Gods Good Work In You

God’s Good Work in You 8-5-06

Philippians 1:6 6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Here in Philip.1:6 is a wonderful truth that God has revealed that every Christian needs to understand.

If a person is a true Christian it is because God began and is continuing a mighty work in that persons life. That work is guaranteed to turn out successful, because it is God’s work not man’s. If a person has been born again by the Spirit of God, then there’s no need to be afraid that you will ever be lost, because God who called you will be faithful to complete the work he began in you.

In this verse Paul tells us four things about the good work that has begun in the life of a Christian:

· First of all, Paul speaks of…. THE AUTHOR OF THE WORK

Philippians 1:6 6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Who is the "he" of this verse? Of course it is God himself. Paul does not refer to the good work he had done in Philippi. Paul was the missionary who was sent by God to preach the Gospel in Philippi. Paul did do a great work there. He established the church and built it up.

But when he writes this letter he does not refer at all to the work he had done. It was God’s work -- through him.

In Acts 14:27 when Paul and Barnabas returned from their first missionary journey they gathered the church together in Antioch, not to give an account of what they had done but what God had done: 27And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

It wasn’t Paul; it was God who began that good work in them! Salvation is a work of God.

Paul emphasizes that salvation is all of God and not of man.

This is one of the most comforting verses in the Bible for Christians. Our getting to heaven safely does not depend on us, or on our ability to hold on and to persevere faithfully to the end of our lives.

The Lord will see to it that we reach heaven safely in spite of our failures and shortcomings. Salvation is God’s work, not man’s

(Jon. 2:9 ---Salvation is of the LORD. As surely as He has already delivered us from the penalty of sin (Rom. 5:1), He will one day deliver us from the presence of sin (cf. Rom. 8:31-39).

Acts 16:verses 6 and 7 we are told that Paul did not intend to go to Philippi. He wanted to go somewhere else. He wanted to preach somewhere in Asia. That seemed to him the right thing to do. But it says, "the Spirit would not allow them to." Then Paul had a vision during the night. God gave him this vision. A man of Macedonia appeared to him and said, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." As a result of that vision Paul crossed the sea and landed in Europe.

When Paul arrived at Philippi, the capital of Macedonia, he spoke to some women gathered by the side of the river for prayer. As Paul preached, it says 14And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

It doesn’t say Lydia was impressed with Christianity and decided to try it. No, the Lord who brought Paul to preach opened her heart and the hearts of her whole family and they all became believers.

· The second point is…II. THE NATURE OF THE WORK

Lets notice the word "in." Philippians 1:6 6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: What Paul is talking about here is what the Bible calls being born from above or being born again.

A Christian is not someone who has simply changed his ways and decided to reform his life and be a little bit better and more religious. A Christian is someone in whom God has done a work as such that it can only be described as being born again.

Sometimes the Bible refers to this change as being raised from the dead, or being transformed into a new creation (Ephesians 2:4 4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:).