In The Master's Service

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UNTIL THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST

Elder Mark Green

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" - Philippians 1:6.

There is much in this sad world that's uncertain. We cannot know that we will continue to enjoy prosperity, good health or freedom. We cannot know that tomorrow we will have a job. We have know way of being sure that those who have been faithful to us in the past will continue to be so in the future. Indeed, the future is a closed book to us. Brother Paul was no different than we are in that regard. Although he had prophetic powers in some things, in other things he did not. He did not know every detail of the future.

There was much about which Paul could have no confidence, no more so than any other person. Of this one thing, however, he had perfect confidence. He had seen the evidences of God's mercy and grace in the lives of the saints at Philippi. Their kindness to him had been such that he thanked God for them every time he thought of them. They had been in fellowship with him. We use that word much, and perhaps we do not consider what it means. Someone with whom we have fellowship is someone who is a companion, one who walks with us, someone with whom we are agreed. They had been in fellowship with Paul in the gospel from the first of their acquaintance. They were brethren – the "saints" of God. Paul had seen the grace of God manifested in their lives, and so he knew that God had begun a work in them.

We need to differentiate between that which is done for us and that which is done in us. Christ's crucifixion and death were done for us. Christ suffered and died on our behalf, in our room and stead. He suffered what we deserved. His suffering, however, did not at that point in time take us from a death in sin to a life in Christ. In order for that to happen, something has to be done in us; we must be born again. Someone for whom Christ died, until he is born of the Spirit, will give no evidence of that fact. Until the work is done in us, there is nothing in us to bear evidence; until the tree is made good, it cannot bring forth good fruit. Paul had seen abundant fruit in these saints, and so he knew that God had begun a good work in them.

Paul then draws a very important conclusion: if God had begun a good work in them, then He would continue to perform that good work in them until the day of Jesus Christ. The "day of Jesus Christ" is the day that the Lord will return to raise our vile bodies and carry us home to glory. That will be the end of this world. Once we have been born again - once we have been given spiritual life - God will continue to perform that work until this world has been consumed by fire.

Some Arminians are more consistent than others. All of them deny that God has the power to begin the good work of grace in the heart of a sinner without the sinner's permission. Some, however, say that once the work is begun, it can never be lost. Others (more consistently) say that God will no more keep us saved against our wills than He would save us against our wills in the first place. Both are wrong. God did begin the work in us. The work in question is eternal life - regeneration. It is an absurdity to say that anyone desired life who did not have it. Anyone who desires life manifestly is already in possession of it. The Philippians were in possession of it because God had begun that good work in them.

Paul concludes from the power and love of God that if He had purposed to begin the work and had power to do so, then He also must have purposed to continue it, and has power to do so. Our confidence is in God's power and love - and in His immutability. Malachi says, "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." We continue to be sinners, even though we have been born again, and our hope of avoiding being consumed in the future lies in the unchanging love of God. We are still sinners, and God is still holy, and He still has the power to consume and condemn sinners. We know that our having been saved lies in the omnipotent love of God, and so we are confident that our continuance in that blessed condition lies in that same immutable, omnipotent love. If He has begun a work in us, then we can be confident that He will continue it. If we can be confident of nothing else in this world, we can be sure of that.