Our Old Testament reading this morning comes from first Kings chapter eight. I'm going to be reading from verse 54 through 61. That's first Kings chapter eight. Now as Solomon finished offering all his prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord where he had knelt with hands outstretched towards heaven. And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice saying, blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people, Israel, according to all that he promised. One word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses, his servant, the Lord, our God be with us as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord, our God day and night. And may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people, Israel, as each day requires. But all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God, there is no other. Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments as at this day." And then turning to Philippians chapter two, reading from verse 12 and 13, our New Testament lesson and sermon text. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed. So now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, as we come to your word this morning, let us hear it with faith, receive it with eagerness to obey it, and be strengthened by the power, encouragement, and conviction of your spirit, so that in knowing your comforts, your truth, and your grace, we will be more like you. Amen. Today is the 12th sermon in our sermon series within Philippians called Together for the Gospel. And in that time, we have worked our way up until our text this morning, Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 through 13. And in our text, we've come across what at first blush appears to be something that is quite confusing. Work out your own salvation. The question is, what does that mean? Does it mean that sinners are saved by works and not by the grace of God? Well, not at all. But does it mean that the finished work of Christ on the cross was actually not sufficient for the salvation of sinners such as you and me? Well, that certainly is not the case. That would be blasphemous. In Philippians chapter 1 and verse 28, we've already seen that Paul has said that salvation is from God. This is the very nature of the gospel. God saves sinners. Three words that J.I. Packer used to summarize the doctrines of grace. God and God alone saves from beginning to end sinners, those who are helpless and who are lost in their sin. God saves sinners. In order for us to understand this language of to work out your own salvation, we would do well to understand three theological doctrines, three benefits of being in Christ, three terms that are found in the Bible, justification, adoption, and sanctification. You see, in summary, justification, We are freely accepted by God because of the perfect work of Christ alone. Nothing in us or nothing done by us has made us right with God. Our acceptance and our righteousness before God is solely based on Christ's obedience and his satisfaction on our behalf. And so if we are in Christ, we have been accepted by God. And then adoption. Not only have we been forgiven, made righteous, accepted by God, we have also been called the children of God. that we have access to all the privileges, all the liberties of being God's children. God is our father, and so we will never, ever be cast off. That's his adoption. And then there is sanctification. Not only have we been accepted by God, welcomed into his family as beloved children, we are also enabled to grow in grace, to be conformed more and more into the image of Christ. You see, once we had no desire for God, no desire to be like him, But now we can be like Him. We can be renewed after the image of God. Dying more and more to sin and then living more and more unto righteousness. We can change. We can become more like Jesus. Our lives can reflect our status. of being children of God. And this is where we find ourselves this morning. To work out our salvation is not about acceptance by God, our justification. It's not about being welcomed into the family of God, our adoption. It's about God making us more and more like Jesus, our sanctification. And this is done in the power of God. These two verses before us this morning give us great hope. Hope for dealing with our own carnality. Hope for living lives worthy of the gospel of Christ. Hope in the midst of darkness when our citizenship is in heaven. Two Sundays ago, I preached part one of this text. And so this morning, this sermon builds upon what we've already covered. And so I'd like to summarize for us where we are so far. There are in these two verses, there are four distinct sections. One is Philippians. You have always obeyed. Two, is work out your salvation. Three, do that in fear and trembling. Four, because God is presently at work in you. That's the ground for the exaltation found in the second and third sections. And so our focus this morning is going to be on these last two points. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And then the fourth point, because God is presently at work in you. That's our focus this morning. But it would serve us well to refresh us. in the opening two points. And so firstly, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, these are the opening words from these two verses. And Paul here is not exalting the church in Philippi to something new. He's exalting them to keep on doing that which has been true of them, which is obeying Christ. And this is the very nature of saving faith. The faith by which we are alone saved is a true and a lively faith, a faith that obeys Christ. This is what Paul speaks about when he refuses the phrase, the obedience of faith, as we see twice in Romans. In the Christian faith, Christ is both Savior and He is Lord. Obedience, dear friends, is part and parcel of the Christian faith. We are to obey Christ's teachings, which are good, which reflect Him, and they are for our good. These are summarized by Christ in Matthew 22, where he says, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind. This is the great and first commandment and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And secondly, Paul goes on, Say, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my present, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation. Now, second point. There's the exhortation. Work out your own salvation. It's unto sanctification. It concerns how we live. Now that we are in Christ, this is what Paul is getting at. Now that we are in Christ, live like this. To work out your own salvation does not mean that you're to work up your salvation. It does not mean that we are to