Latest / THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together / God at Work in You, Part 2 (Philippians 212) John MacArthur

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God at Work in You, Part 2 (Philippians 212) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Will you open your Bible now with me to Philippians
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: chapter 2 as we continue in our study of this
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  Speaker 1: great epistle.
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  Speaker 2: We have found our way to.
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  Speaker 1: Verses 12 and 13 of this great second chapter. We
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  Speaker 1: began a look at these two verses last week. We
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  Speaker 1: will continue it this week and we will complete it
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  Speaker 1: next week. The richness of what is in this tremendous
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  Speaker 1: text demands our careful thought. You know, everything in life
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: basically that is accomplished demands energy. It took energy for
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  Speaker 1: you to get out of bed this morning. It took
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  Speaker 1: energy for you to produce whatever you ate for breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: It took energy for you to get here by whatever
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  Speaker 1: means of transportation you took. Everything moves by virtue of energy.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: That's true in the spiritual dimension as well. And we've
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  Speaker 1: been looking at the question related to this particular passage,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: what is the energy that provokes sanctification? What is the
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  Speaker 1: energy that provokes a life of holiness? What is the
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  Speaker 1: energy that impels righteousness? What is the energy that causes fruitfulness?
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  Speaker 1: What is the energy that results in spiritual progress? And
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  Speaker 1: we've been looking at that very important question because that's
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  Speaker 1: exactly what the Apostle Paul treats in these two verses.
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  Speaker 1: You'll remember last week we suggested to you that there
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  Speaker 1: have been two answers to the question in part. Some
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  Speaker 1: say that the energy for spiritual progress is all God's.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, historically, those people are called quietists. They believe that,
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  Speaker 1: in effect, the Christian is quiet in the process of
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  Speaker 1: spiritual growth, that he provides or she provides basically no
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  Speaker 1: energy to the process whatsoever, and that the key is surrender, yield,
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  Speaker 1: die to self, mortify oneself, put your life.
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  Speaker 2: On the altar, that we basically do absolutely nothing. It's
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  Speaker 2: all of God.
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  Speaker 1: There is also a group of people who came to
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  Speaker 1: be known as the pietists, who took the opposite view
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  Speaker 1: in some sense to the quietists, and they said, no,
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  Speaker 1: spiritual progress is energized by the believer.
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  Speaker 2: We must be devout. We must be committed. We must
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  Speaker 2: be diligent.
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  Speaker 1: We must be, and here was their key word, self
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  Speaker 1: and spiritually disciplined. It takes all of our effort to
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  Speaker 1: accomplish sanctification. We noted last week that if we read
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  Speaker 1: only verse 12, we might think that Paul was a pietist.
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  Speaker 1: If we read only verse 13, we might think he
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  Speaker 1: was a quietist.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll read both and we'll see the truth.
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  Speaker 1: So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed,
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  Speaker 1: not as in my presence only, but now much more
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  Speaker 1: in my absence, Work out your own salvation with fear
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  Speaker 1: and trembling. That sounds somewhat like the pietists. Work out
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  Speaker 1: your own salvation. It's up to you, he seems to
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  Speaker 1: be saying. Then in verse 13 he says, for it
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  Speaker 1: is God who is at work in you both to
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  Speaker 1: will and to work for His good pleasure. Verse 13
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  Speaker 1: sounds just the opposite. It sounds as if it is
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  Speaker 1: all God willing and doing whatever He wants in you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: having read those two verses and considered the two opposite views,
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  Speaker 1: we might conclude that this is a rather complex issue
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  Speaker 1: to resolve, and that is not the case.
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  Speaker 2: Paul resolves it very simply.
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  Speaker 1: He says in verse 12, it's all you, and in
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  Speaker 1: verse 13, it's all God. What He doesn't do is
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  Speaker 1: harmonize it. Very simply, it takes all that we are
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  Speaker 1: and all that God is. Simply, it demands that I
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  Speaker 1: make commitment of my life daily to the service of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ with every faculty that I possess, and at
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  Speaker 1: the same time, all that is accomplished within me is
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  Speaker 1: the work of God.
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  Speaker 2: The answer is it's all of us and it's all
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  Speaker 2: of God.
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  Speaker 1: We shouldn't be surprised to find this mysterious paradox in
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  Speaker 1: the matter of sanctification.
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  Speaker 2: We find it in a lot of other ways as
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  Speaker 2: well in the Scripture.
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  Speaker 1: If we go back, for example, to the matter of incarnation,
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  Speaker 1: we are struck with the mystery of the fact that
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ was Son of Man, fully man, and that
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  Speaker 1: everything He accomplished in His life He did as man,
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  Speaker 1: He spoke with the voice of a man. He walked
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  Speaker 1: with the feet of a man. He did miracles with
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  Speaker 1: the hands of a man. He thought with the mind
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  Speaker 1: of a man. He saw with the eyes of a man.
