Please turn with me and please be seated. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter two, we'll be reading verses 12 and 13 as we continue to work through the book of Philippians together. That's on page 922 in your pew Bibles, if you are using the pew Bibles. Philippians two, Verses 12 through 13, let's hear the word of the Lord. 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. Let's pray. Father, we are so blessed and grateful to you that we can hear your word proclaimed today, and we are grateful for your word. We are grateful for the power that you exercise in using your word to work in our lives. And Father, we want to submit our hearts to you this morning and ask that you would be pleased for to meet us where we are. and to speak to us through your word and accomplish your will in our lives. Give us grace and humility to submit ourselves to your word, to your truth. And we pray that in all things that your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be glorified in the proclamation of your word and in the working of our hearts. Lord, we ask again, forgive us for our sins. Fill us with your spirit. Lay hold of our hearts and minds. And we ask that everyone in this room would be met by your word this morning. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Paul has just charged the Philippian brethren to let their manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ by pursuing and maintaining biblical unity in the church. The motivation unto this unity, as we have seen, is the love of God, which is encased in the gospel. Finding the redeemed as the objects of this profound love. The pathway to this unity is summed up in humbling oneself and considering others as more significant than yourselves, and of not only looking at your own interests, but also to the interests of others. And the mindset that we're to have, which is to govern the gauge and the quality of our humility, is the mind of Christ, revealed by His incarnation and His death on the cross. Well, building on this essential theme then, the apostle moves on to give the brethren a general charge to work out their salvation. And he's indicating by this that while salvation is entirely of the Lord with respect to our justification, in accordance with his free grace, that the people of God yet do have the responsibility, particularly with respect to their sanctification, to actively participate in the unfolding and the outworking of that salvation. We are involved not in the ordaining or procuring or meriting of our salvation, but in the working out of the intended effects of it, especially relating to our being conformed into the image of Christ. And it's certainly worthy to note in this context, as Paul begins verse 12, that he does so with the word therefore. And when we see that word therefore, more likely than not, more often the time, more often it's the case, that consciously we find that actively pursuing biblical unity, which we just spoke of last time, by means of the ongoing and consistent humbling of ourselves, we find it's directly related to the process of working out our salvation. In other words, therefore, looks back to what has just been said prior to this, And he's now bringing that into what he is about to say. So in this case, we know when he says, therefore, he is now addressing something that relates to what he has just said, to our humbling of ourselves. And so for this morning, then, we will seek to work through the apostle's sobering charge here in verses 12 and 13 and the implications of it. And so in verse 12 he says this, Therefore, my beloved brethren, 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. Now, if up to this point the Apostle Paul hasn't convinced the Philippians of the conscious necessity of being diligent in their obedience to his commands, the severity of the matter is here firmly cemented to the general command that he gives to work out their salvation. You can see the sobriety of what the Apostle is talking about and the severity of his commands, particularly with what he says in this text. And again, he begins with the word, therefore, which calls us to recognize the connection between what he has just said and what he is now about to say. You might also interpret the word, therefore, as in light of what I've just said. He gives then the command, do this. In light of what I've just said, do this. Now, before we address the command, I want you to notice how the Apostle Paul prefaces the command with two very encouraging statements. Both of which, I believe, are meant to convey to the Philippians the fact that Paul is about to say what he is about to say because he loves them deeply. And he's not unintentionally seeking to offend or scare them. He wants them to know that what he's saying here, as severe as it is, or as intense as it is, it's coming out of a heart of love for them. What he's about to say is sobering and it's somewhat jarring, but it is essential and for their great benefit. And so he wants to ensure that they don't allow the severity of the command to eclipse the fact that Paul's genuine love for them is what is compelling him to give that command. He wants to make sure they understand where it's coming from. They need to hear the truth, but they need to hear it as from someone who truly has their best interest in mind. And so notice two ways in which Paul accomplishes this end. First, he says, therefore, my beloved, How many times in the letters and in scripture do you hear the beloved or beloved of God, right? That's very common. But here Paul wants them to know that they are beloved of him as well. He says, therefore, my beloved. And we don't want