<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

Copartnership with God

Father in heaven, thank you so much for this time again that we have to come to study your word together.

I pray that you'd please grant us your Holy Spirit.

I pray that you'd please lead us into all truth.

I pray, O Lord, that the message that has been prepared is the message that you want for your people.

So Lord, may Jesus Christ be uplifted, and I pray that he would increase as we decrease this evening.

Our text, our scripture that I want to start with this evening is Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13.

Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13, the Bible says, 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.

But then it says in verse 13, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

In Verse 12, God tells us that we ought to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

And if we were to leave it at that verse, we would think immediately righteousness by works, that it is wholly dependent upon us to get to heaven.

But yet he balances this out in verse 13 For it is God that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

As we begin to work, if God does not work, there's no way that we're ever going to make it to heaven.

But God can only work as we begin to work.

This is how it has been since the very beginning.

Not that our works merit us anything to heaven, don't misunderstand me.

It's not like we're trying to work our way to heaven.

And I want to take you through this little journey this evening of all these instances at least of what I have here to share with you.

You know, when we consider the opening of the River Jordan, Moses had already passed away, Joshua was their new leader, and God was about to prove to the Israelites that as he was with Moses, so he would be with Joshua as well.

And so the first miracle that God was about to do was the parting of the River Jordan.

At that time it was spring, the ice was melting up in the mountains, the river was flowing very fast, and the instruction that God gave to Joshua was to tell the priests to stand in the middle of the river.

And if you want to read it, you go back to Joshua chapter 3, verses 15 and 16.

If the priest had just stood there at the edge, the river would have never opened.

Only as they put their feet into the water could God open the river.

They could have stood there the whole time.

It would have never moved an inch or a centimeter.

And this is a suggestion that I want to make to you this evening.

If you want to see miracles, you have to put your feet in the water.

You have to take the step first before God can begin to work.

Another story, Naaman, He was a leprous man.

He went all the way to Israel to seek for healing from the prophet Elijah.

And yet, when he got there, he was disappointed.

Pardon me, it wasn't Elijah, it was Elisha.

And he was asked to wash in the River Jordan.

And I guess the River Jordan was like many rivers in Malaysia, very dirty.

Naaman was very disappointed, but yet he didn't come all this way to not at least try.

Standing there would have made no change in his leprosy.

Only as he dipped in the river, but it wasn't even the first 6 times he had to get to the seventh.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, but it is God that works in you.

Noah would have never been saved if he never built the ark.

He had over 120 years to build this ark but yet if he didn't build it he would have been lost.

He would have been swept away in the water.

No matter how much he believed, he had to build the ark.

But yet we're told in the spirit of prophecy that it is the angels that kept that boat from being destroyed.

This is how violent the storm was, that it was only by the grace of God keeping that boat afloat and intact that Noah survived.

I want you to consider Peter when he walked on water.

If Peter never stepped out of the boat, he would have never been able to walk on water.

If he had only just stood there, Jesus would not have made the ground hard or walkable or calm the storm.

If only he had just stood there, he would have never walked on water.

Peter had to put his foot out into the stormy water, and it was only then that Jesus and His Word kept him from sinking.

Those walls were never going to crumble, they were never going to be shaken by a great earthquake if Paul and Silas were not singing and praying.

I want you to consider the overthrow of Jericho.

They would march around the Jericho city for 7 days, 1 time each day, not saying anything to each other.

And then on the very last day, they would have marched around it 7 times, being silent and at the end of it, They would have shouted at the walls and the walls would come crumbling down.

If they had not marched around that city, if they had not shouted or marched around it 7 times on the last day and shouted at those walls, the walls would have never come down.

But it wasn't because of their shouting that it came down as well.

Samson and his strength, The parents were given a very special instruction about his diet.

They were not to drink any liquor and neither was he.

But yet his hair, there was no special secret ingredient in his hair.

He did not wash it with something to make it strong.

People did not take his hair and try to weave it through their hair and they became strong.

There was nothing special about his hair, but yet God said if you cut it, you would lose your strength.

The hair was his source, but it really was his obedience.

Only as Samson cooperated with God could God work through him.

Moses raising the rod when the Israelites were fighting against the Amalekites.

There was nothing special about Moses' rod.

It was raised up for so long that Aaron and Hurr had to stand on either side to raise his arms as he sat down on a stone.

But that rod, yes, we know it to be sometimes a rod of power, but there was nothing special about it.

We don't raise a rod today to fight anything.

Only as man would follow the instruction of God, as man would work, then only God could work.

We see this throughout the whole of the scriptures.

Moses striking the rock, once again there was nothing special about that rod.

But yet, as Moses worked and followed the instruction of God, then God could work through that channel that was willing to follow him.

And the second time Moses went to speak to the rock and the water would come out of the rock, isn't it?

But there was nothing special with Moses' words.

Back to Menu

Copartnership with God

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine