God Works In You (Philippians 2:12-13)
This sermon explores the unique dynamic of the Christian life: a vibrant partnership between human effort and divine enablement. It contrasts impersonal religious deities with the deeply personal God who actively indwells believers, transforming their desires and actions.
This sermon explains that unlike impersonal false gods, the personal God of the Bible actively indwells believers, empowering them to both desire and accomplish His will. Our spiritual growth is a partnership where we work out our salvation, and God works in us for His good pleasure.
Overview
The sermon begins by contrasting the impersonal, remote deities common in false religions, such as Hinduism's Brahman, with the deeply personal God of the Bible. While other religions leave their followers to appease distant gods and work out their lives without divine assistance, Christianity presents a God who seeks a relationship, takes up residence within believers, and finds joy in assisting them.
Central to this truth is Philippians 2:12-13, which describes the unique balance of Christian living: believers are to "work out their salvation with fear and trembling," knowing that "it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." This passage highlights that our spiritual growth is not a passive process, nor is it accomplished by human effort alone, but is a divine-human partnership.
The preacher elaborates on five key aspects of God's work "in you." First, it is His Person—the Creator of the universe—who is intimately concerned and involved. Second, it is His Power, as God is the "energizer" (from the Greek "energe") driving our sanctification with limitless omnipotence. Third, it is His Presence, as God's Spirit dwells within each believer, providing constant support, sustenance, and upholding.
Fourth, God's Purpose is "to will and to work" in us. He shapes our desires by stirring "holy discontent" with our sin and "holy aspiration" for righteousness, and then energizes us to act on those godly intentions. Finally, all of this is for His Pleasure; our willing and working what is right brings satisfaction to the heart of God, demonstrating the profound relational aspect of our walk with Him.
Key points
- False religions typically portray deities as remote, impersonal, and offering no assistance in daily life, leaving people to their own efforts.
- The God of the Bible is a personal God who actively involves Himself with His creatures, seeks relationship, and dwells within believers.
- Philippians 2:12-13 reveals the balance of Christian life: believers "work out their salvation" while God simultaneously "works in" them.
- God's work in believers involves His person, His power as the 'energizer' of sanctification, and His constant indwelling presence.
- God's purpose is to cause believers to "will and to work" what is right, affecting both their intentions and their actions.
- He cultivates 'holy discontent'—a revulsion toward sin—and 'holy aspiration'—a longing for righteousness and Christ-likeness.
- When believers will and work according to God's desires, it brings Him satisfaction and good pleasure, emphasizing a deep relational bond.
In John MacArthur's words
“The God of the Bible is a loving, caring, personal God who makes demands on men that they can’t fulfill, and thus comes to live in them to fulfill His own demands in the very men He demanded to fulfill them.”
“The Christian working out while God is working in. That is the perfect balance. It takes all of me, as we have seen, but it demands all of Him.”
“Do you understand that when you will and work what is right it pleases God? Do you understand that there is so much of a relationship between you and God that you can, in a sense, bring Him pleasure?”