to lose sight then, brethren, of the intentional nature of this brief term of endearment. And we want to make sure that we, as we see this, that we also let it guide how we address one another, how we speak to others. When bringing forth warnings or exhortations about matters that are very serious and sobering, we should adopt this kind of heart that Paul has as we communicate especially difficult truths to others. Paul wants them to know that they are loved by him and that everything that he tells and commands them is completely motivated by his genuine concern for their well-being. He has nothing personal to gain by commanding them in this way other than maintaining a clear conscience by doing all that he can to ensure that they continue on the right path. We're dealing with eternal matters and our relationship to an eternal God who is both incomprehensibly merciful but also purely righteous at the same time. And it's easy to convey truths about his rich mercy. We can do that very easily. But we must also convey those fearful and yet just truths about his holy and righteous nature. And so prefacing such cautions and warnings and exhortations with reminders of our genuine love for others is always a way of ensuring them that we're not simply zealous to correct them or looking for a way to show them that we think that we are above them in some way and that we're looking down upon them. Paul calls them my beloved here. Secondly though, notice what else Paul says. He also adds the words, therefore my beloved, he says as you have always obeyed Now this is helpful because here Paul is, he wants to see that he's not accusing them in this case of not doing that which he is about to command. Isn't that our nature to assume when somebody gives us a command to think, well, well, I don't do that. I haven't done that. And we're looking for a way to defend ourselves at times. And, and somebody might be just trying to instruct us further about something or remind us about something and we're ready to get on the defensive. Well, Paul is showing here that he's not accusing them of, of not doing this already. At times, it might be necessary to accuse in this way. But in this case, he wants them to know that they have always obeyed in his presence. That said, he is issuing this command as a further exhortation to keep doing what they've always done in the past. Remember, Paul is in prison for some time now. They don't know the certain outcome of his imprisonment. And so he wants to ensure that they're not worried about him. We've seen this early on. They're not concerned. God has used this even for the great advancement of the kingdom and of the gospel. And so he doesn't want them to get distracted by his imprisonment. But he wants them to stay focused on the course ahead, as they have done all along. And so this is a reinforcement command. It's necessary because it's that important, but it's not a charge or an accusation against them. Now, Paul does make many legitimate accusations and charges. For example, against the Corinthian church and the letters to the Corinthians, we see that, and also to the Galatians throughout those letters, we find that because they were already being disobedient to that which he was going to recommend them. So he's not afraid to call out sin when it's necessary. Paul is not sugarcoating things here. He can honestly say that they've always obeyed in this way in the past, but he will call out sin when he needs to. So here, the Philippians have been so faithful in these regards that he wants to strip away, though, any accusation of wrong from the command while continuing to issue it to the full extent of its caution so it has its proper effect. Again, if nothing else, see how the apostle really goes out of his way to surgically address the hearts of his readers without unnecessarily adding insult. In fact, he's alleviating any potential insult to an already conscience striking command. This is something that it's going to be a strong command. And sometimes how we speak to others, we could learn from the apostle Paul. He takes a stand when he needs to, but he also does everything he can to ensure his love for them and to commend them where he can so that they will receive the command and the fullness of its expression. but not ready to defend themselves or to respond to something that's an unnecessary offense. And so prefacing his command with these comforting statements, Paul commands, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence. In other words, they've always obeyed when Paul was present, when he was able to come to them and available, but all the more he's saying while he is absent, while he is, in this case, imprisoned, he calls for their continued obedience when the temptation to falter with him away could be great, right? There's a lot more of a temptation there that they'll have to falter with the Apostle being imprisoned. And so what is his command? He says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now I want to break down this command into two parts before we bring it together and seek to understand the full impact of what Paul means by these words. First, he says, work out your own salvation. Now again, what I said in the introduction, I want to reiterate here. We know that this has nothing whatsoever to do with earning or meriting or procuring our salvation. That's not what he's saying here. That is God's work. God is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the one who ordains and procures our salvation. But this has everything to do with working through the sanctifying aspects of our salvation, whereby we are called to cooperate with the Holy Spirit, seeking