Work out your salvation
Philippians 2:12-13 · Bob Eckel · Apr 29, 2012
Philippians (2012), No. 17
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926312156791

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so let's begin today. I kind of reflected back as to where a good place might be to make sure we're inclusive, both on the early end and on the far end. So the book ends today are Philippians 2.5 through Philippians 2.16, I believe. Correct.

So who'd like to read Philippians 2.5 through Philippians 2.16? Jim, can you do that for us?

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, I think, to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is born, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation verse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world. Holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain or toil in vain.

Aren't you glad we're taking one or two verses at a time here? Talk about a section of scripture that has nothing but meat, right? This is not milk for the new believer, but truly meat for those who are growing in grace. We don't control our own timetable, do we? The Lord controls that. Seeking the Word of Truth and how it applies to us each and every day is really what we're about as believers.

So let's keep that in mind as we pursue verses 12 and 13 today, once I get all of the mechanics working up here. All right, so the title that Roger's given us for the next week, at least today, and I think I think it's part two next week. I didn't look at the title for next week. Actually, it's the next verse. OK, so we have 2, 12 and 13 today.

Work out your own salvation. So New King James says very closely to what Jim read, Therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, I'll come back and dissect that a little bit. Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trouble.

When I was looking at these verses yesterday, these just came out. Aren't there some verses that just kind of sink in you and they never leave? And it's not like you've memorized them, it's just you've read this so many times that They just flow. And these two verses, therefore my beloved, as you always debate, I always forget the first part. Not much more of my essence.

Work out your own salvation, fear and troubling. For it is God who worketh in you, both the will and do is a good pleasure. I always fall back on 13 because it's up to him. I don't have to do anything. It's God who's working this out. We'll come back to that. Alright. So, therefore, my beloved, agapitos. Okay, my beloved. Who's he talking to here? It's just some clown down the street who he's never met. These are those in Christ, those who he knows are brothers in the Lord.

Okay, so as Jay Vernon always says, therefore, so what's therefore? Normally it's based upon all that's gone before, typically. Alright, yeah. So, what foundation's been laid here? I think that's why I chose the verses we chose to read, right? So, we read, you know, 5 through 11. We started at 5, and that's a pretty firm foundation by which Paul introduces the concept of working out your own salvation. And he describes the Lord Jesus Christ effectively in a very short series of verses about everything about him in terms of who he is, what he did, and what's been accomplished. So the foundation's been set therefore based on who he is and ultimately what I've already told you about that. Let's move forward.

As you've always obeyed, heiress, active, indicative. active, you are obeying, indicative, it's factual, you've been obeying. And let's look at this term obedience. Obedience to what? Or to whom? They've always obeyed. Why are they obeying? Is this the Golden Rule? The Ten Commandments? The local municipal charter? It is the obedience of faith. Okay. Other thoughts? Roy says the obedience to the faith. No, of faith. Of faith. Continuing to believe.

Do you think in any way that this could relate to Philippians 2.8? And if so, how?

Philippians 2.8 says, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient. to the point of death, even the death of the cross, what kind of obedience was that? Same thing. I think so.

So can we relate this type of obedience that Paul is calling the beloved to in terms of how it relates to the foundation that he'd already set in terms of Christ's obedience to the task that was before? He also, if you point, verse 5 which Jim read, talks about having this attitude, this mindedness So Christ was obedient. So we're to have the same mind in this. Verse 5 helps out in this as well. And verse 29 of chapter 1. Good, okay. I was going to go back and grab something in chapter 1 in a few minutes. Good.

So obedience to the faith is somewhat different, isn't it, than obedience to a set of rules and regulations. It's a whole different ballgame. And I think in the New Testament, in the epistles, Almost all of them, when we see obedience, it's not to... I mean, keep in mind the commandment. And Christ talks about the new commandment. And the obedience is to the commandment. It's not to law, but it's to the faith, ultimately, that is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ lived out in the believer. The obedience is to the faith. And I think that's the best interpretation. What do you make of always? I mean, always is pretty unequivocally translated as always. They've always been obedient, huh? How are you doing? Ingrid, are you always obedient? I thought you probably were. Let's pick on somebody else. Margaret, where are you? She's getting blessed. Believe me, she could defend herself.

