Phil 2:12-13, Become Holy

This message originally delivered on June 9, 1991.

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
Philippians chapter two, follow along as I read
verses 12 and 13. Would youLibyans chapter two verses 12.
And 13.
is where we are in our study inPhilippians. Therefore, my dear
friends, as you have alwaysobeyed, not only in my presence,
but now much more in my absencecontinue to work out your

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salvation, with fear andtrembling. For it is God who
works in you to will and to actaccording to His good pleasure.
If you're like most people, Iknow something about you. You
don't like tension? Anybody herelike tension? People don't like

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tension. In fact, people hatetension, like people take
vacations because they gotta getaway from tension, right? Do you
know something though? Tensionis a very much part of life that
really is not bad at all times.
Do you ever consider that?
In fact, one of the greatestplaces where attention is good,
and yet people still don't wantit is in the area of theology.

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It's good to have tension intheology. What happens is people
don't want tension in theirtheology, they want everything
cut and dried everything blackand white, everything absolutely
clear. So they don't have tostruggle with it at all. And so
they get rid of it by taking oneside of the issue. You see,
here's the doctrine and picturea doctrine is a poll across the
length of this room. Well,there's tension in that poll,
because there's truth at bothends of it. But what happens is,

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we don't like that tension. Sowe go over to the one end, and
we can't hear and we sit hereand we stay here. And you know
what happens after a while youstart making fun of the people
that emphasize the other end.
And that guess how you got tothis end, because you got tired
of the other end. And so now youcan order this and and you start
pulling and you start fighting.
And what we love to do is if youever seen a straw man burn?

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You ever see the straw man burn?
Are you with me this morning?
You build a straw man, you builda straw man over at that any
that, oh, they're still bad. Andyou put all these things upon
them, and then you burn them,and we talk about them. So you
get segments and Christianity,and this segment hates those
people at that end of theattention. And yet we're all
Christians, we're all brothers.
Well, tension is a veryimportant part of Christianity,
especially Christian doctrine.

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One man said like this, all goodtheology has tension in this.
All good theology has tension init, no doctrine in the Bible as
either or you get that nodoctrine, the Bible is either or
it's always both. Andto think about that, that will
take a lot out of it. If weunderstood that theology is not
always either or it's eithergonna be this way or it's not.
It's both and all the doctrinesof all the doctrines of all the

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teachings in the Bible thatpeople love to argue about and
divide over. Probably the leastknown in fundamental evangelical
circles these days, is thedoctrine of progressive
sanctification. Now, maybe inthis church, it's a little bit
better known because I seem tohave a hobbyhorse, maybe I write
on that possibly not, I'm sure Idon't have any faults in my
life. But if I did, it probablybe that I ride the doctrine of

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progressive sanctification toomuch. You see, once you become a
believer, this is the will ofGod for you, that you would be
sanctified. Now, because that isthe will of God. Once you become
a believer, the number one goalfor God concerning you is this
God's desire is that you wouldbecome holy. And you know
something, if you're not on thatprocess of becoming holy, you're

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a miserable Christian. You knowwhy? Because God is desiring and
pulling and prompting andleading you to be holy. And if
you're resisting there, is thisthat tension, it's the
backsliders syndrome. I've beenthere have you?
When you know you're not livingin accordance with the will of

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God.
You see, the reason why ifyou're truly a believer, here's
one way you can tell there is aflicker. It just may be like
this at times, see this in myheart. This is in my heart, just
a little flicker, just sometimesit's sitting like this.
Paul tells Timothy fanned theflame, what happens when you get
some sparks in your fire you fanand try to get to blow up again.

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We need to have a flame goingthere. Why is it? Because why do
you have that flicker? You havethat flicker because the Spirit
of God is at work in your heartcalling you to be holy, calling
you to turn away from sin andcome little golf life.
But you see, there is suchlittle teaching as to how I have
told you before that my senioryear in high school, I went

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forward six times. And I wouldsay things I'm tired of you 90%
Christian, I want to be 100%.
Christian, I want to go the onlything is is this. I didn't
understand how to grow. I didn'tunderstand exactly what you did
or why I sort of had an ideayou're supposed to go to church
supposed to give and go onvisitation and the kind of
devotions if you did thosethings you were supposed to

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grow. But we because we don'tunderstand the doctrine of
progressive sanctification aretremendously sick and immature
church, that I'm talking aboutthe church generally speaking in
the nation of America or theUnited States.
And guess what, on this issue,there's tension. Did you know
that on how to grow? There is atremendous amount of tension?

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Remember, tension is what? Itshould be good. It's good to
have some tension. Don't worryabout it. All good theology has
tension Automate, you say that.
Because I'll tell you, believeme, you're we could get rid of
most of all the arguing amongChristians, if we could just
understand that it's good tohave tension, and that there is
something to be said about bothends of the spectrum.