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  Speaker 1: He heard with the ears of a man. He felt
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  Speaker 1: with the heart of a man. And yet at the
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  Speaker 1: same time, He was all God. He was the God-man.
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  Speaker 1: the unfathomable union of deity and humanity with no loss
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  Speaker 1: to either. We are not surprised also to find the
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  Speaker 1: same mysterious paradox in the matter of inspiration. We understand,
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  Speaker 1: for example, that Philippians was written by the Apostle Paul.
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  Speaker 1: It's his vocabulary. It's his heart. It's his mind. It's
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  Speaker 1: his thoughts. It's his reasonings, his logic, his passion, his concern.
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  Speaker 1: It's all of Paul, and yet every word is inspired
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  Speaker 1: by the Holy Spirit. How can it be?
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  Speaker 2: But it is.
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  Speaker 1: We have the same situation as we think about salvation.
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  Speaker 1: Salvation demands turning from sin and embracing the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Salvation demands an act of the human will in which
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  Speaker 1: the sinner repents, places faith in the person and work
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. And yet it's all of God who chose
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  Speaker 1: him before the foundation of the world and effected that
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  Speaker 1: salvation through sovereign grace. We find the same thing in
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  Speaker 1: the perseverance of a believer. We are eternally secure because
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  Speaker 1: we are held with Christ in the hand of God,
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  Speaker 1: because God has so designed it that no one can
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  Speaker 1: bring an accusation against us. God will not hear it.
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  Speaker 1: No one can condemn God's elect. It is God that justifies.
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  Speaker 1: It is Christ that stands for us. And yet, though
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  Speaker 1: it is all God in terms of our security, it
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  Speaker 1: is all us in terms of our perseverance. And the
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  Speaker 1: Bible says that if we are not faithful to continue
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  Speaker 1: to the end, we shall not inherit eternal life. It
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  Speaker 1: takes all of us and all of God. And therein
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  Speaker 1: is the divine paradox repeated in many, many different ways.
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  Speaker 1: And so when we come to this matter of sanctification
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  Speaker 1: or spiritual life, we are not surprised to find out
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  Speaker 1: it is all.
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  Speaker 2: Of us and all of Him.
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  Speaker 1: We also shouldn't be surprised because this is not the
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  Speaker 1: first time such a truth has been said in Scripture.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians chapter 15 might be a place to start
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  Speaker 1: looking at a couple of other passages briefly. Listen to this,
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  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 10.
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  Speaker 2: Paul says... But by the grace of God, I am
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  Speaker 2: what I am.
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  Speaker 1: And he's speaking spiritually there, speaking not only about his salvation,
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  Speaker 1: but his spiritual development. By the grace of God, I
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  Speaker 1: am what I am at this moment as a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: as a teacher of God's truth, as a called apostle.
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  Speaker 1: I am what I am by God's grace. And his
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  Speaker 1: grace toward me did not prove useless. God has made
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  Speaker 1: me what I am. Now that would sound at first
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  Speaker 1: like Paul was a quietist, but then he says this, but.
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  Speaker 2: I labored even more than all of them.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, there is a reality here that he
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  Speaker 1: is what he is because God made him what he is,
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  Speaker 1: but he is what he is because he worked harder
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  Speaker 1: at it than anybody else. And then he closes the
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  Speaker 1: verse by going back to where he started. and saying,
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  Speaker 1: yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
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  Speaker 1: I am what I am because God's grace made me
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  Speaker 1: this way, but also because I.
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  Speaker 2: Labored more than all the others.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, he is saying I have reached the
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  Speaker 1: level of spiritual development that I have because of God
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  Speaker 1: and because of my own effort.
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  Speaker 2: Look with me at Galatians chapter 2.
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  Speaker 1: And here we find Paul giving testimony again to the
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  Speaker 1: same thing. He says this in verse 20 of Galatians 2,
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  Speaker 1: a very familiar text, I have been crucified with Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and it is no longer I who live, but Christ
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  Speaker 1: lives in me. Now, this is a favorite verse of
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  Speaker 1: the quietistic view, the kesiks, the deeper life, the Higher life, folks.
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  Speaker 1: I have been crucified with Christ, therefore I'm dead. When
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  Speaker 1: you're crucified, you die. So it is no longer I
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  Speaker 1: who live, but Christ lives in me. In other words,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Paul seems quite quietistic at this point. He is in
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  Speaker 1: effect saying, it's not me, it's Christ. Whatever life I live,
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  Speaker 1: I'm dead to it, Christ lives it. Then having said that,
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  Speaker 1: he says this, and the life which I now live
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  Speaker 1: in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son
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  Speaker 1: of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me.
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  Speaker 1: In the first half of the verse, he said, I died,
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  Speaker 1: Christ lives. In the second half, he says, but I live,
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  Speaker 1: Christ living in me. And again, if you read only
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  Speaker 1: the second half, you might conclude that he was somewhat pietistic.
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  Speaker 1: The life which I now live in the flesh, I
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  Speaker 1: live by faith. He doesn't live and then he does live.