Always? How are we doing with that term? I didn't even bring it up in the text, meaning in what I gave you as a handout, because I didn't know how to interpret it. You could look at it from this perspective. As you walk in Christ, you will be always obedient. So from that perspective, you are. I like that. We're going to come back to that when we're looking at the next verse. Very importantly. It always says pray without ceasing, so that's another thing too. I'm thinking about the way to word this so it will not be offensive, so I won't word it anyway. No, I'm just thinking this, pray without ceasing.

I mean, we all feel that we've got this door that's so wide open, don't we? I mean, we can communicate with the Lord left and right. How many times are you really on your knees, bowed head in prayer? I mean, none of us. I approach my Lord daily, frequently, often. Do I pray without ceasing? I mean, no, I have a job. But the point is we have this open communication.

Do you think that's the same kind of interpretation we have? Always when we're in the position that he has us and we're reflecting on that is doctrinal truth, we're always obedient as the Spirit leads us. Is that kind of way we're interpreting this? So you think always is kind of an assumption of the fact that God sees us as fully righteous and positioned above and that always really reflects who we are? Is that the best way to interpret this? I mean, I don't have the answer here. I'm just looking to the class to help me through interpreting this always.

Well, it doesn't go with what we studied in 1 John, that the sin nature cannot sin. Sin nature cannot sin. We do not sin in who we are in Christ. And in the same way, we are always faithful because of who we are in Christ. It's not something that we can say the sin nature is doing, that's for sure. So you think always is positional here, not conditional? No, this is our condition. Jim?

What Roy is saying there, 1 John 1.9 gives the that if we say we have no sin, we are guilty. So the only reconciliation that we have is to see the positional versus the conditional. So it's just kind of when we're reflecting on the old man, it's oh wretched man that I am, but then we continue and there's therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

And this is kind of where this is coming from, isn't it? As you've always been obedient, I look at you in Christ, and when you respond, I'm paraphrasing here, but when you respond by the power of the Spirit and the new nature, you're always obedient. Get on with the faith. That's what I'm challenging you to do. I'm thinking too of the dependence that we have. Our new life in Christ, it's nowhere else. We're totally dependent on the Spirit's working. in order for anything to happen. I think as you go through it, it just becomes overpowering. Good.

And what I intended to say earlier, and we'll come to this before we're done here this morning, this fear and trembling, goodness gracious, these are strong terms in the Greek. And we're going to put those into context. I mean, we don't go before the Lord shaking in fear and trembling. But that fear and trembling really reflects to the fact that we may not be coming to him in the manner in which he's accepted us.

So again, we'll come back and look at that in more detail. All right, good conversation. Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. So let's look back at Philippians. Will you read Philippians 127, Roy, and carry on down through 29, which you brought up? Please.

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it has been given in the behalf of Christ Go ahead and read 30, that's fine.

Okay, so Paul here is saying, look, when I'm around, you know, we have this message I've been giving you, and here now again, back up in chapter 2, he's reflecting on the same thing. In 127 he was with them, or at least pretends to be with them, and now again here he's saying, you know, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. So what's the motive when Paul's present? What do you mean by motive, Bob? Well, this of being obedient. Oh, come on, this is simple.

Does anybody here ever suffer from horizontal vision? We're not talking about God's government on earth here, Roger. We're talking about the metric of human performance here. I mean, you know, if Roger's around, I'm going to behave a little differently than I do if Margaret's around. Welcome to the class. You've been mentioned. I was chatting. Yeah. Notice where her priorities are. Yeah, Jim. This may be a little bit of a different direction. That's OK. We can go any direction you want to head. Well, let's see what this does.

This whole always of beta, I wonder in the context of this to do that, even when he was there and he wasn't there, how much that actually ties into some of this first. Because he goes in and he says again in 415-ish area, just about how they never ceased to support him and give to him when no one else would. I just wonder how much he says, even when I'm there, you support me. When I'm gone, you support me. and the obedience there is somewhat contextual.

Yeah, remember this is a fairly mature church in terms of comparing it to Corinth or comparing it to Galatia and other epistles that Paul has written. Yeah, I think that could be an interpretation we have here too. All right. So the point here is that, you know, we're not here to please our fellow believer, although when the life lives out in us and empowered by the Spirit, ultimately there's a tremendous amount of fellowship we have one with the other, isn't there? And that was one purpose getting together yesterday. We're a church body. We're here to not only fellowship with one another, but be a witness to the world around us that this is a church that cares about their building.

