For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
13 sermons cite this verse
… into the equation of following God? Because Philippians 2.13 says he works in you both to will and to do. OK? So he works in us both with doing it, but also the willing of it. So if it's a dream that's truly God-given, it's gonna come to pass in God's timing. You're not gonna need to make it happen on your own. You just need to be faithful where you are. I kind of think about it like this. Joshua 1, verse 3, God told Joshua, wherever you put the sole of your foot, I will prosper you. It's one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Joshua 1, 3, I will give you every place where you set your foot. As I promised Moses, so I promised you. Go put your foot on some places. But he then laid out boundaries, okay? Look what he says next. your territory that you can put your foot on is within the desert from Lebanon on one side, the Great River Euphrates on the other, the Hittite country on the other, and then the Mediterranean Sea in the west. Do you see this? So you could picture it in your mind. Okay, so if you cross the Euphrates River, are you blessed there? No, you're not. If you cross over the desert and you go outside the desert, can you put your feet on places and believe God's with you there? No. …
… I'm going to close with this. Philippians 2.13. For God is working in you. Everybody say in you. Everybody say in me. Giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. You've got everything you need to accomplish what God has set in front of you. The question is, will you just accept and own that? And say, you know what? I may have messed up before. I may have ran when I should have stayed. I may have stayed when I should have ran. But I'm going to stay faithful. I'm just going to keep shooting this thing. And I may miss a few. I'm not going to get it right every time. I may even start crying when I get fouled. But I'm going to keep shooting. because God is working in you. It's not you working in you, it's God. And when you recognize the power that his presence is with you, that presence brings a power and it brings a confidence. I'm gonna read this verse one more time in Hebrews. …
… No, I'm getting it straight from God's word. Listen to Philippians 2 verse 13. Graduating seniors, memorize this verse. Philippians 2 verse 13 says, For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose. God is at work within you, giving you the will, that's another word for passion, and the power, that's another word for giftedness, to achieve his purpose. God is going to call you to do something for which he gives you a passion and a power. so first of all you get your clear purpose the way I want to make a difference in the world is by what secondly in addition to a clear purpose you need clarifying objectives an objective answers the question what do I want to be or do what do I want to be or do in my life and specifically your objectives in life will somehow be connected to your purpose now to develop your objectives in life, there are two words to remember. First of all, evaluation. You need to do an inventory of your life if you want to discover what it is you want to do or to do better in your life. …
… If you let me jump ahead to chapter two real quick. Paul said, it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. By the way, most Christians understand that it's God, the Holy Spirit, who gives you the strength to obey him after you've decided to obey him. But according to that verse, it's God who gives you the initial desire to obey him too. That moment in your life where you were like, I think I should please God and seek God. That seems like it makes a lot more sense than the way I'm living. Yeah, God says, that thought was for me. God is the one who puts desires for good in you. The point is even those places where we are good ultimately come from him. No one's ever given a gift to God where they're like, God now owes me. from God and through God and to God are all good things. I could go on and on with verses like this. …
… he says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure I wonder when's the last time perhaps on your own just as you read your Bible in the morning and you thought along these lines you said the words of an old song Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me break me melt me mold me fill me Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. I have discovered in the journey of my life that every sin is an inside job. Every sin is an inside job. Because we are battling on three fronts against the world and the flesh and the devil. We're the ones that open the door. That's why our minds matter. Did you learn this when you were younger? Sow a thought. Sow a thought. reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. Living out what Christ is working in. Now you will notice, and this is why I've gone at the text this way. I've never, as it were, started at the end and tried to work my way back to it. I only thought of that last night. And I'm thinking right now, maybe you should have gone with the original plan, but that's for another time. But you will notice that it says, don't be …
… work out your salvation in fear and trembling because it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So think about that. God is at work in me even as I am working. so I am working, I am striving, but all the while I realize that the Spirit of Christ is working in me. stop and think about that in your struggle with sin. friends we could list off any number of sins maybe ones that are besetting for you do you know that Jesus is greater than that sin Do you know that he is greater than your sin? do you not think that he can subdue your sin? and again once I begin to realize that it changes how I battle sin in my life knowing that God is at work in me and it produces what D.A. Carson calls grace-driven effort grace-driven effort which is not about a life of perfection no it's not but it's one with a victorious direction do You see that? It's not about a life of perfection. …
