Philippians 1:6

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the sermon as part of a series designed to deepen confidence in God's grace and provide ballast for future trials, following a period of intense…

The analogy of a balanced ministry producing balanced, symmetrical, and stable saints is used to introduce the sermon's purpose of providing ballast and stability.

Under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, a balanced ministry of the word of God will produce a company of saints marked by balance, symmetry, and stability in their Christian experience. And it is this balance that we have sought to maintain in the ministry of the word in this assembly over four, thirty-two years. And while I have no doubt that perfect balance has eluded us,

2:09 - 2:47 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces the sermon as part of a series designed to deepen confidence in God's grace and provide ballast for future trials, following a period of intense…

The metaphor of 'further ballast in the hull of your soul' facing 'turbulent seas' illustrates the need for deepened confidence to navigate future trials in the Christian journey.

and secondly, to give you further ballast in the hull of your soul, as you face the further turbulent seas, that will yet await you in your journey to a better place. And if someone were to ask, well, why is this necessary? Well, the answer to me is quite simple. For all of us, including this preacher, who have sought with judgment day honesty, to bring our professed hope in Christ, to the touchstone of the many passages,

5:30 - 6:12 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin asserts that God himself initiates the work of grace in all true saints, illustrating this with the diverse conversions in Philippi (Lydia, the demon-possessed girl, the…

Lydia's conversion is likened to a thief stealing through the back door, illustrating a gentle, less dramatic opening of the heart by God.

Being delivered from the power of Satan, she came into the orbit of the power of God's grace. And then beginning with verse 19 we have the account of the conversion of the Philippian jailer and sometime in the wee hours of the morning of other members of his household. Now as we look at those accounts of how God began His good work of grace in constituting the initial saints in union with Christ who would complete the church at Philippi, we see that in many ways these conversions are tremendously diverse

16:25 - 17:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Joyfully and intelligently acknowledge that it is God Himself and God alone who has begun this good work in you.

The deliverance and conversion of the demon-possessed girl is likened to Jesus riding a war horse to storm strongholds, illustrating a dramatic rescue from Satan's power.

The Scripture simply says whose heart the Lord opened. With regard to that poor demon-possessed girl, it's as though the Lord Jesus had to come riding upon His war horse, upon His war horse, and storm the very bastions of the strong man, break down the city gate and rescue that one who had been held captive and wrap His arm around her and ride out with that young woman as His conquest of grace. And then with the jailer, it's as though God had to ride upon the wings of the storm and shake the very foundations

17:48 - 18:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Joyfully and intelligently acknowledge that it is God Himself and God alone who has begun this good work in you.

The jailer's conversion is likened to God riding on the wings of a storm, shaking the jail's foundations, illustrating a powerful, miraculous intervention.

The Scripture simply says whose heart the Lord opened. With regard to that poor demon-possessed girl, it's as though the Lord Jesus had to come riding upon His war horse, upon His war horse, and storm the very bastions of the strong man, break down the city gate and rescue that one who had been held captive and wrap His arm around her and ride out with that young woman as His conquest of grace. And then with the jailer, it's as though God had to ride upon the wings of the storm and shake the very foundations

17:48 - 18:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Joyfully and intelligently acknowledge that it is God Himself and God alone who has begun this good work in you.

Martin recounts hearing diverse testimonies from five membership applicants, reinforcing the principle that God's ways of bringing people to Himself are varied.

in whom God Himself had begun the good work of grace. And as we were privileged yesterday as elders to listen to the testimony of five people who have applied for membership, how vividly this principle was set before our minds and hearts again. The ways of God in bringing His own to Himself are so diverse. If I were to tell you some of the things we heard yesterday, it's only our earned credibility over many years that would enable you even to believe us.

19:16 - 19:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Joyfully and intelligently acknowledge that it is God Himself and God alone who has begun this good work in you.

Quoting 'Amazing Grace' emphasizes the wonder and humility that should mark a Christian who recognizes God's initiation of grace.

that simple fundamental principle? Well, for the simple reason that the moment we cease to be amazed and stand in wonderment at ourselves in terms of what we once were until God took us in hand, we're in big trouble as Christians. We can no longer sing with an inward sense of thrill and wonder, amazing grace, sweet the sound that saved a wretch. I once was lost,

23:08 - 23:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Never forget the fundamental lesson of this text: It is God himself who began the good work of grace in your heart and in your life.

A quote from Pastor Ashiel Blais highlights the comprehensive involvement of the entire Trinity in the salvation of a single sinner.

God in the all embracing wonder of his grace. God in the all sufficient work of his son. God in the mysterious but efficacious work of his spirit. As our beloved friend Pastor Ashiel Blais has said on more than one occasion, it takes the whole Trinity to save one sinner.

25:38 - 26:06 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have come to a fresh and settled conviction that you are for real, are you confident that the God who has begun the good work in you will carry it on unto the day of the Lord Jesus Christ?

A quote from John Newton ('I am not what I once was; I am not what I desire to be; I am not what I shall be; but I am not what I once was') illustrates the believer's recognition of God's transformative power.

of the Lord Jesus Christ I am confident in this very thing that you have begun a good work in me I am not what I am by anything that I possess in and of myself oh God I know when I look myself in the mirror and face what I am with all of my sins and all of my failures and all of my shortcomings and I don't know the full measure of them one thing I know in the language of John Newton I am not what I once was I am not

40:11 - 40:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He clarifies that God not only begins but 'perfects' or 'carries on towards completion' the work of grace, distinguishing this from a passive 'completion at the day of Christ'…

An extended quotation from Bishop Thomas Ken's poem encourages believers to stand their ground, trust God, and love Jesus, illustrating the principles of perseverance and divine aid.

completion how can we live the life of faith against all of our formidable enemies without and within unless we can stand on this gospel ground the apostle and say being confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in me will until the day Thomas Ken I don't know who he is I don't know where he was bishop or when he was bishop and I don't know

43:47 - 44:28 Read in full sermon

Driving home: he died to purchase a bride he doesn't want a bride coming down the aisle a finger at a time and a toe at a time and an ear at a time he wants his whole bride to embrace his whole bride and sit down at the marriage suppe…

The analogy of Christ's bride coming down the aisle not 'a finger at a time' but as a whole illustrates the corporate dimension of God's redemptive purpose and the simultaneous completion of His work in all saints.

entirety until we all receive it together and if you bring up the question of what about Elijah and what about Enoch I don't have a full answer but all I know is that this text and dozens of other texts in the New Testament point to the reality that it is at the day of Christ that God's work in his people is completed and because there is this corporate dimension of Christ's redemptive purpose he died to purchase a bride he doesn't want a bride coming down the aisle

52:31 - 53:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Begin by God's help in new ways to seek to attain to Paul's level of confidence. It is not confidence in you. It's confidence in God.

Analogies of raising a dead man vs. keeping him alive, and giving a blind man sight vs. helping him continue to see, illustrate that God's ongoing work is 'lesser' than His initial work, providing grounds for confidence.

What takes more grace and power to raise a dead man out of his grave or to keep him alive once he's been resurrected?

61:32 - 61:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Begin by God's help in new ways to seek to attain to Paul's level of confidence. It is not confidence in you. It's confidence in God.

A quote from Augustus Toplady ('Yea, I to the end shall in as sure as the earnest is given more happy, not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven') emphasizes the security of the believer's salvation.

I say it reverently. All that he goes on to do until the day of Jesus Christ in a very real sense is a lesser work. And therefore, if he's begun work in you, then in the confidence of presumption, but in confidence of faith, believe God in the language of top lady, yea, I to the end shall in as sure as the earnest is given more happy, not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven.

62:01 - 62:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Begin by God's help in new ways to seek to attain to Paul's level of confidence. It is not confidence in you. It's confidence in God.

Several stanzas from old hymns are quoted to powerfully affirm the doctrine of perseverance and God's faithfulness to keep His people to the end.

I was rooting around in one of my old hymn books, trying to find hymns that expressed this. I won't read all of them, but let me read a few stanzas from two of them. The sinner that by precious faith has felt his sins forgiven is evermore released from death and sealed an air of heaven. He snares his feet and shall hold him fast.

62:41 - 63:13 Read in full sermon