Sermon Title:
Grace That Finishes What It Starts: He Will Perform It Until the Day of Jesus Christ

Key Passage:
Philippians 1:6 — “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Series:
Foundations of the Gospel of Grace

Topic:
God’s Faithfulness to Complete His Work in the Believer Until the Day of Jesus Christ

Book:
Philippians, Ephesians, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, Jude

Speaker:
Paul Tackett

Suggested Sermon Text:
Philippians 1:1–11; Philippians 2:12–16; Philippians 3:20–21; Ephesians 1:13–14; Ephesians 2:8–10; Ephesians 4:30; Romans 8:28–39; 1 Corinthians 1:4–9; 1 Corinthians 15:51–58; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Jude 24–25; Colossians 2:10; Hebrews 10:14

Short Sermon Description:
This detailed VerseQuest Ministries sermon outline explains Philippians 1:6 and Paul’s confidence that the God who begins His work in believers is faithful to perform it “until the day of Jesus Christ.” The verse is not a promise that Christians will automatically become practically sinless without obedience, nor is it an excuse for laziness, but it does reveal that salvation and spiritual completion ultimately rest upon God’s faithfulness rather than the instability of human flesh. This sermon examines the immediate Philippian context, God’s work of salvation, the believer’s cooperation in sanctification, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, the coming day of Jesus Christ, the transformation of the believer’s body, and the distinction between God’s preserving work and the Christian’s responsibility to walk worthy. Designed for pastors, preachers, teachers, Bible students, and believers, this outline magnifies grace as the work of God from beginning to completion and encourages saints to serve faithfully because the One who started the work will not abandon His own.

Grace That Finishes What It Starts

He Will Perform It Until the Day of Jesus Christ

Introduction

Philippians 1:6 is one of the great confidence verses in Paul’s epistles: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Notice where Paul puts his confidence. He does not say, “I am confident because the Philippians are strong enough.” He does not say, “I am confident because they will never stumble, never grow discouraged, never struggle with the flesh, and never need correction.” He says he is confident because God began the work and God will perform it. The confidence is God-centered from beginning to end. The believer’s flesh may be weak, but the God who works in him is not.

The context must also be respected. Paul is writing to a faithful church that had fellowship with him in the gospel “from the first day until now.” These believers had supported his ministry, stood with him in the gospel, and shown evidence of genuine spiritual life. Therefore, Philippians 1:6 is not a random slogan promising that every religious activity a man begins will succeed. Paul is expressing confidence that the God who had begun a genuine spiritual work among and within these saints would carry that work forward until the day of Jesus Christ. The verse sits in a context of fellowship, gospel labour, prayer, love, discernment, righteousness, and anticipation of Christ’s coming.

This doctrine is needed because the Christian life is often preached from one of two wrong extremes. One side makes everything depend upon human effort until the believer lives in constant fear that one weak season will undo what Christ accomplished. The other side talks about grace as if God does everything while the believer has no responsibility to obey, grow, pray, study, resist sin, serve, or walk worthy. Philippians rejects both errors. God begins the work and God will perform it, yet later in the same epistle believers are told to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” because “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Grace does not eliminate obedience. Grace supplies the ground, power, confidence, and ultimate completion of the Christian life.

I. God Is the One Who Begins the Good Work

Key Text: Philippians 1:6
Supporting Texts: Ephesians 2:8–10; Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17

Paul says, “he which hath begun a good work in you.” The work begins with God. Salvation is not man repairing himself until heaven accepts the improvements. Ephesians 2 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Titus 3 says salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” The sinner does not begin salvation and invite God to help him finish it. God saves the sinner by grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” God does more than decorate old Adam. He gives new life in Christ. The believer’s conversion is not merely an improved moral outlook or a decision to become religious. There is a divine work. The sinner who was dead in trespasses and sins is quickened. The guilty man is justified. The outsider is placed in Christ. The condemned sinner receives peace with God. The Spirit takes up residence in the believer.

This truth immediately removes boasting. If God began the good work, then God gets the glory. The believer did not regenerate himself. He did not forgive himself. He did not justify himself. He did not place himself into Christ. The work began with divine grace. That does not make faith unnecessary; faith receives what grace provides. But the saving initiative and saving power belong to God.

Main Truth:
The good work of salvation begins with God’s grace and power, not with human merit, religious effort, or self-reformation.

II. The Good Work Is Grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Key Text: Philippians 1:5–6
Supporting Texts: 1 Corinthians 15:1–4; Romans 1:16; Ephesians 1:13

Paul connects his confidence with the Philippians’ “fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” The good work in them is not vague spirituality. It is tied to the gospel. First Corinthians 15 defines that gospel clearly: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Romans 1:16 calls the gospel of Christ “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”

Ephesians 1:13 says believers trust Christ “after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” The sinner does not enter God’s work through philosophy, mysticism, sacramental machinery, law-keeping, moral improvement, or church membership. He hears the gospel and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. The work God begins is inseparable from the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son.