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Now,there are a lot of good people,
good Christian peoplewho fight over this area, or
this teaching of progressivesanctification.
And to remember their positionon one end, and there they
usually are because of areaction of some sort. Let me
give you a couple ofillustrations of these kinds of

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people. All right. And I'll beglad to tell you I'm sure I fit
into some of these categories.
And I'm trying to be balancedabout it. But I admit I'm sure I
do. I mean, if I thought that Iwasn't, I thought I was
perfectly balanced. Everybodyelse was often you could might
as well leave now. All right.
But you know, there's those whenit comes to how to grow, how to
be sanctified. There are thosethat teach spectators
sanctification. You know whatspectators sanctification is,

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you just stand and let go andlet God and do nothing and God
does it all. You just sit back,and you don't do anything. Now,
let me tell you something, thatis a truth.
But that's only one side of it.
Remember, you just sit back andyou'll go. Now here's the other
side of it. I was trying tothink of some overheads I'm
going to make up on this Sunday,got a guy in our church that
makes these fancy, really needcolor ones, and you'd have some

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guy with a shovel in his hand,just standing there like
God will dig the ditch, watchwhat will happen, the wind will
blow in the ditch, the thingwill start moving.
Then on the other side of thecoin, you've got the person who
absolutely feels if he's goingto make any progress, it's going
to be up to him. And the onlything it's totally up to him,

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and this guy is just laboringand sweating and digging as hard
as he possibly can. The onlything is, he's trying to do it
himself in the flesh. So there'stwo ends right there that I'm
familiarabout this. Those people that
say, I have found the answer.
When it comes to sanctification,I have found the answer. I
learned that I needed to go backand talk to this person. And

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once I did, I never have sincehad conflict in my life or some
good people, good Christianpeople. We call them
charismatics. And if you'recharismatic and you're here, we
would welcome you here at thischurch. We don't think you're
some absolutely crazy, but Iwill say this if you think this,
that once you got baptized, theHoly Spirit started speaking in
tongues, you no longer weregoing to have any conflict in

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your life, you have been sorelydismayed. You will be sorely
dismayed because you're you'reyou're taught wrong. In other
words, if you came into this bigexperience, oh, it's so
wonderful. Now I'm not going tohave any more trouble. That's
the people that say I have foundthe answer. Now, you know, what,
on the other side of the scaleis you got people over here that
say this, there is no answer.
It's terrible. Man, theChristian life is terrible. Oh,
and it just all the time cryingand complaining and griping and

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there is illicit both areemphasizing the truth. This
person says hey, you got to havea work of the Holy Spirit or
you're not going to make it.
This person over here sayingthis, man, you've got to do
that, you know, it's gonna beconflict. This person over here
emphasizes joy and peace andlove and happiness. This person
over here emphasizes strife andconflict and trouble and guess
what? They're both in the Bibleabout this mortification, this

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person says this hall to besanctified. You've got to put
off, oh, I gotta keep puttingoff.
And the Bible says that by theway, Mortify therefore the
members which upon the earth,this person over here, it's all
vindication. That is this, it'salways something positive, let's
just be positive, thinkpositive. Don't worry about

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putting off let's just put on.
The point is, it's a balance,both are saying something that
is right. And I am glad to tellyou that the one of the benefits
of Expository Preaching is whenyou get to Philippians chapter
two, verse 12. You've also gotto cover chapter two, verse 13.
Do you know that I've hadarguments with people? And I've

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been, by the way, which side doyou think I've been on? Over the
years? Tell me, Mike, my belovedcongregation. Have I been on the
side where you stand here and donothing? How many would vote for
that? That's right, I'm overhere. Okay. As long as you know
that. That's right. He couldhave quit Phil was quick to see
that. I've been no here and thisis what you got to do. Alright,
but anyway, I've had argumentswith people in which we've stood
there, kindly yelling at eachother.

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And the words have gone likethis. I emphasize verse 12, work
out your own salvation with fearand trembling, and they say but
read the next verse.
And I said, but that's not to mydevotions. The next day, you
know, I stopped therefor this God who works in you
to will and to act according toHis good pleasure. But before we

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get to any of that there's a keyword in this whole passage. Do
you really want to grow here?
is the key word. Therefore Lookat Verse 12. Therefore, when you
study the Bible, you got to lookat their fours and see why they
were there. Remember, we'veheard that many times.
Well listen,the proper motivation,
for sanctification, the propermotivation to grow the proper,

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proper motivation to denyyourself the proper motivation
to put on the proper motivationto work hard, the proper
motivation to learn to let goand let God the power of
motivation of understanding thebalance between all of that is
this, first and foremost,therefore tells us that we've
got to have a proper view of Godbecause what does therefore
refer back to, but it refersback to verses nine and 10, and

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11 looks look and see what theysay. It says, Therefore, and
that refers back to verse eight,by the way, therefore, God
exalted him to the highestplace, gave him a name that is
above every name, that at thename of Jesus, every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth, andunder the earth at every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ isLord to the glory of God the
Father. In other words, as wehave seen, in verses 567 and

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eight, Jesus Christ, GodAlmighty has this attitude of
becoming man, not just becomingman to becoming a servant, not
just becoming a servant ofbecoming a criminal die, the
worst death on the cross. Andone goal was this, that he
wouldn't be obedient. And as aresult of that, God highly
exalted Him. He is the King ofkings, the Lord of lords, he
reigns supreme in the universe.