to put remaining sin to death, pursuing conformity to the image of Christ who has redeemed us unto this greater end. We have a responsibility in the working out of our salvation. And so again, We are called to actively, consciously work out our salvation, being thoroughly and consciously engaged in the diligent work of pursuing obedience to God in every aspect of our lives, not the least of which involves humbling ourselves and pursuing biblical unity in the local church. Isn't that the context? We've gone over this in the last several weeks. It's in the context of esteeming others as better than yourselves and pursuing unity in the local church. And we talked again about how this is right in line with what Paul commanded the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 4. And we see themes like this similar in Colossians. See God does not regenerate and redeem us. He doesn't give us the gift of faith and then place us on a conveyor belt stating, sit back and enjoy the ride home to glory. It's all done. That's not what God does. We are redeemed. We are children of the living God in the present by faith in Christ. The righteousness of God freely belongs to us so that we're already justified in his sight. But we are yet in ourselves, imperfect, having to deal with remaining sin, stepping forward toward heaven, set on a path to fight the good fight of faith, diligently pursuing holiness in the fear of God, seeking to build each other along the way and unto this united end. What God has already done for us judicially, He is working in us corporately. So he's already justified us. He's already given us the righteousness of Christ, but he's also going to conform us into the image of Christ as well. We are becoming or ought to becoming more and more like our Redeemer, who has already saved us and reconciled us to God. Indeed, it's because he has already saved us. It's because he has already justified us that we have the desire and the ability to now pursue likeness to his image. And so to this end, we are in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, as we'll see in a few moments, we are to work out our salvation. But as we seek to do this, there is a certain demeanor, a certain quality of awe and respect and fear and wonder that ought to fervently compel us in this sober undertaking. Paul gives us, he attaches to it, something that defines the quality of the way in which we are to work out our salvation. Notice what he says, secondly. He says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now that's the jarring remark, isn't it? That's one of the reasons Paul has to remind them that they are his beloved and how they've always obeyed so that they know his genuine concern for them. Because this sounds pretty frightening, doesn't it? And you can't just get away with just saying that it means reverence here. Now it does, but there's more to this. That's assumed, but there's more because the word trembling is added to this. And also the word fear, which is the word phobos in the Greek, or phobos in the Greek. We get our word phobia from the word phobos. It literally means fear. That's what the word means. And so what are we to make of this fear and trembling that ought to accompany and motivate the working out of our salvation? Are we to be constantly terrified and horror stricken, full of anxiety every day as we work to glory? Is that to be the life of the Christian? No. I don't believe that that is what Paul means by this command. If that were the case, how could we be called by Paul in the same book constantly to rejoice, right? All throughout Philippians, the one thing that comes out so predominantly is the theme of rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. He keeps saying, I rejoice in my imprisonment. How could we experience the reality of perpetual peace in Christ now? And how can we even function as Christians if we're to live in a constant state of dread and terror? Well, if that's not the case, what then does the apostle mean here? Words have meaning, don't they? Well, I want to give you a handful of factual statements that I believe will help us to piece together the meaning of this phrase before summing up the whole of what I believe Paul intends here. So I want to give you some statements that I believe will help us understand what he means. It is a phrase that has been used in a common, there's a common way that this term has been used, fear and trembling, and we'll see that. by the Apostle Paul in other contexts in a few moments as well. Well first, let me give you a couple of facts. First, Paul is not here speaking of a hell-induced terror. In other words, he's not saying work out your salvation recognizing that if you fall short in these areas you're gonna wind up in hell. Let hellfire be breathing down your neck the whole way. That's not what he means in this context. Now there is a place for periodic self-examination to ensure that we're in the faith. We ought never to take sin lightly or dabble with sin as if by faith we've obtained fire insurance and now we can live however we like. But this command is not directed to the possibility of exposing whether or not we are hypocrites. That's not the point of this command. This is directed to Christians, to those who he's assuming to be Christians. who having been granted salvation in Christ are called to work out that salvation. The genuine Christian here is exhorted to work out his or her salvation with fear and trembling. So it's not a hell-induced fear. Well secondly, Some other factual things to notice as well. It's also worth noting that there are three other places in the New Testament where this phrase, fear and trembling, used together, fear and trembling, is used, and all of these uses are used by the Apostle Paul himself. And I think it's worth considering these usages to help unlock the meaning of this phrase here in our text. At the least, we will find that the linkage of these two terms together formed a common phrase used by the Apostle Paul in different contexts. First, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I want to read with you verses 1 through 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. Paul uses this phrase there. 