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act. The translation I memorized growing up, to will and to do his good pleasure. To will, God will give you the want to if you don't have it today, if you ask him. And he will give you the do today in order to fulfill his good purpose for your life. So we're closing today and we're asking a few questions today. What less have you learned to live with? you know what I'm talking about, right? You're making a lap. You pass by that and say, yeah, remember that? Passing by that. Oh yeah. Passing by that. And you're just out in the desert, just making circles. You know, there's abundance. You know, there's milk and honey. you know there's a good and spacious land you know there's a place to settle you know there's a place for inheritance you know there's a place to serve and worship God you know there's a place to be a witness for the name of Jesus you know but you have learned to live with less and God is saying today don't just let Passion City Church Trillith be the ones who cross the river today it's time yeah there are enemies in the land and I know that's scary and I know that it causes some people to say, I'd just rather be in the desert honestly than have to deal with the fight. …
… who said, apart from me, you can do nothing. But this is where Philippians 2 is massively helpful and beautiful. Philippians 2 verse 13 says, for it is God who works in you to will, to cause you to desire the things of God. And then he says, and it is God who acts in order to fulfill his good purpose. So how do you do it? You don't do it by striving for it. You do it by surrendering to the work of God in your life, by surrendering to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life. God gives you the will and God does the work. How could it be this good? This is the good news of the gospel that your future doesn't hinge on your ability to perform. Your future can rest in the hands of a sovereign God who does not make mistakes and does not grow weary or tired. So our aim is to surrender to the work of the spirit who is chiseling us into the image of the sun. …
… He will cause you to desire what he wants to produce in your life. That's Philippians 2.13. It's God who works in us, who causes us. So it's that level of heart examination. that will ensure one of my disciplines to ensure that I have a good chance of having a healthy heart. And then when your heart is dirty, be honest about it. If you're envious, guess what your heart is? Dirty. Oh, let me go a little deeper. If you're lusting for that which is not yours, guess what your heart is? Hey. And you got to be honest about it. God's not mad at you. He's like, hey, I'm just telling you, a little dirty there. And watch this and address it immediately. Immediately. Don't even let it fester. Don't even let it, not for a second. Once you know that your heart is dirty? See, here's the thing. It is a blessing to have the consciousness of a dirty heart. That's actually a blessing because you can do something about it. …
… Work out your salvation. Because it is God who works in you. Both to will and to work for His good pleasure. See Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13. In other words, God is totally responsible for making good come of this life, and we are totally responsible. It's not half and half. It's not 50-50, but 100%, 100%. It's all on God. It's all on us. Now, that doesn't compute, does it? Maybe you've tried working out the numbers, but you haven't been able to solve it. But that's okay, because God isn't a problem to solve, and this life isn't a computation to calculate. Life is a mystery to embrace, and God is a person with whom to relate. God is a wise and loving Father who wants to relate with you through His Son, Jesus, from Nazareth, who is called Christ. Jesus reveals this truth about our situation. It's all on God. It's all on us. In one moment, Jesus says, come to me. Come to me and live. …
… not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence. Look at this line. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. This is salvation. God did it. Now you work it out. Oh, how am I going to work it out? Well, God's going to help you work it out because God is at work in you to do two things. I love this. When I saw this for the very first time as a 20-something-year-old, it absolutely changed everything about my walk with God. God is working in me both to will and to act. Some translations say to do, both to will and to do. In other words, when I don't want to, I pray that God would give me the want to. And if I don't even have the want to to want to, I'll ask God to give me the want to to want to. …
… and hopefully this will help us to apply what God has planted in our hearts. We're going to go to Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13 for a moment. I'm preaching from my daughter's Bible today so you will notice an extra anointing, gentleness, vivaciousness. I've given all three of my kids Bibles that I preached from. I preached five years from the Bible then give it to a kid, give it to another. And so we'll see if Abby's is more anointed than Elijah's and Graham's today. I cycle through them, see which one of them has been praying for me the most. All right, listen to this verse. Just because I said it's short or just because I said it's simple, don't disengage your brain because I really want you to pay attention to what the Lord is saying here through the apostle Paul, the apostle Paul in this epistle to the church at Philippi. Through the apostle Paul in this epistle to the church at Philippi. The word of the Lord says, therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Verse 13, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. …
… We talked about this the other night. For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing. Do you see it? How do you do it? It's God. It's God in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Therefore, you can do all things without murmurings and disputings. You see, it's Christ in us that gives us the power, the ability to do these things. Let me just share this with you and I'll be finished. Nelson Price wrote these words and I want to share them with you. C.S. Lewis, the perceptive British writer, astutely noted this in his captivating work entitled The Screwtape Letters, he depicts screw tape, that is the devil, giving advice to his nephew, Wormwood. So this is the devil's nephew in the screw tape letters. His favorite recruiter on earth, that is Wormwood, is the devil's nephew doing such a good job on earth. And here's what Screwtape tells Wormwood. …