WWUTT 014 Work Out Your Salvation (Philippians 2:12-13)

The Humility and Exaltation of Christ

Proverbs 1 .7 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but we read in 1 John 4 .18 that perfect love casts out fear. So which is it? Are we supposed to fear the Lord or not? Well, we're going to be talking about that today when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text. I am Pastor Gabe. Good to be along with you here as we've been studying through the book of Philippians together. Today we're going to get into the next section in chapter two, starting in verse 12.

And then toward the end of the program, we're going to take the question that I ran out of time to take yesterday related to Roman Catholicism. So that question is still coming up in the last third of the broadcast.

If you want to submit a question to our program, go to our website, www .utt .com. And you'll notice there on the right hand side of the page, there's a link to the latest podcast and right underneath it is our email address.

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Www .utt .com. Now our text today is going to start in chapter two, verse 12, but I want to go back to the hymn of Christ here and draw something else out of this. This is, this is beginning in verse six before we jump into the next section.

So this is the hymn of Christ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Though he was in the form of God, he took the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form.

Now he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. One of the things that I mentioned yesterday is that we talk about Jesus being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross and being obedient, meaning this was all the will of the father.

And Jesus was subject to the will of God. And he was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. We mentioned how to a Roman and the Philippians being of a proud Roman colony to a Roman, that death on a cross was humiliating.

It just drained a person entirely of all of their humanity, that they would be posted like a sign like that in front of people dying and bleeding out and asphyxiating. It was such a cruel form of death.

It was so gruesome and it was so painful and it was so humiliating that there was a new word that was invented to describe the pain that came from the cross excruciating, which actually means out of the cross.

And so Jesus experiencing this death on a cross, humiliating, absolutely humiliating. There has never been a, a form of humility that has been shown as we see it in Christ, nowhere in the universe, nowhere in human history, do we find humility the way that it has been displayed in Christ Jesus, leaving his throne in heaven, not counting equality with God, a thing to be grasped, taking on a human form, humbling himself by becoming obedient to God's will to the point of death, even death on a cross, going from heaven to death on a cross.

Therefore God is highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father.

This was absurd also to a Roman citizen that, that this guy who was a carpenter from Nazareth, who died on a cross, who was buried in a borrowed tomb. He came back to life, lived for 40 days. Plenty of people saw him.

He ascended into heaven. But this guy, the carpenter from Nazareth, this is the people that this is the man that every knee will bow to. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord because a Roman considered Caesar as Lord Caesar himself fancied himself as a God.

And people would have to, to pay homage to Caesar and say, Caesar is Lord, or they would be put to death. And here Christ is going to be the one that is going to be declared as Lord. Even Caesar's knee is going to bow to Christ.

That was absurd to a Roman. And so such a, a huge victorious statement that is being made about Christ divinity here in this hymn. But ultimately Paul is laying this him out for the Philippians to give them a picture of what true humility is supposed to look like.

And Christ is our example. We can debate the theology stuff all day long, but the context is supposed to be that, that Christ is the picture of humility. So when we are to have the mind of Christ, when it comes to loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, because Jesus did all of this to the glory of God, the father, when it comes to loving our neighbor as ourself, because he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, taking the form of a servant.

When it comes to fulfilling those two great commands, we have no greater example than Christ. He is our example for loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself.

And at the name of Jesus, every knee, every knee is going to bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. So therefore my beloved is Paul gets into verse 12.

He says, therefore in light of this, in light of all of this, 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.

Fear of the Lord, Perfect Love, and Working Out Salvation

Let's pray as we continue to consider the text today. Our Lord God, we thank you so much for sending Jesus Christ to this earth. He did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped. He did not consider his status as king of kings, a thing to celebrate himself or glorify himself.

But he humbled himself, taking on the form of a servant, becoming obedient to the father's will, even to the point of death, death on a cross, humiliating. But it was in this humble submission to the will of God that he has been exalted to the highest place.

So that at the name of Jesus, and even as I say it now, God, as I say the name of Jesus, being filled with such hope and joy at his name, every knee will bow. There will come a day when every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

God, I pray that everybody who is hearing my voice today, as we are studying these scriptures together, I pray has been transformed in Christ, is a follower of Christ Jesus. So that when that day comes, they are expressing the name of God with joy, not with fear, because fear has to do with punishment.

As the apostle John talked about, we're not in fear of God, fearing the punishment that is upon us because we are in Christ Jesus. We wear his righteousness. We know we enter into his glory. So I pray that all that are hearing my voice today, as we study the scriptures, know Jesus Christ as Lord and have confessed him as Savior to the glory of God, the Father.

