Urgency of Working Out Salvation

I concur with Mr. Willis that we're in troubled times, very, very troubled times. And, of course, as God's church, as God's people, we have to be lights more than ever to this world that is full of darkness. We live in very serious times, brethren. I don't think I have to tell you that. I've been thinking about the fact that there was a time, it seems, that the church was the only one that was talking about prophecy. You know, you go back to some of those times. In fact, for that very reason, we were labeled in the church at one time of being basically people that were trying to take advantage of others by talking about prophecy and what was going to happen. But have you noticed, brethren, if you look at all of the religions now, they're talking about what? Prophecy. They're talking about it. You know, we used to be labeled in the church of God of sort of being those who are out there, talking about Europe merging and the beast power coming. But now, it seems, virtually everybody's talking about it in religion. You know, today, it's like almost the... And yet, we were demeaned in the church of God because we were talking about it. You go back to Mr. Armstrong. He goes back, you know, right after World War II. He was talking about how that Germany was going to rise again and how that there was going to be a beast power that was going to come out of Europe. And he was labeled a kook, basically, by mainstream Christianity. But now, they are talking about it. I mean, mainstream Christianity is talking about it. You know why? Because it's obvious what is happening. It's obvious what's happening. You know, those are things, of course, that were in prophecy. We didn't know exactly when they were going to come to pass. And we may have gotten some of those dates, maybe. You know, we thought it was going to be sooner than it turned out to be. But here we are, brethren. We live in perilous times that the Bible told us about. And there are critical prophetic indicators that are taking place right now if you've been watching world events. I want to give you a short list of what is happening. Of course, you probably, this past week, saw the announcement that was made with regard to, you know, the military.

How they're going to allow, now, transgender people to remain in the military. And not only that, but the military is going to pay for their operations. Amazingly. You know, in this age, it is dumbfounding what is happening with regard to these kinds of things. But what we've seen is a weakening of the U.S. military.

But, you know, look at the indicators that are happening right now today, brethren. The U.S. and Britain are on a dramatic downward spiral in terms of power in the world. And also in terms of morality in the world. It's like over in Isaiah chapter 1 over there, where it talks about it in verse 5 and 6. It says that the whole head is sick.

You know, from the head to the toe, the whole body is sick, in fact. And there's no soundness in them. You know, again, that's an indicator, brethren, where we see the United States and Britain spiral down morally, spiral down in terms of its power in the world.

How about Israel right now in the Middle East? You know, Jesus warned in Luke 21 and verse 20, he warned about when you see, you know, armies surrounding Israel or Jerusalem. And he talked about how that basically the end of the age is near. It's very near. We're definitely in the end times. No question about it.

I want you to think about this, brethren, also as an indicator. Christians are increasingly being ridiculed, incarcerated, burned alive. You hear about this all the time. There was, I think, like a six or seven-year-old boy who was a Muslim and converted to Christianity. He said he wanted to accept, you know, Christ as his Savior, he was burned alive.

We've had people that are being beheaded. We have people that are being enslaved. Amazingly, again, in this modern 21st century that we're living in, these things are taking place. And frankly, you don't hear a lot about it, do you? You don't hear a lot about it in the world. Is that an indicator?

I think it is, brethren. And of course, Britain's exit from the EU has changed the future, the landscape of Europe. And you know, right away we begin to see that Germany begins to take the lead. Germany tried to put immense pressure on Britain to remain within, you know, the European Union.

And not only that, you know, our country also put a lot of pressure on Britain to remain, you know, in the European Union. You know, Mr. Armstrong again was talking about when, in fact, before Europe ever came together that Britain would exit, that Britain would not be a part of the European Union. You know, you don't have anybody that is saying, well, I guess they got that right.