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  Speaker 1: It's none of him and it's all of him. In Colossians,
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  Speaker 1: as he gives us insight into the direction and ultimate
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  Speaker 1: goal of his ministry in chapter 1, He says in
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  Speaker 1: verse 28 that his objective in ministering was to admonish
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  Speaker 1: every man, to teach every man with all wisdom, that
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  Speaker 1: we may present every man complete in Christ. Colossians 1.28,
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  Speaker 1: Paul's goal in the ministry, to present men to the
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  Speaker 1: Lord complete. Then verse 29, he talks about the energy.
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  Speaker 1: And for this purpose also I labor. I work hard.
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  Speaker 1: A very strong verb having to do with intense effort.
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  Speaker 1: It could be read, For this purpose I make maximum effort, striving, agonizing,
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  Speaker 1: according to His power, which mightily works within me. The
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  Speaker 1: same marvelous, somewhat mysterious balance.
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  Speaker 2: It's all of me. It's all of Him. Maybe I
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  Speaker 2: can give you an illustration to help in your understanding.
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  Speaker 1: In your mind's eye, go back to Exodus chapter 14
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  Speaker 1: to Moses.
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  Speaker 2: You don't need to turn to it. Just think about
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  Speaker 2: it with me for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh's army is behind him, and the Red Sea is
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  Speaker 1: blocking his path. Pharaoh's desire is to destroy the children
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, and the Red Sea will prove their drowning
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  Speaker 1: if they move into it. But Moses was so confident,
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  Speaker 1: though he was in that trap, so confident that the
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  Speaker 1: Lord would give victory to him and to the people
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  Speaker 1: of God, that in verse 13 of Exodus 14, he
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  Speaker 1: shouts to the people, and this is what he says.
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  Speaker 1: Don't be afraid, stand still, and see the salvation of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord. Don't be afraid, stand still, and see the
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  Speaker 1: salvation of the Lord. That was great faith, but that
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  Speaker 1: was bad advice. Sorry, Moses, you got it half right.
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  Speaker 1: Good for that kind of faith. bad advice because the
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  Speaker 1: Lord immediately shot back from heaven and said this, why
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  Speaker 1: are you crying unto me? Speak to the children of
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  Speaker 1: Israel and tell them to go forward.
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  Speaker 2: I like that. It's not stand still and see the
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  Speaker 2: salvation of the Lord. It's what? Go forward.
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  Speaker 1: And see the salvation of the Lord. God was going
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  Speaker 1: to give the victory, and He was going to give
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  Speaker 1: it in such a way that no one could deny
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  Speaker 1: that it was Him who did it, and in such
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  Speaker 1: a way that it could never have been done with
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  Speaker 1: any help from man, but He wasn't going to do
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  Speaker 1: it until the Israelites moved forward. What an analogy that is,
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  Speaker 1: because that is precisely what Paul is saying to us
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  Speaker 1: here in the spiritual dimension. It isn't stand still and
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  Speaker 1: see the Victory of the Lord. It isn't yield, surrender,
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  Speaker 1: let go, let God. It's move and see the victory
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord. So, we conclude that there are just
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  Speaker 1: two points in these two verses. Point number one, verse 12,
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  Speaker 1: the Christian working out. Point number two, verse 13, God
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  Speaker 1: working in. Let's go back to our first point, which
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  Speaker 1: we introduced last time. In verse 12, Paul says basically
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  Speaker 1: that the Christian is to work out. In fact, the
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  Speaker 1: major statement of verse 12, the main verb and the
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  Speaker 1: main idea is found at the end of verse 12,
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  Speaker 1: work out your own salvation. That is a present imperative.
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  Speaker 1: That means it's a continuing force command. Continually be working
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  Speaker 1: out your salvation. That is a mandate. Please notice, he
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  Speaker 1: is not saying work at your salvation. He is not
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  Speaker 1: saying work up your salvation. He is not saying work
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  Speaker 1: for your salvation. Salvation is a gift of grace, not
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  Speaker 1: of what?
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  Speaker 2: Works.
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  Speaker 1: You're not working for it. You're not working at it
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  Speaker 1: to improve it. You're not working it up. You are
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  Speaker 1: simply working it out. And we noted last time, rather
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  Speaker 1: in great detail as we studied that phrase, that what
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  Speaker 1: He means is to produce on the outside of your
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  Speaker 1: life that which has been planted on the inside. To
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  Speaker 1: make visible in your conduct that which is true of
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  Speaker 1: your redeemed nature.
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  Speaker 2: What God has worked in.
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  Speaker 1: By way of salvation, you are to work out by
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  Speaker 1: way of sanctification. And notice, please, that he says, work
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  Speaker 1: out your own salvation. And that, by the way, is
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  Speaker 1: emphatic in the Greek order here. Work out your own
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  Speaker 1: means without me, apart from me, apart from my help.
