Working Out What's Worked In | Sermon 01/08/2023

Apologia Utah

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We're going to Terry once more and not quite head back to the gospel according to John yet This is what

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I was hoping to preach last week. We're gonna go through it now go to Philippians chapter 2

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It's one of Paul's epistles Philippians chapter 2 Right after Ephesians Philippians chapter 2 the title of this sermon today church is working out

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What's worked in? working out What's worked in?

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We're gonna be in verses 12 and 13 In Philippians And then kind of all over the place beyond that.

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Sorry in verse 12 of Philippians Chapter 2 here now the inerrant and infallible words of the living and true

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God So then my beloved just as you have always obeyed Not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence

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Work out your salvation with fear and trembling For it is

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God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure

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Thus ending the reading of God's holy inspired word, let's pray Lord God, please show us what this text means in some ways it seems very challenging

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We seek to understand it. Please illuminate this text by the Holy Spirit the same spirit who inspired these words of yours dear

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God Lord, please speak through me today and God let us Not just receive information.

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That's always my prayer Lord even for myself. Let us not just receive information, but be transformed and not simply informed and let us also when challenged conform to your word so God, please

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Be with us today pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So Over the last year and a half some of you have gotten to know me

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I've expressed that one of my big hobbies has been actually gardening Yep.

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It's one of my favorite things to do. I enjoy what God has created and I especially love to grow various types of fruit trees and In in the homes that I've had the last one before coming here and the one before that the the one before this last one that we owned

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I had Yard that you would consider not even that large with 15 plus fruit trees in it

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My wife was like seriously you came home with another one and I would go on my lunch break and I'd go check out different nurseries when

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I was working at my corporate job, and I mean we had everything from You know citrus figs pomegranates we had peaches and plums and mulberries and then vegetables of different types

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I really enjoyed doing it and one thing about Growing fruit trees that I really enjoyed then and I still am interested in now is grafting grafting and With grafting you take a cutting.

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Okay, like a piece of a branch Which you would call a cultivar of your desired

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Tree that you want fruit from and you would take that piece of that branch and you would graft it to an existing tree or to the rootstock of a tree, okay, and the benefits of this are because really these tree farmers and fruit tree growers have really

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Cultivated over the years really good rootstocks. In fact For the most part if you're gonna buy a peach tree in America, you're gonna get it from probably, you know

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You're gonna get a rootstock that probably only five or something like that in the in the country or so There's there's just these rootstocks that they use for every single type of variety and they've made these rootstocks resilient to different pests and disease and They have even made them able to withstand highly alkaline clay soil or highly rocky soil and So it's not so easy as much when you were a kid and you finished your apple and you would just bury an apple seed in the ground

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That can happen. God can do that and make that grow but this is kind of You know the way that fruit trees come about we can argue

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Whether or not that's kind of weird. I don't know what kind of modification they do or selecting and all that but anyways, that's that's grafting and another way to graft is you would take a

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Maybe you have a grapefruit tree and you would like tangerines and you would like Lemons and limes on it and you can literally on an existing tree you would graft on other fruit citrus

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And you would then eventually over a few years as that branch grew and it would bud out you would get

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Different fruit and we you would call it a cocktail tree cocktail. It's got a variety of types

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So anyways, there's all these different benefits for it But when you take this desired cultivar you have to cut the existing tree

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You have to expose what's called the cambium layers and you have to match the cambium layers on the branch piece and on the tree that you're grafting to and they have to mate together and then you have to wrap it with this special tape and there's this pressure and time and all that is applied to this situation and in in a

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Not even too long a time that branch melds with the cambium layers of that tree.

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It becomes one It's no longer a piece. It becomes part of the tree. Okay, and It heals over and all these things

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And if it's not grafted, right if the cambium layers don't line up No new growth occurs if no new growth occurs that branch will die and that happens sometimes people fail in their grafting and that Branch that they wanted to succeed dies off And if it doesn't heal what's called the sapwood which is underneath and if it doesn't connected it here

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Then it won't get nutrients The sapwood is what carries from the roots the nutrients the minerals and water up from the root system and feeds the rest of the tree

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And because of that feeding into the branch the branch can grow leaves that can develop photosynthesis and eventually bud out new fruit many ways

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If you and I were to look at a tree if we were to gaze upon an orchard and go look at a fruit tree

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We would look upon This tree and see the branches coming out We would see what's simply above ground, right?

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And we would think to ourselves possibly if you don't know that these branches are producing

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These pieces of fruit on their own. Okay, but they can do it out of their own accord But that's not the case

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They are fed by the root system They need the nutrients that come up from the root system and that is the same for us

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We were grafted on to the true vine Jesus Christ in one sense it may seem as if Good works and holiness.