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And as we understand the exaltedposition of Jesus Christ, if we
understand that it pays to obey,because someday even though he
looked like a loser dying on thecross, he was exalted to the
highest, when we understand thegreat significance that every
knee will bow before Jesus,every tongue will confess that
He is Lord. When we understandthat point, my friends, when we

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get a view of Christ, that isexalted what it shouldn't be,
therefore,work out your own salvation, as
we consider what Christ did. Sowe are to consider how to
awesome encouragement that thatis the motivation that that is
to have a relationship with God,that could be all that it is
supposed to be. You see, whenyou get a high view of God,

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let me say it this way, whenthere is nothing great about
your relationship with God, letme tell you right now, would you
say this, and there isn't toomuch great about my relationship
with God. Now, I know you'resaying you're a Christian, but
you're honestly saying there'slots of emptiness. I'm not too
far to about my devotions,there's not too much great about
it, I'm gonna tell yousomething, there's one reason
for it.
If you do not have a greatrelationship with God, it is

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because your thoughts of God aretoo low.
If we could get Isaiah, to walkin here for just a moment, and
say, Isaiah, tell us about theyear King use iodide and the
vision that you had, suddenly,you would see there was such a
realization of the awesomereality of God, His greatness,
the glorious King, the one whothrew the stars in space, the

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one that knows each of us byname knows the number of hairs
on our heads, the God that isgreater than we can begin to
imagine all of a sudden, youwould see a motivation to know
Him and to serve Him as Isaiahhad.
If we can interview Peter,but Peter been out fishing all
night. The Lord says in themorning, Peter, go back out and
cast your nets into the deepthere were supposed to be fish

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in the deep they get caught up,cast their nets around the
shore. Peter said, Lord, we'vebeen fishing all night. We
haven't caught a thing, but atyour word, we'll do it. He goes
out, he drops his nets in. Andthe Bible says the nets were so
full of fish that they began tobreak, Peter starts yelling guys
come over and help us otherfishing boats come over take us
to fishing boats get so full offish that it says the boats

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began to sink. You know whatPeter's response was the same as
Isaias.
He understood how great andawesome God was, when I hear
people griping, complaining,arguing all the time thinking on
how bad it is, I'm gonna tellyou something, we have lost the
view of the therefore the firstthing you need to mark in verse

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12, is that therefore it refersback to the greatness of God.
Now, not only that, but when wesee that God is great. Listen,
we are going to serve God evenwhen no one else is watching.
Let me say that again. When weunderstand the greatness of God,
we are going to serve God evenwhen no one else is watching,
you know the difference betweena conviction and an opinion.

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When you go to bed at night, andyou have an opinion about
Christianity, it stays on yourdresser and you get and go to
bed and sleep wake up in themorning you put it on with your
wallet in your watch and youleave. But when you have a
conviction, it crawls right inthe bed with you. And what I
want you to see as Paul wasconcerned about their view of
God and he was concerned aboutthe fact that they were only
going to progress in theirsanctification when he was there

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because look at the verse says,Therefore, my dear friends, as
you have always obeyed, not onlyin my presence, but now much
more in my absence continue towork out your salvation with
fear and trembling. He says lookat have skipped. And go back to
verse 27 of chapter one liquidit says, Whatever happens,
conduct yourselves in a mannerworthy of the gospel of Christ,

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then whether I come and see you,or only hear about you, in my
absence, I will know that youstand firm in one spirit
contending as one man for thefaith of the gospel, there was
some kind of problem here, asyou start to relate with this
book, you start to understandthat there was this idea, and
now that Paul is gone, he's inRoman prison, he's hundreds of
miles away. He was our spiritualfather, they were starting to
slack off a little bit.

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And so he says to them obey theactually the Greek word there
means under here, under twohere. And the fact is this, make
sure that you stay submissive tothe Word of God. Make sure that
you understand that character iswhat you are in the dark, even
when no one else is around,would you still be practicing
Christianity? There's a balancehere again, we absolutely must

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have accountability, right?
Without accountability, the Amengroup we had Friday morning, we
divided the guys into two we'resupposed to keep check on each
other to see how we're doingthis week. And my guy had
cornered me the other day and atthe wedding and started asking
me some questions. And that'sgood, because we need to be
accountable. But there's alsothis sense of this guy, we're
always accountable, because Godis so great that he is with us
at all times. And we need tokeep that in mind. Now, one
other thing I want you to seeabout considering the the

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greatness of God, as you're herein Philippians, look what else
it says in verse 12. It saysthis, continue to work out your
salvation. But notice those twolittle words with what?
with fear and trembling, youwant to see another tension. If
I were to say to you, what isthe book of Philippians? About
what would you say joy, how manywould say joy, and you would be

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right 40 Sometimes or somethingthat word joy is not to rejoice?
It's a book of joy. But here itis, again, in the middle of the
book of joy. It says one of thekey attitudes you need to have
in order to make progress inyour sanctification is fear and
trembling. The word fear isPhobos from where we get the
word phobia. In other words, atremendous fear. The word

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trembling is true almost soundsvery similar. But it's the idea
is to be absolutely quaking andtrembling from fear. Do you
remember the woman that thewomen that came to the tomb
early in Mark chapter 16, andthey're looking around and they
can't find the body of Jesus?
And all of a sudden an angelspeaks to them? And they jump
back? And he says, Why are youlooking for him among the dead,
He is not here He is risen.