1 Corinthians 2, 1-5, Paul says this, And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. There's your phrase with the word much inserted, but fear and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And so here, the apostle speaks of the time when he had first come to Corinth to preach the gospel. He didn't come, he says, trusting in his own ability to wield fancy philosophical truths before them, as the Greeks would generally pride themselves in doing. He simply faithfully preached Christ. and him crucified, trusting in the power of God to bring about conversion. And especially as a Jew, amongst a naturally proud and heathen Greek people, he came in weakness And he came in fear and much trembling, putting obedience to God's means of reaching the Gentiles over and above what one might naturally expect to be the means of meeting them. In other words, he didn't use compelling philosophical argumentation. And that's what you would have said to someone, hey, if you want to convince these Greeks, these Gentiles of anything, you need to step in on their terms and on their ground, and you need to deal with them philosophically. and come up with good arguments. Well, Paul didn't do that. He came confident of his own natural weakness and his complete inability to, in his own strength, convince them one iota of the truth that he brought to them. He had to cement himself to the conviction that the message of the gospel alone, which was foolishness to the Greeks, in its purity, was the means that God would use to bring about their conversion. He didn't come on their terms. He came on the terms of God's gospel. Paul, who himself, remember, was a brilliant scholar. Paul was no weakness when it came to understanding philosophical truths or deep truths. He was an up-and-coming, a Pharisee, was a Pharisee. He was going to be in the highest order of the Pharisees. And so he laid aside, though, all of his self-confidence, all of his lofty talk, all of his scholarly wisdom, and he clung solely to the message of the gospel, confident that divine power, which alone could raise the dead, laid behind the gospel alone, and it was able to rescue dead, naturally hopeless Gentiles. Isn't that what we do in our evangelism? Isn't that the blessing of evangelism? We know that we're not calling in our own strength, whoever we're going to, whoever we're standing before, wherever we are in this culture of ours that thinks it knows something. We go in the power of the gospel, not on their terms, but in the power of the gospel. Well, to this end, that kind of obedience to the message was diligently pursued by Paul with fear and trembling. He clung to that way of reaching the Gentiles and didn't resort to his own natural abilities and to their terms, but he clung to the true message of the gospel. As foolish as it would seem to the natural man, he clung to it with fear and trembling. Second text where we find him use this, these terms is in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7. If you jump from 1st Corinthians to 2nd Corinthians chapter 7, Verses 13 to 16, the second part of verse 13 is where I'll start, to 16. It's always hard to know where to begin with, Paul, because you usually get very long sentences. And so you're trying to cut out a section that's significant and efficient enough to get the context. 13 to 16 he says this, he says, We rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. There's your words. With fear and trembling, they received Titus. And he says, I rejoice because I have complete confidence in you. And so Paul has sent Titus to the Corinthian church, hoping they would receive and obey him. And he spoke very highly of the Corinthian church to Titus. and very highly to the Corinthians about Titus. And so he'd hoped that they would receive him as they would receive Paul, and they did. And Paul notes that they received Timothy, Titus, sorry, Titus, with fear and trembling. And this was indicated by the way in which they obeyed Titus, by the way in which they listened to what he taught them and the instructions he gave. And so in this context, the phrase fear and trembling doesn't indicate that they were terrified of Titus or that they were shaking in their sandals with a hellish fear, as it were, but rather they gave him the full honor and respect due one whom they believed was ultimately sent by God. They gave careful heed to his words. They hung on them and they followed very carefully all that he taught. And so again here, the connecting phrase fear and trembling was associated with their fervent, active reception of an obedient response to Titus, whom Paul had sent to them. Now we have one more example where this phrase is used in Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. We'll read verses 5 through 8. Now all of this is going to shape our understanding of our text. So it's important we're trekking through these texts because we want to come to an understanding of what this fear and trembling is. We want to know how we're going to work out our salvation and what this means. So Ephesians 6 verses 5 through 8. Paul says this. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling. There it is. With a sincere heart, as you would Christ. Not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ. Doing the will of God from the heart. Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. So again, as in the previous text, we find Paul's use of the phrase fear and trembling here to be directly related or connected to the quality of obedience that they were to offer. In this case, it was related to how slaves were to respect and honor and obey their masters. Slaves were not to disrespect or reject their masters, but rather they were to diligently obey them with all sincerity, not simply seeking to do it when they were around so that they could please the eye, but as unto the Lord himself. And the addition of the phrase fear and trembling here indicates the diligent and focused care that they were to exercise in that obedience as servants first to the Lord and then to their masters. And so these are the three other uses of that phrase, fear and trembling. Again, all used by the Apostle Paul himself. And in consideration of these examples, we find that this phrase then, fear and trembling, combining the two of these words together, are all connected to the active idea of giving oneself entirely over to consciously, obediently submitting to someone or some principle. It is the fervent resolve in the heart to consciously, obediently embrace some principle or individual to the full, now this is important, with the very high likelihood that there will be waves of opposition from within and without seeking to shake you from that obedience. The phrase fear and trembling defines the quality and level of obedience, as if you were so shakily fearful to allow anything whatsoever to loosen your firm grip on whatever you're seeking to obey. Nothing's going to get in the way. You are committed to submitting yourself to that person or that command. You're going out of your way to overcome any and all opposition, again, from within and without, to secure a resolved commitment to earnestly stay the course at any and all costs. Again, Paul would not allow his natural reasoning and wisdom, a lot of temptation there, to keep him from simply presenting Christ and Christ crucified alone to the Gentiles. Isn't that the temptation? This brilliant man to meet them on their terms. But he had to cling to the gospel with fear and trembling. And see, I'm not going to resort to those things. I'm going to cast them out and trust in Christ and His Spirit to bring about salvation through the simple means of the gospel. The Corinthians would contend with any and all opposition that would seek to keep them from obeying Titus. Who is this guy? We don't even really know him that much. Do we listen to him or not? Well, they had a resolve to receive Titus, knowing he was sent by Paul, knowing he was sent by God, to receive him with fear and trembling. Bondservants. must humble themselves and trample over any remnant of pride or rebellion in them, which would seek to hinder them from sincere and diligent service to their master at all times, knowing that the natural tendency of man is to be repulsed by having to submit to any other man. We could relate to that even without jobs, let alone slaves and masters. Isn't it hard to hear somebody who is in authority over you give you a command? You want them to bathe it in pleas, and would you be willing to do this? We don't want to hear a direct command. Our pride wants to resist that. I have one of our supervisors at work one time was asking me to to go to a different job in the facility. And she said to me, you know, could you please, please, would you be willing? And I said, look, I said, you don't have to say please to me. You're my supervisor. You tell me to go do this, I'm gonna do it. Don't worry about saying, you know, cause she was really almost, it seemed like she was afraid to ask me to do something else. I'm like, no, you're the supervisor. We're never to be casual. Here's in the Philippians context, in the working out of our salvation, We are never to process our free justification in Christ in such a way that would move us to be lazy or indifferent about the hard and often painful work that is involved in our sanctification. And in our humble, diligent pursuit of unity in the body, we are to engage in this fight, brethren, with fear and tremble. That's what it means. That kind of commitment, that quality of obedience, See, Paul doesn't have a video camera where he can send a video to them and show him emotionally how excited he is about these things. He has to use terminology and words to give them a sense of impact and the commandment to say, look, don't let this be passed over by you. This idea of unity, this idea of putting others before you, it's contrary your flesh. It's everything against your natural man because of sin. And so you need to do this with fear and trembling. That kind of quality of obedience. Now, brethren, as we seek to seal the capstone on the whole of this matter, we have to turn our attention to verse 13, where Paul provides us with the compelling motivation that ought to drive us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. further affirming that this is not a hellish terror belonging to potential unbelievers, but rather it's a sobering, fervent, diligent commitment to be consciously and perpetually embraced by all Christians. Verse 12 is key to unlocking verse 11. I'm sorry, verse 13 is key to unlocking verse 12. Notice in verse 13, Paul begins with the word for, it's the word gar in the Greek, Again, he is indicating that he's about to bring forth the motivation for the sobering command that he's