And I think Bruce Beatty reflected that very nicely in his email that he sent out last night. Any other thoughts here about Paul's presence? Paul didn't have to be there. They've been founded in truth. Paul's encouraged them in the truth, and Jim may be right.

Maybe they've always responded this way, and we're going to trust that you're going to continue to do this. This isn't really a punitive kind of comment. It's not a pejorative comment. It's really saying, hey, you're doing well. Keep on with the faith, whether I'm there or not. OK, good. All right, let's continue.

So where's the Christ's life source anyway? Is it really there to please someone when they're there? No, of course not. The Christ's life is in fact not dependent on where we're at or who we're with. It's dependent on the power of the Spirit. And how is it perceived? Well, we can't describe it, can we? But we know it when we see it. This isn't something we work at.

This is something that we call obedience to the faith. Right? We can list all the attributes of a new nature and the way he performs and walks within each one of us, but we all manifest that somewhat differently, but it's all consistent with the Word of God and who we are in Christ. There's something that occurs to me here in that we suffer so that we can discern the suffering in others in the same way that we believe and we can discern that faith in others. How is it perceived here? Because we see Christ in others at work just like we see him at work in us. And we can be misled here. Remember the world system around us, people not of the Lord can put on good behavior. So we just don't judge it based on what somebody's done or said.

This is something that goes far beyond that. It's a spiritual perception. It really is. Okay, good. And what does Paul mean by much more? It's kind of a superlative statement, it means much more. I mean, we're talking about, it's not just more, much more, it's much, much more willingly, more readily, sooner, it can imply any of these things. So in his absence, the idea is that let's put another superlative on that, even going beyond my presence with you that I would personally witness.

Let's do it even better. Now, this fun part. Work out your own salvation. This is Philippians 3.01. This is in a 101 course.

If this were Philippians 1.01, we would say this in no way class means that we don't work for our salvation. This is graduate course work here, not because I'm teaching it, I can assure you.

But Paul, and there are two reasons for that. Paul is addressing the beloved, right? These are believers. And secondly, they know darn well, and I just gave one simple verse, but we could give, you know, probably a hundred verses here that were saved by grace, not faith. And Ephesians 2, 8 cuts to the case right there. Saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, it's the work of God, on and on and on.

So this is not working for our salvation, it's working out our salvation. All right, so working out present, middle, which is usually active, tense, interpreted, imperative. That means do it. This isn't something that we have a choice for. Oh no, a burden, working out my own salvation. No, this is again consistent with the foundation of who we are in Christ.

So I thought about this a little bit and I think to work this out is not a work where in fact we show the example of our work on the wall. We can look at the church inside and outside and say there's been a work done here yesterday. But I kind of Use an analogy to your banking account.

You know, the numbers are all there and we got to kind of get to the bottom line, don't we? So we work through the checks we've paid, those that are outstanding. Margaret and I went through this this morning, actually, before we came to church. And you know, it's all there. Now let's just calculate the bottom line and make sure it works. So working at your salvation, everything's been given. Let's just see that that is a result to follow. So we don't work at this, we in fact assimilate the truths that have already been documented. All the facts and figures are there, now the bottom line. The bank account is all there.

But now, I mean, the Lord in His word has given us everything we need to know about who we are in Christ. Now it's just by being obedient to the faith, realizing this opportunity for us. Let's look at this a little bit more in detail. We've been placed in Christ.

Now let's continue down the path of being transformed, 2 Corinthians 3.18, we know that verse well, and conformed, Romans 8.29, to his precious image. So working out our salvation is this constant process of being transformed by him and conformed in his image to bring glory to the Lord, right? That's working out our salvation. It's not a list, it's really realizing the truth of the scripture and everything we're given there, in terms of where we go. I was thinking, following Romans 8, 28 or 29, whatever it was, that really, it could be stated as, let it be worked out with spirit truth, which is, it's God who's working it out.

You're jumping ahead. We're going to look at fear and trembling in more detail in a second. The concept here is keep looking down, right? I hate to keep using that, but it's so, so true. When we get separated from our position, we get burdened with our earthly circumstances. We desperately look up and we look horizontal. We get discouraged. We get despaired. We get depressed. No room for this. Working at our salvation is looking at our circumstances where the Lord has us.