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We live out our manifest because of our own active participation in that growth

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Right if I were to look at someone here in the church I might look at what you do and think you're the reason for what you do what

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I see come out of you is only you and Much like I would look at a fruit tree above ground and go

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They do that on their own they make fruit on their own and I would maybe look at you that way But that's not the point when you look at the graph point when

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I look at your graph point. I see that you're connected to Christ He Will aid us in Branching out he will aid us in making fruit

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We won't dry up and wither and die because Christ graphs with precision

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He is the true vine he guarantees it in John 15 verse 5 He says I am the vine which kind of means the trunk actually.

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I am the vine we think of grapes typically there I'm the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him

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He bears much fruit, but apart from me you can do nothing You can do nothing if you were not grafted onto Christ You could try as hard as you want.

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If you're not grafted onto Christ, you will do nothing and this is at the heart of sanctification

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Christ sustains us God empowers us through the Holy Spirit to walk in the good works that he has prepared beforehand but even then

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It says to walk in walk in good works Walking seems to have some sort of energetic

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Active function to it. Okay My prayer is though that through Philippians chapter 2 today we can in some way determine what our role is in sanctification as Well as what is

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God's role in our sanctification? Sanctification is of course

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Making us more holy because God has saved us if you don't know the definition the the question we need to answer is is

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Our life now in Christ our sanctification. Is it all God and none of us?

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Is it? some of God and some of us or Is it?

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None of God and all of us and I don't even like saying that last phrase Okay Before we really take off with this

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I need to make something clear and it's probably something I'm going to restate in the sermon

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When we talk about good works when we talk about producing fruit seeking holiness I am

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NOT talking about earning or meriting your salvation I'm talking about what we do after we've already been saved

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Okay Galatians 2 by the works of the law no flesh will be justified

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Ephesians 2 8 9 for by grace you've you've been saved through faith It is not as yourselves for as a gift of God not according to works so that no man may boast salvation is

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What's called monergistic? mono and You don't

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Only one does and that's God God initiates. He regenerates by his spirit. His grace becomes is irresistible in his quickening

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Christ is the atoning sacrifice He it shows clearly throughout

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Scripture. God chooses us It says before the foundations of the world and by his good pleasure

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That is regeneration and justification But we'll be looking at Sanctification what comes after the regenerating and the justifying now that you and my friends here

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My family you are saved what happens now in your Christian walk JC Ryle defined sanctification as follows

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Sanctification is that inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the

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Holy Spirit When he calls him to be a true believer He not only washes him from his sins in his own blood

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But he Jesus also separates this man from his natural love of sin in the world and puts a new principle in his heart and makes him practically godly in life

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But what is Philippians 2 12 and 13 indicate for us regarding sanctification Let's read that again.

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So then my beloved just as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only

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But now much more in my absence Work out your salvation with fear and trembling

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For it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure

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Now at first glance Those two verses almost seem paradoxical

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They almost are seemingly antithetical to one another if you just took an initial read

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They seem like opposites says work out your salvation. Then it says God's at work in you

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Okay I'm in the NASB. I Do know the

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NKJV and the ESV show work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling.

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I think that's a fine way to put it But it sounds like we are actively doing something there in verse 12

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But just so that we don't think it's Fully us Paul says in verse 13 for it is

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God who is at work in You both to will and to work for his good pleasure. And so what is going on with these two verses?

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I Can tell you this sort of thing happens in Scripture often

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Let's look at some other things. I'm going to read them to you that kind of illustrate this sort of balance

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Okay, I already mentioned a disclaimer that God is

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The only one who saves us. It's monergistic. It's Christ's work that saves us.

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He elects us We all agree to that. We say yes and amen to that. Some of you guys have t -shirts that talk about that and That's an amazing truth

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But all throughout the New Testament We also have commands that say repent and believe the gospel

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Turn from your sin and trust in Christ alone for salvation. And so there's a turning

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There's a repenting and a believing in Christ We know obviously the

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Bible indicates repentance having faith and believing our gifts solely from God and yet there is some sort of active and energetic participation on our part in Sanctification that is shown to us all throughout

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Scripture Repentance is a gift and a command all at the same time.

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Do you get that? Repentance is a gift from God. You can only repent if God gives it to you, but he also commands it from you

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We are called to do it and yet we couldn't do it if God didn't empower us to do it

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Consider even what's called the Carmen Christi the hymn of Christ. It's just in verses prior in Philippians chapter 2 the hymn of Christ mentions

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Christ's eternality and divinity as Well as his emptying of himself taking on the form of a slave the likeness of man

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And so in the verses just prior to this you have another thing that seems almost paradoxical

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Christ is God fully and he is also totally man and It's hard to reconcile that this is what's called the hypostatic

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Union, of course What can almost seem to us is contradictory is established as truth in the

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Bible And by the way, just a little side note truth doesn't become untruth just because we don't understand something fully

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Okay If we knew all the truth Biblical mysteries and the secret things that the

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Lord has established as truth in his own person Then we would be equals with God if you knew all things if you were omniscient as well

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You would be like God, but you're not I'm not We never will be equal with him

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Sometimes we'll say when we're in glory the Lord will reveal to us all things

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Will he reveal everything Well, he will he reveal all that he knows to you.