just given immediately prior to this. If you can imagine for a moment, if I said to you, if I said, brother or sister, don't ever fish in that river over there, you would expect some form of an explanation to convince you that doing so would not be good or wise. Why? Don't fish in that river. But if I said, don't ever fish in that river, for it has been grossly polluted by dangerous chemicals, you would be motivated to follow my caution. Because you know, when I say for, that there are dangerous chemicals in there. And that would give you the motivation to follow my exhortation not to fish in that river. Well, Paul here states, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and work for his good pleasure. Now, brethren, for the remainder of our time, I want to work through this motivation with you unto this fervent obedience that Paul is calling for by considering it in two parts. Once again, I'm bringing it to a summary conclusion. So let's work through this motivation. First, he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you. Let's stop there for a few moments. Here, the Apostle Paul is providing the awe-inspiring motivation for working out our salvation with such a deliberate, fervent, conscious, ultra-focused commitment. Here is the drive for a shuddering, fearful, and trembling obedience. He says, brethren, it is the living God. It is the holy, pure, and righteous, eternal creator of all things that exist, visible and invisible, and the one who has, by his own free right and choice, redeemed you from the defilement and condemnation of your sins, making you his forever blessed and adopted child. It is this God who is actively working in you. Now, we don't feel that most of the time. We don't all of a sudden have a sense, well, God is working me at this moment. I could feel that, right? But there are people who say those things and they use music and other things to try to conjure that up, but that's not what he means. This is a fact, this is what God is powerfully doing in us, and we believe it because of what the word of God says, and we trust that, and we know he is doing this. Can you walk about? and shuffle through this life as a living image of God bearing redeemed child of the living God in a nonchalant, indifferent, casual, and careless manner, responding to his fixed and focused work in you with anything less than a fervent, diligent, and focused commitment to cooperating with him and his work in you? Sometimes it's good just to stop, there isn't. They say, God, who created all things, God, who created life itself, who has given us life, who has redeemed us, who is working in us, who has made me something that I once that I once wasn't. And it was at work in me. This is the God who is working in me in the present. His spirit has taken up resonance in us with the intent of completing with God as begun when he converted us. And so Paul is saying cooperate, take the whole of his will and all of his commands to heart and fight against all opposition and every tendency of the flesh toward casual disobedience and run forth to his cause. Work it out. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, with awe and wonder, with the cemented, settled resolve to see your salvation through to its intended end. We have a responsibility in this. We're not on a conveyor belt to glory. We're not like one of those suitcases at the airport, right? You go to those machines, the winding machines, and you have the people at the airport working and they're dropping the package, the baggage in there and you just see it kind of going around and you can just wait till it gets to you. That's not us, we're not the suitcase waiting till we get to heaven. We're actively involved in this. And so Paul is saying, take up arms, as it were, against the flesh and all opposition and take heaven by storm. Fight the good fight. Finish the race that is set before you. He can say in 2 Timothy, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. And now there's a crown of glory waiting for me. God is at work in you. And to what end, though? This gets us to the second point. To what end? To what end is God at work in you? Where is he steering the ship of your redeemed soul? Where is he bringing this? Both, he says, to will and to work for his good pleasure. God is at work in us, developing our desire, our determination and active service unto the accomplishing of his good. pleasure. The Creator is stripping us of all that is distancing us from Him and His good pleasure, so that we are being more and more aligned to glorifying Him unto the fulfillment of the very reason and purpose of our existence, which is the good, the good pleasure of our Creator. That's why we exist. He is restoring us and He is directing us away from the consequences of our fallen rebellion and toward the glorious designs of His holy purposes in accordance with His goodwill and desire. And so we are called brethren to cooperate with this work by working out our salvation with an unbreakable, immovable, focused resolve until we attain to the completion of our salvation and we bear in total the image of our blessed Savior until we see Him like He is and we are like Him. I want you to listen to a few verses. that would speak right along these same lines. And I'm sure there's many you're thinking of, and you say, well, why didn't he say that? There's so many, but Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through 10. We always hear Ephesians two, eight, nine, but how many people take it to verse 10? Ephesians two, verses eight to 10. Says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Now listen to verse 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Now