Yeah, right. Are you going to talk about the aspects of salvation, past, present, future? It's going to be brought in here, yeah. What occurred to me is that actually this is more focused on the present aspect of salvation. So salvation in Scripture is this kind of past, present, future. And here's exactly where I was going to go with this. And you're going perfectly well down the right path. 2 Peter 1, 3, and 4, which in our home Bible study, we're kind of getting through 2 Peter now, but we spent quite a bit of time in the first chapter of 2 Peter.

I love this in terms of its application to what we're dealing with here. As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature." Doesn't that say it all in terms of working at your own salvation? God has done everything he needs to do to ultimately create in us his image and bring glory to himself.

How do we respond to this? We believe. And it's bumpy. The road's rough at times, isn't it? Because we get distracted by this earthly existence and all the security this world system brings about. But yet, he continues to remind us that we are an earthly body with all the temptations of the world system and of the flesh and of the sin nature. It's all here and around us, but yet that's not what he calls us to. He calls us to work on our salvation based on the truth of who we are in Christ. Yeah, please, this is open dialogue here. Looking at the text from the Greek perspective, the word order is sort of significant. It's out of your salvation, you enter into this work. In other words, we're not working, we're not energizing.

And I think the fear and trembling relates to this, and we will come back to that. So Roger, this concept of salvation is one that's absolutely in three tenses, is it not? You've been born again, you are continually being born again by the daily experience and by our faith. Working out our salvation is continuing to be born again, and then of course the future The first and third aspects of salvation are simple, aren't they? I've been saved by grace. My sins have been forgiven. And the last one, eternally I'm with the Lord.

But this second part, this is the graduate work, right? We all have. How are you doing at this? And when we respond in a human mindset, we're not doing so well, are we? But when we rest and trust and believe, the life gets lived out. And we don't measure performance.

Let the Lord measure that in us. Neat. It's almost, in fact, almost, it's another gospel, as Paul told the Church of Galatia. This is another gospel. This is not a gospel of legality and works to please God. It's a work of God in us to bring glory to Him. Different venues, for sure. Alright, good. Having escaped the corrupt... Anyway, that's the last part of the second Peter Burge. We could have stopped easily wherever.

Okay, this fear and trembling. Let's look at these terms in the Greek. Fear, phobos, phobia, right? Claustrophobia, aerophobia, hydrophobia. This is dreadful stuff in here. Margaret and I were in Dubai last week and we went up to this highest building in the world. The air quality is so smoggy and sand-filled. It was ugly actually, but I have a fear of heights. Actually, when we were abroad a couple of months ago, we were in the tower of Istanbul.

We were probably only 50 feet above the ground, but the passageway was like this and the bar was like here. I was leaning against the back wall. I couldn't get close. I thought I might be bearing a second wife here. But this was that huge platform which was glassed in, so there was no problem there.

But anyway, this phobia is something we dread and it really brings kind of terror to the soul. So that's a pretty strong term, I agree. And trembling is, promos, quaking with fear. So, you know, these are not subtle terms. And it says we're supposed to be salvation working out, Roy, thank you, with fear and trembling. So what's that mean? And I think, and Uist helped me with this a little bit, and I thought his section here was quite good, and I'm going to quote him in a moment.

But I think overall this fear and trembling is best portrayed as self-distrust. Think about that for a second. Approach the Lord with fear and trembling in terms of the salvation being worked out in each one of us. When we go with fear and trembling, that's because we, in fact, when we rely on our own ability to do this, we should be fearful and trembling. Does that fit? You guys okay with that? I mean, I kind of liked it. I'm not quite sure I ever saw it quite this way before.

But I think it's really, really right on. There's a little saying per day on one of these calendars and last week one of them was, don't believe everything you think. Let's talk afterwards. Maybe in Irvine next week and we can have a further conversation on that. Jim, are you okay with this? Distrusting ourselves might be the way. Roy, are you okay with that? That's what we think, and I'm okay with it.

Well, Bob, isn't it recognizing the old man for what he really is? The old man doesn't present himself to the throne, right? But I think it does reflect when we're not obedient to the faith, and we're not really responding to Paul's great guidance and direction, we in fact can respond in fear and trembling when we're thinking about ourselves ultimately accomplishing this walk of obedience, correct? It also fits with, we don't have a contribution in grace. That definitely helps us understand the spiritual thing because it's not about our efforts.

