. One commentator gives this definition of good works. It is that mighty work of God through the Holy Spirit where the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are made real to us and applied to us and we are created anew in His image, a new man in Christ Jesus. How awesome! Yet again, from our perspective, that good work is not always carried out in a good way. It is done through many dangers and toils and snares through which God chisels and pounds and molds and shapes and rubs and polishes us and it's often painful. Just like disciplined boys and girls, it's often painful. And God says that in Hebrews 12. He tells us it's painful. I know it is. It's painful when I discipline you too, He says. But the fruit, what a fruitful harvest of righteousness, it yields. And it's painful because it's a work that is being done in sinful creatures. and therefore that pain might very well include illness and death or job loss or financial difficulties or rejection by friends or any number of disappointments in this life. For example, coming to the realization that your plan in life is not God's plan for you in this life. It may include losing that championship game. It includes the little nuisances of life. A flat tire. Bumper to bumper traffic. Whatever you can imagine, it includes it. And it doesn't always, if ever, we don't understand it. Always, if ever. We don't understand why. But we can be confident, beloved, that God is at work in you and in me. He is busy in us. And though the path does not seem good, He has promised that it will work for our ultimate good. And we know that we can take that to the bank, as it were, because of that for which He is preparing us. And the third place, notice its supreme purpose. Paul says, until the day of Christ Jesus. That is the purpose for which God is performing that good work in you and in me. Preparing us for the day of Christ Jesus. There's so much we can say about that day, but very simply, it will be a day of undoing the fall. Undoing the fall and the sin. Finishing the work of salvation because it's the day when Christ will come again in all of His glory and every knee will bow before Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It will be the day when the enemies and the rejecters of Jesus Christ will be cast into the pit of hell forever and ever. It will be the day when the new heavens and the new earth are ushered in because the curse of sin is completely removed and all things are made new. And along with it being the day of undoing the fall, it will be the day of the perfecting of the church. When those who died in Him will be raised and those who are still alive in Him will be transformed and given glorified, sinless bodies and souls. And the church for which He died, His bride He will present without spot or wrinkle, but instead, perfect, without any other blemish. Perfect, holy, pure, complete. To His Father in Heaven. It is on that day that we will begin to reign with Him forever and ever. Beloved, God is preparing us for that day. Through all the reality of this life, God is preparing you and He is preparing me for that great day. Christ came and died to secure that day for us. And to secure us for that day. And God, through the Holy Spirit, is even now busy making each Christian ready for that day. Even as you sit here and hear this sermon, He is busy in you. And therefore, we must also, very quickly, not overlook its serious certainty. Paul says he is confident. He is so confident. It is so certain. And he takes it seriously, and we must take this certainty seriously as well. It is certain because, again, of its author, God the Father, who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Its certainty is based on God's character, who He is and what He has done. Paul's confidence was and our confidence is to be in the holiness and the righteousness and the power of God and all that God is. And our confidence, its certainty is based on the truth of His Word. John 10, Romans 8. There's a pattern, you see? There's a repeated theme. God wants us to know how serious He is, how certain this will be. And we may take God, we must take God at His Word. We are not to treat it lightly. Look and see throughout Scripture all of His promises that have already been kept. Which is proof that all of His promises still to come will be kept. He cannot lie. Because He will not lie. And again, that's contrary to the way you and I operate. We fail to keep our word. Even the most reliable among us is still uncertain. We do a half a job. We do an incomplete job. We have short attention spans. We lose interest in what we're doing. We become turned off because of circumstances, but praise God that He does not become turned off because of us. He will complete what He has begun. Isaiah points to this certainty when he says that God's Word will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it. And in Psalm 138, verse 8, the psalmist says, the Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. He has already proven this to you and me. Romans 5, verse 10 says, For if when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through this life? It is certain because of the sovereign author. Not because of you. Not because of me. Someone has correctly written these words. Thank God, my hope of that day of Jesus Christ and His glory does not rest upon my own willpower or upon my own desire or understanding. And I think we know