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Well, if you have your Bibles open there to the book of Philippians, I always like to give a bit of an introduction before we jump into the study. So let me do that especially for you. Note takers. Philippians is a letter that was written to the church in Philippi. So Philippi was a city in ancient Macedonia, which is modern Greece. Philip II of Macedon, who was the father of Alexander the Great, established this city in 356 B.C. and you know when you establish a city, you name it after yourself. And that's what he did. So it is named after Philip II Philippi. There was no Jewish presence in this city. It was almost exclusively a Gentile population in the first century of about 10 to 15,000 people. And Paul steps into this city. He visits Philippi during his second missionary journey, the years 50 to 53 AD and it is there in Philippi, that he establishes a church. And Paul will write a letter back to the church at Philippi. He will write this letter of Philippians 10 years after he had planted this church. And he will write this letter from a prison in Rome. The year is 62 A.D. the main theme of this letter is joy. Paul writes the word joy, or some form of the word, like rejoice, 14 times in just four chapters. I'm going to read here. From chapter one, I'm going to read verses one through 11. So follow along as I read in your Bibles. Philippians 1. Starting at verse 1, it says Paul and Timothy. Timothy was his young protege. He was a traveling companion. Paul and Timothy bond, servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine, making request for you all with joy for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains see, that's evidence of his being in prison. And in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace, for God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are Excellent that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. We'll pause there. Paul has a lot of affection for this church. He loves them dearly. He says so in verse 8. I'll read verse 8 again where he says, for God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. He has a real heart for this, for this church. So Philippians is different from some of the other epistles that Paul has written. Philippians is not a corrective epistle like he wrote to the Corinthians. Philippians is not particularly a deep doctrinal letter, like Paul wrote Romans, like he wrote Ephesians, the book of Philippians. This letter to the church at Philippi is really a letter of love and appreciation. It's a letter of gratitude. Paul is very thankful for this church, and he loves them dearly. And he's going to commend them in this letter. He's going to write to them really for three reasons. Number one, he is going to thank them for their financial support, their generous support of his ministry. He's very grateful for that. Number two, he's also going to write to them to caution them about the potential of false teachers coming into the church and ruining it. He's very protective of this church. And number three, he's also going to encourage them to maintain unity of the Spirit. It's very easy for churches with diversity of people to become divided over their differences and to start to make theological lines and have battles over different doctrines. And Paul says, don't do that. Like really work on keeping the unity of the Spirit. It's important for every church to work on keeping the unity of the Spirit, to really make it about Jesus. But that's really what Paul writes about here, to thank them for their generosity, to warn them about the potential of false teachers, and to encourage them to maintain unity in the Spirit. This letter is known affectionately as the Epistle of Joy. The Epistle of Joy, because as I said in. In the intro, Paul uses the word joy, or some form of the word, 14 times in just four chapters. It's a very joyful letter. And what is so amazing to me is that Paul. Paul writes with such joy as often as he does. And the guy's in prison now. Let that sink in. He's in prison in Rome, ready to stand trial for his faith in Jesus Christ because he's been proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus and this is just slightly before Nero officially outlaws Christianity in the Roman Empire. And so Paul is being reined in on the fact that he's been preaching the gospel. And Nero is upset, so he's ready to stand trial. But the guy's in prison in chains. And he's writing with such great joy. Now ask yourself, if you were in prison, would you write a letter with such great joy to somebody? I wouldn't. I'd be singing the jailhouse blues, everybody. You know me, I've made this clear. I'm not a country music fan. That's when I would be singing country music songs. Cause they're all depressing. That's when I'd be singing one. You know, like, these are some real titles. I'd be singing the song. You're the reason our kids are so ugly. That's Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. Look it up, everybody. Or how about this song? If I'd have shot you when I wanted to, I'd be out by now. That's a real country music song. Or one more for you. My wife ran off with my best friend and I sure do miss him. Those are the sad songs I'd be singing in prison, everybody. Not Paul. He's like. He's got joy in his heart. He's writing with great joy. Now, if you were here for Christmas Eve, I brought up the word joy because that was central to the story. Remember how the angel appeared to the shepherds and said, fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all people. For unto you was born this day in the city of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord. This is the reason why, because joy is central to the Christmas story. Joy adorns our Christmas cards. Joy is found on our Christmas decorations. We sing joy to the world. It's very central to the Christmas story. Outside of the Christmas story, though, the average unchurched person does not typically use the word joy in everyday conversation. Christians might. As believers, we understand it's a Bible word. It's a good Bible word. In fact, when you count it up, the word joy appears in the Bible. The entire Bible, 123 times. 