But when we approach the throne, I mean, we go confidently, don't we? We go joyfully. We go encouraged and lifted up. So this fear and trembling is... I think when we, again, begin to rely on the Adam nature, the sin nature, we ultimately go before him with fear and trembling. But then, first John 1, 9 again, I mean, we have a pathway to make that fear and trembling, you know, historic and unrealistic. All right, let's continue. Here's Wiestens. This is the quote. It is taking heed lest we fall. It is a constant apprehension of deceitfulness of the heart and of the insidiousness and power of inward corruption. Okay? Strong words.

Not sure that he would have the same definition of fall that we have. But falling from grace, I think, is in the picture here. Of going back unto this in nature. But that's, you think what you just said is inconsistent with his view? No, I'm just saying I'm not sure that he would have the same definition of thought. I see. All right.

Verse 13, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. For it is God who works in you, okay, is present indicative. He's doing it now, factually. Works, present active participle. Energeo, isn't that an interesting one? Energeo, that suggests there's some jewels here, right? Meaning that's J-O-U-L-E-S, not J-E-W-E-L-S. All right.

It needs to be operative, to be at work, to put forth power like it best work effectively, is another translation of working here. to will and to do is present active participle. This is all going on currently in the life of a believer. And he's positioned us with everything we need here. So in other words, he's not only positioned us, but in fact he's ongoing and active in the process of working effectively through each and every one of us as believers. I have a series of verses here. So we're going to look at these and we're going to emphasize certain parts of these verses.

Romans 6, 3, and 4, or do you not know that as many of you were baptized under Christ Jesus, were baptized unto his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

God is working out his pleasure in us. But God, Ephesians 2, 4, and 5, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses since, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you've been saved. So we're made alive. He's accepted us. We should walk in newness of life. And he's made us alive to be able to do that.

Second Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. But we're bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit, and belief in the truth. Notice the importance of both of those. Sanctification by the Spirit.

We're being set apart in this new nature in which we've been founded. And belief in the truth. The truth isn't a Christian life filled with works to please God. It's full of grace and rest. And he's just calling us to believe. To which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And remember, our Our walk by faith brings glory to Him. We take no credit for this. And finally, there could be many other verses I could have shared here.

1 Peter 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So we're a living hope, and that living hope not only reflects our own semblance of that truth, and acceptance of that truth, and that comfort of that truth, that living hope is a living hope for the entire world around us. That they see something different in you. It's a light in the darkness. We're living hopes in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is for God's good pleasure. Isn't that interesting? He takes pleasure by not only saving us, I was saved, but this enactment of the sanctification of the Spirit on a day-to-day basis as He's walking in our lives to bring glory to Himself. To His delight, pleasure, satisfaction is what we want by faith. He's fully made us righteous in Christ, but yet the second component of salvation, we're being saved, is one that brings pleasure to Him. And what pleases God? These are a few things that I was able to find.

Having adopted us as sons, it says that brings pleasure to him, Ephesians 1.5.

Having made known to us the mystery of his will brings pleasure to him, Ephesians 1.9. Being predestined to the purpose of his will, Ephesians 1.

We all know how rich that is in terms of the doctrinal truth of what he has for us as believers. All of these verses reflect pleasure that comes to him. from establishing us in his Son. And then the last one, again there could be many more, having saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. That says, you know, in context that it brings pleasure to the Lord. So he sees tremendous tremendous satisfaction and is totally pleased by who we are in Christ. And now this growth principle in the new life is one that also continues to bring pleasure to him as we live by faith. So I suggested that herein we have a perfect balance.

Philippians 2.12, we have human responsibility. And what's the human responsibility? I think so. Very simple. Nothing else but to believe what God has revealed. And are we living by faith? That's the question we have to ask ourselves.

And secondly, in Philippians 2.13 we have divine enablement. And do we fully believe this?

I don't know, sometimes when we fall astray, we kind of doubt if God's really paying much attention or whether he is capable as he said he was. And we can fall into these emotional, you know, moods of desperation and discouragement and depression. And this is really not biblical truth lived out in our lives. Our failure to believe or that God is in some way inadequate.