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I don't know if you can argue that that's what's said We must be content with the truths that have been revealed to us in Scripture.

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I'm sure he will reveal many things But he is God and I think our minds can't fully understand everything.

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We won't be able to So misunderstanding doesn't change truth So back to what

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I'm talking about the hypostatic Union Christ being totally God and totally man that's something our finite minds can't comprehend and yet both things are held up and suspended together as truth

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Another example to illustrate what I'm talking about could even be Scripture itself Who wrote the

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Bible? Was it men or was it God? Consider even

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Paul in his epistles Detailing his heart for the church. It's so personal.

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He longs for them He's mentioning specific people expressing love for them love for the

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Saints these human writers actually put pen to paper and Yet every single word of it.

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Every single word is from God Exactly what

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God wanted Recorded was recorded. Nothing was missed as 2nd

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Timothy 3 says Scripture is God -breathed and That letter to Timothy is also from a man named

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Paul At the very same time. It's the divine living

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Word of God So you have this balance you have this understanding Both things are true

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God is the root of it all So we come back to that question in regards to sanctification and spiritual growth, is it me or is it

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God? Now when I was studying for this sermon And I was looking at commentators and some pastors who have spoken to this.

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I looked at even John MacArthur He had some great things on this. They mentioned two philosophical ideas

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That in history have been unbalanced in some cases here heretical

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You see overemphasis on some truths over others can misrepresent

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Scripture and what it's trying to say. So these two philosophical truths and ideas are

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Quietism and pietism quietism and pietism

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Quietism is the attitude that we should just yield ourselves over Surrender to God and that's all there is to it.

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We just enter into this sort of passivity Now here's where it can really go wrong

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Quietism teaches that spiritual peace and even perfection can be achieved Through simply the contemplation of God and things divine the practitioner of quietism seeks to subdue

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The will and become totally passive Spiritually just becomes a spiritual blob

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Lord you do it all The believer becomes quiet So to speak and God acts on your behalf in your life

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You've maybe even heard people say things like you've just got to let go and let

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God Let go and let God That sounds catchy

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What does that mean? Just completely letting go and seeing where it takes you ah

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Right now I could understand this type of Encouragement to let go when we're trying to control things that God is sovereignly ordained.

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Yeah, like please Look brother, you can't control this situation God's over it.

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I understand that sort of admonishment. This is not the same thing what many quietists mean is

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No longer striving for godliness no Mortifying or killing that sin just let go and let

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God he'll do it in fact quietists say striving for spiritual growth or holiness is

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Actually a hindrance to your growth for spiritual victory.

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You just do nothing Could you imagine coming here every Sunday and that's my admonishment to you do nothing and expect great things

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But that's not what God calls us to we already saw he commands things and he commands us to participate in them and yet He's an he's the author and behind it all sovereignly over it

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Now what this could lead to is that the Christian could just choose a life of this trusting passivity and say

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No to a life of obedience Often used for this view is

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Galatians 2 20 It says this The quietest will say look I have been crucified with Christ.

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It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me They'll say I'm dead

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Christ is alive in me. Christ will live out this Christian life for me. I Just have to be passive So it's just Christ who lives

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I'm dead But if we finish the verse actually it's so funny how they take that out of context if you finish it in Galatians 2

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Go beyond verse 20. It says this Paul says and the life which

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I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me

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So they'll say wait, I don't live and then now Paul is saying no

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I live I do live He says the life which

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I now live So he doesn't live and then he lives and that's absolutely true

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We have died with Christ. We've been buried with Christ it says But we don't just stay dead.

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We've been raised to new life Paul says to walk in the newness of life and So you don't you don't just enter into this passivity you enter into this sanctification process

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You see the quietest tries to eliminate that balance that it's

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Completely God, but you participate in it now one of the biggest issues with quietism is

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If that it's all God and not you in the outward expression of sanctification

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Then who's responsible when you inevitably sin? right because if we say

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I'm dead now. It's Christ who lives in me. All that I do is Jesus. Well when you sin, was that Jesus too?

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Because you're not perfect and you'll still sin So if the quietest says it's no longer him he makes

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God Culpable he makes God a sinner and we know that's against his very nature.

