Title: Having Great Confidence In One Thing!
Text: Phil 1:3-11 (Key verse 6)
Pray!!!
Read Text!!!
Introduction:
- The church of Philippi was special to Paul.
- For the reason that it was the first church established on European soil, and a church that supported Paul with gifts. Philippi was a church that cared and showed it.
- When Paul wrote this letter, he was under house arrest in Rome.
- When the church heard about Paul’s situation they sent Epaphroditus, who was possibly the Pastor at the time, with another gift.
- The trip involved both land and sea and the distance was less than a thousand miles. It was quite possible that the trip could have taken a month’s time.
- The Philippian church never forgot about there founding father.
- So Paul’s purpose in writing this letter was to say thank you for the gift he received, to encourage the Christians in Philippi and to give further instruction about the gospel and how to live for Christ.
- In fact Paul mentions Jesus name 51 times in the 104 verses of the Epistle.
- Philippians begins as a message of gratitude, but it does not end there.
- He encourages the Christians in Philippi to rejoice in hardship and sorrow. (Phil 4:4, 10)
- He also encourages them to be strong, (Phil 3:14; 4:13) to help one another, (Phil 1:24-25) and to give thanks. (Phil 1:3-6; 4:6)
- And all that Paul said then applies to us today. It’s for our edification and strength in the Lord.
Transition:
- So this morning I want to focus on a particular verse of scripture found in our text and it is Phil 1:6, “being confident in this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
- Why should we as Christians have great confidence? Great confidence in what?
- What is “this very thing” that Paul is referring to, so that we can have this great confidence?
- The answer being that God would certainly continue to completion the good work He had begun in them.
- That good work was their salvation.
- It may also include their fellowship and sharing their generosities with Paul.
- Either way God was going to finish what He started in the church of Philippi.
- No matter what struggle or hardship they would face, God was not going to give up on them and abandon them.
- Paul here is referring to God’s character and giving us a glimpse of who He is.
- Because Jesus will never abandon us, and will finish the work in every believers life says something about God and who He is.
- Because sometimes we get discouraged and wonder if God has given up on us.
- We wonder if God is disappointed with us and has stopped working on us.
- This verse of scripture says otherwise
- Behind the verse of scripture Paul gives us a glimpse into Christ’s character.
- It says......
Point 1: Christ Is Committed To Us
A young man was appointed to the presidency of a bank at the tender age of thirty-two. The promotion was far beyond his wildest dreams and very frightening to him, so he went to the venerable old chairman of the board to ask for advice on how to become a good bank president.
“What is the most important thing for me to do as a new president?” he asked the older man.
“Make right decisions,” was the gentleman’s terse answer.
The young man thought about that for a moment and said, “Thank you very much; that is very helpful. But can you be a bit more specific? How do I make right decisions?”
The wise old man answered, “Experience.”
Exasperated, the young president said, “But sir, that is why I’m here. I don’t have the experience I need to make right decisions. How do I get experience?”
“Wrong decisions,” came the old man’s reply.
- The only way for the Christian to be successful growing in God is to make mistakes.
- Spiritual Maturity doesn’t come easy. It usually comes by making lots of mistakes.
- No matter how many times we blow in this life, never give up, because God never gives up on you.
- Commitment means when we make mistakes and fall, you hang in there and learn from your mistakes.
- Jesus allows us to make mistakes because He is committed to us.
- Making mistakes is the only way we will learn to be more like Him.
- Jesus wants us to be more like Him, so He allows hardship to come into our lives to see what is inside us. Will we cling to the Lord and use this valley experience to change and become more like God.
- Or will we grumble and complain to God and say I don’t like were I am.
- Either way Christ is committed to us, to change us and develop us into His likeness.
- Never give up on God, because He never gives up on you.
Rom 8:31 says, “What, then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?
Rom 8:35 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Rom 8:37-38 says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angel nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor the powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- Church that’s commitment. Jesus is committed to us to make us more like Him and to never let us go.
