Romans 5:1-2. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 2:12-13. 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 trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
John 16:13-14. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”
Believers in the Lord Jesus look back with great joy and appreciation to the date or the time when they first encountered the resurrected Christ as their real and personal Saviour. Many will affirm that it was the greatest day of their life and no wonder. The verses in Romans 5 capture the essence of this life transforming experience so aptly, ‘having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Yet so many, through lack of understanding, have camped out on those two verses without comprehending the words ‘we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand’ which informs us that our life transforming event was the entry point into a lifelong journey of faith.
In his letter to the assembly in Philippi, Paul instructed the members to follow and obey his directions during his absence, just as they would do if he were present with them. These instructions were precise for them as they are also for us who read them almost two thousand years after they were penned.
Paul tells them and us to ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure’. The last part of this critically important instruction makes it quite clear that these are not works of our own. Our responsibility is to allow God, who is at work in us, ‘to will and to work for His good pleasure’.
How is God at work in us who believe? By His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who entered into our human spirit at the instant of the new birth. As indwelt believers become willing to ‘work out their salvation’, even so will the Spirit of truth guide each one individually and as they assemble together unto Jesus with others of like mind, ‘into all the truth’.
In his first letter the apostle John states ‘As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you ; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him’. 1 John 2:27. How then do we work out the great salvation that God has brought us forever into? In absolute reliance upon the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth Who abides in us. Under His anointing He will guide us ‘into all the truth’, not just some of the truth, or even much of it; He will lead us into all of it. We have only one decision to make concerning ‘the anointing we have received from Him’; that is – will we allow the blessed person of the Holy Spirit to be in absolute control of all our thoughts, words, actions and behaviour.
We cannot concentrate on ourselves and upon God at the same time. The choice will always be either what we want or what He wants. Working out our salvation must be in fear and trembling, lest we fail to give Almighty God Who indwells us unquestioned and unwavering obedience. We only have a limited time upon this earth. We must waste none of it. We must work out our full and complete salvation by allowing His work to proceed unhindered until He has brought us to ‘be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect’.
God most certainly will perfect His work in us if we permit Him to do so.
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