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Remember that? It says theyabsolutely started trembling,
same word, as if realizingyou're in the presence of the
supernatural. And the point myfriend says, Let me ask you this
question.
The last time.
When is the last timeyou made progress in your walk
with the Lord,out of fear and trembling?

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You're supposed to, thereforerefers back to a great view of
God.
That great view of God will meanthat you will obey even when no
one else is around.
But also this one thing we don'tknow much about in America
anymore. And other law sense ofthis is the reason we're so
shallow. And that is this God isno longer an awesome God.

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He's the big buddy in the sky.
He's my good neighbor up there,that's gonna keep my Pocket
full.
If we had a glimpseof the Almighty
we would obey, out of fear introuble. You know what, I think

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a lot of you Christians heretoday, as your pastor, I want to
tell you something. I think alot of you here today need to
recapture what this says.
In my life, there are times whenI do not sin,
because it is an awesome thingto flaunt yourself in the face

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of Almighty Jehovah God.
And there needs to be this isNew Testament. This is
Philippians. It's right here inthe text. There needs to be a
fear of God there needs to be atrembling. What is it? One man
says like this, the thought isnot of tormenting misgiving,
about present peace with God orfinal perseverance, in a

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reverence and wakeful consciencein his holy presence, a
reverence and wakeful consciencein his holy presence.
You look at men and womenthrough the ages and read their
biographies, or talk to men andwomen that are alive today that
have gone deep into theirrelationship with God and really
know him. In other words,they've made progress in their

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sanctification. And I want totell you, there is one thing
continue and that is this atremendous fear of God.
Not the type where he's gonnabeat me over the head, but an
understanding of how who he isand that He has given us this
great salvation. And then it isa it is a wonderful thing to
realize we're no longer underhis wrath. You know why

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salvation is so misplaced today.
You know why so many people Oh,you're just saved. Well, really
the key thing is gettingbaptized and Holy Spirit, you
know, Why there's that kind ofattitude. Because we don't even
have this beginning degree tounderstand what it means to no
longer be under the wrath of theAlmighty, to know that our sins
have been forgiven, to know thatwe've been cleansed, and that

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we're no longer under hiscondemnation, but now we're in
peace with him. If we came tounderstand that just for a
second, what a difference thatwould make. I've said this to
you until I've worn you out, Irealize but you know, you show
me somebody that has come as asinner that deserved hell and
repented of their sins andtrusted Christ as their Savior.
And I'm going to show yousomebody you don't have to beg

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and plead to serve the Lord.
I'm going to show you somebodythat's not gonna, I don't have
time this week, because I'm, youknow, we're gonna wait, I can't
miss my television show.
I'm going to show you peoplethat are desirous to willingly
give up their lives in order tofollow him.
Again, we could refer to Isaiah,to Peter to Paul after his acts
chapter eight experience.

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And as gi Packer said, Those whoknow God's greatness have great
energy for him.
The fear of the Lord is thebeginning of wisdom. We seem to
have lost that these days.
So a proper view of God. But nowlet's get on with our text.
Here's the main work in thetext. And that is this. It says,

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continue to work out yoursalvation with fear and
trembling. Okay, are you ready?
First off, there's your part.
Are you ready? Okay, now,remember, I've had this problem
over time, and that is I'veemphasized your part a lot. How
many agree with that? Raise yourhands. Okay. Oh, some of you
were very kind to me thismorning. Now raise your hands.

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The fact is, is clear. Here. Youhave a responsibility. Don't get
out of it. Don't pretend likesomehow you don't. You have a
responsibility. Listen, you knowwhat? There's lots of men and
women in this church that you'veheard them teach. And you go
like this. I love to hear themteach. And I always rejoice in
that. Or there's there's others.
You might like swindle,MacArthur, Stanley, throw out

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some others, whoever it is youlike, okay, James kitty, whoever
is and you all think, Oh, I lovethem. They I get so much out of
it. It's so rich, or you know,Christians, maybe they're not
teachers, but they're Christiansand just being around them. They
seem to have such wisdom andsweetness about life, that maybe
they're not teachers, but yousee, they know God. And you know
what y'all think you all sort ofthink that just sort of happened
one day?

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No, my friends, it is aresponsibility that we have on
their part. You know, on April26 1974, I made a commitment to
Christ. Now, I'm sure on thatday, other people did too.
But you know, that since April26 1974, people in that boot
camp was just sticking to theword a few months after that
there are people that have madegreater progress than I. And

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there are also people that havenot made as much progress as I
would think. And you know, what?
We know one of the reasons isthis. Those who are hungry, go
for it.
And those that aren't hungry,don't go for it. And one of the
fears I've had in my life, andI've told it to you again and
again is this I'm scared thatyou're going to become satisfied

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full, I'm afraid there's goingto be a place where you're going
to think you don't need to eatanymore. I told you the story. I
worked one summer in every daythat summer, I brushed 300 Rats
teeth every day, that's a kidand I worked for Indiana
University Oral Health Research.
And I would get the big thing,grab the rat out. And there were
always No Listen, it soundsfunny. But there's a point to
this, right? There were alwaystwo rats in every cage. And I

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got to hate those rats. But Iwould reach in and grab the rat
out. And every case ate the samediet and I did all the A's there
was like 20 A's and 20 Bees and20 seeds until you come up to
about 300. And I did them in aformula to be formula C formula
region. But every cage everytime the two rats in the cage
one got big and fat you'd reachin there and you could feel was
muscle and he would fight youthe whole time. And the other

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was skinny and scrawny. You knowwhy? Because one ate more than
the other.
And the differenceis this. You need to work out
your own salvation. What doesthat mean? It doesn't mean that
you're gaining salvation foryourself. It doesn't mean that
you're not quite saved. And nowyou need to get it it says this
The salvation you presentlyhave, work it out. That's what
it says. Make sure that it comesto full fruition. Make sure that

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it that it is finished and thatin your life's time here you can
say I have fought the goodfight. I have finished the
course I have kept the faith.
What is that yourresponsibility? Paul didn't say
God fought the good fight. Godfinished the course. God fought
the good fight and already saidI did it. Because you have a
responsibility. And we live inan age today when Christians no

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longer feel responsible. So nowthey think oh, I'm not
responsible for this. You areresponsible. You will give an
account before God you alreadywork out your own salvation you
are to make sure that you'resupposed to grow. Why do you
think there's words like this inthe Bible fighting, striving,
enduring putting on putting offseeking confessing for
sinking denying, why are thosewords there? They're there

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because that's what we'resupposed to be doing. Now that
we know this wonderful God thathas saved our souls we are to be
doing our part. Does that makeus safe? No, we're saved once
and for all by coming to Christfor salvation.
You see, there are some wellmeaning kind hearted Christians
who don't understand this sideof sanctification

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are probably a well meaning kindhearted Christian that has
emphasized that all.
We got to remember somethingthat I want to show this quickly
to you. Some of you may haveseen this before.
But just make sure youunderstand the difference
between this and that is thisjustification, sanctification,
glorification, all aspects ofsalvation glorification is when

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you get to heaven. So don'tworry about it. Now you will be
taken care of then okay. But thefact is this, this one here is
positional, you stand before Godabsolutely righteous. But this
one is experiential. How youexperience living for Christ.
This one has been declared 100%righteous by God once and for
all. This one is becoming moreand more like Christ Jesus and
attitude and lifestyle. This oneinstantly happens. This one's a

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lifelong process until death,Paul wasn't there. This one is
by faith alone, are you ready,some of you are gonna get mad at
me. But this one's by faith andworks. And there's more than
just this passage to show you.
This one here is perfect andholy in the eyes of God. This
was attempting to live only lifein this present world.

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This one has given a new nature,this is putting off the old
nature and putting on the newnature. To get this, the quality
of justification is the same forthe weakest to the strongest or
the youngest to the oldest.
You're the same. Everybody'sjust like you are perfectly
righteous before God. But getthis quality widely varies
depending on the application ofthe truth by the believer to his
personal life is going to varyconcerning the attempts that we

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make. And here's some more thedifferent terms that you could
show biblical terms. Notice thisone takes place in heaven about
someone on earth this will takeplace on Earth with the help of
heaven. This is not seen by theworld only the courts of Heaven
This is seen by God and by theworld. Great percentage the
Bible talks about both livingout made right with God living
right with God concerns theattitude of God towards the

(27:14):
believing sinner towards thebelieving enter it looks like at
center concerns the attitude ofthe believer towards God working
out with God was working within.
Now, I know I went over thatfast. If you want copies of
that, ask for them. We'll get itto you. All right. That's all
you got to do. But remembers nowthat we are emphasizing still

(27:36):
the first part and I got time toget to the second part. Those of
you that want me to get there.
All right.
Here's a quick little overhead Ithought I'd throw in this is
this man is created by God. Allof life revolves around God. All
life revolves around self assinners.
The believer in salvation moreand more surrendered to Christ.
If there is such thing as acarnal believer, you're less and

(27:57):
less surrendered than maturebeliever. Everything we've all
is the goal of being mature.
Everything revolves aroundChrist. But now while we're
still here on this part aboutman, let me get to this.
Let me show you some scripture.
Let's read these together. Okay.
Can you see him back there inthe back? See it, Marty?
Alright. I can't see it whenit's over that way. No, this

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way. Okay. Philippians 212 wasread. Therefore, my dear
friends, as you have alwaysobeyed, not only in my presence,
but now much more in my absence,continue to work out your
salvation with fear andtrembling. We already read that
when we didn't need to do that,do it. Or look at this.
First Peter one, five.
says this For this very reason.
Make every effort to add to yourfaith goodness and to goodness,

(28:40):
wait a minute, what's it sayright there? What's that? Say
right there? Make every effortyou're supposed to do that. How
about this? Read this? Let'sread it. Train yourself to be
godly. Train yourself to begodly? How could you do that?
Because one aspect you got tounderstand it's completely up to
you to grow. That's one aspect.
That's the one end. If that'sall there were we'd be

(29:03):
miserable. But that's that'spart of it here. How about this
one? First Timothy four. Let'sread it. Be diligent in these
matters. Give yourself wholly tothem so that everyone may see
your progress. Watch your lifeand doctrine closely. Persevere
in them? Because if you do, youwill say both yourself and your
hearers about this. Is itgetting weird? Or is that me is

(29:24):
getting blurry there to this.
Then he said to them all? Ifanyone would come after me,
let's read together. Come on, hemust deny himself and take up
his cross daily and follow Me.
How about this? Not that I havealready obtained all this, or
I've already been made perfect.
But I press on to take hold ofthat for which Christ Jesus took
hold of me I press on you seehis part of it. Now, with that

(29:45):
in mind. There's other onesfirst Corinthians 924 through 27
I find I strive lest I would bea castaway and those types of
things. And before we go anyfarther let me remind you
quickly and then I promise we'llget to these
second half of this,but I promises to you, JC little
Baxter gives what I thinkprobably the best illustration

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of what we're supposed to do onour part, our friends this some
of this to you before, but Ithink it's important to read
again. He wanted to be the mostMethodist Baptist preachers that
ever lived. Methodists wereknown for their Methodism. He
wanted to be methodical and whatthey did, but he found out as
time went on in the ministry, hewasn't praying. He wasn't having
the holy times with God that healways wanted. And so he makes a

(30:26):
commitment one day that he wasgoing to change that he was
really going to become a man ofprayer. And he writes in his
diary, this as never before mywill, and I stood face to face.
I asked my will the straightquestion Will Are you ready for
an hour of prayer? And willanswered here I am. I'm quite
ready, if you are. So Will and Ilinked arms and turn to go for

(30:47):
our time of prayer. At once allthe emotions began pulling the
other way in protesting. Werenot coming. They said, I saw
we'll stagger a bit. So I asked,Can you stick it out? We'll and
we'll replied yes, if you can.
So we'll went and we got down toprayer, dragging those wiggling
emotions with us. It was astruggle all the way through. At

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one point, when will and I werein the middle of an earnest
intercession, I suddenly foundone of those traitors, emotions
had snared my imagination, andthen run off to the golf course.
And it was all that I could doto drag the wicked rascal back.
A bit later, I found another ofthe emotions that sneaked away
with some off guard thoughts andwas in the pulpit two days ahead
of schedule, preaching a sermonthat I have not yet finished

(31:31):
preparing.
At the end of that hour, ifyou'd asked me Have you had a
good time I would have had toreply No, it was a been a weary
wrestling with contrary emotionsand a true and imagination from
beginning to end. What is more,the battle with the emotions
continued for between two andthree weeks? And if you asked me
at the end of that period, haveyou had a good time and your
daily praying I would have hadto confess No, it at times, it

(31:51):
seems as though the heavens werebrass God to disturb to hear and
the Lord Jesus strangely aloofand because in prayer
accomplishing nothing, yetsomething was happening. For one
thing well, when I really taughtthe emotions that they were
completely independent, we werecompletely independent of them.
Also, one morning about twoweeks after the contest began,
just when Will and I were goingfor another time of prayer. I
overheard one of the emotionswhisper to the other. Come on,

(32:14):
you guys. Just no use wastingmore time resisting they'll go
just the same. That morning forthe first time. Even though the
emotions were still suddenlyuncooperative. They were they
were at least quiet, whichallowed willing me to get on
with prayer and distractedly.
Then another couple of weeks inwhat do you think happened?
During one of our prayer timeswhen we when I were no more
thinking of the emotions than atthe man the moon, one of the
most vigorous of the emotionsunexpectedly sprang up and

(32:36):
shouted hallelujah.
At which all the other emotionsexplained, amen. And for the
first time, the whole of mybeing intellect world emotions
was united in one coordinatedprayer operation all at once God
was real heaven was opened, theLord Jesus was luminously
present, the Holy Spirit wasindeed moving through my longest
prayers were surprising, vital,done at a great time, right? He

(32:57):
says, it requires a tremendousamount of discipline in the
courts. Philippians 212.
Working out our salvation, myfriends, one of the reasons why
the Christian life seems so dulland boring is this it says, Make
every effort given all thatyou've got and we just go like
this. We make a little tiny, weput more effort into watching
our car than we do our personalspiritual life and yet we expect

(33:19):
it to work.
We have a responsibility. Okay,enough of that. Let's get to the
other side. Look at verse 13.
Look what it says. It says inverse 13, here we go now, for it
is God who works in you both towill and to do His good
pleasure.
I'm losing my overheads here.
Hang on a second.

