Assurance Of What God Has Done And He Will Complete

ASSURANCE OF WHAT GOD HAS DONE AND He WILL COMPLETE

Phil. 1:6

I.BEING CONFIDENT OF THIS. This is strong language. It means to be fully and firmly persuaded or convinced. to persuade. The strong assurance of an objective mind.

LK 16:31 “The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, `Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ "But Abraham replied, `Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ "He answered, `Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ "Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, `but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ "He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ "

Acts 17:1-4 “When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ, " he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women.

Hebrews 11:13 “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Acts 28:22-24 “But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect. They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.” It means here that Paul was entirely convinced of the truth of what he said. It is the language of a man who had no doubt on the subject.

II. THAT HE WHICH HATH BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN YOU. The "good work" here referred to, can be no other than religion, or true piety. This is called the work of God; the work of the Lord; or the work of Christ, Paul is confident, not only of what God has done "for" the readers in forgiving their sins, but also of what he has done "in" them; 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God. John 6:28,29. Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Paul affirms here that that work was begun by God. It was not by their own agency or will. John 1:13 “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” It was on the fact that it was begun by God, that he based his firm conviction that it would be permanent. Had it been the agency of man, he would have had no such conviction, for nothing that man does today can lay the foundation of a certain conviction that he will do the same thing to-morrow. If the perseverance of the Christian depended wholly on himself, therefore, there could be no sure evidence that he would ever reach heaven.