So it's a joint effort. It's our responsibility to believe what he shared. And secondly, we believe that what he shared is fully true. And it's all victory from that point forward. Remember, we all know there are bumps in the road, despite the truth in this particular area. So, I thought I'd close with this. We've got plenty. Yeah, Roy, go ahead. Going back to what you said, to his delight, Well, let me ask him, it's Jim's responsibility, so you ask him next week. Jim, to me, also puts that in a perspective for himself.

He says, what things were gained in me, I counted loss for Christ. And he goes on to say that it is that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship Belief is not just for belief, but it is an intimacy with Christ, of not just knowledge about Him, but knowing Him personally. And that means that when people look at us, they're not looking at the works we do, they're looking at the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the intimacy that God wants, that Christ would be seen in us, because we know Him. The more you read what Paul has for us, aren't you incredibly amazed by this guy and who he is and what the Lord did in his life? He's steeped in law and tradition.

Then the road to Damascus and everything that followed. Three years with the Lord. We know so little detail. When you get to heaven, if we can carry on a conversation that has any earthly significance of any kind, I want to know what those three years I guess it's three years, we could argue exactly how much time, but that's what people tend to interpret that time when the Lord was. Paul. Yeah, I thank Roy very importantly.

Jim may not have those verses, could it be Roger or me, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. And the neat thing about that verse is that being made conformable unto his death is really the source of the resurrection, is it not? I mean, without Good Friday, there's no new life. So the cross is incredibly relevant.

And in fact, this last section that I'm going to give you today reflects on that. And this is taken from Myles Stanford two days ago. If you do None But the Hungry Heart, this was two days ago. And in fact, I made a mistake this morning. I read two days ago first. I said, why did I do that? and then I read 429, and then I went back and said, this is why I read this.

So the Lord Jesus, this is Miles Stanford, so the Lord Jesus carried out the work of the cross as to our eternal position. The Holy Spirit carries out the work of the cross as to our present position. Notice he didn't say our present condition. He says our present position. So the Spirit makes our position real. because he ultimately brings about the process of sanctification based on the truth of who we are. Finally, he will take the things that are mine. These are Christ's words in John. He will take the things that are mine and will transmit them to you.

So I think perfect in terms of this working at our own salvation with fear and trembling. When we trust ourselves, we do come with fear and trembling. But when we believe in the truth of the word of God and what it says, this is really a tremendous rest. And it makes the walk, I wouldn't say easy, but I will say victorious. And one that we can get great comfort from.

So we're done a few minutes early, time for discussion. I just had one comment about praying without ceasing. I was looking at that in a positive way that this is what he desires of us and that we can communicate with him. He wants us to be communicating with him all the time and that we can bring everything to him all day long. I was thinking that not so much as something we have to do with it. So I was just thinking that's just a wonderful thing he's provided for us. Really is true, isn't it?

How many of you, and many of us, were kind of raised more... I mean, first of all, I was raised in a mainline church. There was no personal message at all about salvation of any type. But then after I got saved, I mean, we all went under law to some extent for a while, right?

And I think to come to these great principles of grace and truth and rest really requires one to kind of get to the end of yourself, right? You keep reaching out, God, what more can I do? I've had another bad day of deeds and thoughts and lack of deeds. Anyway, so you get to that point, I think, by this. But ultimately, I think that this praying without ceasing is simply an opportunity that's given by great grace. Before you had to pray, you're prayerless, right? You pray for ten minutes on your knees every day. I fell asleep half the time. a point of discussion, actually, because I'm thinking this through. It seems like when we read these universal commands, like we've got one next week, do all things without grumbling.

The problem, I think, is not so much what it's saying, but the perspective that we're seeing it kind of fall on our shoulders. I mean, if we truly are our position, when we read this from a positional perspective, then it makes complete and total sense. But if we read this So the challenge is, how often are we thinking of what we're reading in terms of how does this affect my flesh, or how does this affect me? And it just changes the way that the Word is read and understood, especially in its imperative form in the New Testament.

Of course I'll do things without grumbling, because that's who I am. Of course I will pray without ceasing, because that's who I am. And to give the flesh credit for not being able to do it, that burden is yet another form of not seeing who I truly am in Christ and so I think one of the things we have to do especially in this book and ones that we study together in the future is how are we how are we Philippians may be a little less so than the other epistles of Paul's, but remember, Paul establishes this firmly in doctrine in the first part of most of his epistles. And then the second part is not a series of works that we need to do to prove our position.