Teach us more and more in these things and grow us in your truth as we come to the scriptures today. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Verse 12, therefore, in light of these things that we have just talked about with Christ, his humility, this ultimate display of loving God and loving neighbor.

Therefore, my beloved, as we have seen this in Christ Jesus, as you have always obeyed, you have obeyed from the moment that you heard about Christ. So now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, you were sure to obey when I was with you, continue to obey, even though I am not with you, work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling, with fear and trembling.

What are we talking about? They're working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, because I just mentioned in the prayer that there is no fear in love, that perfect love has cast out fear. Fear has to do with punishment.

All right. This I'm quoting from John here. First John 418. Hang on. I'm turning the page here. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear for fear has to do with punishment. And whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

OK, so if we love God and if we are in Christ, there there is no fear. So why is Paul then saying that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling if in the love of God, perfect love has cast out all fear?

Well, when we talk about fear in this way, Proverbs one seven, which says that the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. OK, whichever order you want to say that in still means the same thing anyway.

So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge at perfect love casts out fear. So why do we have fear if we are in God? Well, we're talking about two different contexts of fear, fear as the way Paul or John describes it in first John four again has to do with punishment.

He puts it in that context. So if we are not in Christ, if we do not have the righteousness of Christ, we fear the wrath of God. When judgment comes, people will be afraid. They will be terrified because they know they stand in judgment before a holy and righteous God.

There will not be these atheists standing before the throne of God going got a bunch of questions I have for you. All right. You know, all the things that atheists say they're going to ask God if he is real and when they get to heaven, he is real.

They are going to stand before him and they won't get into heaven unless they repent in this life. That's the opportunity that they have. I think of the world renowned atheist Bertrand Russell, who was once asked, if God is real and you have to appear before him, what would you say to him?

And Bertrand Russell said, why did you take such great pains to remain so hidden? Of course, we know from Romans one twenty that God's invisible attributes, namely his divine power and eternal nature, has been clearly seen since the creation of the world and the things that have been made.

So they are without excuse. So nobody will be able to stand before God and say, why did you remain so hidden? They know he's real. They know he's there. And all of creation bears witness to the existence of God.

So no atheist will be standing before the throne of heaven, rattling off questions and accusations before God. They will stand in fear. They will fall in fear. They will perish in fear unless you repent and come to Christ.

Now, what you have to look forward to in judgment will be fearful when the day of the Lord comes upon you. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy and righteous God. So we are in Christ.

If we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear. So that's the context that of fear that John is talking about in first John four eighteen. There's no fear in love. If we know that we have the love of God, there is nothing to fear of his judgment.

So then what are we talking about when we come back to Philippians chapter two, verse twelve, when we're talking about fear and trembling? Well, this is a kind of fear. It's a holy fear. It is a reverent fear.

It is the respect that we have for God. It is knowing that even though we are protected by the blood of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the wrath of God has been satisfied in Christ's sacrifice. And so therefore, we know the wrath of God is no longer upon us.

However, we know that God is a just God. He is a holy God, and he has rescued us from that wrath. So therefore, we fear him in reverence. There is still that healthy fear, and it is that healthy fear of God that is the beginning of knowledge, as it says in Proverbs, chapter one.

When you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, how do you work out salvation? Well, the moment that you became saved, you were justified. I think we talked about this a couple of weeks ago.

The moment that you came to Christ, by faith, you were justified. Romans 5 .1, by faith, we are justified. So your legal standing before God is you're innocent. You are clean because Christ paid the penalty for your sins.

Justification is the event. Sanctification is the process. So when you came to Christ, you were fully justified, but you were not yet fully sanctified. Completely justified, but not yet fully sanctified.

Sanctification now is that process of salvation. Now you continue to show that the faith that you have is genuine in the demonstration of your faith, the works that you do in obedience to the commands of God.

This shows the righteousness of Christ that is upon you. And as you continue to grow in these things, you grow more and more in the maturity and the faith. You grow more and more in the knowledge of God.

You grow more and more in love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. And you grow more and more in your doctrine, in just the soundness of doctrine that you adhere to. You grow more in the knowledge of that as well.

So these are the ways that we show the genuineness of that salvation and we work out salvation. We are working it out with fear and trembling. Folks, it was not enough that you simply prayed a prayer one day and now you're saved and you don't have to do anything else from that point on.

