FROM START TO FINISH
PHILIPPIANS 1:6
4. THE PROCESS
Introduction:
Philippians 1:6 (NIV) Being confident of this, that HE who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
God is the Master Craftsman. He who created the worlds by the word of His power now wants to do a Good Work in our hearts and lives. This Good Work begins the day He saves us from our sin. This transformative event is the first work of grace. He forgives our sins. He gives us new life. He accepts us into His family. The old passes away and He makes all things new.
His plan is to make us Christ-like so that our lives will bring untarnished glory to God.
It makes sense that He begins with salvation. Here He deals with our ACTS OF SIN! The issue here is God wants you to stop your misbehaving! You can’t be a Christian if you are sinning. Sin is when you willfully choose to do what you know is wrong.
Have you told a lie? What does that make you? A Liar? Are Christians liars? Will liars go to heaven? Revelation 21:8 gives the answer to that if you want to check it out just to make sure.
Have you ever stolen anything? What does that make you? A thief? Are Christians thieves? No. In fact, when salvation came to Zaccheus’ home he made restitution and restored all that he had stolen.
Do you ever get intoxicated? Do you have sexual relationships outside of marriage? Do you have fits of rage? Do you like causing division and fights? Are people that do these things Christians? Will they go to heaven? Galatians 5:19-21 gives the answer pretty plainly with this conclusion: that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
So the first work of grace, salvation, deals with the acts of sin—the willful choices to disobey the God’s known laws. He begins his Good Work by forgiving you for all of the acts of sins you have committed in the past. And He gives you a new start to live differently by His grace and enabling power.
Is God’s Work done here? No, this is just the beginning! Remember the Master Craftsman’s purpose is that we be conformed to the image of His Son. Salvation takes care of the rebellious acts of sin and works to straighten out wrong behavior. This is a dramatic beginning so that we may say that one is no longer a sinner but now a Christian.
What Good Work is continuing in the life of the new Christian? The Master Craftsman still works to make the whole life and person Christlike and godly.
What areas need work?
Tonight, we’ll look at the 2 primary areas where we need God to continue to work in us and on us after we are saved.
1) The Two Problems in Christians: Immaturity & Impurity
A person may have been forgiven for every Act of Sin they have committed and be walking by faith in obedience, yet there is still boundless possibilities for improvement by the grace and power of God.
We will always be human, but we don’t always need to be immature. We will always be human, but we don’t have to forever suppress the selfish nature of sin. We can cleansed of this inward impurity.
We will always be human, still have aches and pains, weaknesses, infirmities, afflictions, tests, trials, lapses of judgement, mistakes, forgetfulness, thoughtlessness, etc. that hinder us from serving God with angelic perfection, but that doesn’t mean we always have to be immature, selfish dimwits. We can have holy hearts and a depth and maturity… godly saints.
2. God’s Work on these two problems.
A. Gaining Maturity
Illustration from William C. Shereos via sermonillustrations.com > In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill tells about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village who walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, "Were any great men born in this village?"
The old man replied, "Nope, only babies."
A frothy question brought a profound answer. There are no instant heroes--whether in this world or in the kingdom of God.
When we are saved, we have new life in Christ and we start to grow! We begin to mature. We are babes in Christ and God wants us to be grow up and mature.
How does this work? Now God is a Master Craftsman and remember He has creative ability to use endless circumstances to teach us lessons and help us with the maturing process.
In every process, a sensitivity to the voice of God in prayer, Bible reading, and the voice of the Holy Spirit in our conscience is will drastically improve the process.
Now my kids are immature… just like yours.
Let’s say, we want to teach our children something—let’s say—We want them to cover their mouths when they cough. We don’t want them to spread their germs all over the place.
- We see them doing it wrong. We are displeased.
- No, do not cough all over the food.
- Show them how we want them to do it.
- Remind them the next time and the next time.
- And the next time and the next time. Reinforcing and correcting and praising.
- Over and over and over until they learn
- Okay they’ve learned that lesson. What about whining? What about clearing the table? Sharing? Messiness? Asking for stuff in a store? Gratitude? Kindness? Forgiveness? Prompt obedience? Truthfulness? Completing homework on time? Choosing good friends? How to be a good worker? Managing money? Media discernment? Good relationships? Dating? Marriage?
As parents, we see endless possibilities for improvement and it seems our job is never finished. They are kids. They are immature. They need to learn the lessons.
Hebrews 12:5-11 >> If we do this with our children, God will do this with us.
The problem with our kids… they think the way they do things is good enough. And isn’t that our problem sometimes too.
If you have a problem with worrying, whining, talking out of turn, moodiness, impatience, etc. don’t you think God would want to help you with those things.
Let’s talk about worrying… One of your kids awakened in the middle of the night crying. They had a dream about bad guys doing bad stuff. What would you do? 1st you’d say, “Come here” and you’d hug on them a little while. “Daddy’s right here. You don’t need to be scared.” And you’d promise to take care of them. “Daddy will take care of any bad guys. It wasn’t real. See look out the window. No one’s out there. And look there’s the cops sitting right across the street. They are looking out for us too.” And you’d get up and tuck them back snugly into bed.