123 times. Not even counting the other forms of the word joy, like rejoice or joyful or joyous. It's hundreds of times that it appears in the Bible. So. So it's a good Bible word. But your average unchurched person doesn't typically use the word joy because for him or her, the operative word is happiness. That's what people in general are seeking. And they will resort to a variety of impulses and pleasures in order to try to be happy. And apart from the Bible, one will not understand the difference between joy and happiness. And so here it is. Happiness is circumstantial and temporal. It is based on circumstances and it is temporary. So it depends on what kind of a day you're having as to whether or not you will be happy. If. If you have money in the bank, if your marriage is good, if your kids behave, if your team is winning, if it's sunny outside, you're happy. But the moment any one of those or other kinds like those change, you're not happy anymore until the next day, and then it's a restart. And so happiness fluctuates like that. It is based on circumstances, it is circumstantial, it is temporal, it is fleeting. When those things change, so does your happiness. So while happiness is circumstantial and temporal, joy is relational and eternal. Joy is relational and eternal. And joy transcends good days and bad days because joy is based on a relationship with Jesus. And when you have a relationship with Jesus, your worst day with Jesus is always far better than your best day without him. Because joy is this underlying, constant, abiding realization that Jesus is in control and he loves me and he's got this. And that brings gladness to my heart, no matter what your circumstance. That's why people can have joy even when their world is blowing apart, because it's this constant in Jesus. It's relational and it's eternal. It isn't fleeting, it isn't temporal. It doesn't change because he never changes. So when we're really grounded in Jesus, we have this internal gladness even when there can be very discouraging things happening in our lives. Now, just for purpose of definition, because I want to clarify this, I don't want people to think that Christian joy is just this plastic pretend, put on a happy face. Even though your world's blown apart, you still go around, you know, with a smile on your face. Look, you can be a hurting Christian. You don't have to fake it. The word for joy in the New Testament in the original Greek language is Kara. C, H, A, R, A. And Kara. When you look in Strong's dictionary, Kara just simply translates. And I love this translation. It translates calm, delight. Calm delight. That's joy. It's not this giddy silliness like just pretend laugh when. When things aren't really funny. Some of my grandkids were over at the house the other day, and one of my grandkids, Blair, was sitting with me. We were watching a rerun because my wife is a big I Love Lucy fan. We were watching I Love Lucy and I start laughing, and Blair turns to me and she goes, pop, pop. Is that a real laugh or a fake laugh? She's just a little kid. And I'm like, it's a real laugh. I don't fake laugh. It's a real laugh. She goes, it sounded like a fake laugh. I said, it's not a fake laugh. I'm really laughing at this. There can be some, you know, fake laughter kinds of ways that people have about themselves, but real joy that we're talking about is not just this. Put on a fake smile and fake laugh. Real joy in Jesus is calm delight because we know that he's in control and he loves us. And I have gladness of heart despite whatever's going on in my life. That is the difference between joy and happiness. And Paul writes about joy extensively. The first time that he uses the word joy in this letter. Paul, look back in your Bibles with me here in chapter one, it's verse four. First time the word joy appears. It's verse four. And I want to back up and read verse three. I'm going to read verse three down through verse six again. Look at verse three. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. He's. He's appreciating the church at Philippi. He says always in every prayer of mine, making request for you all with joy. So here's, here's the first use of the word. And why does he have such joy? Verse 5. For your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now. So this is, this is a passing word of gratitude for their financial contribution to his ministry. Said, you guys have been supporting me. You've been sharing and partnering with me in the gospel. I'm thankful for that. It brings me joy. But look at verse 6 also. Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now, verse 5 may be solely for the benefit of the church at Philippi, but I guarantee you verse six is for not only them, but it is for us also. And when you understand verse six, it will bring you great joy. So over the next few weeks, as we make our way through Philippians, I'm going to make a series out of this. And the basic series is going to be reasons to rejoice. And here's the first Reason from Philippians that we have to rejoice. And it's. And it's this, that God will finish what he started concerning us. God will finish what he started concerning us. I'm going to read verse six again. Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Now let me break this verse down with you. First word I want to draw your attention to is the word confident. Paul writes here, he says, I'm confident about something and I want to share it with you. The word confident in the Greek is pytho, and pytho means to be completely convinced of something. Paul says, I'm completely convinced of something, and I want you to be equally convinced of it, because if you are, it'll bring you great joy. And what is it that he's so convinced about? He says, well, that he which is God has begun a good work in you and that he will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Meaning, please everybody, hear me. This is what he means in verse 6, that God is not just involved in saving us, he is also involved in keeping us saved. Yes, he is. He is not only involved in saving us, he is also involved in keeping us saved. That is to say that God does not abandon us when we come to faith in Jesus Christ. Quite to the contrary. God, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, when we. When we trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior, he then imparts to us his Holy Spirit to come alongside of us and to indwell us that by his Spirit as his sons and daughters, we might be helped to run this race with perseverance so that we might finish well. This is what God is up to with us and this should bring us great joy. He, God, began a good work in