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  Speaker 1: For that matter, apart from anyone else's help, there's a
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  Speaker 1: definite individuality in this command. We also noted that the
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  Speaker 1: concept of working out your own salvation speaks of salvation
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  Speaker 1: in its dimensional reality. That is to say that we
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  Speaker 1: have been saved, we are being saved, and we will
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  Speaker 1: be saved. There is yet a future dimension of salvation
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  Speaker 1: which has not yet come to pass. That full and
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  Speaker 1: final salvation which we will experience in the redemption of
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  Speaker 1: our body, in the glorification when we meet Jesus Christ
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  Speaker 1: and become like Him. So He is saying work out
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  Speaker 1: your salvation with continuity in the sense that you are
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  Speaker 1: working out and on to the final form of your salvation.
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  Speaker 1: So we noted that he had both things in mind
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  Speaker 1: as we looked more closely at the terms here. Work
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  Speaker 1: out continually until you reach the full final expression of
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  Speaker 1: your salvation.
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  Speaker 2: He is here calling for maximum effort.
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  Speaker 1: That concept of work out means to give intense commitment to.
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  Speaker 2: He is calling for great effort.
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  Speaker 1: And so we concluded last time that we as believers
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  Speaker 1: must give the maximum effort to the matter of spiritual progress,
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  Speaker 1: occasionally beating our bodies into subjection, as Paul says in
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  Speaker 1: 1 Corinthians 9.27. Boxing, warring, running, racing with endurance. It
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  Speaker 1: takes all our effort, the effort of all of our faculties.
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  Speaker 1: And that is why the Apostle Paul in Romans 12
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  Speaker 1: says that we are to present our bodies living sacrifices.
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  Speaker 2: And we are to allow our minds to.
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  Speaker 1: Be being transformed so that we may know and do
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  Speaker 1: the will of God, which is always perfect.
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  Speaker 2: It demands the fullness of effort.
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  Speaker 1: The very fact that the New Testament is replete with
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  Speaker 1: commands to the believer assumes that the believer has both
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  Speaker 1: the responsibility and the resource to respond. As I am
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  Speaker 1: often prone to do, I was reading last week a
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  Speaker 1: biography of a great man of God. It happened to
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  Speaker 1: be C.T. Studd, a portion out of his life. This
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  Speaker 1: man was a very gifted and unusual man who made
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  Speaker 1: great sacrifices in going to the mission field in a
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  Speaker 1: very primitive time. And one night when he and a
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  Speaker 1: colleague were staying in a very dilapidated facility, a very
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  Speaker 1: uncomfortable place, and it was very cold and they had
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  Speaker 1: not the proper warmth, it was hard to sleep because
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  Speaker 1: of the discomfort that was there. His colleague awoke in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the night to find C.T. Studd sitting up,
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  Speaker 1: somewhat shivering in a blanket that he had wrapped around himself,
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  Speaker 1: propped against two walls in the corner of this little room.
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  Speaker 2: And by candlelight, he was reading his Bible.
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  Speaker 1: And according to the biographer, his colleague asked him why
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  Speaker 1: he was so strangely occupied in the midst of a
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  Speaker 1: cold night, to which Studd replied with these words, I
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  Speaker 1: felt something was wrong in my relation to the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: and so I am reading through the entire New Testament
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  Speaker 1: to check all the commands to me in case I
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  Speaker 1: have unwittingly violated any of them.
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  Speaker 2: End quote.
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  Speaker 1: A rather serious approach, don't you think, to your spiritual life?
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  Speaker 1: not exactly let go and let God. Here was a
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  Speaker 1: man so concerned about his spiritual life that he is
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  Speaker 1: propped up in a corner with a candle on a
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  Speaker 1: dark cold night, wrapped in a blanket reading the entire
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  Speaker 1: New Testament if perchance he might come across some command
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  Speaker 1: that he has perhaps violated because there is somewhere a
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  Speaker 1: glitch in his relationship to the living Christ. That's the
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  Speaker 1: kind of devotion it takes to make a difference. That's
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  Speaker 1: what Paul had in mind when he said, I labored
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  Speaker 1: more abundantly than them all. Yes, it is the grace
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  Speaker 1: of God. Yes, it is a maximum effort. And what
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  Speaker 1: set C.T. Studd head and shoulders above other men of
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  Speaker 1: his age who named the name of Christ was not
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  Speaker 1: simply and only and isolated the grace.
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  Speaker 2: Of God, but it was the grace of God.
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  Speaker 1: And the kind of devotion that keeps a man up
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  Speaker 1: all night reading the whole New Testament if he can
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  Speaker 1: find one thing that he may have violated that can
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  Speaker 1: enhance the fullness of his relationship with God. And so
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  Speaker 1: God is calling on all of us to work out
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  Speaker 1: that which is in us with the greatest amount of diligence.
