Demonstrated Faith
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Prove it
Prove it
Please open your Bibles to
Read .
I’m a big baseball fan.
I love watching baseball.
I love talking about baseball.
I like going to games.
Some of my favorite memories are playing ball.
Baseball also has some great legends.
Babe Ruth, probably the most famous of baseball legends.
I am convinced there will never be anyone like him in the game again.
Babe Ruth is a legend in baseball, and I am convinced there will never be anyone like him again in the game.
But before Babe Ruth, there was the Georgia Peach, Ty Cobb.
Ty Cobb was the star of the game before Babe Ruth arrived on the scene.
Ty Cobb worked hard.
Played hard.
And practiced hard.
On the flip side, there was Babe Ruth.
Babe Ruth did none of those things.
He didn’t work hard.
He didn’t play hard.
He didn’t practice hard.
He didn’t have an athletes body.
He ate terribly.
In many ways, he didn’t take himself very seriously.
Ty Cobb was offended by Babe Ruth’s lack of effort.
Additionally, Babe Ruth was quickly becoming the star of the game.
Ty Cobb was jealous to say the least.
He knew he was the better athlete.
Ty Cobb finally set out to prove that he was the better player.
So on May 5, 1925, Ty Cobb would prove he was able to back up what he said about himself.
That day he went 6 for 6.
He went to bat 6 times, and got 6 hits.
2 singles.
1 Double.
And 3 homeruns.
That one game set a record on the most bases that a player touched in one game, that would stand until 2012.
The next day, he had 3 more hits.
A single.
And 2 homeruns.
Those 5 homeruns in 2 days, had tied a homerun record that hadn’t been touched since 1884.
At the end of the 3 game stand, he had gone 12 for 19, which is a .631 batting average.
In those 3 games, he had proved to himself, he was a better ball player than Babe Ruth.
His actions demonstrated, he was the real thing.
In the same way,
Please open your Bibles to
Read .
Now back to our text in Philippians -
Paul is writing to the Christians in Philippi.
He knows they are Christians.
He is admonishing them, He is encouraging them to prove, they’re the real thing.
To prove that they are Christians.
This brings us to the first point of our sermon, Demonstrate Your Salvation
This brings us to the first point of our sermon, Demonstrate Your Salvation
Ty Cobb thought he was the better player, and in 3 games he proved it.
It seems as if most people assume everyone is a Christian.
I was at a funeral one time, and before the service, I was talking to the funeral director, and he said that every funeral he’d ever seen, was always for a Christian.
Apparently, only Christians die, and every one goes to heaven.
He said that sarcastically.
Because it’s the rare funeral where the person in the casket isn’t preached into heaven.
The most pagan, ungodly, evil man could die.
And as people grieve his death they say, “Well, he’s in a better place now.”
I rarely meet the person who says they are not a Christian, or proudly say, they are going to hell when they die.
Most people will say they are going to heaven, and so are their loved ones.
But the Bible doesn’t speak that way.
We know that there are sheep and goats.
We know that there are wheat and the tares.
We know that few are chosen.
If everyone thinks everyone is going to heaven, but not everyone is, how do we know someone really is going to heaven?
They prove it.
Ty Cobb proved he was the better ball player.
The Christian proves he’s really in Christ.
How does the Christian prove he’s in Christ?
To use Paul’s words, you “work out your salvation”
To work out your salvation -
Doesn’t mean to work for your salvation.
You already have something, now you are demonstrating that you possess it.
It’s near the end of the school year, and many of our students are testing.
Some of our students are taking SATs or ACTs.
There is state testing.
Our high school students have been taking their AP tests.
And if they pass their AP tests, then it means they receive college credits for their classes.
These tests show that they have mastered their subjects.
They are working out their knowledge of a subject.
So how do we know we are in Christ, by working out our salvation.
The AP test is working out a student’s understanding of a subject.
Working out your salvation is demonstrating that a change has happened within you.
Practically speaking, how do we do this?
Paul says at the beginning of verse 12, “as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but more more in my absence ..”
This is obedience.
Paul says as you have always obeyed.
And if you want to know what Paul has commanded … then you must be in God’s Word.
How do we find out what to obey?
It’s important to regularly read through Scripture.
By being in God’s Word.
It’s useful for you.
says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
By reading God’s Word, we learn how to obey God.
And when we disobey … it’s sin.
Living in sin is not working out your salvation.
But rather it’s working out your disqualification.
In , John says, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
There are plenty of people who say they are Christians.
But they are not obedient.
John says, they walk in darkness.
There is no pursuit of obedience, only a living in sin.
This person isn’t a Christian.
John says, he’s a liar, because he doesn’t practice the truth.
But then Paul goes one step further in the test of obedience, in the working out of your salvation.
He says, “not only as in my presence but much more in my absence ...”
So in the test of salvation, in the working out your salvation, what is your obedience like when people are around, and what is your obedience like when no one is around.
When there is no human accountability ?
Or to put it another way, what are you like, when no Christians are near you, or when no one else is near you?
This is the real test isn’t it?
It’s relatively easy to talk like a Christian, and live like a Christian when you’re around Christians.