- One more scripture this morning: Heb 12:2-3 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
- Jesus is committed to us to see us through all storms of life and to see us reach our fullest potential in Him.
Point 2: Christ Is Patient With Us
Patience is a virtue,
Possess it if you can.
Found seldom in a woman,
Never in a man.
- Other words that can be used to describe patient is longsuffering and forbearance.
- Jesus is all these things towards us. The Bible says:
Psalm 145:13, “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.”
- God is merciful and kind. When we fall God promises to lift us up in due time.
- When we sin God will forgive us of our sins when we repent. God is patient with us as we grow closer and closer to Him.
II Tim 2:13 says, “if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.”
- God takes patience in developing us.
- But not only is God patient with Christians, He is also patient with the world or those who are outside the Kingdom of God.
- The Bible says in, II Pet 3:9 “The is Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
- The God we serve is a patient God who is interested in you and your personal development.
- God is more interested in developing you then He is in you winning the whole world to Him.
- If all I desire is to see the world saved, without myself desiring to change I am out of balance.
- There should be great joy in the knowledge that God cares for and is interested in me.
- God will move at whatever speed we move at. We determine how close our relationship with God is. The Bible says in James 4:8, “Come near to God and He will come near to you.”
- So whatever speed we chose to move at in our growth with God, He is patient and will help us.
- Understand it’s God’s will for you to grow closer to Him, but we determine the speed we move at.
Point 3: Christ Sees The End From The Beginning
Rom 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.”
- According to this scripture, God sees your life from beginning to end. God is in the past, present and future of your life.
- When you place your hand into God’s hand and let Him truly lead you, you can never go wrong.
- All the valleys we go through, we need to trust in God because He sees the finished product.
- The key is to submit to the Lord, trust in Him with all your heart and believe He will carry you through.
- God will see that you become what He wants you to become, the question is how far do we want God to take us and how fast?
- Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, U. S. News and World Report, Jan. 9, 1989 was reported saying, “More than at any time in history, mankind faces a crossroads--one path leading to despair and utter hopelessness, the other leading to total destruction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly”.
- Choose what? I choose to place my life into the hands of God who knows my future.
Corrie Ten Boom says,
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
- I choose to trust God not my own feelings or wisdom.
- Why? Because God sees the end from the beginning.
Point 4: Christ Guarantees Victory
- When our life is in God’s hands, and I willing submit to God, I personally will have victory in my life.
- The Bible says, “If God be for me who can be against me.”
- Victory follows those who’s life is sold out to God.
- The Christian cannot not be defeated.
- What are some of the areas that we have victory in?
- We are guaranteed eternal life
- We are guaranteed God’s presence
- We are guaranteed God’s love and mercy.
- The devil would love to steal that from us and distract us. But if we keep our focus on God and look to Him in the good times and valley times, we will have victory.
- I like what General Dwight Eisenhower. “There are no victories at discount prices”.
- Meaning we must choose to put our life in God’s hands not in our own wisdom.
- We fail and mess up, but God’s ways are always right.
- We must choose to follow God even if we don’t understand.
Conclusion:
- In conclusion Paul states in Phil 1:6, “He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it in you.”
- God is in the business of never giving up on people.
- Paul shows us in the verse some very important character facts about God and they are:
1. Commitment
2. Patience
3. Past, Present and Future
4. Victory
- It should give every believer hope and reassurance to know that God never gives up on us and will finish what He started in us all.
- Listen to this story as I close:
For hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus was born, the motto of Spain was ne plus ultra. This is Latin for “no more beyond.” You see, the Spaniards believed that they’d already discovered everything worth discovering.
One of the most beautiful monuments to Christopher Columbus today is a statue in Spain of a huge lion with the words ne plus ultra underneath. However, the lion is eating the first word ne. All that can be read is “more beyond.” This was Columbus’s greatest legacy—he proved that there was more beyond.
- Jesus too shows us there is more beyond when we serve. There is great pleasure in serving the Lord.
Lets Pray!!!