work in our salvation, to work for our salvation, or to work unto salvation. We've already seen in Philippians chapter one that God begins and completes our salvation and that salvation is from God. To work out your salvation refers to the believer being active, active with all the energy and power of God. It has to do with one's manner of life, how you walk, how you live, how you speak. You see, what frames the entire section What informs the entire section from Philippians 1 verse 27 all the way through to chapter 2 and verse 18. And we have not yet got to the end of that are the opening words and exaltation. Let your manner of life as citizens of the heavenly realm and kingdom be worthy of the gospel of Christ. This is what Paul is getting at. From Philippians chapter 1 and 27, all the way through, he is exhorting the church to this one thing. Live lives that are becoming of Christ. For you are citizens of another world. You are citizens of heaven. Do so in the face of opposition, dear Philippian believers. Do so in the face of suffering, of persecution, of hardship, and of imprisonment. Live as those who you are of being in Christ. The fruits of the Spirit that is in your life will be evident for others to see. Paul wants us to grow in the faith. He wants us to grow in grace. He wants us to move from milk to solid food, from being babes in Christ to being mature in Christ. He wants us to look more and more like Christ and our actions and our speech and our heart motivations. None of this brings us into acceptance with Christ or welcomes us into his family. Instead, it's about living for the good pleasure of our new master and heavenly father. He wants us To be known for our love for one another. Paul wants us to be known for our unity, for our peace amidst times of hardship, for finding grace in the midst of trials. Whether that's facing imprisonment as was true of the Philippian church or finding grace as you and I face this trial of the pandemic. Friends, to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, as we saw earlier in chapter two, is to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. To walk in a manner worthy of the gospel includes turning your cheek, living on bended knee in prayer, refraining from grumbling and disputing, which we find in verse 14 of this chapter. To let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel is to forgive one another again and again and again. It's letting the peace of God rule in your hearts. It's letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It's putting away anger and wrath and malice and slander and obscene talk from your mouth. It's to live a life of faith, hope, and love. As we see in first Corinthians, that love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but it rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things. Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. And who can do this, you might ask. It might seem like this is just too much. The bar is too high. To be like Christ seems absolutely impossible. You'd be correct if this was to be done in your own strength. Grow in one's conformity to Christ is not a work of the flesh. It's not an academic exercise. What we need, what you and I need is for these marvelous doctrines of grace that we prize so dearly to saturate the very depths of our souls to go all the way down. into our inner man, that you and I would be animated by Christ, that our lives, our speech, our actions would increasingly reflect Christ. That we would be moved to obedience, to passion, to devotion, That it would be said of us how they love God and love one another. In this way we would have a real fervor. It's what Paul says in Romans chapter 12. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, he says, be constant in prayer. Oh, that that would be true of us in this hour. Not slothful in zeal, but fervent in spirit. serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient amidst tribulation, constant in prayer. Think back with me to Acts chapter four. Peter and John were arrested by the religious leaders of the day and they are put in custody so that later on they could be asked by what power or by what name you have healed this crippled man. Peter responds to the questioning that he is faced in the power of the Holy Spirits and then we read the following in Acts 4 and verse 13. But when the religious leaders or religious rulers, elders and scribes saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, They were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. To be with Jesus changes everything. You will look different. Your manner of life will become less and less like the world's. without becoming reclusive or separatist. We are to be salt and light without losing our saltiness. Friends, the Church of Jesus Christ is an alternate society to the world. It's a counter-cultural community, a different kingdom in which the manner of life is reflective of being in Christ. And that part of the problem of the church in Corinth was that their manner of life was so much like the world's. There was so little difference between their behavior and the world's. And so when they came together, listen to this. It was not for the better, Paul says, but for the worse. Paul goes on to say, this is why many of them were weak and ill. And some had died for when they'd come to the Lord's table, they brought judgment upon themselves. But in Paul's letter to the Philippians, There is no Christian Pharisaicism here. Advocating one thing with one's lips and with one's doctrines, but having lives that reflect something so thoroughly different. That is not what we find in this epistle. Seeping through the very paws of Paul's life comes one thing, and one thing only, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Over and against everything else for Paul is the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. Paul, like Peter and John, had been with Jesus. How are we to work out our salvation? How are we to be active in our sanctification? Let's look at our final two points to consider the answer. We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, my third point. and to do so in the power of God, which is at work in us. My final point. Here's the summary. If you walk away with anything this morning, walk away with this. To live a life worthy of the gospel calls for us to work out what God is working in us, in the fear of God. Our third point, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What does the fear and trembling refer to? If we don't understand this language, we won't be able to work out our own salvation as we ought to. Because what's required is that in working out our own salvation is that it is done with fear and trembling. In other words, in our manner of life, our internal motivations and our external actions are to be reflective of the gospel of Christ. In order for that to take place, we must work out our own salvation in the fear of God. Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter five, he addresses God's people. Well, God addresses him as through Jeremiah addressing the house of Jacob. And he says, do you not fear me declares the Lord? Do you not tremble before me? Are we like the person whom the Lord looks upon in Isaiah 66 verse 2 where he says, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. There are three kinds of fear. The first is that there is a natural or an instinctive fear when we are threatened or we perceive some kind of danger. The second kind of fear is that there is an ungodly fear that arises when we just don't trust God. When our fears are inordinate, they become inordinate and we fear man more than we fear God. And then there's the third kind of fear, and that's the fear of God, which refers to reverencing God in His majesty. Living our lives Coram Deo, before the face of God, the reverential fear of God has the absolute awesomeness of God in view. He is holy. He is God most holy. Who by His word brought all things into existence of which all the nations are as nothing before Him. As Isaiah says, to whom then will you liken God or what likeness can you compare with him? Believers are not afraid of God as sinners will one day be, for we've been accepted. We've been adopted. We've been made righteous. And time and time again in the scriptures we see fear not while simultaneously being exhorted to fear the Lord. Friends, the fear of the Lord is connected, integrally connected with obeying the commandments of God. As those who have already been made righteous in Christ, Psalm 119 says, I am a companion of those who fear you, of those who keep your precepts. Listen to some of the closing words of Ecclesiastes. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. We spoke earlier of Church in Corinth here, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 7, since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit. That's a reference to sanctification, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. There it is. Paul tells us in Romans that believers have no fear of God. There is no soberness before God. There is no reverencing him. But the church is not to be like this. It was said of the early church in Acts chapter nine, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. Take that for a church growth strategy. The fear of the Lord is not only the beginning of wisdom, dear friends, it is also the hatred of evil. In fearing the Lord, not only do we do what is right in the eyes of God, it is the way to the enjoyment of Him. To fear the Lord is to live in a manner that eagerly desires to please the Father, to will and to work for His good pleasure. You just simply don't want to displease your heavenly father who is so good. And so the fear of the Lord is not only the honor that we give him as father and the reverential fear that we owe him as our new master and Lord. It is also the obedience of bringing holiness to completion as we work out our own salvation with His power. And finally, our fourth point, the exhortation to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling is grounded in the reality that God is at work in you. Friends, Scripture tells us that the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. And God's power is made perfect in your weakness. It's not about you or me feeling strong. I got this. Strong in myself. But it's about knowing he or him who is strong is at work in me who is weak. Who now lives by the power of God, even as we wrestle against the flesh. One of the things that Paul prays in the opening chapter of Ephesians is that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened. Why? So that they may know what is the immeasurable greatness of God's power towards all who believe. And that power, the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead, that power is at work in you. That changes everything. That power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is at work in you who are weak, but He is strong. Friends, Paul goes on later on in Ephesians chapter three to say, the power of God is at work in us. This power that is at work in us is none other than the glorious might of the living God. To be a Christian is to be indwelt by the Spirit of God. Friends, the gospel does not come to us with mere words. For the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And the gospel comes, as we see in 1 Thessalonians, it comes in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. And even as I preach this word to you this morning, may I exhort you to believe the word of Christ. Receive it as if it's from His mouth, which it is. and obey it in faith, and it will be life to you. Let us join together with Paul in struggling with all God's energy, which so powerfully is at work within us, Colossians 1. For God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power, of love, and of self-control. How are we to share in suffering for the gospel? By the power of the Holy Spirit. How are we to put off sin and to stand firm in the Lord? by the power of God that is at work in us as we will and work for his good pleasure. That's the motive, that's the chief end, the pleasure of God. When we live for His good pleasure, doing that which is good in the power of God, we will be transformed from one degree of glory to another, little by little, one day at a time, looking more and more like Christ. As a church, we will have the same mind and the same love, living in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, says Jesus. If you have love, for one another. See friends, this text that we have before us gives us great hope. God is at work in us and so we can change. May I exhort you as we close. Come every single Lord's Day, eager to hear the Word of God, eager to hear from Christ, eager to be fed from His Word, eager to obey His Word each and every Lord's Day. Come. Come to the table this morning. Come. eager to be nourished by him, strengthened in grace, looking to him in faith. These are some of the very ordinary ways in which believers are strengthened in grace, enabled to outwork that which God is at work in you by his power. Friends, he who calls you to himself is faithful, and he will surely do what he has promised. Let's pray. Thank you that you are at work in us, O God. so that we can work out our own salvation with fear and trembling for your good pleasure. Amen.