This matters because a man may become religious without God beginning a saving work in him. He may join a church, clean up his behaviour, become interested in theology, or adopt Christian culture while never trusting Christ. Paul’s confidence was connected to genuine gospel fellowship. God finishes the work He truly begins, but the first question must always be whether the sinner has actually believed the gospel.

Main Truth:
God’s good work in the believer begins through faith in the saving gospel of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

III. God Does Not Abandon the Work He Begins

Key Text: Philippians 1:6
Supporting Texts: Romans 8:29–30; John 10:28–29; 2 Timothy 1:12

Paul says God “will perform it.” He does not say God might perform it if circumstances cooperate. The language is confident because God is faithful. Romans 8 presents an unbroken chain: whom God foreknew, He predestinated; whom He predestinated, He called; whom He called, He justified; whom He justified, He glorified. Paul speaks of the final stage with such certainty that glorification is expressed as accomplished in God’s purpose.

John 10 records the Lord saying His sheep receive eternal life, shall never perish, and cannot be plucked from His hand or the Father’s hand. Second Timothy 1:12 says Paul was persuaded that Christ “is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Biblical assurance rests on the faithfulness of the Keeper. The believer may be unstable; God is not. The believer may face seasons of fear; God’s promise does not tremble.

This does not mean every Christian finishes his earthly course equally well. Some believers waste years, lose rewards, need severe chastening, or finish with scars they should never have carried. Scripture never says the believer’s practical record is automatically perfect. It says God will not abandon the saving work He began. His preservation is not approval of every choice. It is evidence of His faithfulness to His own purpose in Christ.

Main Truth:
God does not abandon the believer He has saved, because the completion of salvation rests on His faithfulness and power.

IV. The Holy Spirit Is God’s Seal That the Work Will Be Completed

Key Text: Ephesians 1:13–14
Supporting Texts: Ephesians 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; Romans 8:23

Ephesians 1 says believers are sealed with “that holy Spirit of promise,” who is “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee that the work will reach its appointed completion. God does not merely promise future redemption from a distance; He places His Spirit within the believer as the earnest of that inheritance.

Ephesians 4:30 adds that believers are “sealed unto the day of redemption.” The Spirit’s seal is therefore directly connected to Philippians 1:6 and “the day of Jesus Christ.” God begins the work, seals the believer, and continues toward the future day when redemption will be fully manifested. Romans 8:23 identifies one aspect still future: “the redemption of our body.”

The believer has salvation now, yet not every aspect of salvation has been manifested. The soul has been redeemed, the believer has been justified and placed in Christ, but the body still waits for transformation. The Spirit is the guarantee that God will not leave the process unfinished. The same God who saved the soul will redeem the body. The same God who gave the earnest will deliver the inheritance.

Main Truth:
The indwelling Holy Spirit is God’s seal and earnest guaranteeing that the work of redemption will reach its appointed completion.

V. God’s Completing Work Includes Practical Spiritual Growth

Key Text: Philippians 1:9–11
Supporting Texts: Philippians 2:12–13; Romans 12:1–2; Galatians 5:16

Paul’s confidence does not cause him to stop praying for the Philippians’ growth. Immediately after Philippians 1:6 he prays that their love “may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,” that they may approve things that are excellent, be sincere, without offence, and filled with the fruits of righteousness. God’s work of completion includes practical transformation in the believer’s life.

Philippians 2:12–13 places divine working and human responsibility side by side: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Paul does not say work for salvation. He says work out what God is working in. God supplies the inward work; the believer responds in obedient living. Grace gives power, not passivity.

Romans 12 calls believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices and be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Galatians 5 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Spiritual growth is real work, but it is never independent work. The believer reads, prays, obeys, serves, resists temptation, confesses sin, and walks by faith because God is working within him.

Main Truth:
God’s completing grace actively produces spiritual growth, while the believer is called to cooperate through obedience, faith, and Spirit-led living.

VI. Trials Do Not Mean God Has Stopped Working

Key Text: Philippians 1:12
Supporting Texts: Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 4:16–18; James 1:2–4

Paul wrote Philippians from imprisonment. Yet in the same chapter where he expresses confidence in God’s completing work, he says the things which happened to him “have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” Circumstances that looked like interruption were actually being used by God. Chains did not mean the work had stopped. God was working through the chains.

Romans 8:28 says all things work together for good to them that love God, according to His purpose. That does not mean every event is pleasant or morally good. It means God is able to take suffering, disappointment, persecution, loss, delay, and even the consequences of a fallen world and work through them toward His larger purpose. The believer sees one page; God has the whole book.

Second Corinthians 4 says the outward man perishes while the inward man is renewed day by day. James 1 says the trying of faith worketh patience. Some of God’s deepest work happens in places believers would never have chosen. The furnace may look like interruption, but God can use it as a workshop. Philippians itself proves that prison walls cannot stop the grace of God.

Main Truth:
Trials do not prove God has abandoned His work; He often uses adversity to deepen faith and further His purpose.