you. Now, if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, God began that work in you. You responded to his good work. But. But he is the initiator, so he begins a good work in you. I pray if you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will come to accept him sooner than later, as quickly as you can. Because it's a wonderful relationship and God initiates it. So he begins this good work and we respond to it. And that's why this is so encouraging, because it's not like when we get saved. God's up in heaven with his arms folded like, okay, well, good luck. Hope you make it to heaven. You know you're on your own. That's not the heart of the Father, the heart of The Father is to give us His Holy Spirit to abide with us and dwell in us, that by His Spirit we might be encouraged, we might be helped, we might be guided, we might be sometimes convicted, we might be counseled, we might be comforted. This is the work of His Spirit, constantly doing his work in us, to help us in. In this journey of our Christian faith. God is actively at work by His Spirit. This is what Jesus said. Listen, I'll quote John 14. In John 14:16 to 18, Jesus said, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. And then Jesus adds, I will not leave you as orphans. See, he's reassuring his disciples and by extension us. He's saying, look, when I leave, after I die on the cross, buried, rise from the dead, ascend back into heaven. He said, when I go back into heaven, you're not going to be left as orphans. I wouldn't do that to you. I'm going to send you the comforter, the Holy Spirit, the one who will come alongside of you and dwell in you to help you, to guide you, to encourage you, to root for you. Sometimes, yes, to convict you, sometimes to challenge you, always there to comfort and counsel. This is the benefit of God's Spirit working in us to help complete what he began. John would write in 1st John 4:13. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of His Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit indwelling us, then creates within us this natural desire to want to please God, to want to obey God. He's our helper. It is God working in us. Leave chapter one for a minute in your Bibles and go to Philippians chapter two. I just want to show you a couple verses in chapter 2. Look at verse 13 of Philippians chapter 2. In verse 13, look what Paul writes here because he's underscoring this whole idea. Verse 13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Meaning that God empowers believers both with the desire and the ability to live out his purposes, not by our own strength, but through the Spirit of God working within us. That's what he means. There by it is God who works in you both to will, to have a desire and to do, to actually accomplish his good purposes. This is God at Work in us. We must see this because this, this is so encouraging to those of you especially who have felt like, you know, I guess running the race is all on me and one day, hopefully I'll get to heaven. And you lack this assurance, and you lack this joy, and you lack this real confidence in your walk with Christ. I'm here to tell you this is a reminder to us. God is at work in you. Like lean on him, press into him. He's for you. If God be for us, who can be against us? He loves you. He's wanting to encourage you, to strengthen you, and he's regularly at our disposal. If we would but lean on him, if we would but rely on the power of God's spirit that he has given to us, then we can run this race with perseverance and not grow weary. Of course there will be days that we feel discouraged when life hits us hard. But it is him who is within us, the Lord, who will empower us to get back up and to continue to run the race with perseverance. This is the work of God in us. But please note, it's not all on Him. We do have a responsibility in running this race. And if you're there still In Philippians chapter two, go back one verse just to chapter, to verse 12. I'm going to read verse 12 now with verse 13. In chapter two, verse 12, he writes, Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, like not when I was there with you only, but now much more in my absence. Notice. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Then verse 13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. And you can say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Verse 12. Verse 12 says, I'm to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling. Verse 13 says, Works in me regarding my salvation. So Pastor G, I'm confused. Which is it? Do I work out my salvation or does God work out my salvation in me? The answer, yes, yes, it's both. It's both. God comes alongside of us to help us in living the Christian life, but he doesn't do all the work for us. We have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. See, listen, there's been this age old argument in the Christendom for centuries. And the argument basically goes like this. I'm going to present the two extreme views. The one extreme view is that it's all on God, that God chooses us and God saves us and God keeps Us saved because it's all on God. All right? The other end of that extreme argument is no, it's all on man. Man has to accept God. Man has to work to keep his salvation. And it's all on man and man's responsibility to get to heaven. And the fact is, everybody that scripture teaches, it's there in the middle. This tension is in the middle. Yes, God is at work, but he calls us to work out our salvation also with fear and trembling, that he is actively at work by his power of His Holy Spirit within us to, to encourage, challenge, guide, comfort, counsel. But he expects us to work out our salvation as well. This is a working in concert with the Spirit of God so that we might finish well and persevere to the end. And God is at work with us, but he wants us to work out our salvation as well. When you look at the whole Bible and not just one verse here and one verse there. When you look at the whole Bible, I believe it teaches this. God is the initiator, we are the responders. God pursues us because he wants none to perish but all to be saved. The hound of heaven pursues us because he loves us. And it's his kindness that leads us to repentance. There's a moment in time where then we finally realize God has been pursuing Me. And we respond to his pursuit, to the kindness that leads us to repentance. We repent of our sins. We turn put our