Because you know they’ll view you differently.
But what are you like when you aren’t around Christians?
Do you find yourself living exactly like world when you are around nonChristians?
You let your hair down.
Live a little wild.
Drink a little more.
Use different language.
Dress a little more provocatively.
That’s not working out your salvation.
That’s working out your disqualification.
Or what about when no one’s around? When you are all alone.
How do you entertain yourself?
What websites do you visit?
What do you fantasize about?
Sometimes I think, we are more fearful of other Christians and how they view us than of God Himself.
We act as if the worst thing that could ever happen is another Christian find out your secret sin.
But never any thought of God knowing your secret sin.
Don’t ever excuse your secret sin.
There are things worse than other people finding out about your sin.
The omniscience and omnipresence of God mean that you are never alone.
And the true judge, sees everything.
says, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”
If Christ has redeemed you, you are a new Creation.
says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
This means you are a new creation all time.
You aren’t a new creation only when you are around Christians.
That’s called hypocrisy.
The Greek word for actor is hypocrite.
An actor puts on a mask and pretends to be something he’s not.
And within Christianity, the hypocrite is someone who only pretends to be a Christian when on the Christian stage.
So if that’s you, no longer be the part time Christian.
If you are in Christ, you are a new creation.
And we demonstrate our salvation … all time.
God never went to Israel, and said, “Be as holy as you can.”
Or, “Only obey me on the Sabbath.”
Or better yet, “If I don’t see you sin, it doesn’t count.”
No He actually says:
“The soul who sins shall die.”
says,
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”
And because of just one sin:
Man was kicked out of the garden.
Sin entered the world.
All men receive death.
So this is not something to take lightly.
We demonstrate our salvation.
The next thing Paul says is Demonstrate It With Fear and Trembling.
The next thing Paul says is Demonstrate It With Fear and Trembling.
He says to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
That doesn’t mean we go through life, and trembling and shaking our hands in fear that maybe we aren’t Christians.
Because if you are working out your salvation, it’s something you already have, the evidence is there.
So what does this mean?
He says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you ...”
Where does salvation begin?
It begins with God.
We didn’t enter the world already Christians, and loving God.
No one is born converted.
says that the heart is deceitful.
The result of the heart’s deception is that according to , no one seeks for God.
says that no one seeks for God.
And therefore, using Jesus’ words in , no is able to come to God on their own.
The only way that people come to God, is if He draws them to Himself.
says, “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Therefore the only way to love God is if He changes our heart.
The only way we believe is if it is granted to us, that’s what says.
The only way we have faith is if it is given as a gift, that’s what says.
So the salvation that we have, is not something that we built, established, or manufactured on our own, but it is given to us.
It is something that is given to us by God.
Jesus described it as a:
Treasure in a field.
A pearl of great price.
Something of such great value, that we can’t get our minds around.
In 2006, our pastor, Murray Hollis was packing up to move to Joplin, Missouri.
I was at his house helping pack up.
I love to help people move.
But helping people pack … not really my thing.
I remember, Diane, Murray’s wife, sitting in a chair, and overseeing everyone packing their stuff.
I remember her love of the bubble wrap.
She wanted everything to have lots of bubble wrap.
I picked up this vase, put in a box, and began to tape up the box.
Diane then told me that the vase was pretty much priceless and couldn’t be replaced.
Suddenly, I was overcome with the huge responsibility of making sure that this priceless vase was not damaged.
I took it out of the box.
Profusely wrapped it with bubble wrap, and made sure that it would withstand anything thrown at it.
When I was through with it, it could be thrown at anything, and it’d survive.
When I understood the value of what I was entrusted with I was careful with it.
Christians, you’ve been entrusted with salvation.
It is something that is given to us by God.
Jesus described it as a:
Treasure in a field.
A pearl of great price.
Something of such great value, that we can’t get our minds around.
It was given to you by God.
And the price of it, was the life of Christ.
Therefore, handle with care.
Or to use Paul’s words, with fear and trembling.
Do you ever stop to think about the price that was paid and the consequences of that?
Diane Hollis had a valuable vase, and the thought of the value of it in my hands, was enough to make me think twice about how I handled it.
says, “for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
The new Christian life, is not cheap life.
It’s not something to throw around.
Nor is it something to take for granted.
Sometimes Christians are accused of believing in cheap grace.
You can sin all you want.
Then on Sunday, say you’re sorry.
Then begin a new week of sin.
That’s not the way Paul describes the Christian life.
If you are a Christian, the price of your salvation, the cost of the gift that God has given to you is extremely high.
It was the life of Christ.
So handle with care.
That’s the price.
When I was packing Diane’s vase, some of the fear was I didn’t know the history of it.
She said it was valuable.
I don’t know where it came from.
But I knew Diane, and she cared about that vase.
You have been bought, and now your life, is not your own.
says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
You are God’s possession.
You belong to Him.
When I was packing Diane’s vase, some of ny ignorance was I didn’t know the history of it.
She said it was valuable.
I don’t know where it came from.
But I knew Diane, and she cared about that vase.
So because it was her vase, I treated it carefully.