No, they don't talk in those terms, do they? They don't speak in those terms. But this is a major, major indicator, brethren, of what is happening in the world. You're living in perilous times. Germany, again, is, and we've said this for many years, is the modern day of Syria that is going to take the lead of the beast power in the future. And in fact, he's going to lead, Germany is going to lead up the beast power at the most, the critical time in history, and where there's going to be so much mayhem as a result of the beast power. The Bible talks about, in fact, modern Assyria's role over in Isaiah chapter 10. I'm not going to go to these scriptures, but you can write them down and look at them yourself.

Over there, it talks about how Assyria, modern day Assyria, is talking about ancient Assyria, because Assyria is not around anymore, as we know it, the Assyria of ancient times. But modern day Assyria is modern day Germany. And we know that, in fact, that Isaiah 10 says it's going to wreak havoc in the world, even though the Germans don't think in those terms at this particular time, that that is what the prophecy says is going to happen, ultimately. And with Germany taking the lead, brethren, possibly, trying to comprise what is going to make up this next EU, maybe, in fact, made up of the ten nations that the Bible talks about, they're going to agree together for a short period of time. It talks about that over in Revelation 17 and verse 12 and verse 17.

And, you know, there's talk, by the way, and it's been talking about this a long time, by the way. There's talk about forming a super state union with full military strength.

Full military strength. And, you know, for a long time, brethren, I felt personally that the military strength is going to come from NATO, military materiel. They've got it there, don't they? It's already there. The missiles, the tanks, the aircraft, everything is already there. And it wouldn't take very much. It really wouldn't take very much.

You know, we often used to ask in the church the question, where are we now in Bible prophecy? I mean, you hear these critical indicators, brethren, what do you think? What do you think? Now, we don't know the exact times, by the way, when Christ is going to return. No man knows that. Even Jesus himself said that.

We don't know, in fact, when the end of the age is going to come. We don't know when all these things are going to come to a climax. You know, when you have the time and the tribulation that comes to this horrible climax that is described in the time of Armageddon, we don't know the exact times about those things, but we know they're near. They may be even at the door.

It may be that again close. But there's one thing that we do know, brethren. Let me tell you, there's one thing that we do know. And I want to read it to you in Romans 13. And, you know, I'm striving, brethren, to appeal to you to know the times you're living in. Maybe it's time we lost a little sleep at night over what is happening in the world. Romans 13, the Apostle Paul said this. He said, and do this, and do this, knowing the time, knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. If you've ever been asleep, brethren, in the church of God, it's high time you woke up. You understood where we are and how close it may be. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Now, certainly a lot nearer than 2,000 years ago. Nearly 2,000 years ago when these events were taking place. Paul was describing here.

The night is far spent, Paul says. The day is at hand, therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. Don't you think, brethren, that we know this about ourselves at a time we're living in right now? It's high time to wake up, to really wake up. I would say that to the whole church of God around the world. It's high time we wake up, spiritually speaking. Look at our spiritual condition I'm talking about individually. What is your spiritual condition, brethren? How close are you to God? Are you walking in God's way of life? During this time of the year, we think about, don't we, July 4th? This is July 4th weekend. We think about freedom. We think about liberty. In fact, this country, as you enter into the United States through New York Harbor, is the Statue of Liberty. I have, in fact, the Statue of Liberty on the front cover of the church bulletin this time. And of course, I relate that to the liberty we have in obeying God and walking in God's way and being free of the troubles that come because of sin. But the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor is a beacon to the world of freedom and liberty. And it celebrates the freedom of the colonies, the 13 original colonies from England. In fact, if we look at the theme of the history of the United States, it has been liberty and freedom. Throughout the history, since this country was brought together by Constitution in 1776, hasn't it been about liberty and freedom? And the right to choose for oneself how we are governed as a nation, as a people, and how we will live in that nation that we live in. You know, when God created Adam and Eve and the first two human beings that were brought into existence, God gave them freedom. Of course, they misused that freedom, didn't they? God gave them free moral agency and the right to decide for themselves. God did not want to force them to make decisions. God's transcendental purpose for man was far beyond what, in fact, most people are even aware of in this world. They don't realize that God has recreated Himself in us, in human beings. And He couldn't do that without giving us the right to choose. Over in Deuteronomy 30, in verses 15 through 19, God tells Israel. He tells them, He says, you have the right to choose. He says, I set before you life and death, good and evil. And then God says over there, He says, choose life. Choose life. That you and your children, they live in the land. And God warned them what was going to happen if they did not choose life. And, of course, Israel rebelled against God and did not choose life. So, brethren, we do, in this land of liberty, we have the right to choose, don't we? And God has given you and me the right to choose as well for ourselves. I'm here today because I choose to be here today. That's what I want to do. That's where I want to be. We have the right to choose, brethren, what we're going to do. But let me, with this one codicil, with this one exception, you and I do not have the right to choose what will result in our decisions that we make. Right? You have the right to choose. Oh, you can choose whatever you want to do. But God has the responsibility to determine what's going to happen to you by what decisions you make. What's going to be the result of what you choose. And God desires, brethren, with all of His being that we always choose life. But He's not going to force us. He won't make us do it.

