Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

There is a cost to living an obedient life. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

The Bible says it may cost you a temporary satisfaction in some area of your life. But Paul said, I'm willing to go through that temporary discomfort believing that God will more than compensate me for it in the life that is to come.

Speaker 4

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Have you ever wondered why so many young Christians fall into the ways of the world once they leave home? Godly living really is much more challenging when you're hanging with the wrong crowd.

So today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress looks at four principles from Philippians chapter two for remaining obedient to God in spite of worldly influences.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Speaker 2

Dr. Jeffress thanks David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Just before we get started with today's message, I'd like to invite you to join me on a magnificent vacation experience. I'm referring to the 2025 Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. The stunning Greek islands of Santorini, Mykonos, and Crete are just some of the most sought-after destinations in the world. But our trip is far more than famous beaches and breathtaking views. Amidst all this natural beauty, we will celebrate the one who created it all. The dates for the cruise are 6-5-16. So go to ptv.org and take a look at all the details available, and then reserve your spot today.

Well, in my entire adult life, I don't believe I've witnessed a season quite like the one we're in. Our nation has been deeply polarized on moral, spiritual, and political issues. Gratefully, we've been given a reprieve, I believe, with the new administration. But make no mistake, the resistance to righteousness will continue as long as the evil one has his way. Paul was no stranger to conflict, and yet he learned how to stay focused. He said, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." This truth provides a foundation for genuine peace and even joy.

You see, walking with God can be a joy-filled journey when we truly embrace the truth of the Bible. And I've written a bestselling book on this topic that's available to you today. It's called *Outrageous Joy*, and a hardbound copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Well, let's dig deeper into this topic. Today's passage is located in Paul's letter to the Philippians, and I titled the message "Godly Living in a Godless World."

Speaker 3

There's Dr. E.M. Blalock, the professor of classics at Auckland University, who said, of all of the centuries, the 21st century is most like the 1st century. Once again, Christians are a small minority in the midst of a despairing pagan world, and they are confronted on every side with violence, hostility, ignorance, widespread immorality, and essential despair. We are thus thrust back into the very climate of the first century. It doesn't take the words of a learned professor for us to realize that we are living in a perverted, chaotic world in which we as Christians are a shrinking minority.

And yet, in spite of that, Jesus said we are to be light and salt in a dark world that has lost its thirst for God. How do we go about doing that? Well, Paul's going to tell us in the passage we're going to look at today. If you have your Bibles, turn to Philippians chapter two, beginning with verse 12 as we talk about the keys to living a godly life in a godless world. Philippians chapter 2. Look at verse 12.

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your salvation with fear and with trembling. Will you underline that phrase? Work out your salvation. People read this, especially Southern Baptists, and they get all nervous. Oh, work out your salvation. Oh no, I thought salvation was by grace. I didn't know it was by works. Work out. Is Paul contradicting himself? Is Paul teaching some strange new doctrine here? Of course not. Paul would never contradict himself. The foundation of his ministry was the belief that salvation was by grace, not by works, or even a mixture of grace and works.

In Ephesians 2:8-9 he said, "For by grace we have been saved through faith, and that not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." In Galatians 1:8 he said, "If anybody preaches another gospel to you, and even if an angel from heaven comes and preaches another gospel, a gospel of faith and works, let that person be accursed. Anathema, let him be damned." Now, Paul did not hesitate when it came to proclaiming the gospel. In fact, what made Paul's message different, by the way, what makes our message different from any other world religion is the belief that salvation is only through faith in God's grace.

I don't care what the religion is, whether it's Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, or Mormonism; they're all the same in this respect that it's not enough to have faith in God's grace. It's faith plus works. It is a different gospel, ladies and gentlemen. What they are preaching is not the same gospel. It is a different gospel. And I want to be very clear about something. I want to be very clear about this. This is not theological nitpicking, okay? This is the very essence of God's message. How can a person be made right with God? It is a message that the Apostle Paul was willing to give his life for.

Paul's not talking about working for our salvation in verse 12. But he does say, work out your salvation. That phrase "work out" was actually a Greek term that was used to refer to working a mine for the gold or silver or working a farm to yield the best crop possible. And that's what he's saying about salvation. We don't work for salvation, but we do work it out. That is, we yield the best results we can from it. And that requires effort.

Now, listen, there's some strange teaching out there in the church that says, "Oh, you can't live the Christian life. Let God live it in you. Don't get all excited, don't work, just relax, let go and let God." Listen to me this morning. If you take that kind of passive attitude about the Christian life, your life will become overgrown with sin, slothfulness, and bad habits. You can't work for your salvation, but you have to work it out. It takes effort to be obedient to God.

Let me just get real specific if I can, what I mean by working out our salvation. You can pray all day. "Oh, God, help me to know your word better." But you're the one who has to set the alarm clock earlier 15 minutes every day and get some blanket victory in the morning. You have to do it, or you can pray all day. "Oh, Lord, I want to know you better through prayer. Help my prayer life." You're the one, though, who has to say no to that extra television program so you can have time to pray. You can pray all day long. "Oh, God, give me success over temptation." But it's your feet, not God's feet, that have to run away from that tempting situation.

It takes effort to live the Christian life. First Timothy 4:7. It is Paul who said, "Discipline yourselves for the purpose of godliness." That word "discipline" is the word we get gymnasium from. You can almost smell the sweat all over that verse. Discipline yourself. Work hard at it. Work up a sweat. Learning how to be godly. It takes discipline to live the Christian life. And that's what Paul is saying here. Work out your own salvation. We have a responsibility toward obedience.

Now, just hearing this may have already made you tired. You may say, "Oh, man, I'm not sure I'm up for that." Well, before you get discouraged, understand that Paul not only gives us a responsibility for obedience, he reminds us that we have a resource for obedience, a supernatural resource. Look at verse 13. "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." I like the way the Phillips says it. "For God is working within you, giving you both the will and the power to achieve his purpose."

Will you notice here there are two workers in verse 12? We're to work out our salvation. But while we're working it out, God is working in us. God right now is giving you two things. First of all, he's giving you the will to do his will, the desire to do his will. Let me ask you this morning, is there something in your heart that makes you want to be a better husband, a better wife? Is there something inside of you that makes you want to say no to sexual immorality? Is there something inside of you that makes you want to know what God's will is for your life so you can follow it? Those desires didn't come from yourself. In fact, our natural desires are opposite of God's. If you have that desire to know God and please God, it's God who's placed those desires within you.

God is at work within you, giving you the desire. But also notice verse 13. He gives you the power to work for his good pleasure. He gives you the supernatural resource for obedience. Let me use this illustration if I could. We see all of these lights illuminated around us. What is it that powers these lights? Well, somewhere miles away, TXU has a power generator, an electric generator, but it really doesn't matter what would be happening miles away from here. That would have no effect on us. It would have zero power to those lights if there were not power lines that carried the electricity right into our church and to illuminate the.

And it's the same way in our lives. Listen to me. God has given every Christian not a power, but a person. He's the Holy Spirit of God. But the Holy Spirit is right now inside of your life, generating a desire and an ability to obey God. But there has to be something to connect God's power inside of you to every area of your life. There are two conductors, if you will, two power lines that flow between the Holy Spirit into the different areas of our life so that God's power can influence us.

Power line number one is the Word of God. One way that God's power is carried from the Holy Spirit into every area of our life is through the Word of God. Hold your place here and turn over to the right a few books. First Thessalonians, chapter 2. First Thessalonians 2:13. Paul reminds the Thessalonians of why God was doing a supernatural work in them. And it was through the Word of God. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. Paul writes, "And for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the Word of God's message, you accepted it not as the Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God which also performs its work in you who believe."

