Work Out Your Own Salvation :: Philippians 2:12-18

Well hey, my name is Jeremiah Nortier. I'm a guest here this morning and it's wonderful to see all of you. I know Trey Fisher, Big T-Fish Daddy, as I've heard people call him. And so I'm from Jonesboro, Arkansas.

I serve as a pastor at a church plant, 12 -5 church. So it is an honor to be with you all this morning. And I just want to tell you so much how I love Trey and his family. They have shown me and my friend that traveled here hospitality.

Have y 'all ever tried their gumbo? I don't know what's in it. It's got this special sauce. I tell you that Trey could put his sauce in a bag of Doritos and that'll put you out on the couch. And I don't know how else to tell you.

It was just amazing. I want to tell you too, Frankie is one of my favorite people on the planet now. She is fearless like her dad. And she came up and grabbed my beard. She goes, my dad has a baby beard.

And I was like, okay, yes, I think you're right there. So anyway, it's an honor to be with all of you this morning. So if you would, please open your copy of God's Word to Philippians chapter 2. That's where we'll be at.

True Religion and False Religion

As you're turning there, I want you to begin to think with me. I want to talk about two different concepts. I want us to think about true religion and I want Christianity. This is a gospel of divine grace and accomplishment where Jesus Christ accomplished redemption on Calvary's hill.

But then over here in false religion, take any religion of the world that you want and you earn salvation by your merits, by doing good works. That is something that all false religions have in common.

That's what I love about Christianity. It represents the truth. It's exclusive to Jesus Christ and Him alone. You look to the Savior in saving faith, trusting in Him and not of yourself, and that is how we are saved.

So I want us to think about that this morning, that we are looking at two different kinds of religion. You've got false religion and you have true religion. And so as you're still turning there to Philippians chapter 2, we're going to be looking at verses 12 through 18.

We're going to be looking at how salvation is a process. Maybe you've never thought about that before. Maybe you just said, yeah, I got saved that time that I repented and looked to Jesus in saving faith, and that is true.

But salvation is also a process that God is working in you. And so earlier in the book of Philippians 1 verse 6, we read that it is God who began a good work in you and He will bring it to completion.

And so I want you to understand that there is a sense in which a believer was saved past tense, a believer is being saved present tense, and will be saved into the future. Okay, so maybe you've never thought about salvation being a process like that.

Well, salvation is past tense because we are justified before God Almighty when we put our faith in Jesus Christ alone. We are being saved. This is called our sanctification. This is a process in which we are being made holy.

We are being conformed more and more into the image of Christ as we are being set apart from the world. And we will one day be saved in the future when we reach glorification, when we receive this resurrected body fit for eternity, and we are with our Lord face-to-face for all eternity.

And so the reason why I want you to be thinking about that, as we look at our text this morning, Paul is talking about a believer's sanctification. He's already talking to believers who are at Philippi, and he's gonna be saying, work out your salvation in fear and trembling.

So he's talking about that process in which we are being made more and more like Christ. He is talking about how we are to be set apart as lights in the world, and we are called to never complain about our circumstances.

Why? Because God has appointed every moment of a believer's life to make us more and more like the Son. So if you would, please stand and let's read God's holy word this morning. Look with me at verse 12 in Philippians chapter 2.

Paul says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only 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.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Paul says, Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. Let's pray this morning.

Heavenly Father, you are holy. God, you are holy, holy, holy, and God, we revere your holy name. Lord, I pray that the preaching of your word would edify your people this morning. God, we pray that your spirit would give us ears to hear and that you would open hearts.

Lord, I pray that your truth would sanctify your people when we pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. So, I'd like to draw your attention back to verse 12, where the heart of this verse in particular I want you to see is for believers to work out your own salvation.

Now, all of verse 12 says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence but much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And so, I want to point out what this verse is not saying.

When we're talking about true religion and false religion, a lot of false religion, even cults that have deviated from orthodoxy and the truths of the gospel, they will actually go to verse 12 and say, see, you have to work in order to gain favor with God.