And Paul, by the way, in Romans 13 here, we read, Paul cites Jesus as humility. He talks about Christ and putting on Christ. And when Paul wrote later in the book of Philippians, let's go to Philippians 2, he spoke again about Christ's incredible humility. And God, of course, gave all for us. Christ gave all for us willingly. But in Philippians 2 and down in verse 12, here Paul says, he says in verse 12, Therefore, my beloved, as you 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. That verse, brethren, shows that you have a right to choose. You have a right to choose.

Because here we see Paul is saying, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He goes on to say, for is God who works in you both to will and do, it says, for his good pleasure? Yes, you know, we do have, again, the free moral agency. We have a right to choose.

But God wants us to realize that he'll be there for us. He will help us in the choosing. He will help us to accomplish what we choose to do. If we set our minds to do something, we will accomplish it. And in verse 14, he says, do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

You know, we need, of course, a light in the world, in this dark world we're living in. But going on, it says, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Yes, and if I am being poured out of the drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoiced with you all. For the same reason, you also be glad and rejoiced with me. So here Paul is saying, look, brethren, you have this free moral agency.

You work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What does it mean, brethren, to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling? What's he talking about here? You work out your salvation? That's not what you hear from the world, is it? In fact, you can't work, so not only are you going to get you salvation.

And that's what the Bible says. What you work, what you do, is not going to get you salvation. Let's go to Ephesians 2, and we see this over here. Ephesians 2, not far from where you are there. So again, what does it mean to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling? The title of this message, by the way, is Urgency of Working Out Salvation. But what does it mean to do that? Ephesians 2, verse 8, For by grace, it says, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

So does Paul mean that we should not do any works? That works don't really give us salvation, it says salvation is a gift. Actually, that's not what Paul means. God calls us, brethren, in fact, to do good works of obedience. The Bible tells us that. In fact, James says, without works, your faith is dead. You can have all the faith in Jesus Christ and the world, but if you don't have any works, your faith is dead.

God gives, in fact, as it says in Acts 5, verse 32, God gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. Those who walk in His way. So either the Bible works together as an addition problem, by the way, not a subtraction problem. Some people have this idea that when one Scripture says something, that means that's what all the Bible says. You've got to put it together, brethren. You know, when God, through Paul, inspired him to say what he says here in Ephesians 2, that works are not going to get you salvation, he does mean what he says there, but you have to understand it, putting together other Scriptures with it.

If God only gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him, who walk in His ways, and if our faith is dead without works, then that means we have to have works. But that salvation, eternal life, is a free gift that God gives us, and that's separate.

But you know what? It's based upon the sincerity of our heart. And are we walking in God's way of life? So definitely, brethren, what Paul says here, when he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, God intends that we obey Him and walk in His way.