why. Because we would give out. We would give up. We become impatient. He goes on, it rests upon this fact that He would never have started the work if He had not decided to finish it. Beloved, if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, then you can be confident that God is doing a good work in you. He is busy. It's a fact. And as He does so, He is preparing you. In whom the Holy Spirit lives today, He is preparing you to live with Him in eternal glory, to praise Him forever, and to live with Him in sinless perfection. Where there will be no troubles or sorrows, no effects of sin, And you and I will never again offend Him. He is preparing you to worship Him together with all of God's people. And at the very same time, He is protecting you because you see, the world tries to rob you and me of this very comfort and to deny this comfort by pointing to those hardships and difficulties and troubles that are a part of our reality that we face as individuals and families and churches. The world points to that and says, how can it be true? Open your eyes. You used to be able to see, but now you're blind, the world says. It's clear to us. It's foolishness. It doesn't add up. Yet we know that though the world may be able to take everything away from us in this life, the world can never take away our salvation. it cannot strip us of our eternal life because as Peter says that inheritance will never perish spoil or fade it is kept in heaven safe and secure because of the precious blood of the spotless Lamb of God and this is our comfort for the church too God is protecting His church militant still you see often at death a believer's only regret is for those who are left behind yet if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ God is at work in them and we need not fear because God's promise is true for them too He will complete that work and God is also testing you and me again this is the process of the Christian's salvation and throughout this process which we don't always understand He says day by day to you and me do you trust me? do you trust me? Even though you may not understand what I'm doing, do you trust me? Because failure to understand and grasp that this is indeed the process of the Christian salvation can only lead to worry and unhappiness and doubt when we come face to face with the bad things. Yet when we have this firm confidence by God's amazing grace, we can say, so what? so what if I don't get better? So what if I don't get that raise? So what if I don't make the team? So what if I don't have a date for the junior-senior banquet? So what if I do face many troubles? So what if things don't go my way in this life and do go against me as they did for Joseph? So what? Because God is at work in me and no one can stop Him. No one can stop him from doing what he is going to do. And that's why the joy of the Lord is my strength. If you're here this morning and you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you think you do, maybe, but you don't. And that's evidence that God is not working in you. And you are being called seriously and sincerely to repent of your sins, to put your trust in Him, believe in Jesus Christ alone. the only one who can help you. And if you will not heed that call, then the only thing being prepared for you, certainly, is an eternal home in the suffering of hell. But if you do humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and repent of your sins and turn to Him in faith, then what evidence God gives to you that He has begun that good work and He will give you such confidence of His unfailing work in you? Brothers and sisters, is this your comfort? Is this your confidence? That God has begun a good work in you. If you have repented of your sins, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, as I know many, if not all of you do, if you truly hate your sin and you desire holiness and desire to defend the Gospel and desire to actively be a partner in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to show forth the love of Jesus Christ. And if you can say wholeheartedly, I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, that's just some of the evidence, some of the assurance that God gives to you that He has begun a good work in you. And it is given to you with an eternal guarantee. And that eternal guarantee gives us the confidence that in body and soul, both in life and in death, that indeed we belong. Forever. To our faithful Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, no one, no one can ever take that guarantee away from you. Let's pray. Father, with humble hearts again, O Lord, we praise your most holy name. for Your amazing grace from start to finish. We know we don't deserve that work that You are doing, to be objects of that work, to be the recipients one day of the fulfillment of that work. Yet we thank You and we praise You. And our prayer is that You would help us cause us to live in a way that is pleasing to you, that demonstrates that that work is real, that is going on, that the world may be able to clearly see it, even as we see construction projects go up. May the world be able to see that we too are under construction by the divine hand of God. Oh Lord, we love you, we praise your most holy name, and we anxiously look forward to the day that that great work that you have begun in us is indeed completed on the day of Christ Jesus. In his name alone we pray these things. Amen.