It doesn't say that. It doesn't say earn your salvation by working it out. In fact, there's so much clear scripture that tells us that it is by grace we have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing.

It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so no one may boast. So, this cannot be used as a proof text to say you actually have to do a lot of work in order to be made right with God. Paul is talking to believers at Philippi.

And so, here we must understand that Paul is referring to believers' sanctification. And so, by implication, this refers to all believers of all time. We must focus our efforts to looking to the one and only Savior, Jesus.

And so, here in verse 12, I believe Paul wants us to understand five truths here for all you note-takers. I want us to examine five truths. Number one, believers work out their sanctification by understanding Christ's example.

And so, the verse begins with the word, therefore. Maybe you've heard someone say, what is the therefore, therefore? That is a good point because it's referencing something above in the context. He's driving you back to saying, hey, I just gave you all this information about something and here's the point of it all.

And so, earlier in the context, we see that Jesus is the perfect example of humility, submission, and obedience. This is God the Son who humbled himself as a servant and he was perfectly obedient to the Father's will, even to the point of dying on the cross as a sacrifice for sin.

That's the context. And Paul here is saying, therefore, driving our attention back to Christ. And so, this is the essence of the Christian life, right? We look to Jesus as our example. And so, a lot of people here might be familiar with the five solas of the Reformation.

Anybody know any of the solas? What's one of them? Sola Fide? What does that mean? Faith alone? It frustrates me when I hear people say solified or sola fide. I'm like, no, sola fide. This is Latin. We understand that it is by faith alone in the saving.

There's other solas, right? We look to the scripture alone, right, as our ultimate authority. It's by God's grace alone. We look to Jesus Christ alone, all to the glory of God alone. These are awesome biblical truths that we see in God's word.

But we're talking about Christ's example. And so, there's a sixth sola that I think we're all guilty of adding sometimes, and it's solas bootstrapped us, okay? And so, what I mean is we look to ourselves sometimes, and we try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, okay?

Many of you know what I'm talking about, and you're going to fail like I do when I look to myself. But therefore, look back to Christ. Look to His perfect example. And as you look to Christ, He will transform you from the inside out, okay?

So, that is the first truth that I want us to be aware of in this verse 12. Number two, believers must understand that the driving force in our sanctification is love. Paul says, therefore, my beloved.

Why is Paul so concerned with believers at Philippi? Because he loves them. Why should we consider other people's needs and interests above our own? Because we're called to love one another. Why should I receive Jesus and pick up my cross and follow after Him?

It's because He lovingly laid down His life that we might believe in His name and have everlasting life. And so, when we're talking about true religion and false religion, this is another big distinction between the two.

In Christianity, this is a relationship of love. And we are restored in our vertical relationship with God. And when we're being filled up with love, how is that going to overflow into our relationships with other people?

There are going to be loving relationships. But in false religion, since false religion is legalistic, it is built on works, righteousness, it's going to be devoid of any loving relationships, right? Doesn't that make sense?

Christianity is rooted in love. That's why we're called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with our entire being. And so, when we're being filled up, we're going to overflow that love into our relationships with other people.

And so, number three, the third truth here. We must understand that in our sanctification, we must understand the importance of obedience. Now, Paul says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed.

Now, this is a tricky one because legalists will say, see, you've got to obey. And we're saying, yes, you absolutely do. You have to obey from the heart. Guess what that is? That's faith. Sola Fide, right?

We obey from the heart. That justifies us before God. And now, we desire to be obedient in our walk with the Savior. And so, I think obedience is the single best word to show that we are to worship God with our entire lives.

Romans chapter 12 says that our bodies are meant to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is our spiritual worship. Obedience is wonderful. Since we have a loving relationship with the Savior, that's what we desire to do, right?

And so, with that obedience comes great blessing. This is the walk of a Christian. And so, number four, believers work out their sanctification by understanding their personal responsibilities and resources.