We wouldn't have the Holy Spirit if we did not, in fact, walk in the way of God, and keep the commandments and statutes and judgments. Now, brethren, there are two ways that we obey God. Two ways. I want to talk to you a little bit about those two ways. Number one way that we obey God is in the presence of other people. And the number two way that we obey God is in the absence of other people.

Those are two different things, brethren. And, you know, God wants us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. I know we live in a world, brethren, where many churches, you know, frankly, a lot of them now, some of the mega churches are like going to a stage play. It's like going down to Las Vegas, except they use the name Jesus and other things.

You know, when they sing, they've got the rock band, they've got the music, the cymbals, the trombones, they've got the whole thing, you know, I guess except the dancing girls. And maybe even some of them have that as well. They've got the best coffee, you know, known to man. And people sometimes go to church, well, they've got good coffee over there, let's go over there. You know, or they've got, you know, boy, they've got some good shows over there. You know, not sure what people get out of it, but that's the way it is.

But when Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, what's that word fear mean? Well, that word fear comes from the Greek word phobos. Now, we all have heard of the word phobia. And the word phobos, by the way, means alarm. It's like if somebody came in here and they shouted, fire, you'd be alarmed, wouldn't you?

And what would you feel like? You know, if somebody, you know, maybe you saw smoke billowing through one of these doors here, and somebody said fire, your heart would start beating a little bit, wouldn't it?

You would be a little bit afraid. And sometimes, of course, when you begin to have that alarm, you begin to take action. The word phobos means fright. In fact, it means afraid according to Strong's, afraid exceedingly. Not just being a little fearful, but afraid exceedingly. The word trembling, by the way, in the Greek means quaking with fear.

It's like staring at a loaded gun. I don't know if you've ever been around anybody that was pointing a gun at you. I remember one time, I think I told you about this, I went visiting with Mr. Gerald Oss. I was a student at Ambassador College. And, you know, being trained, I guess, during that time, although I didn't think in terms of being in the ministry, but I went out visiting with him and was going to visit with a woman that was sort of out in the country. And her husband was not interested in the church, and he hated the church, in fact. And Mr. Oss, I'm sure he had talked to them before. This is my first rodeo, if I can put it that way. I'd never been on a visit before. Anyway, the discussion got a little bit heavy, and the husband talked about, you know, a gun. And, you know, Mr. Oss, by the way, began to mosey over to the door when the word gun was mentioned. And, of course, I was ready to go as well, to say the least. But if you've ever been in that situation and had faced fear, maybe you understand a little bit about what we should think when it comes to our salvation. Our salvation is important. Losing eternal life as an option is a pretty big deal, isn't it? Hasn't it been something you have been working toward in your life, your entire life? I have. I mean, I would like to live forever. I'd like to be in God's kingdom. The things I do in my life are not just for that reason, but because I do want to live God's way of life, but I'd like to be in God's kingdom. I'd like to have eternal life. And the thought of losing eternal life, brethren, would be devastating to me. It would be just simply devastating to me. But, you know, we need to again be fearful of losing eternal life. It's like David in Psalm 51, when he was praying that from the heart of prayer there, he said, God, don't take your spirit from me. He said, if you please give me another chance, I'll teach sinners your way. You know, David got off on the wrong track, didn't he? It's like a lot of people sometimes get off on the wrong track. I think sometimes in the church we've had people that have sort of maybe drifted a bit too far.

Maybe not have been regular attendees at church the way that they should. Pretty soon, you know, allow a little hypocrisy to come into their lives, and it gets more and more. It can be a terrible thing. But, you know, there's again obedience where we obey, you know, in the presence of other people, and there's obedience where we obey in the absence of other people. Let's face it, brethren, the real you is the one that obeys when nobody's around. That's the real you. That's me. What I'm doing in my life when nobody's watching, when no one sees what is happening, sometimes people, again, can really look good at church. I've known a lot of people through the years, brethren, that look really on track in the church, at least when they're around people. And then, of course, sometimes you find out that's not the case. That maybe their language is pretty foul when they're away from God's people. Or maybe the things they do, they allow themselves to do, are pretty contrary to God's laws, the commandments, maybe taking the Sabbath lightly or whatever, being hypocritical, in other words.