Outline
- I. Introduction: The Impersonal Gods of the World
- A. Characteristics of False Deities (Remote, Impersonal, Feared)
- B. Example: Hinduism's Brahman (Abstract, Unknowable, Attributeless)
- C. Result: People Left to Work Out Their Own Lives Without Divine Help
- II. The Personal God of the Bible (The Opposite)
- A. A Personal Spirit, Involved with His Creatures
- B. Seeks Relationship and Dwells in Believers
- C. Finds Satisfaction in Assisting Believers to Do His Will
- D. Old Testament Descriptions of God's Personhood (Anthropomorphic)
- E. Examples of God's Personal Involvement
- 1. Psalm 18: God's Traumatic Response to Distress
- 2. Psalm 56:8: God Collects Tears in a Wineskin
- III. God at Work In You (Philippians 2:13)
- A. The Balance: Christian Working Out, God Working In
- B. Five Key Truths About God's Work in Us
- 1. His Person: It Is God Himself at Work
- a. Not Human Resources, Angels, or Pastors
- b. Immutable, Sovereign, Never Frustrated God
- c. Examples: Psalm 23 ('The Lord is my shepherd'), Psalm 27 ('The Lord is the strength of my life')
- 2. His Power: God Is the 'Energizer' of Our Sanctification
- a. Omnipotent Power Drives Us Toward Christ-likeness
- b. Example: 2 Chronicles 29-30 (God Gives a 'One Heart' to Obey)
- 3. His Presence: God Is at Work 'In You' Through His Spirit
- a. God Dwells in Us Individually and Collectively (1 Corinthians 3, 6; 2 Corinthians 6)
- b. Always Present, Supporting, Sustaining; The Process Cannot Be Halted
- 4. His Purpose: To Work in Us 'Both to Will and to Work'
- a. To Will (Desire/Intent): God Produces Proper Intention
- i. Holy Discontent (Dislike of Sin, Romans 7:24)
- ii. Holy Aspiration (Longing for Purity, Christ-likeness)
- iii. Example: Philippians 3:12-13 (Paul's 'Not Yet' and 'Press On')
- b. To Work (Deed/Action): God Energizes Godly Behavior
- i. Process: Holy Discontent -> Holy Aspiration -> Holy Resolve -> Holy Work
- 5. His Pleasure: God Works for 'His Good Pleasure'
- a. Our Willing and Working What Is Right Pleases Him
- b. God Takes Pleasure in Us, Desiring Our Best
- IV. Conclusion: Active Christian Living
- A. Uniquely Blessed by God's Indwelling Work
- B. Requires Active Engagement, Not Passive Surrender ('Let Go and Let God' is Insufficient)
- C. Strive to Discern What God Wants You to Will and Do
Scripture references
- Philippians 2:12-13
- Isaiah 5:26
- Exodus 33:11
- Psalm 18
- Psalm 56:8
- John 15:4
- 1 Corinthians 12:6
- 2 Corinthians 3:5
- Hebrews 1:14
- Psalm 23
- Psalm 27
- Ephesians 3:20
- Philippians 4
- 2 Chronicles 29
- 2 Chronicles 30
- Psalm 110:3
- Ezra 1:5
- Ezra 7:27
- Proverbs 21:1
- Romans 7:24
- Philippians 3:12-13
- Romans 11:33
- 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
- 1 Corinthians 6:19
- 2 Corinthians 6:16
- Psalm 139:3
- Galatians 3:3
- Hebrews 12
- Luke 12:32
- Titus 3:8
- James 4:7
- Hebrews 4:11
- Ephesians 5:15
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
11 And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
1 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
1 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel.
2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.
3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.
27 Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem:
1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Insights
God’s presence within us assures ongoing spiritual transformation.
True desire for good begins with a holy discontent toward sin.
Our human effort in faith is empowered by God working within.
Questions & answers
How does the God of the Bible differ from deities in other religions?
Unlike the remote, impersonal gods often found in false religions, the God of the Bible is a personal spirit who actively involves Himself with His creatures and seeks a relationship with them, even dwelling within believers.
What is the meaning of Philippians 2:12-13 as explained in the sermon?
This passage highlights the balance of Christian life: believers are called to 'work out' their salvation with effort, while simultaneously recognizing that it is God Himself 'working in' them to enable their willing and doing of His good pleasure.
What does it mean that God works 'to will and to work' in believers?
God's purpose is to produce both the proper intentions and the corresponding actions within believers. He works on their desires (will) by creating holy discontent with sin and holy aspiration for righteousness, and then empowers them to act (work).
What are 'holy discontent' and 'holy aspiration'?
Holy discontent is a righteous dissatisfaction with one's current spiritual weaknesses and sin. Holy aspiration is a longing for greater purity, righteousness, and Christ-likeness, often stirred by God's Spirit.
Does our obedience have any effect on God?
Yes, when believers will and work what is right, it brings God pleasure and satisfaction. This demonstrates a deep, relational aspect where our actions can truly delight the heart of God.
Is Christian spiritual growth a passive process?
No, the sermon emphasizes that while God is actively working in us, Christian life demands active engagement, effort, and striving. It is a dynamic partnership, not passive surrender.
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