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You see the slippery slope there Now besides quiet is and that's on one hand you now have what

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I said pietism Pietism can be good in some ways, but then there's this false piety and then there's this excessive striving meticulously with profound effort

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Towards personal piety you see one is working to live out their Christian faith with all that is in them

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It's all in their power. They do it. They're the master of this Christian life You've got to force yourself to be holy it's you

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And that's wrong it can quickly get out of balance consider even the

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Pharisees and How they interacted in the Gospels they worked hard to live holy lives

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They strived for perfection to work out the law blamelessly and yet What was done externally was not a reality of a transformed nature

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Internally on the outside they look like it on The outside they look like a tree with fruit, but really their roots were black and dead, right?

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They negated the law by maintaining the commandments of men the Pharisees were whitewashed tombs

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Beautiful on the outside full of dead men's bones on the inside, right?

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So there can be then an over emphasis on self -effort You can read these books in there.

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They'll say that you're the master of your own destiny. You're the master of your life right now

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Live your best life now Stuff like that, right? What's the harm you would ask in putting prominence into self -effort?

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I'm a go -getter I'm a type -a person, right I Make my bed as soon as I walk out of it

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You walk out of a bed, I don't know I don't think you stand up first and then I don't know why

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I said that so Look if we believe that all of our self discipline our own sanctification our spiritual progress is based off of Our own dedication and ability to persevere then we can experience two things if you think it's all you you're gonna experience

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One of two things number one when you are actually successful in your own personal growth

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You will believe that it was you You'll think you did it and you'll have pride you will have room to boast and Number two when you inevitably fail, which you will you will then self despair

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So you have pride For congratulating yourself on your effort or you will have great disappointment

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Because you believe you're the only one who can help your current state of sanctification

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But it's not you How does one handle these things we need the balance that Philippians 2 12 and 13 offer

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Now I'm going to dissect that in a moment. I just want to mention a few more examples in Scripture of this balance consider first Kings chapter 8 verse 58 in first Kings 8 you have

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Solomon's Dedicatory prayer for the temple the Ark of the Covenant was brought in verse 57 and 58

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Solomon says this May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers

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May he not leave us or forsake us as May God incline our hearts to himself

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So it's God we need you to incline our hearts to you so that we would obey you

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Then you go to verse 61. You can see the balance here Then says let your heart therefore be holy

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Devoted to the Lord our God to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments as to this day

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So they are exhorted then to be wholly devoted to walk in God's statutes to obey his commands

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And so we're saying at the very same time all at once in this dedicatory prayer it's saying

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God Incline our hearts to you God. You need to do this inside of us

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Incline our hearts to you that we would obey you God and then it's also now walk in his statutes

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Now obey him It's all at once It's the same it's together the

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Our one unit Obedience is the result of both so that if we consider how to grow spiritually

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We'd come to the conclusion That if is this something that God does or something that we do the answer is yes, and yes

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Is this something that God does or we do the answer is yes, and yes Another example is in 2nd

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Peter 1 3 Andrew actually just preached on this in November It says seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything

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Pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence

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We see according to Peter it's God's divine power that has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness

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It's God's divine power That enables you to live a life of godliness.

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It's him. It's God But then if you just move forward here, it is again verse verses 5 through 7 now for this reason

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That God's given you this it's his divine power now for this reason also

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Apply all diligence in your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge and in your knowledge

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Self -control and in your self -control perseverance and in your perseverance godliness in your godliness brotherly kindness and in your brotherly kindness love

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So it was all it was all God and now it's you now. It's us now.

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It's me We know the source of these things, but do we actually do them?

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Sanctification in that way will take all of God on one hand and everything

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That you have to offer on the other But again, we're not talking about salvation by works in Philippians chapter 2 verse 12

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Paul says work out Your own salvation and work out. It doesn't say work for work at your salvation.

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It says work out Work out in the Greek that is catechism

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I it means to Work to bring something to fulfillment to complete something you started

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And this is a command for continual effort and diligence in working out what has already been planted within you

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Remember the grafting I spoke about at the beginning of the sermon the fruit produced on the tree

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Does its function of budding blooming and maturing and turning into fruit? But those operations couldn't be done without the tree and the roots that sustain it

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You see the fruit is automatic If its roots are truly

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Christ It's the visible manifestation of something that's authentic Think about the pea and tulip

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I've got some tulip lovers here. Someone's probably got a hat that says tulip on it. Probably Brian Perseverance of the

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Saints. I Knew one brother. We said it was perspiration of the

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Saint Brother, you need more deodorant That was not a good joke some men say it's better understood preservation of the

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Saints right preservation God preserves us in Salvation we are eternally secure and nothing will take us out of the

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Good Shepherd's hands Christ loses none that the Father gives him. He preserves us while we persevere

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You think of those who endure to the end will be saved I remember dr. James White once said

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Those Who endure to the end will be saved? He says God makes those endure to the end who are saved right

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It's the one who causes you to endure that saves you. I Think about Acts chapter 13 43

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It says now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up many of the Jews in the God -fearing proselytes

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Followed Paul and Barnabas who speaking to them Paul and Barnabas were urging them to continue in the grace of God Urging them to continue

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Urging them to initiate a response to keep walking in what the grace

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In the grace in something that you can't initiate in Something that you can't earn or receive unless God gives it walk in that So you have that balance?