No, because James says in James chapter one, faith without works is a dead faith. You have to display the work of Christ in your life to know that that faith is genuine. It is a demonstration of the genuineness of the faith that you have.

So you cannot simply pray a prayer and then you're marked for all eternity. You've punched your ticket. Now, hey, I'm getting into heaven. It's my get out of hell free card. That's not how this works.

You pledged your whole life to Christ and you continue to walk in Christ in all things and in all ways. And he grows you in that process. That's working out salvation with fear and with trembling, this constant reverence before God coming before him, delighting in him, but also in reverence, knowing that he has saved you from his wrath.

So you continue to revere his holiness and praise him and worship him because of the glorious qualities God has. So now when Paul was with the Philippians, it was easy for him to help them work out their own salvation.

But now that he's not with them, he still encourages him to do that. This completes my joy even hearing about you working 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.

It is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. It is God who brought about this salvation in our lives, not by any work that we had done. It was the work of Christ. And it is God who continues to perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Going back to what we read in Philippians 1, verse 6, where it says, I am sure of this, that he, God, who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. And it is God who works in us our salvation.

He wills and works for his good pleasure. Now, even though it was the will and the work of God that brought us to salvation, not by any work that you did, not by any prayer that you prayed or any baptism you underwent, well, the baptism of the Holy spirit, not by any water baptism that you underwent.

Uh, those things are not what has saved you. It is the power of God that has saved you. And it is not by your will. It is by God's will, not of the will of not, not by the will of the flesh, but by the will of God, as it says in John chapter one, even though that is the case, even though it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

We are still held accountable for the choices that we make. It's in Romans chapter 14, verse 12, where we read, each of us will give an account of himself to God. It is God who brings about salvation in us by his will, but we still have to obey and we will be held accountable for our actions.

There is a great quote from Charles Spurgeon. He said this, if I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is for ordained, that is true. And if I find in another scripture that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true.

And it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other. So it is absolutely for us to be obedient and we will give an account of our actions before God, but it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Amen. Lord, we thank you for this text today and thank you for continuing to guide us and thank you for your patience with us that we have the time to digest these things and continue to learn by these things so that we might grow more and more working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

Teach us what this means and keep us meditating on it as we go throughout our day, and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Saxony.

This began the Protestant Reformation, a protest against the corruption of Roman Catholicism in order to reform the church toward a more biblical and gospel-centered foundation. Still today, the doctrines of Roman Catholicism are far from sound.

Despite what a Catholic might tell you, the church actually does exalt the Virgin Mary as an object of worship and teaches that she brings us the gifts of eternal salvation as an intermediary between us and Christ.

However, 1 Timothy 2 .5 says there is one mediator between God and men, and that is Christ only. Nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about praying to Mary or any dead saint. In fact, Deuteronomy 18 .11 says that communicating with the dead is detestable to the Lord.

The Bible says that it is by grace you have been saved through faith, not of works. The Catholic Church, however, says that if a person claims that salvation is by grace through faith alone, they should be excommunicated.

Catholicism also teaches that a person can lose their salvation and must do acts of penance in order to get it back. But Romans 4 .5 says a person cannot be justified in such ways. The Catholic Church forbids their priests from marrying, but 1 Timothy 4 .3 calls this the teaching of demons.

It is possible for a person to be Catholic and also a born-again Christian, but if they truly read the doctrines of the Catholic Church and compare them with the Bible, a maturing Christian should not remain Catholic when we understand the text.

Responding to Roman Catholicism with Scripture

Our question today has to do with that video. This comes from Brittany in Indiana, and she says, Dear What? Thank you for your video on Roman Catholicism. I live in a very Irish Catholic town. It's a small town, so I'd like to ask that the name of the town be withheld.

You've got it, Brittany. I have tried to share the gospel with some very hardcore Catholics, and they keep quoting to me Catholic doctrine, but do not quote any scripture. I had one person tell me that a day would come when the Lord would reveal which is the true church, and all will know that it was the Catholic Church.

How do I respond to this? Well, when Jesus comes, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's not going to be revealing to the whole earth that Roman Catholicism is the true church.

Uh, thank you for your question, Brittany. You know, the person that made that statement to you that someday the Lord will reveal that Roman Catholicism is the truth. That's basically how the Samaritan woman at the well spoke to Jesus.

No, it wasn't about Roman Catholicism. That wasn't what they talked about, but her tone would have been the same. In John four is where we read the story. A woman from Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, give me a drink for his disciples had all gone into the city to buy food.