chew on that for a while. There's no credit to be given us for anything. He's prepared beforehand the very works that we're called to do, that He calls us to do. He's at work in us, changing our desires. You ever stop and think, I'm sure you have, and say, wow, it's amazing when I look at my life, when for the first 21 years, all I cared about was my flesh and fleshly desires and fleshly pursuits, no concern for God and did whatever I wanted to do, and now I'm so zealously desirous to see God glorified in His creation. How did I get from here to here? Well, through the gospel. But it's God at work in us changing those designs. Ephesians 4 verses 11 through 16. Ephesians 4 verses 11 through 16. We see this great picture of what God is doing in the church and how we're used together. It's here that we realize again why this idea of unity is so important. Ephesians 4, 11-16, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, to shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes, rather speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Do you see the process there of how we grow? And central to that growth, of course, is the Word of God and how we make use of it in speaking the truth to one another in love, not our own ideas, not modern-day psychology, but the Word of God. And it causes to grow how important unity is. And that's why at the beginning of chapter four, he talks about the whole idea of he says, I'm a prisoner for the Lord. I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Finally, 2 Corinthians chapter six is one of the verse I want to read again. We can go on and on and see this. 2 Corinthians chapter six, verse 14. And we'll read just to the first verse of chapter seven. 2 Corinthians six, verse 14. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no one clean thing. Then I will welcome you and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Look at verse 1 in chapter 7. Since we have these promises, beloved, Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Let me just conclude and say these last couple of things, brethren, very short, in light of all that we've gone over. Brethren, we are no longer our own. We belong to Christ. We were created by and for Him, and He has redeemed us into His family. And now God is at work in you and in me. And every good desire you have unto seeing His will accomplished, and every good work you do in keeping with those Holy Spirit-instilled desires, is His work in you. And yet, at the same time, you're called to cooperate. with this work, making use of every means of grace to lay your entire life and body on the altar, which is your reasonable service to so great, glorious, and gracious a God. It's all to His glory. It's all His work. And yet we're called to work out our salvation at the same time. They go together. We're responsible. And yet God is sovereign. Both come together. If you are an unbeliever this morning, if you're not a Christian, I want you to see here as well when he talks to the Christian and says, work out your own salvation, that you are responsible for the eternal welfare of your never dying soul. No one else in this world, not mom, not dad, not the pastor, not the deacon, not some other mature Christian out there. No one else can deliver you from the wrath to come because of your sins. You are responsible for your sins. And so you must of yourself submit yourself to Christ as Lord and you must lay hold of him by faith as your only hope. of finding forgiveness for your sins and reconciliation with God. It is God's work, but He calls you to repent and believe. Just as the Christian is called to work out his salvation, there is a charge to you and you're responsible for it. To believe into Christ, to believe the gospel, to repent, to leave your own independence behind you and to submit yourself to the living God who has created and designed you for a purpose in his glory. Don't continue to walk through this life as his enemy, but through Christ, find forgiveness and redemption and cleansing. and come into his kingdom by grace. May God give you the grace, if you're not saved, to seek him today before it is too late. For the day comes when you will no longer be able to seek him. Let's pray. Father, we are grateful to you for your word. And even when we come to these sobering texts that command us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, We are so grateful and thankful that you are the God who you are. We're thankful even for the fearful aspect of your nature. You are an eternally divine God who is pure and righteous. You are a God who is all powerful, all wise, all knowing, all present. And we never want to treat you lightly. We never want to come up to you, Father, and slap you in the back like you're one of our pals. We want to honor you and revere you and to obey you. And at the same time, Father, we know that it's more than appropriate for us to rejoice, to shout for joy, as it were, to recognize that we are the objects of your profound, perfect, and deep love. We are so grateful to you, Father, that you have condescended in the person of your son, that he has come here to lay down his life. for sinners such as us, so that we could be reconciled to you, our triune God. Oh Lord, help us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Keep us from the casual nature of our culture. Help us to be able to stand up against all of the ideas and philosophies that are surrounding us, these weak teachings that lack true wisdom. But help us to stand against them, not in our own right, but in the simple power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We ask these things in his name.