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You'll see this type of thing all throughout scripture. It's almost a mystery my friends So verse 12 work out your own salvation

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Work out is in the present imperative. It is a continued command

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Continually be working out your salvation What God has worked in by way of salvation you are to work out by way of?

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Sanctification even though he's over both. Okay That's right

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That's what I'm preaching here in case you don't understand my position or the under understand the position of the

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Bible or our Confession it's that God is monergistically over justification regeneration

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Also glorification, but God is the only one that works sanctification

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You're like, but wait what you just said we participate. Yeah, we participate But all of the aspects of salvation are

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Monergistic they are worked out by God if it had anything to do with you or I Meaning to bring us to the end to bring us to completion in Christ.

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We would fail And so God is over it all and yet like I said, there is this mystery

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He's fully over it and yet we're commanded to participate in it to act to bear fruit

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It's a mystery. It's a glorious balance.

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God will accomplish it But he commands you to walk in it and work it out. There are some things

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I want to point out in verse 12 That word so then is often translated therefore in other

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Bible verses That is host a in the Greek. So we have to look at the verses prior to verse 12

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And see why they're important and I've already mentioned them there in verses 5 through 11 is the hymn of Christ Essentially the gospel the gospel is mentioned in verses 5 through 11

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That Jesus emptied himself taking on the form of a bondservant made in the likeness of man, and he was highly exalted

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You know the passage It's the gospel Because Christ didn't have an attitude like we have in our fallen nature because his attitude was one of humble obedience

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Do these things then? Although he has always existed eternally with the glory that the father has always possessed in the

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Trinity He emptied himself taking on the likeness of man of us. We always say this street preaching

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He lived the life that we couldn't live and he died the death that we deserve Right the

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Holy Wrath of the Father was poured out on his son on that cross for us and because of this

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He is highly exalted. He's given a name above every name And at that name every single person will bow and confess that Jesus is

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Lord to the glory of God the Father I mentioned this before but I Think all people will bow

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You'll either bow in allegiance So you'll bow being crippled under the weight of your sin and guilt on the final day so Because of the gospel because of what's before this so then because of the gospel

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Just as you have always obeyed not as my presence only but now much more in my absence because of the gospel

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Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Now another point in verse 12 to consider is

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Paul calls them his beloved Despite his continued admonishments and exhortations.

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He loves them In fact, that's why he gives correction and exhortation

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Verse 8 of chapter 1 says for God is my witness how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus He longs for them with great affection

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Now much of the letters in the Pauline corpus are the Apostle addressing some sort of issue within the church

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False teaching false brethren adultery Gossip sexual immorality and so on but he always affirms his love for the church

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I believe these are reminders of God's great mercy

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Long suffering and love toward us. The fact is every single person here could probably receive a letter from Paul Right.

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It's like your wife goes to the mailbox. Oh, honey. Um, it's for you It's Paul again

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You're like, what did I do? It's Paul we could all receive a letter from him.

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We could all have one written about us But that's why sanctification is a process

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Although God grants immediate repentance in your regeneration

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That repentance is still a daily dying to yourself and mortifying your sin killing your sin.

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I Remember my New Testament professor Used to say if God revealed to you all the sin that you commit on a daily basis

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You'd be completely undone If it was presented before you just one day's worth or one week's worth of ways that you sin against God You would be completely crippled by guilt

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But that's not how God works with us. He works with us gradually in our sanctification

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Peter even gives the illustration of the gold in the crucible. It takes time. It gets heated up It takes a while to get the impurities skimmed off of the top until You're made into pure gold

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It's not a license to sin simply means it's a process and His love is his love is much stronger for his children than our sin is to revoke that love

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So he says just as you have obeyed not in my presence only but now much more in my absence

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Obedience then is one of if not the essential aspects of sanctification

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Jesus says if you love me keep my commandments if you love

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Jesus keep his commandments So he says obey even now

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More in my absence because the teacher has taught all that he can to his students

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The apprentice has now graduated to master you're no longer on milk, but solid food

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Christ essentially has given us everything We need to see spiritual growth and holiness in our lives.