Let me say that one again. Believers work out their sanctification by understanding their personal responsibilities and resources. Paul here is calling the Philippian believers to work out their salvation.

And he says, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence. So, I want us to think about the immediate context here. It would have been so tempting for the Philippian believers to depend on the Apostle Paul for their spiritual contentment and happiness.

But he's in prison. So now, they are tempted to grumble and complain in their spirits because their theological giant is no longer here, okay? And so, I think we learn an application in this moment. We understand that God gives us wonderful means of grace of having pastors, teachers, commentary, and wonderful Christian fellowship like we have here this morning.

But these must never be the primary source of our contentment in spiritual growth. Believers have the responsibility to always follow Christ's example, and we have the resource of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

He has given us His life-breathing Word, and we store that in our hearts. This is our primary dependence in all circumstances. We look to Jesus Christ, right? And He transforms us, and we go to Him in prayer, and He speaks back to us through His living, breathing, powerful Word.

Amen? Amen. So, this is important in our sanctification. And so, number five, believers work out their salvation because of the consequences of sin. Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

And we understand that God is love. God is merciful. He is gracious, right? And those are wonderful truths, but God is also just. He is also holy, and He's also wrathful against sin. And so, He will hold believers accountable for our sin in our lives, but He's not going to hold us accountable as judge.

When we are in Christ, He is our loving, heavenly Father. And that is beautiful because there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. God is not our judge anymore, but He is our loving, heavenly Father.

And so, that is what the fear talking about here for believers. Fear must be understood in the sense of awe and reverence, giving God honor in all things. And when we do this, this causes us to tremble in our spirits, right, of our own spiritual weakness.

We must pray to Him and depend on Him for strength. This will cause us to earnestly pray for help in avoiding sin. This fear and trembling will cause believers, like I said, to engage in this loving relationship and praise God that He does discipline us out of love when we do fall into sin.

And so, we must understand that there are consequences for our sin, and we desire to go down the path of blessing and obedience, but He will discipline us because He is our loving, heavenly Father. And so, as I go through those five truths, you may say, Jeremiah, that is a big list.

That seems impossible to carry out. And you're right. You cannot look to yourselves to carry out these lists of do's and don'ts in our sanctification. But guess who we look to? We look to Christ, and we understand that it's actually God that is working in us to carry these things out.

And so, please don't miss this point. We work out what God is working within. God works faith in us, and we work our faith outward. Look with me at verse 13. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

And so, when we ask the question, how do we live out our sanctification? Paul is saying that it is God who's working in you. And I think there's a wonderful mystery going on here, because I make decisions in my day-to-day life.

I decided to wake up and come here like all of you, but guess who also made that decision from eternity past? It was God. We're gonna see that God is sovereign in all things. He's working all things together after the counsel of His will.

He's running the show. He gets all of the glory. And so, this should change how we view each and every day. And so, I want to break this down a little bit more. When we look at, for it is God, right? We have to understand a difference between true religion and false religion.

Who is God? All religions claim that they follow the one true God, or many gods, right? But we understand, as Christians, we believe in the triune God. We understand that God has eternally been in relationship with Himself, and it has been a harmonious, loving relationship.

And so, that's a key point here, that God is personally at work in our lives. And so, false religions that teach this system of legalism, salvation by works, they lack that personal relationship. It is cold.

And so, it's impossible to truly know God. And I tried to think of maybe an example to share with you. Are y 'all familiar with Hinduism? Hinduism belongs over here under false religion. The Hindu scriptures teach that God is the absolute creator God, but He is not a person.

So, it would not be fitting to say He. The Hindu God is unknowable. An unknowable reality has no moral attributes, is neither holy or unholy, loving or unloving, fair or unfair. And so, it's puzzling to me, if you can't know anything about this God, how you could know anything at all.

And that's the problem. This God is impersonal, unable to communicate. And so, it's impossible to actually share any truth about the Hindu religion at all. And you know why? Because it's false. The true God has revealed Himself through Scripture, and the triune God, right?