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  Speaker 1: Now I want to be very practical because I think
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  Speaker 1: Paul is here. And I want to give you the
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  Speaker 1: elements that will help you to do that. Because he
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  Speaker 1: gives us five of them in this verse. Five things
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  Speaker 1: you need to understand that will assist you in working
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  Speaker 1: out your salvation with real diligence and faithfulness.
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  Speaker 2: Number one.
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  Speaker 1: You must understand your example. You must understand your example.
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  Speaker 1: Would you notice that verse 12 begins with a little
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  Speaker 1: particle in the Greek? It's translated, so then. But it's
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  Speaker 1: the little particle, hoste.
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  Speaker 2: It is a particle used in the Greek language to
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: draw a conclusion from a preceding section.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: And so he is really pulling into those two little
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: English words, so then, everything that has been said from
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: verse 5 through 11. So then, and what do we
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: find before this? We find Jesus Christ back in verse 5.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: He is introduced there as the model of humility, as
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the model of obedience, as the model of submission. For
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: it was Christ Jesus who didn't hold on to being
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: equal with God. It was Christ Jesus in verse 7
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: who emptied himself, who became a bondservant. It was Christ
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Jesus in verse 8 who humbled himself even to the
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: point of dying on a cross. It was Christ Jesus
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: who was thereby exalted by God, who was given a
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: name which is above every name, which we saw is
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the name Lord, the sovereign name. You see, it is
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus who is the model of And he says,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: so then, work out your own salvation.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: What do you mean, so then?
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Just as you have seen the example of what a
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: saved person is to be like, in the light of
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: the fact that he was obedient, be like him. In
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: light of the fact that he was humble, be like him.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: In light of the fact.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: That being humble, he was then exalted, count that promise yours.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: So Paul is saying, since Jesus Christ gave you the
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: example of humble obedience to God, since Jesus Christ showed
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: you what submission is, since Christ showed you the path
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: of exaltation, then you are to follow His pattern.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Be like Him. And I don't need to tell you this,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: do I?
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: That the substance of your spiritual dedication is really clearly
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: defined in being like Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: to the Galatians that he was in travail or pain
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: until Christ was fully formed in them. That's why John
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: says if you say you abide in Christ, you ought
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: to walk the way He walks.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: He's your example. So then....
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Work out your own salvation so that in the process
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you desire and long and pursue Christlikeness. There's a second
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: thing you need to understand here. You need to understand
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: you're loved. You need to understand you're loved.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: You know why?
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Because in the process of endeavoring to work out your
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: salvation and be all that you can be, you're going
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: to fail. And I don't think it's whimsical that the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Apostle Paul happens to say in verse 12, So then,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: my beloved. There was a patience in his heart that
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: reflected the patience of God. There was a mercy and
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: a grace in his heart toward the people he loved
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: and served and called his children in the faith. A
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: patience that was representative of the patience in the heart
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: of God. There was a mercy in Paul that was
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the mercy of Christ. There was a grace in Paul
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: that was the grace of Christ. And when he says
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: to them, my beloved, he was saying there's some space
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: in my relationship with you, some space for your failure.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: There was Euodia and there was Syntyche and they were
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: fighting one another. There was obviously some pride in the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Philippian church else he would not have spoken of humility
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: so strongly. There was some discord there and But in
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: all of it, they were still His beloved. Not just once,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: but back in chapter 1, verse 8, He said, I
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: This love that He had for them was a love
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: that went from His heart down into His visceral area,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: as the Greek word would express it.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: He felt His affection.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: He affirms that they are His beloved again in chapter 4,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: verse 1, even as He speaks a corrective to them,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: particularly to women who were out of harmony, therefore my
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: beloved brethren whom I long for.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: There was deep affection.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: And in that love and in that affection was space
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: for failure.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: And this reflects the heart of God.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Aren't you happy as a Christian that as you work
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: out your own salvation, there's some space?
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Aren't you happy that you are loved?