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So obey him now even more so Don't make even your church your crutch or your prop

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You See in the reform world. There is always this possibility. Some of us may use sound theology that we know

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Biblical exegesis so I can argue the with the best of them You can use the podcast that you listen to the sermon jams that you love and you can take a big picture of the book collection that you've never actually read and And You can have some sort of illusion in your life that you're practicing some sort of real

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Christian devotion toward godliness Trust me.

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There's a lot of books. I haven't read on my on my Shelf, but look

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If all those things were removed What would your spiritual life look like if you took away the podcast and the sermons and all those things?

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What does your spiritual life look like do you really read God's Word Do you pray?

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Do you just about die when you can't make it here in the Lord's Day service? Because we can't borrow the faith of the people who are preaching in the sermon jams we can't borrow the faith of the guy on the podcast

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We need to cultivate the one that God has given us Look I'm not saying we can't minister to one another and we can't teach each other and serve each other in various capacities

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I'm saying that one day You will face I will face the

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Lord Jesus Christ and Statements like my husband was a believer. My wife was a mighty

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Christian or Hey, my church did a lot for the kingdom those kind of comments won't earn you salvation

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You need real saving faith Those things will not be acceptable to Christ But again, you've been given all that you need

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I have a greater hope for you I'm not speaking for the most part. I believe to unbelievers.

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I'm speaking to God's Church Christ Church You all have been saved again

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We need to work it out with fear and trembling it says fear in the

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Greek is phobos phobos and Trembling is traumas

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And those words actually would mean to say work out your salvation with phobias and traumas

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Okay That's kind of intense sounds pleasant in John Calvin's commentary on this passage

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He states in this way Paul would have the Philippians testify and approve their obedience by being submissive and humble

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Now the source of humility is this John Calvin says Acknowledging how miserable we are and devoid of all good apart from Christ So what

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Paul and Calvin are essentially saying here fear and trembling work out your salvation with fear and trembling is to have a healthy fear of Sin and your propensity to sin does the thought of sinning against the

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Lord cause you to shake Cause you to tremble Does your reverence for the

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Almighty produce righteous fear that restrains the fleshly? capacity in you

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Because it should Some of us haven't been trembling enough. Some of us haven't been fearing enough.

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I'm not talking about Fearing that we're not saved I'm talking about fearing

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God that God is a holy and righteous God That he calls us to obey him that he calls for holiness

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Of course Christ has our mediator. He is afforded that to us. It's his blood

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When God looks upon you when he sees your account, he'll look at Christ and you'll be justified and yet There's that balance

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Do you tremble enough? Are you afraid to sin against God?

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Oh Reminds me even of isn't 2nd Corinthians. It says that there is this

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Godly fear leading to repentance Then there's a sinful guilt

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That leads to this crippling feeling and that's really the basis of this

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Okay This godly fear that leads to repentance opposed to that ungodly fear

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Paul talks about that in Corinthians It's often my prayer that God Would make me tremble more that I would have the appropriate reaction to the things

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I do That God would make me more sensitive to my sin Sometimes you ever gone just a few weeks and you realize

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I've been doing this I've been treating my Wife this way or I've been boy.

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I've been doing this and I didn't even realize that for the past few weeks I've been doing that and It's like how did

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I not realize that I was sitting in that area and God is gracious to show us that Our prayer should be make us more sensitive to it to hate it

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Consider Daniel after the Lord had saved Daniel from the lion's den and his enemies

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King Darius says this I Make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the

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God of Daniel For he is the Living God and enduring forever and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed in his dominion

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Will be forever What kind of attitude does God wants to have

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Isaiah 66 for my hand made all these things thus all these things came into being declares the

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Lord But to this one I will look To him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word

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Brothers and sisters when we work out what God has worked in us We are to do it with a sense of godly trembling and fear

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Philippians 2 13 for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure

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Can we even grasp that You see the God of the universe is at work in you, that's what it's indicating

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Not a false deity not an idol made by hands Hands of men, but the one true and living

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God God who made everything is at work in you No one is like the

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Lord our God Just a small piece of it. Isaiah 40 who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

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Marked off the heavens by the span calculated the dust of the earth by the measure Who has weighed the mountains in a balance in the hills in a pair of scales?