VII. The Day of Jesus Christ Is the Goal Toward Which God Is Working

Key Text: Philippians 1:6
Supporting Texts: Philippians 1:10; Philippians 2:16; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 15:51–53

Paul says God will perform the work “until the day of Jesus Christ.” That phrase points forward to the believer’s future accountability, completion, transformation, and presence with Christ. Philippians 1:10 speaks again of believers being sincere and without offence “till the day of Christ.” Philippians 2:16 refers to Paul rejoicing “in the day of Christ.” The Christian life is moving toward a definite appointment.

First Corinthians 1:8 says Christ “shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” First Corinthians 15 describes the bodily transformation that awaits believers: “we shall all be changed.” Corruption will put on incorruption, mortality will put on immortality, and death will be swallowed up in victory. God’s work does not terminate with the believer’s final breath. It reaches forward to resurrection and glorification.

The believer should therefore live with that day in view. Christianity is not merely about improving the present life. The saint is headed toward Christ. The day of Christ gives urgency to service, holiness, stewardship, and gospel labour. God is working toward that day, and the believer should arrange his life around the same destination.

Main Truth:
God’s work in the believer moves toward the day of Jesus Christ, when redemption, transformation, and accountability reach their appointed fulfillment.

VIII. God’s Faithfulness Does Not Cancel the Judgment Seat of Christ

Key Text: 2 Corinthians 5:10
Supporting Texts: 1 Corinthians 3:12–15; Philippians 2:16; Romans 14:12

Philippians 1:6 gives assurance, but assurance does not erase accountability. Second Corinthians 5:10 says believers must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. First Corinthians 3 says the believer’s works will be tested. Gold, silver, and precious stones will endure. Wood, hay, and stubble will burn. A believer can suffer loss while he himself remains saved.

This distinction keeps grace from being twisted into laziness. God will complete His saving purpose, but the believer can still waste opportunities. He can live carnally, bury gifts, neglect service, resist correction, and lose reward. Philippians 2:16 shows Paul himself thinking about rejoicing in the day of Christ that he had “not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.” Service matters precisely because salvation is settled.

Romans 14:12 says, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” The saint should not live terrified of losing eternal life, but neither should he live as though his earthly life is meaningless. Grace removes condemnation and creates responsibility. God’s faithfulness guarantees completion; the judgment seat evaluates stewardship.

Main Truth:
God’s promise to complete salvation does not remove the believer’s accountability for faithful service before the judgment seat of Christ.

IX. Grace Finishes the Work Because Christ Finished the Work

Key Text: John 19:30
Supporting Texts: Hebrews 10:14; Colossians 2:10; Romans 4:25

The deepest reason Philippians 1:6 can be trusted is that the believer’s salvation rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. At Calvary the Lord said, “It is finished.” Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Colossians 2:10 says believers are “complete in him.” The work God continues in believers is founded upon a redemption Christ has already accomplished.

Romans 4:25 says Christ “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” The cross paid the debt. The resurrection demonstrated victory. The Spirit applies the work. God carries the believer toward redemption day. The whole plan is divine from beginning to end. Grace is not God starting a project and hoping man can finish the difficult part.

That is why the believer’s final confidence must never be placed in his own spiritual track record. The believer should strive, obey, pray, serve, endure, and run faithfully, but underneath every step stands Christ’s finished work. God finishes what He starts because the foundation is not unfinished religion. The foundation is the crucified, buried, risen, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ.

Main Truth:
Grace finishes what it starts because the believer’s entire salvation rests upon the already finished work of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Philippians 1:6 gives the believer a strong place to stand: “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” God begins the work. God continues the work. God seals the believer. God works within the believer. God uses trials. God moves everything toward the day of Christ. The Christian life contains human responsibility, but it rests inside divine faithfulness.

That does not make the believer passive. Philippians itself calls saints to abound in love, approve excellent things, be filled with fruits of righteousness, work out their salvation, shine as lights, hold forth the word of life, press toward the mark, and stand fast in the Lord. Grace that finishes what it starts is not lazy grace. It is active grace producing an active Christian. The believer works because God works in him.

The Church should preach Philippians 1:6 without turning it into either legalistic fear or careless presumption. The believer’s confidence is not his flesh. The believer’s confidence is God. His assurance is not based on never struggling. It is based on the One who began the work. His future does not depend on whether Adam can finally learn to behave perfectly. It depends upon the grace, power, faithfulness, sealing, and finished work of Jesus Christ.

Final Call

Sinner, God has not begun this saving work in you simply because you are religious, sincere, moral, baptized, churched, charitable, or interested in spiritual matters. Salvation begins when you hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried. He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Salvation is not you promising God you will finish a better life. It is trusting the Saviour who finished the work of redemption.

Believer, do not confuse your weakness with God’s weakness. Walk faithfully. Confess sin. Obey Scripture. Serve Christ. Endure trial. Press toward the mark. But beneath all of it, remember the promise: the God who began the good work has not walked off the job. He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Closing Verse:
1 Thessalonians 5:24 — “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

Closing Statement:
Grace does not begin salvation and hand the unfinished job to the flesh; the God who starts the work carries His blood-bought believer all the way to the day of Jesus Christ.