We know God the Son stepped into our space and time in Jesus Christ and has revealed Himself to mankind. And so, it's important to examine truth claims. We have an objective standard, don't we? It's the Scripture.

We look to the Scripture alone as our sole infallible standard. And so, that is the God that we worship and adore. So, look with me at verse 13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

And so, this willing and working is referring to that divine mystery once again. This is our perspective, right? You have a will, you make decisions, you have desires, but it's also God, right? He is the one that began that good work in you, and He is going to bring it to completion.

And so, God must be sovereign. The Proverbs say this in Proverbs 21 verse 1, the King's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord, and He turns it wherever He wills. So, I think that is beautiful, because it is God personally working in us to work and to do His good pleasure.

So, Troy told me that you all do catechisms here, and I wanted to ask you the question, what is the chief of man? Somebody help me out here. What is the chief end of man? Yes, to honor and glorify God, to enjoy Him forever, right?

That is our purpose for being here, is to glorify God in all that we do and to enjoy Him. So, this means that God's sanctifying work in believers has divine purpose. He is conforming our will and our desires to be more like Christ.

And so, the Scriptures tell us that it brought the sovereign God joy, who is working all things together after the counsel of His will to lavish grace and mercy on rebel sinners. He not only began this work of salvation by changing our wills to believe in Christ, but He continues to move us by convicting us of our sin and making our heart to long to be with Jesus.

And so, God does all this according to the purpose of His will, all to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen? Amen. Just making sure that y 'all are awake out there. So, the Apostle Paul, think about all the depths of trials and persecution, the things that he went in his life, right?

Very hard. But this is the deep well that he continued to draw from to get joy, right? Because he believed in the sovereignty of God in all circumstances. Paul was in prison, yet he could count it as joy.

So, I really want us to hang on to that, that all things have divine purpose for our sanctification and for His glory. I may have to, well, we'll just roll with it. So, I want to take your attention now to Romans 8 28 and verse 29, because I want us to see, hopefully, this verse in a little bit greater light in light of what we've been talking about.

Paul here says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. I want you to understand that this is God's world, right?

He has a purpose and His creation the way that He desires. And so, a lot of times, we get hung up on the word good there. I hear a lot of people saying, well, that good must be for my happiness, for my contentment, for my prosperity.

No. It's what God is accomplishing is not for your temporal happiness, not for your health, wealth, and prosperity. Verse 29, He tells us what that good is, to be conformed to the image of His Son. That is talking about our sanctification.

And I love that. I hope you see this verse in a fuller light that God is sovereignly at work in all things for our sanctification. And you may say, Jeremiah, we've talked about a lot of depth of theology here just in these two verses, and we have.

But the Apostle Paul is laying this foundation of theological truth to give us application through the rest of our passage this morning. And so, look with me at verse 14 through 16 in Philippians chapter 2.

Do All Things Without Grumbling or Disputing

Paul then moves to say, do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast to the word of life.

So that first phrase, Paul says, do all things. Now, what is the context? Well, he's referring back to the previous two verses where believers are to work out their salvation. We're to work out our salvation in all circumstances of life.

And then Paul gives the Christian a negative command. He says, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Now, in my time of study, I looked more into grumbling and disputing here. Very interesting what I was able to find.

Grumbling in the Greek is actually an automotopoeic word. It means like what it sounds like. And so, in the Greek for grumbling, it's gungusmos. And I practiced this a little bit for y 'all because it's supposed to be pronounced like this, gungusmos.

And it's kind of a grouchy, grumbly word like bruh, bruh, bruh. Now, what that means is so you're going to understand what, you know, this experience. When someone says something to you that you don't like, you start muttering under your breath like, I don't like what she said.

You know? And so, grumbling is this idea of an emotional dissatisfaction in your circumstance. Grumbling is sinful. And so, disputing carries a different idea. Disputing is reasoning within yourself where you start thinking, I do not deserve this experience.

I do not deserve this trial that I'm going through in my life. So, grumbling is essentially emotional. Disputing is essentially intellectual. They are both sinful, but they are very dangerous when they come together.