It's in fact, this is what the life looks like, right? Exactly what you're saying. Our life stems from our position. It's not that we make our position convincing of what our position is, the position extended into the condition reflects who we are in Christ. Yeah, Jerry. Well, that's the exact thought I had when you look at this passage.

I mean, two important words there are, in verse 12, you have always obeyed, and then it talks about work out your salvation. And whether you're looking at it from a positional obeying work are going to have very different connotations. Understanding what God has done for us, obedience there seems to be, like we talked about, it's belief. Our, if you want to call it responsibility under obedience, is to believe what God has said about you. have this salvation.

And there's a huge contrast there between whether you're coming from a grace perspective or a works perspective. It makes all the difference in the world. Keep in mind, one criticism I think of this grace message is it's let go, let God. It's anything but that.

God has declared who we are. We need to actively respond by faith, don't we? That is a will, a desire, a spirit-led responsibility to respond by faith. And don't you think we suffer if we don't? We do. Well, I'll tell you. The flesh can only lead you to wrong paths and outcomes that are disappointing. I mean, even if they look good on the surface, it's self-righteousness, which is really part of the cross, isn't it?

I'm safe, I've got to write all these programs to take care of everything in my life and sit there and make sure it works out right. But we understand in the grace, we've been given this ultimate program that does every single thing we could ever imagine. And as we grow in our Christian life, it's understanding, oh yeah, this is how it applies to my life today.

I mean, if you're a computer programmer, it's foolish to try and write this program when you do all this work and at the end you realize, oh, somebody's already done it and it works It's a great analogy and I really weakly tried to represent that in practical terms in terms of the bank account. You know all the numbers are there and let's see what the bottom we got to look up what we've spent what checks are outstanding and kind of looking what I mean it's all there. And you said it perfectly in terms of computer programming. You're not going to reproduce what's already been done. It's a matter of figuring out what he or she did in terms of writing a program to begin with.

In light of that, God has prepared the works that we walk in. And those works that we walk in are in the operating system, using the analogies of... He's getting a little far astray over here. Was that a Mac or a PC? And so we walked into that system. I guess the question is do you have the right computer and the right song? One more kind of observation. The verse 12...

You don't have no memory. No comment. just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but much more in my absence. Work out your salvation with great privilege. Those two clauses there, not as in my presence, but also in my absence, are they referring to work out your salvation? So you're saying, as you have always obeyed, you have believed. So now then, what the imperative is given to us is, work out your salvation, not as you have in my presence, but in my absence. So in other words, He's instructing them, don't just rely on my teaching, don't just rely on my exposition to help you understand your salvation.

As believers, we have to do that on our own. In other words, it would be easy for them, I'm sure it would be insanely easy for me if I was in the church at Philippi, just to have so much reliance on Paul and his teaching. But he's kind of saying, even when I'm not there, you still have this opportunity to work out your salvation, to understand it on your own, to not be so reliant on his teaching, but realize we have, because God is working in us, we have that possibility to understand these things even without the teaching of Paul.

And I don't know if that's exactly what the passage is implying there, but... Well, I was just thinking to refine that a little bit, the focus is on Christ, you know, it's not on Paul or Apollos or whoever. It's on Christ, so that whether Paul is there or not, the focus remains on Christ. And that was Paul's great desire, wasn't it always? He said, I think in 1 Corinthians 11, he said, and be like me even as I am also in Christ. He said that a couple of times in scripture.

He's an example of what this Christ's life looks like, but he says that humbly. I mean, he's not saying, gee, I'm really doing well, aren't I? No, but he's saying, look, I've been, look at the path I've gone down and look at the life I'm living by faith. Reflect on what that should look like in your own life.

It's not that they duplicated it. It's simply the truth of the gospel being lived out by faith. Yeah, so absolutely, Jeremy. We kind of touched on that a little bit earlier. Great discussion, great verses, huh? Isn't it neat to think this working out of our salvation is really just another act of our faith and declaring in our day-to-day lives what God's already positioned us to do and to be? That's neat. Okay. Alan, bless us in prayer, please. Father, we thank you for this time. We pray that you guide us as we enter the next service. receptive hearts to deal with learning, growing, and of course in Christ we pray. Amen.