Your life in Christ, is not yours, it’s Christ’s.
It’s His possession.
If I was worried about handling Diane’s vase carefully, I better be even more careful about handling my life.
Your life has been transformed.
What was used for sin, is now holy.
says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”
And if He owns you, then He will use you for His own purposes.
All this to say, God has done a tremendous work in you.
He started salvation.
says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
He’s the one who initiated your faith, your belief, your conversion.
You are a resource
Therefore, work out your salvation - demonstrate it - with fear and trembling.
Lastly, Demonstrate It With Service.
Lastly, Demonstrate It With Service.
This text spotlights the work that God has done in you.
How it’s to be handled.
And also, how we are to respond to it.
Becoming a Christian isn’t like changing which sports team you root for.
It’s not a matter of buying a new hat and plopping it on your head.
Everything changes.
All the way down to how we think.
God not only works in us, but look at what that work looks like.
Verse 3, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
One of the proudest elements of the human soul, is thinking that man has a will that is so free, that not even God touch it.
We might acknowledge God’s sovereignty over:
Creation
Life
Death
Eternity
But then we arrogantly, say that he can’t touch my will.
Such statements fall far short of a humble heart, and true understanding of the work of God in a Christian’s life.
Prior to conversion, our will wanted nothing to do with God.
We were slaves of sin.
One of my favorite people in the Bible, isn’t one that people normally talk about.
It’s not Noah, or Moses, or even one of the disciples.
It’s Nebuchadnezzar.
He’s was a bad guy.
He was brutal in his conquering of Judah.
He was violent.
Homicidal.
Over all … not a nice guy.
But in the middle of Daniel, something amazing happens.
records, his conversion.
All of the Bible was written by Jews, except for 2 authors.
Luke, who wrote Luke and Acts, he was a Greek.
And Daniel chapter 4, written by a Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.
, records Nebuchadnezzar, walking on the roof of his royal palace, and proudly admiring his kingdom.
When all of a sudden, God drove his sanity away from him.
He was driven out of his kingdom.
He became like an animal.
And for 7 years, he lived like an animal.
He was dirty.
His hair grew long.
His nails weren’t clipped.
And he ate grass like a cow.
And then at the end of 7 years, God restored his sanity to him and he praised God.
How did that happen?
God changed his will.
I can promise you, Nebuchadnezzar never intended to be humiliated like that.
But God, who’s greater than the will, drove his sanity away from him, changed his will, so that he would live like an animal.
And after those 7 years, God restored him, and his will was to give God praise.
He concludes his chapter in Daniel, , by saying, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.”
Even the proudest, God is able to humble.
One more example, of God changing the will, is found in Philippi itself.
The conversion of Lydia is an example of God’s sovereignty over the human heart.
Paul meets Lydia, a seller of purple fabric.
Paul preached to her, and then in , it says, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”
And she was converted.
So we have to agree that God has power even over the human will.
God changes our heart, and when He changes our heart, then the motivation for our will, our decisions are changed.
And what is the result?
And when God changes our will, what is the result?
We desire to work for His good pleasure.
Remember if you are a Christian, you’ve been purchased, you’ve been bought.
says that you are His workmanship for good works.
So now we demonstrate the reality of the new heart, and of the new will by serving Him.
This is all a part of working out our salvation.
First, we know that salvation of God.
He works in you to will.
Next, we work it out by repentance.
So in verse 12 we talk about obedience with fear and trembling.
We go to war with sin.
Thirdly, we work it out by service to Him.
Participating within the body.
Serving within the body.
I know that for this past 5 months, it seems like I’ve been saying this a lot.
That’s because this is important for Christians to know.
Many claim to be Christian, but don’t work for His good pleasure.
This tells me 1 of 3 things.
Either, they’re really not a Christian.
And they serve the god of hedonism, pleasure and self.
Or, they are a Christian who has been deceived.
Many times the deceived Christian doesn’t serve because:
He’s traded the blessings of Christ, for the luxuries of the world.
Or, he’s so busy playing in the world, that he’s too exhausted to serve.
Or, thirdly, they are afraid that if they serve the Lord, they’ll burn out.
Verse 13 says, “for it is God who works in you ...”
The word for work, is similar to the word energy.
He provides us with the energy to serve Him.
says that we serve by the strength that God supplies.
God continues to provide strength to us to serve even now.
Therefore, if you are afraid to serve, because you think you will be over committed, or burn out, then step out in faith and know that God will provide us with exactly what we need to serve Him.
And when we serve, by the strength of God, it demonstrates the work that He has done within you.
If you are a Christian:
If you are a Christian:
Then demonstrate your salvation.
Demonstrate it by working it out with fear and trembling, knowing that it came from God as a gift.
And then demonstrate it by serving Him who purchased you.
Perhaps, after going through all this, you see you don’t meet the test.
Perhaps, after going through all this, you see you don’t meet the test.
You aren’t obeying, you aren’t proving salvation, you aren’t serving, and that’s because nothing has ever happened within you.
Then may today be the day that you turn to Christ.
Cry out to Him to change your heart.
Repent and believe in the Christ the Lord.