(33:41):
The Bible also teaches somethinghere friends, and you know what
that is? It teaches this God isthe one that is at work within
you, you cannot accomplish athing without me, you can do
nothing. If for one minute, youcould think that just by being
okay. I'm gonna do it allmyself. You can't. You
absolutely must be vitallyconnected in communion and in

(34:04):
walking in the Spirit. You knowwhat the Bible says? The same
word for God is at work withinyou is the same word by the way,
the same root word for verse 12,where it says work out your own
salvation, you get it. You areto work out your own salvation.
But here's the same thing. Godis working in you. Romans seven,

(34:24):
five translates the same wordthis way for when we were
controlled by the flesh, theflesh aroused by the law, we're
at work in our body. So we borefruit to death, if talking about
the unsaved life, that what justthe natural result is the sin to
go the contrary way. So now Godis at work in our life, to pull
us the other way.
Life but translates verses 12and 13 like this, here's a Greek

(34:46):
scholar and just the way hetranslates it. Therefore, my
beloved, having the example ofChrist humility to guide you the
example of Christ exultation toencourage you, as you've always
been obedient hitherto socontinued, please get this. Do
not work.
To my presence to stimulate youlabor earnestly, not only at
times when I am with you, butalso when I am far away with a
nervous and trembling anxiety,workout, your salvation for

(35:09):
yourself. Now get this foryourselves did I say Nay, you're
not alone. It is God working inyou from first to last God that
inspires the earliest impulseand God that directs the final
achievement for such as His goodpleasure. You know what struck
me about this verse this week,something I learned, I did not
know before. When God is at workwithin you. Look what the verse

(35:30):
says in verse 13. God is thework within you both to will and
to act. The actual translationis the word felt where we get
the word fellow, the will. Andthe word Act is the actually the
word work. God is at work togive you the even the intentions
to grow. You could not even havethe first desire to become

(35:51):
godly, if God didn't give youthat intention. He is the one
that first prompts you. He isthe one that first directs you.
He is the one that it's it's heconstantly pulling, tugging,
nurturing, directing you towardshim and holiness. You know why?
Some of you and I say this,because I'm with you, my
friends, but some of you thatare struggling, and some of you

(36:13):
are so miserable. And some ofyou are just so discouraged. And
you're saying like Paul said inRomans chapter seven, oh,
wretched man that I am. Whoshall deliver me from this body
of death? Do you know what youhad aching struggle in your
heart? Praise God for it. Guesswhy? If you weren't a believer,
it wouldn't be a struggle. Ifyou weren't a believer, you
would just go off. Forget it.
I'm just gonna live for God, Ican't do this. But what is it

(36:33):
that keeps you to say no, Idon't want to go into sin. No, I
don't want to go that step. No,I Yes, I'm on the edge. And I
hate it when I fall. But I wantto keep going. You know what it
is, it's God that gives you theeven the intention, the will to
live for him. And it's also Godthat does the work in your heart
to cause you to start producinggood works. And notice, it's in

(36:54):
behalf of His good purpose. It'sfor his goals, his desires.
Let's see also some verses thatsay, it's all of God, let's read
these together to what you wereread when we've already we
already know here it says this,let's go for it is God who works
in you to will and to actaccording to His good purpose.
How about this one, his divinepower has given us now when we

(37:15):
get to the underlined parts,let's sort of read a little
louder. All right, let's goagain. His divine power has
given us everything we need forlife and godliness, through our
knowledge of him who called usby His own glory and goodness,
through these He's given us verygreat and precious promises. So
that through them, you mayparticipate. You let's read
this, you may participate andescape escape readers together,

(37:36):
escape the corruption in theworld caused by evil desires.
All right, you can do a Gazawork, his power has given you
all that you need.
Don't try to mix this up. Here'sone side of that God does it
all. Here's the other side ofit. You are responsible. Christ
lives in you, you live I live Ino longer live but Christ lives

(37:58):
in me. How about this? Let'sread Romans or excuse me, John
15, foreign five together,ready? Let's read it. Remain in
me and I will remain in you. Nobranch can bear fruit by itself.
It must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruitunless you remain in me, I am
the vine, you are the branches.
If a man remains in me, and I inhim, he will bear much fruit

(38:21):
apart from me you can donothing. Okay? This by the way,
in the King James says, I am theLord who sanctifies you but
notice what it says, You mayknow that I am the Lord who
makes you holy? who sanctifiesyou great verse. He's the one
that does it. Romans 828 29 Iknow you know this one. But you
got to see the point here, Goddoes it. Let's let's read it.
All things work together forgood. And she's now the King

(38:43):
James. And we know that allthings works.
For those who love Him, who havebeen called according to His
purpose, for those God foreknewHe also predestined to become
conformed to the image. Yeah,you see that? God, God, even God
works what God works all thingstogether for good. All right. We

(39:04):
cannot forget that. Now. Onelast thing I want you to see.
And that is this. It's both Godand man. It's both god man. You
saw that one. It was all man.
You see another it's all gone.
anyone tells you that it's oneof those two without giving you
the balance of the wrong. We'vealready read flippies you've
already read Second Peter. Butlet's read Titus here. You
ready? Let's read this together.
For the grace of God that bringssalvation has appeared.