Notice the three responses the Thessalonians had to the Word of God. First of all, they respected the Word of God. That is, they recognized that the Word of God was different than any other word out there. They believed that the Word of God was truly God's inspired message. We believe that this book is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. And if you're going to experience God, God's supernatural work in your life, you have to have that kind of respect for God's Word. But quite frankly, you can argue about the inerrancy of the Bible all you want to, but it doesn't do you any good as long as it sits on your shelf, okay?

Secondly, the Thessalonians not only respected, but they received the Word of God, verse 13. "You received it from us." In their day, they listened to it from the Apostle Paul. Today we read it in the Word of God. But the point is, for God's power to do a work in your life, you have to be reading the Word of God. And then finally, they responded to the Word of God, verse 13. "It is the Word of God which also performs its work in you who believe." God's power is only going to work in your life to the extent that you respond to and obey what God reveals to you through His Word.

Do you long to see God work supernaturally in your life? Do you want to have victory over sin in your life? The ability to break that habit, to change that relationship that is destroying you? One way God's power flows into your life and does a work in your life is through the Word of God. But there's a second power conductor, a second power line that God uses to transfer his power to our lives, and that is through prayer.

Listen to the words of Romans 8:26-27. "And in the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." I don't pretend to understand all that these verses mean. But what I do understand is this: that when I pray, in some mysterious way, what were two wills becomes one will. That's what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said, "Father, if it's in your will, let this experience pass from me." But then he said, "Not my will, but your will be done."

In that night 2,000 years ago, two wills became one. And when we pray, the same thing happens in our life. God's desires become our desires. And that clears the way for his power to become our power. Do you see what's going on here? In Philippians 2:13, there are two workers. We are to work out our salvation knowing that God is working in us. Justification, being made right with God, is God's work alone. But sanctification, our becoming more like Christ through obedience to him, that is a joint effort. It's a joint responsibility between God and us.

F.B. Meyer, the great New Testament scholar, said it this way: "God may be working in you to confess to that fellow Christian that you were wrong, but you have to work it out. God may be working in you to give up that business that has become unprofitable, but you have to work it out. God may be working in you to change an immoral relationship, but you have to work it out. God may be working in you to be kinder in your home, but you have to work it out. God will not work apart from you, but he wants to work through you." And that's the truth. Here it is: God who is working in you to give you the power and the desire to accomplish his purpose.

Well, why are we to expend the energy to live obediently? He's told us our responsibility to do it. He's reminded us of our resource to do it. Number three. Notice Paul's reason for living an obedient life. He begins the discussion in verse 14. "Do all things without grumbling or disputing." That's convicting, isn't it? You know what grumbling is? It's a word that actually means to mutter or to murmur. Make no mistake about it, God hates grumbling. And he hates grumblers. Why does God hate grumbling so much? One reason is it's a sign of ingratitude toward God. In Exodus 16:8, Moses said to these children of Israel who were grumbling, he said, "You, grumbling is not against me. It's against the Lord himself."

When you murmur and complain, what you're really saying is, "God, I don't think you know what you're doing. I don't like the way you're running the show. I could do a lot better job if I were in charge." And God hates that. It's a sign of ingratitude. But another reason God hates and judges grumbling is because it pollutes the minds of other Christians. It robs them of their joy when they listen to your complaints, especially in the church.

And notice what Paul says here in verse 14. He says, "Do all things without grumbling." He's talking about your job. He's talking about your homework. He's talking about the chores around the house. He's talking about your ministry here in the church. He's even talking about your commute to work every morning. We're to do all things. Why is that? What's the benefit? He says in verse 15, "So that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world."

The reason God wants us to live obediently by not grumbling and disputing but by obeying him is so that we can stand out in this dark world that has lost its thirst for God. And why does God want us to live distinctively? To bring glory to ourselves? No, he says in verse 15, "So that you can appear as lights in the world." When we stand out and live a distinctive life, it causes God to be glorified.

But notice the phrase added in verse 16. "Holding fast the word of life." The word of life is God's word. We're to hold it out when we're living this obedient life. Have you ever heard people say? I hear it all the time. They say, "When a pastor, witnessing is just not my thing. I'm not very good at witnessing to people, but the way I lead people to Christ is by the way I live." Have you ever heard people say, "That's my witness, the way I live?" Well, God bless you. But I've got some bad news for you. You're not that good. Okay, I'm not that good. None of us is good enough to lead somebody to Christ by simply the way we live.