And the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? And Jesus answered, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

And the woman said, sir, you have nothing to draw water with. And the well is deep. Where do you get this living water? Are you greater than our father, Jacob? He gave us the well and drink from it himself as did his sons and his livestock.

Now, I don't know if you've ever noticed this in the story before, but the woman is arguing with Jesus. We tend to paint the Samaritan woman as this, as this hurting woman. And it's true. She had five husbands, no doubt there was some serious scar tissue, but her exchanges with Jesus here are argumentative.

She is not playing meek. Often the paintings show her kneeling before Jesus and listening to him. That's not what was happening here. Every one of her answers is an argument. And Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.

But whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life. And the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come up here to draw water.

And we think of her as taking him literally. And maybe she was, I'm not saying that argument is wrong, but this is really more of an argumentative answer. Well, give me this water so I don't have to keep dragging myself up here to get more water.

I don't think she's really asking him for eternal thirst, quenching water, because she already made fun of him for not having anything to draw water with. And Jesus said to her, go call your husband and tell him to come here.

And the woman answered, I have no husband. And Jesus said, you're right in saying that you have no husband for you have had five husbands. And the one you have now is not your husband. So what you have said is true.

And the woman said, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Now, this is where she contends with him again about being a Jew.

Mount Gerizim is the mountain that she is referencing. That's where the Samaritans believe that true worship should take place. The Jews believed it was Mount Moriah, which was where the temple was built.

And Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews.

The Samaritans only accepted a portion of the Old Testament as being true. But Jesus said the Jews had the Old Testament and salvation. The Messiah is going to come from the Jews. But the hour is coming, he says, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father is seeking such people to worship him.

God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. And the woman said, I know that Messiah is coming. He who is called Christ, when he comes, he will tell us all things. So basically, the woman is saying this.

OK, look, you say that we should worship in Jerusalem. We say that it should be on Mount Gerizim. We both believe the Messiah is coming. So I tell you what, when he gets here, he can set us all straight.

Until then, you believe what you want to believe. I'll believe what I want to believe. And we'll let the Messiah sort it all out. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. Bam, end of the argument.

Then the woman ran back into town. She invited people to come back with her and listen to the prophet she just found. Could this be the Christ, she said. Now, she didn't know whether his claim was true or not, but considering that he was able to tell her about her life, he was clearly a prophet.

And if this is the Messiah, it's too significant an event to miss out on. But going back to her argument in verse 25, Britney, she said that Christ would come and tell us all things, just like this friend of yours is saying that Christ is going to come and reveal that the true church, what the true church is really supposed to look like.

And apparently it's Roman Catholic. I tell you, the hour is now here. And God has told us in his word exactly what the church is supposed to look like. And nowhere in his word does it say we pray to Mary or any dead saint.

It's not praying. It's not saying that we lose our salvation. It's not saying that we have to do acts of penance in order to get our salvation back. And that it has to be administered by a priest or that works have any salvific power whatsoever.

In fact, the scriptures clearly say we are not saved by our works. Ephesians 2, 9 and Titus 3, 5. And the Catholic Church says that such a teaching is heresy. If a person being a Catholic were to do a spirit led study of first and second Timothy, they would not walk away from that study.

Still, a Catholic. Paul says that there is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. He says that forbidding marriage with which Catholics do to their priest is the teaching of demons.

The qualifications for eldership goes against Catholic dogma. It's all there in those two books. I encourage you to read first and second Timothy for more. When it comes to witnessing to a Roman Catholic, just stick to the scriptures.

Stick to the gospel. You don't have to know Catholic catechism. Know the scriptures well enough that when a person starts throwing out their Catholic dogma and whatnot, you know that contradicts scripture.

You're able to tell them what the Bible really says. Thank you again, Brittany, for your question. If anybody else has a question, visit our website, www .utt .com. Well, this has been our Thursday broadcast.

As we wrap this up tomorrow, we're doing our Five Point Friday. It is our Friday review of everything that we talked about over the course of the week. Please tell somebody else about this podcast. I thank you so much for getting the word out for us.

It is a great blessing to have you along as we continue to study through the book of Philippians. God bless.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. Our ministry was born out of a local church and we rely on the contributions of our viewers and our listeners to keep this ministry going.

If our videos or this program has ministered to you, would you consider a donation? All gifts go directly to our church, a non-profit ministry. Give with card or check at our website, www .utt .com. We'll continue our study of Philippians tomorrow, rejoicing together in God's truth when we understand the text.