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: By God and that within the framework of that love
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: there is forgiveness and there is mercy and there is
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: grace and there is restoration? Aren't you glad that you
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: don't serve the kind of God that the deities of
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: paganism represent? Aren't you glad that you don't live under
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the bondage of fear to those deities who cannot be
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: properly appeased because there is no grace? Understand you're loved.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: This is no abusive command. This is no indifferent military directive.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: This is the loving, passionate heart of a pastor saying
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: to his people, I care about you. I understand there's
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: some room for failure and thus does he reflect the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: heart of Christ. So in working out your salvation, understand
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: your example and understand that you're loved. Thirdly, Understand the
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: place of obedience. Understand the place of obedience. He says
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: in verse 12, So then, my beloved, just as you
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: have always obeyed.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Just as you have always obeyed.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: And therefore, he identifies a pattern of conduct in spiritual life.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Very much like Ephesians 2.10 where he says that God
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: has ordained us to walk in good works. See, the
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Christian life is basically a pattern of obedience. By the way,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: the word obey here is from the Greek verb hupakouo.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: And the reason I mention the term is because we
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: get the word acoustics from akouo. It means to obey
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: something you've heard. The little preposition hoop at the front
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: means under. Having heard to put yourself under. So it
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: speaks of submitting to something you've heard. And he is saying, basically,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: you have always had that attitude. You can go back
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: to the 16th chapter of the book of Acts, and
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: you will find there that it says when Paul came
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: to the region of Philippi, he preached the gospel and
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Lydia listened. She not only listened, but she believed. And
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: it says the Lord opened her heart. And later on
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: he preached, you remember verses 32 and 33, the gospel
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to the Philippian jailer and his entire household.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: And they too listened and they too believed.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: In both cases, as that church of Philippi was being born,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: there was obedience. You say, in what sense? They obeyed
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the word which they heard. And what is the word
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: of the gospel? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: you'll be saved. The word of the gospel comes and says,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: turn from your sin and turn to Christ. Stop following
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: self and follow the Lord Jesus. That's a command. We
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: don't think of it as such, but it is. The
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: gospel is a command. Do you understand that? Believe on
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ is an imperative. When the father said,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: this is my beloved son, hear him, he was serious.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: God commands the world to hear Christ. Christ commands the
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: world to believe. The apostles and the preachers command the
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: world to believe on Christ so that any moment of
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: salvation is a moment of obedience to a command. We
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: often talk about sharing our faith. We very seldom talk
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: about commanding people to believe. We are doing more than
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: sharing something. We are reiterating a command. This is my
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: beloved son.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: Hear him. Believe. Repent. Follow me.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: That is precisely why the Apostle Paul articulates apostleship as
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: calling the Gentiles, Romans 1, 5, to the obedience of faith.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Faith is an act of obeying a command to repent
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: and believe. And it then ushers one into a life
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: of obedience. So that most characteristic of a Christian's life
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: is obedience to to God, obedience to Christ. And thus,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Paul says, you have always obeyed. Sometimes your obedience is sporadic.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: There are times of disobedience for which you are glad
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: that you understand you are loved, as we just noted.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: But nonetheless, our spiritual life is characterized by obedience. In
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: 2 Thessalonians 1, do you remember verse 8? where in
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: speaking about the retribution that will come against the ungodly
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: when Jesus returns from heaven with his mighty angels in
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: flaming fire, Paul says he will deal out retribution to
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: those who do not know God, listen to this, and
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: to those who do not obey the gospel.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Of our Lord Jesus.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: You see, receiving Christ is an act of obedience to
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: a divine command. And in that sense, if there were
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: no other sense, you always at salvation are acknowledging Jesus
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: as Lord because you in believing are submitting to a command.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: And that initiates a life of obedience. In chapter 3
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: of 2 Thessalonians and verse 14, It says, if anyone
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: does not obey our instruction, and Paul is there talking
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: to believers, and so we understand that though we were
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: saved by an act of obedience into a life of obedience,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: it is possible for us to be disobedient. And that
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: is why he says, just as you have always obeyed,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: I want you to do it much more. And we'll
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: get into that statement next. So we must understand that
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: we are called to a life of obedience. That is
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: the pattern of our life from the moment of salvation.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Do you remember what Peter said in 1 Peter? Just
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: so we don't think Paul is the only one who
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: gave this message. He says we are chosen, 1 Peter 1, 2,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: sanctifying work of the Spirit in order that you may
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: obey Jesus Christ. That's the heart of our Christian experience.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: We are called to obedience. That is why in the
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Great Commission, we are told to make disciples by going
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have, what?
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Commanded you. It's a life of obedience.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Salvation is a command and all of obedience is articulated
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: in Scripture as a series of commands. The very basic
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: definition of our spiritual life is that we are under
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: orders to obey a commander. To fail to understand that
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: is to fail to understand the most basic element of salvation.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: It is an act of obedience. So, If we are
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: to work out our.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Salvation, it requires that we understand our example, Christ, so
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: we know what we are to be like, to understand
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: that we are loved, that we have the space to
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: fail and be restored again in grace, to understand nonetheless
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: that we are called to obedience.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Fourthly, Paul helps.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Us here in this matter of working out our own
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: salvation by letting us know that we need to understand
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: our personal resources and responsibility. We are very prone as
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: sinners to blame other people for our problems.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Is that not true? To be self-justifying.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: So he reminds us here that we are responsible because
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: we have the personal resources for our own spiritual well-being.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Simply stated, he says this, very clearly, so then, my beloved,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: just as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: parousia only, but now much more in my apousia. In
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: other words, he says, look, I saw the pattern of
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: obedience when I was there. I want to see much
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: more of it now that I'm not there. The assumption