And so, these two sins will lead to the discontentment in your circumstances and will lead you to be discontent in God's providence and provision in your life. When that happens, you'll begin to reason in your mind that you deserve better, and this will lead you to questioning and disputing against God's sovereign will.

And that breaks my heart, and I'm stepping on my own toes here because a lot of times, I consider myself to be a positive person, right? But I grumble and complain in my spirit so much when I don't get my way.

I think it begins how we forget about who the sovereign creator is. And so, when I read passages like Psalm 139, one of my favorite passages that tell us that we are knitted in our mother's womb, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, that passage goes on to say that God has fashioned all of our days in a book before we've even lived any one of those.

And so, what that means is that God has fashioned all of our days specifically in his timing for our life. And what this means for Christians is that there should never be emotional grumbling or intellectual disputing with your circumstances.

It is always sinful for a believer to complain about anything that the Lord calls them to or about any circumstance in which he sovereignly allows in your life. It doesn't matter if it's a difficult time or you're going through a time of blessing, whether you're going through something that's difficult, easy, doesn't matter.

Negative attitudes are always forbidden. And I'm back to thinking about the life of Jesus, right? He suffered and died submitting himself perfectly to the Father's will. The Apostle Paul was in prison.

You think he was tempted to grumble and complain about his circumstances? Absolutely. And perhaps the best, biggest takeaway I want you to hear this morning is that Paul found joy in the joy-giver, right?

There's so many things that we're gonna be looking at, but we must look to Jesus in all circumstances of our life, and he'll give us a peace that surpasses all worldly understanding. He will give us everlasting joy and contentment, and that may be through tears at times, but that's okay.

That's why Paul later says in Philippians 4 .4, he exhorts believers, rejoice in the Lord always. He's telling us that in every circumstance of life for the believer is to be accepted willfully and joyfully without murmuring, without complaining, or without disappointment.

There is no exception. We are called to work out our salvation with this positive attitude. Paul in Ephesians says we are to rejoice and give thanks always and for everything to God. Always and everything?

What about the good and the bad and the ugly that take place all in this world? God has a purpose in it all. We can rest in him having that purpose. And so when I think through just the insurmountable task of finding joy in God always without grumbling or complaining, I tell myself, oh no, that's not going to happen.

And that's when I look to myself, right? That's what's going to happen. But we must understand that as believers we are not like the rest of the world. We have a new position before God. We have a new nature.

We are the children of God. So look back with me at verse 14 where Paul says, do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent children of God. And we are without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast to the Word of life so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

And so the key to Paul's exhortation here in stopping our complaining and grumbling is because he's saying you have a new status. You have a new position as children of God. And so have you ever heard the old cliche, aren't we just all children of God?

Have you ever heard that somewhere? It's a cliche saying that's starting to creep into the church and I don't know where it came from. But it is totally against what the scriptures teach us. In the Gospel of John we read, but to all who did receive Jesus who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God.

And so there is oftentimes great confusion that yes we are all a part of God's creation and as humans we are made in his image but we are not born into this world as children of God. We are actually born dead in our sins and our trespasses, right, spiritually dead, unable to understand the things of God and we actually run the opposite direction.

But scriptures actually tell us that we are children of somebody but it's not God. We are born physically and spiritually into this world as children of the devil. First John 3 10 says, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother. And so I'm wanting you to see a contrast between the world, right, that's in opposition to God that the scripture says is a child of the devil and with the children of God.

We have a new heart. We've been given new desires too long to be obedient and give God glory and to enjoy him forever. And so look with me earlier in the context of Philippians 2 verse 8. As children of God we have a new heart with new desires and we want to follow after the example of Jesus.

Verse 8 says, and being found in human form, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And so it is Jesus who was absolutely submitted to the Father's will.

He never grumbled. He never complained about his circumstance. His heart was set on obedience, righteousness, love and humility. And there is no greater love than this that the world has ever seen. To see someone lay down his life for his friends, those who did oppose him but he loved them anyway.

