WWUTT 002 He Who Began a Good Work In You (Philippians 1:3-6)

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The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church and said, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

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It is by the power of God that we've been saved. It is by the power of God that keeps us saved when we understand the text.

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Welcome to When We Understand the Text. My name is Pastor Gabe. I have said to my congregation that if I knew that somebody was gonna be in the building every day,

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I would preach every day. And when it came to deciding to do this broadcast, it was like, why not?

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Let's go ahead and do that. I'm gonna preach every day. So we set up a small little studio.

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It's the same setup that I use to do the voiceovers for the When We Understand the Text videos. And so I sit at a microphone with my

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Bible open, and right now we are studying through the book of Philippians so I appreciate you joining me and going through as we go through this study together.

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By the way, our When We Understand the Text videos, you can find them online at www .utt

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.com. If you have a question about anything that we have shown video -wise, or something that we've talked about on this podcast, you can send us a question via email.

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That's the best way to get your questions to us. And again, links to all of that you can find on our website at www .utt

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.com. We are gonna take a viewer question in this program, and we get into the very beginning of our text today as we study through the book of Philippians.

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So if you'll remember, yesterday was backstory. We looked at the backstory of the book of Philippians.

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Paul journeying to Philippi, starting the Philippian church there. His first convert was a woman named

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Lydia. And it's likely that the Philippian church was started in her home. So when Paul writes his letter to the

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Philippians, it would have been read in front of all the congregants there that were meeting in Lydia's home.

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If you'll remember now, Paul is in jail. He's been thrown in jail in Rome for preaching the gospel there.

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The Philippians have heard about it. In fact, they've even heard that there are some Christian men out there, some other preachers, that are making things more difficult on Paul.

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And so they've delivered that word to him, as well as a gift by the hands of Epaphroditus, who almost died on his journey to see

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Paul in Rome. And Paul is writing back to the Philippians, thanking them for their gift, and also to encourage them with this letter.

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And that is the letter that we have and read. We're gonna get into Philippians chapter one today.

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And I think as far as we're gonna get, it's gonna be verses one through 10, or something like that, one through 11. We'll just see how far we get.

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And wherever we stop, we're gonna pick up there tomorrow. So if you're with me, sitting at your dining room table, sitting in your living room, wherever you happen to be, and you're available to open up your

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Bible and read along with me, please do. If you're driving to the car, you're sitting in the office and you can't do that, just let me share the word of God with you.

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But as we open up the text today, why don't we begin with prayer? Father God, I thank you again for an opportunity to be able to proclaim your gospel in this way.

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I thank you for this letter that Paul has written to the Philippian church that we might know to rejoice in the

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Lord always, that we've been called to joy in Christ Jesus. Not to complain about anything, not to be anxious, but with thanksgiving, presenting our request to God.

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And so Lord, we wanna come with that spirit of thanksgiving now as we open up your text. And I pray that this will really impact our hearts.

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It'll be on our minds and our hearts as we go throughout our day. And I pray that all of this is to the glory of you.

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Let us be a living sacrifice, as Paul wrote in Romans 12, 1, presenting ourselves as living sacrifices unto the

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Lord. And this is our spiritual act of worship. We pray and ask these things in the name of Jesus, amen.

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So Philippians chapter one, we're gonna begin in verse one. I'm gonna read through part of the text here, and then we'll go back through it together.

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Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our

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Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

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And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

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It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

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For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

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Right at the beginning of the letter, Paul and Timothy, we see them as co -writers together, servants of Christ Jesus.

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Now, Paul's the one writing. Timothy is likely the one who is writing down his dictation. He's with Paul as he's been imprisoned in Rome.

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Now, it's not like Paul has been fastened into stocks. It's not like it was when he was in Philippi. If you'll remember what we read yesterday in Acts 16,

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Paul cast this demon out of this girl and then the people who see this happen, they bring him in front of the magistrates, they beat him, they throw him in jail and fasten him into stocks.

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And so it's not that sort of an imprisonment. It is being under house arrest there in Rome.

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People can still come see him. He can preach the gospel to them, but he can't go anywhere. He's under house arrest.

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So Timothy is there with him. And Timothy was a person that Paul brought to Christ right before he went to Philippi and started the church there.

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So Paul made Timothy kind of an understudy of his. And Timothy is with him there and is writing down what

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Paul is dictating as he is sending this letter to the Philippians. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ who are at Philippi with the overseers and the deacons.

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This would be the elders and the deacons. Those are the two offices of the church. You have the elder who oversees the spiritual needs of the church and the deacon who oversees the physical needs.

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Now the overseer is an authority, a ruling position is the way that Paul describes it when he writes to his pastors, to Timothy and to Titus, encouraging them with the way that they're overseeing the churches that he has appointed them to.