faith in Jesus Christ that we might be saved. And then with God's help, the help of His Holy Spirit, we work at our salvation. And he comes along and indwells us to empower us, to help us persevere so that we might finish well. Does everybody understand this? This is a working in concert with the Spirit of God. But it should bring great joy to our hearts in knowing this is God's work to finish what he began in us. And how long will he do it? Well, it's the rest of this verse six back here in chapter one. He will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Well, how long is that? What is the day of Jesus Christ? Well, when you look at other parts of the Bible, sometimes it refers to the day of the Lord or the day of Jesus Christ. And the word day is capitalized example Hebrews 10:25, where it encourages Christians to fellowship together like you're doing here today. And God bless you. Some of you have made some New Year's resolutions. That's why you're here. Keep it up. I know the parking lot. Sometimes you think you're going to lose your salvation in the parking lot. Guarantee you no. God's got you what he began, he's going to finish. All right, don't lose your cool in the parking lot. And God bless you in the overflow rooms today, too. But look, the the idea here is that the word day sometimes refers to the second coming of Christ. As in Hebrews 10:25 Let us not forsake the assembling together of one another, but encourage each other all the more as you see the day approaching. It's capitalized in Hebrews 10:25. It's not capitalized here. It could refer to the second coming of Christ, but it may very well refer to the day. Whatever day, you stand before Jesus because you go to be with Him. Either one works. Whether he returns for me or whether I die and go to be with Him. The Holy Spirit is going to help me in this journey of running the race until the day I step into glory and see Jesus face to face. That's what he will do for you. He is at work for you. He is rooting you on. He is encouraging you. He is for you. And so he will continue to do his good work until the day of Jesus Christ. Either he comes to me or I go to Him. Our Heavenly Father will carry us along until we cross that finish line and step into glory. Listen to what David wrote in Psalm 138:8 the Lord will perfect that which concerns me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. You are not alone in this race. Your Heavenly Father will help you to finish. Well. I want to close by sharing this true story as an illustration. I think for me, this is one of the most vivid illustrations of how the Lord is Our Heavenly Father will come alongside us and help us to finish the race. Some of you might remember this story if you're old enough, because this is a story that happened in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. It was the 400 meter semifinal race. Derek Redmond, a sprinter from Britain, started well. But in the back straight, about 250 meters from the finish, his hamstring tore. He hobbled to a halt, and then he fell to the ground in pain. A medical team made their way over to him, but Derek Redmond decided he wanted to finish the race. So he got back up and he began to hobble along the track. Now the race was already done, but he didn't give up and he hobbles along in agony toward that finish line. And his father, Jim Redmond, was up in the stands watching his son along with 65,000 other people in the stadium. He sees his son hobbling along, and he leaves his seat in the stands and he barges past security, and he comes alongside his son and he wraps his arms around his son, and he helps his son to cross that finish line. It is the most beautiful picture for me, probably the most just clear illustration of not just a father's love for his son, it was that. But it's a picture of our father, our heavenly father's love for all of us to come alongside us and help us to finish. We have to run this race, but God our Father is helping us along the way to finish. Now, I've seen the clip of this from the 1992 Olympics. And every time I watch it and have watched it many times, it chokes me up every time. And I figured, why not let you get choked up, too? So our graphics team pulled the clip. It's just two and a half minutes long. I want you to watch this from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Watch the video, Sam. Here comes his dad. Here comes the devil to try to hinder the race. Get thee behind me, Satan. Sa. Sam, The next time you feel weary in running this race, I want you to remember that video. Yeah. Let that scene burn into your mind, because that's the way our father comes alongside of us. I'm just hobbling along trying to finish this. My loving father has come to help me across that finish line. Now, because Derek's father, Jim, helped him across the finish line, the Olympic committee officially disqualified Derek Redmond. And on the Olympic record, it says he did not finish the race. Even though he crossed the finish line, he came with the assistance of his father. His father, Jim, died three years ago. I will never forget this scene. I remember watching it live. What an expression of a father's love. Church. It's the kind of love your father has for you that he will come alongside of you. Because he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And you will not be disqualified like the Olympic Committee disqualified. Derek, you will cross that finish line and you will hear the words of your father, the one who helped you get there, saying, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Keep running. Keep persevering. God is helping you every step of the way. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are our Father, that you are working in us to accomplish your good purposes. Thank you, Lord, that you do not abandon us, that you do not leave us as orphans. But you have given us of your spirit to help us that we might run the race with perseverance. Yes, Lord. To do our part, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but then to lean on you as our father. When we are hobbling along the track wondering if we have what it takes to finish. May we remember your word and may we remember this video clip that you are our father and what you began. You will help us to finish as we run the race with perseverance. We love you, we praise you, we thank you in Jesus name and everybody said amen and amen. God bless you all. Have a great day.