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: here is that they need to do it on their own.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: That's why earlier in the verse, or later in the verse,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: he says, work out your own salvation.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: You don't need me. They loved him.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Back in chapter 1, verses 7 and 8, it tells
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: us that the bond of affection between them was very strong.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: They had, in fact, as we pointed out many months
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: ago when we studied that section, a very unique relationship.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: They loved that man.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: There was never at that time, and perhaps never will
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: be in the history of the church, a greater man
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: of God than Paul, certainly never a greater teacher of
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: the Word of God because he was inspired in much
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: of what he said, which became a great portion of
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: the New Testament, at least 13 letters. This is a
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: unique man of God who could, if anyone could, build
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: a tremendous dependency, and he did. There were some who said,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: as we noted in Corinth, I am of Paul. You
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: could become very dependent on his strength and You could
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: almost lean on him to the point that if he moved,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: you fell. But at the time he writes this letter,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: he is incarcerated as a prisoner, and he is saying
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: to them, in my presence you obeyed, much more you
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: must now obey in my absence. You may not have
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: me again. I saw it when I was there. I
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: want to see more of it now that I'm gone.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: In fact, you should obey even more now that I'm
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: gone because you should have progressed to that point because
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: of all that I taught you. And the point that
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: I want you to understand is that they had the
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: duty and the responsibility because they had the resources to
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: work out their own salvation. Sometimes you'll hear someone say, well,
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: so-and-so is not a very strong Christian, but after all,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: look at the church they're in.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: So-and-so's not a very strong Christian. They don't get good teaching.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, so-and-so's got a lot of sin in
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: their life, but they really never been exposed to good
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: books and have never had anybody disciple them. And I
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: will say to you that I have met people in
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: the remote corners of the world who know and love
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ and walk in spiritual depth and
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: maturity and may be all but.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: Absolutely alone in a sea of paganism.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: As missionaries, but their love for Christ is deep, consistent,
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: and powerful, and their testimony is pure and clean.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: Because they have in them the Holy Spirit of God.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: It is a great.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Boon to be in an environment where your spiritual life
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: is stimulated, but sometimes it becomes an environment where your
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: spiritual life is artificially propped up. People ask me the
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: question all the time, what do you think would happen
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: to Grace Church if you left? I suppose I would
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: like to write back a letter and say you obeyed
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: in my presence, now much more in my absence also.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: because it's immaterial really in a sense who your pastor is.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: That time will inevitably come when I am no longer
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: in that place, but there is never a moment in
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: your spiritual life when you are not responsible for the
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: progress because you have the resources.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: You must understand that.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: And while you can count yourself rich for being in
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: a stimulating environment, you can't blame any of your shortcomings
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: on the absence of such environment. There are Christians around
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: this world who couldn't even dream of this kind of
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: spiritual support system, and yet who would put us all
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to shame in their devotion.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: It's a fine line.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: Between being a strength and becoming a support for your weakness.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: And I understand that, and I understand how it's easy
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: to become dependent on someone.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: Else's spiritual strength. but Paul won't allow it to happen.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: He says, I want to see more obedience in my absence,
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: even than I saw in my presence.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: You must be independent of your teacher.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: You must be independent of your pastor, your Sunday school teacher,
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: your discipler.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: When it comes to living your spiritual life.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Go back to chapter 1, verse 27, where he introduced
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: this concept. He said, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: and see you or remain absent, I may hear of
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: you that you're standing firm in one spirit with one
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: Whether I'm around or not, that's what I want to hear. Why?
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Because you must understand that you have the responsibility and
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: the resources for working out your own salvation. So if
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: we as believers are going to work on the outside
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: what we have in the inside and do it with
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: continuity until the fullness of salvation is revealed when we
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: see Christ, it means we have to understand our example,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: that is Jesus Christ. We have to understand that we
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: are loved so we do not become despondent when we fail.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: We have to understand that we have been called to
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: a life of obedience and we have to understand that
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: we have the responsibility because we have the resources for
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: our spiritual development. Fifthly and finally, There's one other thing
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: I want you to understand, he says, and that is this.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: I want you to understand the consequence of sin.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: While there is space for you to fail and be
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: forgiven and loved, you must also understand the consequence of
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: your sin. And so he closes the verse with this statement.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. The
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: word fear in the Greek, phobos, we get phobia from it.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: The word trembling, traumas, we get trauma from it. Work
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: out your salvation with phobias and traumas. What is he
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: saying here? He's saying that there should be a healthy
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: fear in your heart of offending God. There should be
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: a shaking, traumas means a shaking, There should be a
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: shaking when you contemplate the consequences of such an offense.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: This is a proper reaction. It's a proper reaction to
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: our weakness and our inadequacy. It's a healthy anxiety to
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: do what is right. Fear means godly awe growing out
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: of recognition of our weakness and the power of temptation.
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: Did you get those two things?
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: It grows out of the fear of our weakness and
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: the fear of the power of temptation. It's a healthy
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: fear that puts you on guard so that you don't
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: stumble and lose your joy, so that you don't offend
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: the one you supremely love, so that you don't violate
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: your testimony to an unbelieving world, so that you don't
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: negate your usefulness in the body of Christ and ministry there.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Fear and trembling is a proper reaction to our weakness
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: and the power of temptation. God is desirous of that.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: In fact, I read you in Psalm 111 what is
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: in Proverbs many times, the fear of the Lord is
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the beginning of wisdom. But listen to what it says
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: in Isaiah 66. This is from the Lord. Thus says
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: the Lord, verse 1, Heaven is my throne. The earth
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: is my footstool. Where then is a house you could
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: build for me? What are you going to do for me?