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Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord or who has been his counselor to inform him with whom did

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God? Consult who gave him understanding who taught him in the path of justice and taught him knowledge and informed him of the way of understanding

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He says behold The nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales

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Behold, he lifts up the islands like fine dust even Lebanon is not enough to burn nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering

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All the nations are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless

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We are to look at the enormity of our God The vastness of God Before I was saved

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God was this big and I was way bigger than him But now that God has saved me It seems the more

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I get to know my God the larger he is and the smaller I am we are to see the infinite degrees of difference between us and God But all that that big and awesome

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God all that that I just mentioned he's at work in you He's at work in you this

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God that we can't quantify or calculate And it's such a great love and mercy that he would adopt us as his own

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And I'm sure that you would agree with me when I say that I would serve

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King Jesus in the lowest Part of his courts in heaven if I could just be with him

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I'm sure you would share that sentiment with me But he offers even more than that You won't simply be this low peasant in the kingdom of God It says that he blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters

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He lavishes on us the riches of his grace. It says he has seated us with him in the heavenly places.

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It's unfathomable This is the God that is at work in you You're nothing but a speck of dust

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But it'll take you and he'll make you his son or his daughter Unbelievable Unless we find any room for boasting in ourselves lest we think too highly of our own pursuit in holiness

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Unless we give in to false pietism It says God is the one who's at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure

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Paul says it Expounds on this even in 2nd Corinthians. He says such confidence we have through Christ toward God Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything is coming from ourselves

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But our adequacy is from God God uncompromisingly unfailingly

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Rigorously sees us through to the end supplying all our needs in Christ to do so You see the thing is church you should have the same faith in God to sanctify you as the faith that you've had for him to save you and Some of us haven't had that We've said yes and amen.

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I have faith that God has saved me But take that same faith in God to save you and believe that he will sanctify you

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Believe that he'll help you out of that sin believe that'll help you kill it Believe that'll help you through your trials believe that'll help you through your anxiety through your depression

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Believe it Believe in his sanctification just as much as you've believed in his justification

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Says those who are in the flesh cannot please God That's true

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You see God is at work in you the word here is Energeo That's where we get the word energy

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Energeo Work at work in you God is like an energizer

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And he's infinitely greater than the energy of the Sun that's not that's not even a good analogy

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There's nothing you can compare to God. He's infinitely more than it He thrusts our sanctification forward.

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We couldn't do it on our own We can't do in our flesh Absolutely, nothing but his power induces righteousness and exterminates sin

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How much power does God have he has all power? He is omnipotent

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It's one of his incommunicable attributes. That means he shares it with no one There's nothing too hard for him

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And then there's some people who think that God is in power enough to powerful enough to save people

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He only makes salvation a possibility Unbelievable in the

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Old Testament Hezekiah comes on the scene succeeds King Ahaz as King and the

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Chronicles report this for our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our

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God and Have forsaken him and turn their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord and they have turned their backs

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And King Hezekiah Hezekiah tells them what they must do He says now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the

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Lord God of Israel that his burning anger may turn away from us

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So there's this great reform in the kingdom and they tear down all the high places and they remove all the idols

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And they stop sacrificing These two wicked things. Okay Then they they offered to the

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Lord many sacrifices because of the nation's great sin to atone for it Well at this point these couriers

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Leave the city and they go from city to city in the kingdom and they announced the nation's repentance

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They were runners They would run and give the message in these cities and They are

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Told to give this message The nation is repented turn back to the

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Lord and we are warning you not to stiffen your neck like your father's and Here's what allowed them to do that This is essential.

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The text says this The hand of God Was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the prince is commanded by the word of the

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Lord How can we even comprehend that God gave them one heart?

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To do what was commanded in the word Where is the divider between us and God and that's really what much of this sermon is about.

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It's a mystery It is clear in Scripture that whatever we do in our lives in reaction to God's commands he must energize

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He must enter ghetto He must give the power and his power works to results what he commands

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He's fully sovereign over it. I mean really why would

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God save us? Do something we could never do and then just leave us alone

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How Awful, would that be you see

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God saves you from your sin and that would be praiseworthy but then if he just left you alone and you didn't change at all, that would be a

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Really awful life. He doesn't do that and so once again even in the epistle to the

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Philippians in chapter 1 it says for I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will

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Perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. It is a good work in you and He will perfect it he's working in you and to will in you if God establishes his will in you or To resolve or purpose something for you to do something

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Will it not be accomplished if God wants you as a

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Christian to walk in his commandments? Won't he equip you to walk in his commandments.

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I think he will I Think that's a promise that we need to believe Paul says to the

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Thessalonians, this is the will of God your sanctification short verse. This is the will of God your sanctification

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Your sanctification your spiritual growth you're striving for God's for I'm sorry for holiness.

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It's all God's will It's his business And the Bible speaks to that emphatically

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Psalm 138 8 the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me your steadfast love.

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Oh Lord endures forever Do not forsake the work of your hands. That's what you should pray Lord Do not forsake the work of your hands.

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You started something in me. I'm struggling with sin. I'm struggling with doubt Don't leave me where I'm at.

