Bible Truth #99 - Philippians 1:3-6

Philippians 1:3-6

3  I thank my God every time I remember you.

4  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

5  because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,

6  being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

I added a few more verses for context but I wanted to (again) prove who moves first, the lost man or God. Please note verse 6 which clearly states, “...He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”

He; that is God, Who began a good work in you... God began it, God moved first. God reached down to a lost man and made him believe (John 6:29) and as a result of God working first, the formerly lost man now believes and will come into the Light and will confess Christ as his Savior. Do you see in that passage ANYWHERE the idea a lost man “asked” to be saved? Do you see any Scripture, here or anywhere else, that God saves a man who repents? I’m sorry, that is not in the Bible, not even in the Apocrypha. That is why Jesus said with the certainty of a Sovereign God in John 6:37 All that the Father gives me WILL come to me. There is no option for the man to reject it, nor is there an option for a man NOT given to Jesus to come to Him. God began it, and He WILL complete it.

Now the opposite is also just as true. God did NOT begin a work in those He did not choose - which is of course why He is not completing it either. The “work” is NOT something man is capable of doing. Why? Because the lost man’s spirit is dead. Just as an Ethiopian can’t change the color of his skin and just as a leopard can’t change his spots (Jeremiah 13:23, Bible Truth #6), neither can a lost man begin a “good work” toward belief in Christ.

It's a done deal; Jesus obtained salvation for His Elect, He didn’t obtain a chance or opportunity for salvation - He obtained salvation (Hebrews 9:12, Bible Truth #90) for His Elect. God has it rigged. The only thing the Arminian has to do is believe the Bible. Of course, just as with the Elect who can't believe in Christ until God GIVES belief (Philippians 1:29), the Arminian can’t believe this doctrine until God reveals it to him (Luke 10:22), God must open his mind to understand (Luke 24:45). In the meantime, He has kept it hidden from him (Luke 17:21).

Bottom Line: God began the work in us while we were DEAD (John 6:29; Ephesians 2:1, 2:5; Colossians 2:13), man could do nothing until AFTER God started. And what God starts, He finishes. Hallelujah!!