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So the overseer is a ruling position. A deacon is more of a service position, but they're both to be servants.

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And that's the way that Paul identifies himself at the very beginning. Most of his letters, he calls himself an apostle, which very much is an authoritarian position.

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But here he says, we are servants of Christ Jesus. He is showing himself a servant to the

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Philippians, not presenting himself as I'm lording over you. And so you have to obey my instruction. And now he does address himself as an authority when he writes to somebody like the

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Galatians, because he's got to rebuke them for the false teaching. But here he is writing as a servant to the

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Philippians, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ who are at Philippi with the overseers and the deacons, them especially since they are overseeing the needs of the church.

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Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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That is a common address that we see at the very beginning of all of Paul's letters. He says in verse three,

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I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy.

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We mentioned yesterday, as we kind of talked about the thesis of Philippians, Paul either encourages the

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Philippians to be joyful or to rejoice always about a dozen times over the course of this letter, only four chapters long.

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But we see this theme come up continually in this verse. Also in verse 18, he rejoices that Christ is proclaimed in verse 25 of chapter one, as we remain living on earth for the

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Philippians joy in the faith. In chapter two, verse two, he asks the Philippians to complete his joy.

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In verses 17 through 18 of that chapter, is glad and rejoices with the

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Philippians. He also tells them in that chapter to do everything without complaining or arguing. In chapter two, verse 28, he sends

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Epaphroditus that the Philippians might rejoice. The next verse tells the Philippians to receive

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Epaphroditus with joy. In chapter three, tells the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord. And we see that come up again in chapter four, tells the

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Philippians that they are his joy and rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.

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In chapter four, verse 10, he rejoiced in the Lord at the Philippians concern for him. And chapter four, verse six, a verse that you're no doubt familiar with, that we be anxious about nothing, but in a spirit of thanksgiving, present our requests to God.

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You see this theme of joy, this call to rejoice coming up continually over the course of this letter.

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And here is that first declaration of joy there in verse four, every prayer of mine, as I lift you up to God, I make those prayers with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

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Talking about when the gospel was first declared in Philippi and Lydia was converted and a church was started there in her home, and then he was arrested later on and was thrown in prison, was beaten and thrown in prison, but then ministered to that prison guard, led him to Christ and all of his household as well.

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He was let go and then went back to address the Philippian church before they left that region and continued on their way.

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So they have been rejoicing in the work of Christ as it has been done in that Roman colony.

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And I am sure of this, Paul says in verse six, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

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We talked yesterday from Ephesians 2, eight and nine, it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing.

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It is the gift of God, not of works so that no one can boast. It is by the power of God that we have been saved.

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And it is by the power of God that we stay saved.

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Jesus said in John chapter 10, verses 27 and 28, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.

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I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

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Going on into verse 29, my father who gives them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand.

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I and the father are one. This is Jesus declaring that security that we have in him when he has called us to himself and we answer that calling and we come to Christ, we are secure in Christ and no one is gonna snatch us out of his hand.

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That is an assurance that we have in Christ Jesus. You know, folks, we cannot declare anyone saved.

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We can't lead them to Christ by praying this prayer and if you pray this prayer, then you're saved. We have no declaration over a person to say whether or not that they are saved.

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That is for God to declare about a person. He declares if they are saved. I've had situations come up before where a young man in my congregation, this is one that happened a couple of years ago, a young man in my congregation came up to me and he said that,

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I don't know if I'm saved and was very, very concerned and as we continued in our conversation and I asked him questions about the fruit that was in his life and asked him about his understanding of scripture and what he understood about doctrine and some of those different things, the relationship that he had with Christ, that was basically what we were asking about.

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There came a point in our conversation where I said, you know, in my flesh, I really wanna be able to tell you based on everything that we've talked about here,

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I think you're saved. But that would only be to satisfy myself and my own prejudices and what

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I'm observing. When it comes down to it, I can't tell you that. There is nothing in my knowledge for me to know with certainty whether or not you are saved.

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That is only for you to know. I know that I'm saved, but I can't declare that same thing for you.

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Only you know if you're saved and God has told you if you are saved. So I encourage you to read the scriptures and know.

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One of the books of the Bible that I direct a person toward when it comes to understanding the certainty of their salvation is 1

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John. It's a very easy read. I mean, he goes through some pretty deep truths in that book, but for the most part, when it comes to the doctrine and the theology that is discussed there, it's a fairly easy read.

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So I tell them to read 1 John, all five chapters. When you read it and you don't understand it, come back to it again tomorrow and read it again.

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Read it every day for 30 days. And every time you read it, God is gonna open up to you more truths than you saw the day before.

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It is a wonderful book to read. And as a matter of fact, one of my elders at church, Chris Solano, has referred to it as the first commentary of the

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Bible. Because when you read 1 John, it opens up to you the theology of the gospel of John.

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You're able to understand John's gospel better because you read 1 John. That's really pretty true. I think that's a good assessment of that.

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So reading 1 John helps you to understand some of those gospel aspects a little bit better.

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So that's one for you to read. A friend of mine who has been attending seminary and has been studying

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Greek, he has said that for Greek students, they're often told the first book that they should translate is the book of 1

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John, because it's actually written in the easiest Greek. The book of John is a little bit more complicated, but 1

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John is easy Greek, probably because John was the one who wrote it. And when the gospel of John was written, he had scribes that were translating it for him or transcribing it for him.

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So 1 John happens to be the easy Greek, and Greek students are told to translate that one first.

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Just kind of a little bit of trivia for you there. But that is a great book to read when it comes to understanding the certainty of your salvation that is in Christ.

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Study that for yourself and read 1 John. We have all of these assurances that are given to us throughout scripture.

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I read to you John 10, verses 27 through 29. That is the security that we have in Christ.

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And Jude actually talks about this too, the security we have in Christ. It is Christ who keeps us saved.

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It is Christ who calls us to himself, and it is Christ who keeps us saved.

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Jude, which is just one chapter, so it's verses 24 and 25, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his joy, of his glory, rather, with great joy.

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So Jude, even writing there about the security that we have in Christ, because he keeps us saved.

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David writes about this too in Psalm 51, where he prays to God and he says, "'Uphold me by your

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Holy Spirit.'" David understanding that being able to serve in righteousness, to remain on the path of righteousness, is the power of God.

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In 1 Thessalonians 5, 9 through 11, Paul writes to the Thessalonians this way. He says, "'For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our

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Lord Jesus Christ.'" Now, remember, he's writing to Christians. That's not a verse that's written to every single person.

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There are people that God has destined for wrath. We read that in Romans 9, 22. "'What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?'

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And that's not a new doctrine. We see the same thing in the Old Testament. Proverbs 16, 4, "'The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked, for the day of trouble.'"

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So when Paul writes to the Thessalonians, God has not destined us for wrath. He's only speaking to the Christians that he is talking to.

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God has not destined Christians for wrath. "'But to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, whether we're in the grave, or we are alive on this earth, we might live with him.

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Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing.'" And Paul, writing there to the Thessalonians in that way, he is talking specifically about the day of the

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Lord, the day of Jesus Christ. And that is the same thing that Paul addresses the Philippians with here. Philippians 1, 6, "'I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.'"

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The foundation for spiritual growth is recognizing that it is God who began that work of salvation in us and will bring that work of salvation to completion.

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Because Paul goes on later on in this chapter, in verse 9, he says, "'It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.'"

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And that's the work that we grow in right there. It's a process that is called sanctification.

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When we come to Christ, we have been justified. We're completely justified, but we've not yet been fully sanctified.

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Justified is a legal standing. Before God, we are declared innocent because of the work that Christ has done.

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So we're immediately justified. That's the event. Sanctification is the process.

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We've been justified, but not yet sanctified. And so as we go through this walk of faith, as we grow in knowledge of the truth, as we grow in holiness, being shaped more and more to be like Christ, as we see

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Paul talk about in Romans 8, verse 29, that is the process that is referred to as sanctification.

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We've all been called to that, continuing to grow more and more in the knowledge of God. So may we do so.

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And I pray that your prayer would be before the Lord. If he has brought you to faith in Christ, if you know that you have been saved,

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I'm sure of this, and I'm saying this to you, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

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Pray and ask God that he would show you security in your salvation. You know that you have been saved in Christ Jesus, so do his works, reflect his righteousness, and grow in these things more and more.

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Our Father God, may this be the work that you are doing. May we see it, and may we respond to it.

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And just as David prayed, may the Holy Spirit keep me on the path of righteousness, I pray that would be the case for each and every one of us.

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We desire to reflect the righteousness of Christ, to do the works that you have done, and to do what is pleasing to the

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Lord because we love you. We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, now we're gonna shift gears and we're responding to a viewer email.

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So this is gonna be a regular thing on this show. We're gonna spend about the first two thirds of the program exegeting the scriptures, exegesis, that's what

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I just did. And then we're going to go to a question that has been submitted by a viewer related to a video that we have posted.

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And when we understand the text started as a video ministry on YouTube, we've got some about 80 videos that we're close to that number now anyway, posted on our website, www .utt

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.com. You are free to use those videos for ministry purposes or just for personal edification.

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Our first question that comes to us today has to do with the video that we did on modern worship, which was actually quoting a passage of scripture from Isaiah chapter one.