(39:28):
It teaches us to say no, stopright there. Who does it teach
to say no. It doesn't make ussay no. It teaches us to say no,
the grace of God. Okay. And tosay no to what
you're doing great. Read thatoff the box and worldly passions
and to live self controlled,upright and godly lives in this
presentation. How about this? Itis God's will that you should be

(39:51):
holy, that you should avoidsexual immorality. To think
about this. If it was all Godand you had nothing to do with
it. You can say this is God'sWell that I should be holy and
He will keep me from sexualimmorality. No, we must avoid
it. You see, we must avoid theBible is full of that. Watch out
run from temptations do yourpart. Hey, there's more here.
It's both God, man. Ready? I cando everything through Him who

(40:14):
gives me strength? You can do itthrough him. You can't do
without him. How about this?
This is one of my favorites.
Let's read it. That by the way,this one by the way, before we
read this, you realize thisfriends. And thanks for being
cooperative me. I realize I'm alittle confusing leading you
through these. But listen, thisone he goes back and forth and
back and forth. It's like he'strying to tell you I did it. He
did it. I did. He did it. That'sthe way it is. Let's read it

(40:37):
ready. But by the grace of God,I am what I am. And his grace to
me was not without effect. No, Iworked harder than all of them.
Yet, not I but the grace of Godthat was with me. You see that?
He did it? I did it. He did it.
Really? That's what he said.
Okay. So, my friends, this areaof sanctification is important.

(41:00):
Watch out, watch out, you know,that I have heard in the last
several years people say thistype of thing. More than one.
Several, I've heard him saythis. I've done my part one will
God do his part in and watch outwhen you say that? I want to
tell you why. Because you'reattacking God's character.
God is holy, unjust and good. Hedoes no wrong. And I want you to

(41:23):
remember something. It's all forHis good purpose, the last part
of verse 13. You know what thatmeans? Friends. That means that
by faith, you must accept thatthe struggle that you're having,
or the situation which may seemlike a losing situation here
will be greatly rewarded. TheirChrist died on the cross looked
like a loser. But he was highlyexalted. When you obey God, when

(41:46):
you sacrifice for him, when youcommit yourself to Him. When you
do all that you can to reset outof your life, I want you to see
that one day it will always beworth it. Don't think by the
way, there's one last thing.
Some people teach in this areaof sanctification, that struggle
is not good. That somehow ifyou're having a struggle, you
haven't found the secret. Myfriends, you're wrong. They're

(42:08):
wrong. Whoever says that'swrong. A struggle is a part of
the Christian life. Read aboutit. The Bible says that the
spirit and the flesh war againsteach other so that you cannot do
the things that you would. Whatdoes that talking about? The war
that goes on, you desire to getus the work of God and you but
there's this evil desire in younot to obey. And there's a

(42:30):
battle that's gonna go on. Andif someone tells you, you can
get to the place where you'llnever have that conflict, you
say, Yeah, I will at the pearlygates. That's when you'll get
rid of that.
And remember this friends, thegoal is not instant success, but
ever increasing measure.
You know, Friends,I want so badly to grow.

(42:58):
I want so badly to grow.
And you know, something? It isnot easy. Let me tell you what
happened to me this week. Thisweek, I had a situation where I
had to deal with somebody. And Igot really mad at him.
AndI talked with our new system,
Pastor Jerry, for about twohours about the the evils of
this person.

(43:24):
I mean, I let them have it. AndI talked to this person about
it, too.
So I mean, I wasn't totallyhypocrite, at least I talked to
that person about to, but Imean, I let Jerry have it worse
than I ever let this otherperson habit. I mean, or the
jury habit about this personworse than I ever let your head.
It wasn't here, okay.
And you know what happened?
later on this week. This allhappened this week, a family

(43:47):
came up to me and said, Pastor,have you taken care of the
situation. And all of a sudden,everything I saw this other
person doing squirming, notbeing quite honest.
whirling around the situation.
I was doingeverything that I was so mad at
that person about I was doingbut it was a totally different

(44:07):
circumstance.
It didn't hit me at the time.
That night when I went home,I went to pray.
I was absolutely devastatedby the Spirit of God, as to what
a hypocrite I've been.

(44:31):
Here I waslamenting in great detail
someone else's failure.
But I was doing the exact samething.
And here is here's the bottomline principle. The tie in this
give up trying to defendyourself.

(44:56):
Give up trying to always be theone that's right.
and repent before God, you knowone thing. I have lived too many
days of my lifetrying to pretend to be
something in front of otherpeople. It's a waste of time
when God knows who you are. AndI want to just tell you this
repent. You know what, there's aGod that receives humble sinners

(45:18):
who repent. I'm even talkingabout Christians
are humbled by their sin andthey just go to God and they
repent.
And there needs to be anattitude. What's his whole
attitude in Philippians? Aboutlowliness humility, obedience,
and I'm gonna tell yousomething. One thing we can't

(45:40):
learn from Christ is how torepent because he never had to.
Let's pray searcher so Godand know our heart
try us and know our thoughts.

(46:01):
See if there be any wicked wayin us and lead us in the way
everlasting.
Amen.