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: What are you going to contain me in? What are
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: you going to offer me? What do I need that
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: you can give me? What do I want from you?
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: For my hand has made all these things. Thus all
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: these things came into being, declares the Lord.
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: Then he says this. What do I want from you?
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you what I want. To this one I look.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: To him who is humble and contrite of spirit and
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: who trembles at my word. You want to know what
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: I'm looking for? You want to know what you can
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: give me? You can tremble at my word. Verse 5 says,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: His word. That becomes then... really a title for a believer,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: a trembler at God's Word. Do you tremble at God's Word?
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Do you have a healthy fear of dishonoring Him? Because
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: you do not want to dishonor the one you love?
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: Because you do not want to bring upon yourself chastening?
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: Because you do not want to injure your witness to
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: the watching world? Because you do not want to negate
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: your effective ministry to the church?
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: You see, working out our salvation is hard. It's hard
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: for me. It's hard. And failure is very possible.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: And one of the things that retards that failure is
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: a healthy fear.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: And awe and respect of God.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about the fear of being doomed, the
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: fear of eternal torment. I'm not talking about an unending
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: despair or despondency. I'm talking about a reverence that motivates.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Writing on the Proverbs, Wardlaw wrote these words, and I
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: think the paragraph is very instructive. He says, this fear
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: is self-distrust. It is tenderness of conscience. It is vigilance
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: against temptation. It is the fear which inspiration opposes to
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: high-mindedness in the admonition, be not high-minded but fear.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: It is taking heed lest we fall.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: It is a constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of the
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: heart and of the insidiousness and power of inward corruption.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: It is the caution and circumspection which timidly shrinks from
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: whatever would offend and dishonor God and the Savior.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: End quote.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: And Solomon said in a strange conundrum, happy is the
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: man who fears. That's interesting, isn't it? Whatever kind of
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: fear it is, it's the kind that makes you happy.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: It's a holy, healthy awe. We as those who name
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: the name of Jesus Christ, who say we belong to God,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: need to fear God. Fearing God simply means that I
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: don't want to offend Him. And I know He is
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: holy and has a holy reaction against sin. I don't
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: want to do anything to offend Him. I don't want
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: to do anything to cause Him to chasten me. I
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: don't want to do anything to cause me to lose
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: my testimony to the world. I don't want to do
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: anything to cause me to lose my effectiveness to the church.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: And so I live in the fear of sin. Why
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: do I fear sin? Because I am weak in my flesh.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: Because temptation is powerful. Because I don't want to offend God.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: In order to have that fear, you have to do
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: more than acknowledge that you're a sinner. In order to
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: have that fear, your mind must be filled with a
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: deep and settled conviction that sin is a great offense
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: against God. And if you really love God, it would
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: be impossible not to repent, because you would have to
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: repent if you had sinned against the one you supremely loved.
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: You'd be compelled.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: And I guess we could say that a true Christian,
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: in the depth of genuine spiritual devotion, not only hates
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: his sin, but in a sense hates himself for his sin.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: and says, oh, wretched man that I am. It's one
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: thing to mourn for sin because it exposes you to chastening.
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: It's another thing to mourn for sin because it offends God.
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: It's one thing to be terrified. It's something else to
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: be humbled. And God is calling us to have a
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: holy fear of sin. and to understand its seriousness. So
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: how are we going to work out our own salvation? Well,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: look at the example. Remember your love. Remember your call
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: to obedience. Very basic. Remember that you're responsible because you
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: have the resources within you. and understand the consequence of
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: your sin toward God, toward yourself, toward the church, toward
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: the unbelieving world. With all that in mind, make a
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: supreme effort to work out your own salvation. Now, let
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: me tell you something, folks. That's all for today. That's
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: only one half. You've got to be here next week
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: when we talk about God working in you Let's bow
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: together in prayer. Father, we have ringing in our hearts
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: still the example of that dear missionary who sat in
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: a corner huddled in a blanket with a candle, reading
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: the whole New Testament in the middle of a dark,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: cold night to find if there was one thing he
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: had done to violate your law. Oh God, give us
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: that kind of zeal. Help us to know that the
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: reason the Apostle Paul was used so mightily was not
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: just the grace of God, but that he labored more
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: than all the rest.
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: Help us, Lord, to be all you want us to be.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: And we await with such eagerness the next Lord's Day
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: when we can see the means by which this can
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: happen as you work in us. And Father, do that
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: work even now in every heart.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: You've been listening to John MacArthur, Bible teacher with Grace
• 50:07
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• 50:10
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• 50:14
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• 50:20
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• 50:24
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• 50:29
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