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And so here is that video. You won't be able to see the imagery, but the question has to do with some of the imagery in that video.

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So here is that video on modern worship. Hear the word of the

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Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah.

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What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well -fed beasts.

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I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who is required of you this trampling of my courts?

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Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations,

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I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates.

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They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

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Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.

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Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes.

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Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression.

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Bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Come now, let us reason together, says the

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Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

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If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword for the mouth of the

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Lord is spoken when we understand the text. So that is the video, Modern Worship. It is calling out the modern church on its very modern ways of doing worship.

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And quoting from Isaiah 1, verses 10 through 20. That was a video that was actually requested from our viewers.

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They wanted us to do a video that addressed modern forms of worship. Now, there was some imagery in the video that you weren't able to see, obviously, on this broadcast.

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But the question that we have that comes from one of our viewers has to do with one of the images that was posted in that video that showed

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Elton John and Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church, holding hands.

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This question comes from Jason, State College, Pennsylvania. In your video, Modern Worship, you had a picture of Rick Warren smiling and holding

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Elton John's hand. I have no idea what the context of that photo is, and the video doesn't explain it, but wouldn't condemning

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Rick Warren on the basis of associating with a sinner be like Jesus critics regarding his association with the sinners of his day?

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And I appreciate your question, Jason. I thought about including an image of a headline that read, Rick Warren jokes about kissing

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Elton John, but I left the image as is. Anyway, there you go. That's the context. Warren and John appeared with others before a

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U .S. Senate Appropriations Committee regarding the funding of global health initiatives. And this one in particular was AIDS relief, because that's something that Warren and John have both contributed heavily to.

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Before the hearing got started, the two joined hands in front of the press, and Warren joked, if we kiss, it'll be the kiss heard around the world.

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And the picture that you see there that has been posted in the video is them laughing hysterically about Warren's comment.

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Now, Elton John is not only openly homosexual, he openly hates Christianity.

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In the 1976 edition of Rolling Stone where he came out as gay, he said that demonic beings use him and other pop stars to deceive the public.

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This is the quote, it's all a big con, he said, but as long as the public laps it up,

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I'm quite happy to go on giving it to them, unquote. In 2010, John said that Jesus Christ was gay.

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Last year, he said that Jesus would approve of gay marriage. And he was the face of last year's

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Voice of America documentary that in part accused Christianity for the spread of AIDS in Africa.

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Now, I bring this up because then he's joining hands with evangelicalism's most published pastor,

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Rick Warren, who he hawed in front of the press about John's lifestyle and he joked about himself participating in it.

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Now, there's nothing funny about that. There's nothing funny about sin that unless repented of would keep a person from the kingdom of God.

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In 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11, we read, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

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Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who practice homosexuality nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

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And such were some of you. I always love including verse 11 in this because this is the gospel, okay?

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You all once walked in this, some of you did, but you were washed.

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In Christ, you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified, which we just talked about in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. It's by the power of Christ that we can go from being this, walking in this sin, and then be renewed in righteousness.

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That's what I hope happens with Elton John, but he's not there. He is active in his sin and Rick Warren joked about participating in it.

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There's nothing funny about joking about sin that God has promised he will judge. Warren can sit next to John and shake hands with him.

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On that point, Jason, I would agree with you, but I think that you would agree with me that he should not be joking in the light about that which is done in darkness.

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Ephesians 5 talks more about that if you want to read about that. Warren, I'll say this about Rick Warren.

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He's stood on a principled position in the past, but he's becoming increasingly more mainline on the issue of homosexuality.

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Many pastors are going to follow his lead, bringing iniquity into the assembly and refusing to recognize homosexuality as sin.

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That was the reason for the photo in the context that it was given, quoting Isaiah 1 10 through 20.

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Elton John and others like him are not beyond God's forgiveness and I hope that the Lord grants him repentance so that he's able to escape the snare of the devil.

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What he needs to hear is the gospel, not jokes about his sin. Christ can cleanse him.

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And I hope that that's the message that John hears, Elton John hears that. So thank you again, Jason, for your question.

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And I'm sure that was something that needed clarification. If you want to submit a question to our program, visit our website, www .utt

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.com, where you also find all of our videos. Thank you for joining me today for this broadcast.

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I want to conclude with the doxology that we read at the end of Jude, bringing everything that we talked about here together.

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Jude 24 through 26. To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

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To the only God, our savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, the glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.

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Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. Pick up his book, 40 of the

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Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean, either on paperback or on Amazon for your

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Kindle. Order from our website when you visit www .utt .com and be sure to drop us a line to let us know how our ministry has impacted you.

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Thank you for listening and please tell others about our program. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our study of Philippians, rejoicing in God's truth when we understand the text.