Now don’t you think God wants to do that to us too. He wants us to learn to trust Him, to see things from His perspective, and rest in the knowledge of His care. He might bring some good verses of Scripture to our attention. He might even allow us to go through some scary and dangerous, even painful, times. And then afterward, He’ll remind us. “See was with you the whole time. I’m looking out for you. I’ll take care of the bad guys. Look, my angels were protecting you from harm through all of that. YOU CAN TRUST ME!”
The Master Craftsman uses all sorts of tests, trials and trouble to help us gain maturity.
James 1:2-4 ESV Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
The hard times prove what you are made of. The bad times prove how deeply you trust in God. Here your faith is tested, your love is proven.
Proverbs 17:3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.
Zechariah 13:9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ’They are my people’; and they will say, ’The LORD is my God.’"
Isaiah 48:10-11 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
A.B. Simpson “You will have no test of faith that will not fit you to be a blessing if you are obedient to the Lord. I never had a trial but when I got out of the deep river I found some poor pilgrim on the bank that I was able to help by that very experience."
B. Purity
You see, maturity comes from experience and learning tough lessons. But more is needed to make us like Christ. There remains this issue of impurity. Impurity will inhibit growth and maturity and make Christlikeness impossible.
The source of the problem of impurity is the inherited nature of sin. We are forgiven for the acts of sin. We are learning and maturing. But the nature of sin is a real problem.
How can we be like the self-giving Christ when we see that our own hearts are very selfish?
How can we be like the lowly Christ when we have hearts that are proud?
How can we be like the forgiving Christ when we have hearts that are filled with bitterness?
How can we be like the loving Christ, when the love in our hearts is tainted with selfishness?
How can we bring glory to God, when our hearts would secretly like the glory for ourselves?
The selfish nature of sin is inclined to act in selfish ways. Pride wants to brag. Bitterness wants to gossip. Jealousy will want to slander.
And not only this, but the selfish nature of sin is inclined to demonstrate very selfish attitudes that are not in the least Christ-like and cannot, in every case, be excused by immaturity, out of control hormones or quirks of personality. Snootiness, offishness, impatience, petulance, peevishness.
All of these issues of life spring from the heart. Impurities like selfishness, pride, selfish anger, lust and bitterness will find outlet in the attitudes and action. These impurities inhibit growth and will even likely be the source of failure for the unsanctified Christian.
The good news is the Master Craftsman has just the right process to take care of this problem. Jesus suffered without the gate that he might sanctify the people through his own blood. Hebrews
13:12. The answer is a 2nd work of grace—entire sanctification. This is separate from the life-long work of God to help us to be more like Christ. This is an instantaneous transformative experience in which God cleanses the heart from all of the pollution of the selfish nature of sin and fills us with his Holy Spirit.
Yes, the Holy Spirit has been with you since you were saved. But you can’t be filled with the Holy Spirit when you are full of yourself. The selfishness has been a real problem.
Entire Sanctification has 2 parts… 1. Cleansing to make holy. 2. Setting apart for sacred use
A candidate for sanctification is one who is walking by faith and obedience in the light has been showing you. If a new Christian has fallen back in sin, repentance is necessary without delay!
When you are seeking to be sanctified, you are seeking to be made pure and holy by the blood of Jesus. You confess every bit of selfishness with it’s pride, envy and jealousy, carnal anger, bitterness, and worldly affection. You cast down every idol. You want to be clean and pure. You want to love with a pure love untainted by selfish motive. You want to be a partaker of the divine nature. You want a heart restore to the condition of original righteousness like Adam’s in the garden before the fall. You want a holy heart—one like the pure heart of Christ.
You are also dedicating yourself totally to God, without any hold-backs. So surrendered to the will of God that all of your heart is one big YES to the will of God. You consecrate to God your life, your family, your money, your influence, your possession, your future, your talents. You lay everything on the altar. You give everything to Him to use for His honor and glory.
Here and now, your heart in is the right position to reach out to God in faith. Confession of selfish traits and total consecration prepare you to believe God to sanctify you by the blood of Jesus.
This is God’s desire for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
The word, SANCTIFY, used here indicated action that takes place in a moment and not a prolonged lifelong process. God wants to cleanse your heart from all impurity and fill you with the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion:
Purity and maturity are the keys to Christ-likeness. Growth begins when you are born as a Christian, but impurity inhibits growth to the fullest of your potential. And just because you seek and find a pure heart according to the provision of the atonement and the promise of Scripture—heart purity doesn’t mean you can forget about maturity. The more you mature as an unsanctified Christian, the stronger you will sense your need of a pure heart. And when you find heart purity, the more you will be persuaded of your need to mature and grow.
Dear Christian, are you struggling to suppress selfishness and other traits of the carnal nature? Seek and find this second blessing, a holy heart. God wants you to have a heart like Christ’s.
Perhaps you are struggling through a hard trial, remember that God has a purpose with all of this too. Don’t give up. Hang on and trust God. And don’t forget to learn something from the experience. Let this trial give you a new depth of maturity.
And dear friend, are you lost and disillusioned, weighed down with guilt? Give your life to God and let him begin His Good Work in you.
The Master Craftsman has amazing skill and ability. He can do things with your life and in your heart that are bigger and better than you could ever dream. God can take the mess of our lives and make something beautiful of it all in His time. Let’s allow Him to have His way in our heart. Let’s trust that His purpose is always good—to make us more like Christ.