In fact, the truth is, some of these adherents of other religions we've been talking about, they live more obedient lives than we do. They have better family lives than we do. They are more disciplined than we do. They're more moral than we are. No, it's not living a good life alone that points somebody to Christ. It has to be that combined with the truth of God's word. And that's why every Christian ought to know how to lead somebody to Christ. When somebody comes to you and says, "You know, I see that you live differently than the other people in this office, or there's something different about your life, can you explain what that is?" First Peter 3:15 says, "We need to be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks us for the hope that is in us."

It is combining our obedience with the truth of God's Word, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. The reason for our obedience is to lead people to Christ. But will you notice also Paul talks about the reward for obedience, verse 17, the reward for obedience. He says, "But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I will rejoice and share my joy with you all. And you too, I urge you. Rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me."

Paul said, "I'm willing to die if I need to. I'm here in prison. I don't know if I'm going to live or die. I'm willing to die, to pour my life out so that the blood is drunk by the earth. I want to pour out my life as a drink offering on the earth." And he said, "I'm willing to do that if I know it's going to result in your obedience to Christ." What Paul is saying is, "I am willing to go through temporary discomfort because I believe there's an eternal reward for doing so."

Now, if you don't hear another word I say, I want you to hear this point because it's so important. There is a cost to living an obedient life. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. The Bible says it's going to cost you to live as a Christian. It may cost you that promotion at work. It may cost you harmony in your home. It may cost you a temporary satisfaction in some area of your life. It's going to cost you to live an obedient life. But Paul said, "I'm willing to go through that temporary discomfort believing that God will more than compensate me for it in the life that is to come."

Do we go for partial satisfaction in this life, doing what we want to do, disobeying God? Do we go for partial satisfaction? Or do we trust what the Word of God says, that if we are willing to suffer temporary discomfort, there will be eternal satisfaction? There is a reward for obedience. Paul said it this way in Second Timothy 2. He said, "For if we die with him, one day we shall live with Him. If we endure with him, we will one day reign with Him." That's the reward for obedience to Christ.

Speaker 2

Although we live in divisive times, nothing draws us together any closer than obedience to Jesus Christ. Nothing knits our hearts together any tighter than living in the truth of His Word. And that's the key to godly living in a Godless world. This is one of the many topics I address in the companion book for this series. It's called *Outrageous Joy: Living Above Your Circumstances*.

In my book, I'll guide you through Paul's four secrets for maintaining joy and his three keys for living a worry-free life. You'll come to understand that real joy comes from the Lord. It's a daily decision, and it's a sign of your abiding growth in Christ. A copy of my book, *Outrageous Joy*, is yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Now, along with my book, I'll also include the *Standing on the Promises of God* encouragement card. You can tuck this into the cover of my book or display the verses on your desk or in the kitchen. Both items, my book and the Scripture card, come with my thanks for your investment in this nonprofit ministry.

Now let me explain one last thing. Today's message was far longer than we had time to deliver on the broadcast. Much of what I said in the original presentation had to be cut out in order to conform to the half-hour requirements. But David will explain how you can receive the entire teaching series without edits or omissions on both DVD and CD, so be sure to get in touch with us today.

Speaker 4

David thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of *Outrageous Joy*. As an added bonus, you'll also receive the *Standing on the Promises of God* Scripture Card.

To request your copy of these resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit online@ptv.org. When you give an especially generous gift of $75 or more, we'll also send you the audio and video discs from our study in Philippians, *Living Above Your Circumstances*.

One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You can also mail your gift to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. That's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next week when our series called *Living Above Your Circumstances* continues. That's Monday, right here on Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 1

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here.

Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word.

To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link.

Speaker 4

In our show notes we hope you've.

Speaker 1

Been blessed by today's podcast From Pathway to Victory.