And we see here in the gospel the fountain of God's love pouring forth while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, amen. That is the gospel of grace, a gospel of divine accomplishment, nothing that you can store up and merit on your own account.

And so as children of God we possess this new nature and it compels us to follow Christ's example, to walk in the light as he is in the light, to fellowship here with other believers. And this is but a foretaste of the glory that awaits us.

And so we strive to have this mind of Christ. This moves us to love one another, not grumbling or complaining about our circumstances, but rejoicing in the Lord always, submitting ourselves in all circumstances to the Father's sovereign will in our lives.

So look back with me at verses 15 and 16. And we've covered a lot of ground this morning and a lot of it has been talking about truth, right, really setting that theological foundation. But I want to give you three reasons here from the text where I think the Apostle Paul wants us to stop complaining.

So I want to give you three reasons. Number one, believers should stop complaining for the sake of their own well-being, okay. Paul once again says, do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless, innocent, children of God without blemish.

Every Christian is in this process of becoming more like Christ. That includes being more blameless and innocent. This means forsaking grumbling and complaining and this helps the sanctifying process.

Blameless means to be without defect. This essentially carries the idea of desiring holiness. To be unmixed or innocent means to be unmixed. So believers lives are absolutely to desire purity, to be unmixed from sin and evil.

As children of God we are called to be without blemish. This essentially means that we want to be above reproach or faultless. We understand that in our own power we can never obtain this standard. But all this means is not looking to yourself and looking to the one who is perfect.

In fact, Jesus, we understand that he will not allow us to fall away, right, because he is a perfect Savior. This is what the book of Jude says, that he is able to keep believers from stumbling and to make them stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy.

If we constantly are renewing our minds with these truths, this will change how we live our lives. Stop grumbling and complaining for the sake of yourselves, for the sake of your sanctification, enjoying God, enjoying him, giving him glory in every aspect that we live.

And so that first point, once again, believers should stop complaining for the sake of themselves. Number two, believers should stop complaining for the sake of the unsaved. As children of God, we dwell, the text says, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.

So that word crooked here in the Greek is skolios. Okay, and as we look into this, maybe you've heard of the medical condition called scoliosis, right? It's talking about an abnormal thing of the spine that it's curved, it's kind of bent away.

Well, that's interesting because that finds its root here in the Greek skolios, a crooked and twisted generation. This kind of paints the picture of this fallen world has curved away from God's law, has deviated from his righteousness.

So how are Christians to live in this world? Well, it's not by grumbling and complaining. We're called to shine as lights in this dark and devious world. That means that our character should be like the sun, the moon, and the stars that light up the dark sky.

And I'm reminded what our Lord said in his famous Sermon on the Mount, the most famous sermon ever preached. He said, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Isn't that beautiful? We don't look to ourselves. Do we desire to do good works?

Absolutely, because he already saved us. He justified us. He gave us a new heart, a new desire. He gave us a new nature, and we point the whole world back to glory, glorifying God. And so this is what the gospel has to offer.

It transforms us. And please don't miss this. The only way for the children of God to be a shining light in this dark world is by holding fast to the Word of Life. And so the Word of Life here refers to the transforming power of the gospel, but I believe this principle also applies to all of God's Word.

Are y 'all studying through the Gospel of John? Right? So hopefully this will sound familiar. Back in John 6, Jesus says, it is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

If you recall, remember there was a lot of disciples, a lot of learners following after Jesus? Well, Jesus said a lot of hard truths to grasp, and what did they do? They walked away, didn't they? This big crowd that was desiring after miracles to have their tummies filled up, right?

They're just like, okay, you're talking about no one can come to me unless the Father grants him? I'm out. Right? You're talking about God's sovereignty? I don't like that. And so Jesus turns and says to the twelve, do you want to go away also?

Peter responded, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Isn't that beautiful? Right? We are holding fast to the Word of life. When you have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious, nothing else will do.