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You promised you would bring me to completion. You need to be praying that more Sanctify me

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Lord Ecclesiastes 3 14 I Perceive that whatever God does endures forever

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Nothing can be added to it nor anything taken away from it. God has done it so that the people will fear him

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You see if God is the author of salvation, how can it be undone? If God has done something

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How can it be undone who can destroy this world that God created you can't undo let there be light

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It was spoken and it was completed If God comes up to you and says let there be light.

01:00:03

No one can take that light away. It can't be undone first Thessalonians 5 23 now may the

01:00:12

God of peace himself sanctify you entirely and May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our

01:00:20

Lord Jesus Christ He will sanctify you entirely brothers and sisters as we close

01:00:29

Consider these things The sanctification process cannot be halted sure sin can seem to slow it down It says that our sin can grieve the

01:00:43

Holy Spirit. That is true but God will progress it forward through his blessing and chastening

01:00:52

Our prayer ought to be that God would supply a holy hatred for sin and then a holy ambition

01:01:00

For all things righteous So the question has been answered

01:01:06

God is the one who works in wills and us that we would work All of it is of course then for his good pleasure

01:01:16

Your sanctification is for his pleasure It's for his glory He wants to perfect you because he wants to and it's good for you

01:01:29

Like James says then be a doer of the word not a hearer only lest we delude ourselves

01:01:36

I'm going to admonish you. I've told you your sanctification Your salvation is all God and now

01:01:42

I'm going to admonish you then to work out that salvation

01:01:48

Be a soldier fight the good fight of faith Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus Labor and strive because we have fixed our hope on the living

01:02:00

God labor all the more because of what he has wrought in you Now what can you practically do?

01:02:08

You serve each other You serve your family you serve your church you serve

01:02:13

Christ You teach your family these things You go and share the gospel and stop waiting for the right time

01:02:21

Now is the time to share the gospel Read your Bible like it's food and water like you need it today every day

01:02:31

Pray to the one who has saved you grow in your relationship to him repent every single day confess every single day

01:02:42

Stop thinking bad things about people here stop not believing the gospel

01:02:48

Stop thinking your sanctification Means that Christ can no longer save you anymore kill your sin grow in righteousness because by their fruits you will know them and And the scary

01:03:08

Thought is that any tree that does not bear good fruit will be cast into the fire And that fruit is an indication of what

01:03:16

God has done And so if you bear no fruit Be admonished by the sermon today

01:03:22

And if you continue to bear no fruit Get to your knees and ask that the Lord your

01:03:28

God would save you look

01:03:34

Sometimes There's no low -hanging fruit Sometimes there's not an abundance of fruit

01:03:46

Sometimes the fruit isn't super sweet It's a little bit bitter. It's a little bit bland

01:03:54

Sometimes you might have a season with little to no fruit. Okay That's natural

01:04:01

That's natural But then the next season comes Christ affirms the work that he's done in you

01:04:09

And you'll have a plentiful crop Maybe you've been waiting for that My prayer is that God would help you to do that My prayer is that you would ask

01:04:19

God to do that because again don't be the pietist don't be the quietest Don't just let go and let

01:04:25

God be active and energetic in your salvation But also understand that it's only him that he can only him that can do it

01:04:33

So you ask him Lord help me to do these things Empower me to do them.

01:04:40

So work tirelessly in your sanctification, but don't forget who wills and works in you to do so Never boasts

01:04:48

Church, but the Lord take all the credit In the gospel of John chapter 15, which one day will go over later this year

01:04:55

Jesus says you did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and That fruit would remain

01:05:05

And he told that to the Apostles, but I think that extends to you and I He says I chose you.

01:05:12

I Chose you and I appointed you that you would bear fruit and that your fruit would remain and it will

01:05:18

Your success is guaranteed because it's God's success So, let's go and let's work out what

01:05:28

God has worked in us, let's pray father in heaven, please Bless the message that went out today for the glory of your namesake

01:05:38

God I thank you That you let us participate in this that we're not just these robot blobs

01:05:47

Lord who just Don't get to participate at all in our in these things

01:05:52

Lord and yet God it is such a relief to us That it is all on you to save us regenerate us

01:06:00

Sanctify us raise us on the last day and glorify us and give us new bodies.

01:06:05

Thank God. It is all you to do that so Lord Please continue to do a work in us make us more sensitive to our sin that we can see it coming

01:06:17

Kill it To have victory in our life Lord Lord, maybe some of us have struggled for years not even reading our

01:06:25

Bibles God help us to have small victories little faithfulness Let the man or woman here who doesn't read the

01:06:32

Bible let them even start once twice a week Let them Lord start gradually as you work with us gradually

01:06:41

And Lord for those of us who are in great sin help us to cut it off Help us to abandon it, but God we need you to do it.

01:06:51

We need you to give us hearts that are obedient to you