I want to tell you this story I saw. Following a great sermon on evangelism at a local church, one family thought they had to do something to witness for Jesus, as oftentimes in the Sunday churches people are told to do that. They got to witness for Jesus, do their part in evangelizing. And so anyway, they thought they ought to do something. And so they invited their neighbors to dinner the following Friday night.

And when it came to the meal, the hostess was keen to show their neighbors that they upheld family standards, Christian family standards in their home, even teaching their kids how to do prayers and so forth. So she asked her little five-year-old boy to say grace.

And little Johnny was a bit shy. He said, I don't know what to say. And there was an awkward pause. And I guess Mother, wanting to show the neighbors that here she is teaching her child, she says, well, darling, she said, just say what Daddy said at the breakfast table this morning.

Obediently, the boy repeated, oh God, we got these awful people coming to dinner tonight.

But isn't that the way sometimes people are? I mean, they say one thing to your face and they do something else. But again, there's two ways of obedience, obeying when others are around and what you do when nobody is around. And again, the real us, brethren, is what we're doing in the privacy of our homes when nobody sees. You know, otherwise, brethren, we're just men-pleasers, aren't we? I realize that, brethren, very often churches in the world are more social clubs. And I don't know, Mr. Armstrong used to say often to the church, this is not a social club.

This is not a social club. We're just, you know, we're just all pals here together. And we're here to do something. We're here to accomplish something. We're the church of God, brethren. We have to live it. We have to walk by the laws of God, whether somebody's watching or whether someone is not watching. Let's go to Colossians chapter 3 over here, Colossians 3 and verse 22.

Colossians 3, but you know, we've got to get rid of the old man.

Colossians 3 and verse 22, here it says, You know, really, that's the most important thing. That really is the most important thing, what we do for God in our lives. You know, that's why I'm here today. That's why in, you know, 1995, when we all made a choice, you know, we could have gone with our former association as they did. But, you know, it was about God, wasn't it? It was about what God would think. We simply could not do that. So again, brethren, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, two ways will obey God in the presence of other people or alone in the absence of others.

Another thing, brethren, to keep in mind, let's go over to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. Liberty, brethren, and free moral agency means you have a role to play in salvation. Work out your own salvation.

You know, you need to work out your relationship with God. Do you have God's favor? Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I hope we do realize that if we've got God's favor, you don't want to lose it. You simply do not want to lose it. You don't want to play around with the favor you have with God.

You want, in fact, to have that good favor because that means that he hears your prayers. He's already helped for you in your life. Notice here in 2 Peter chapter 1, down to verses 1 through 10, it says, Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who obtain like, precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Here he calls again, our precious faith, brethren.

So let's not, you know, demean that great calling we have. It's precious. It says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. So God has given us this great calling, brethren, and He's given us all that we need to know. Now, that doesn't mean we know everything there is to know, but we know all the things we need to know. Now, we'll have to have that chat with God a little bit later on, by the way, about those things that we don't know.

But right now we need to be doing the things we do know. It says, By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. We've got these precious promises that God is going to... Eternal life is just one of them, brethren. Imagine what it's going to be like to be in the family of God ruling with Jesus Christ forever.

Look at the universe, brethren, that is out there. Frankly, this universe was created for eternal beings. Not for mere mortal human beings, but eternal beings. I don't know what God has planned for us beyond this earth, but it is stupendous. It is exceedingly precious and great. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge, self-control.

In other words, build these virtues and these character qualities. To self-control, perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren, as says nor unfruitful, in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted. Even to blindness.

If we don't have these things, brethren, if we're not building the character, if we're not working out again our salvation and our favor with God and our relationship with God, we're blind. We're not doing these things as God's people. And it says, and has forgotten, that he was cleansed from his old sins. And once we're cleansed from our sins, brethren, through the waters of baptism, and we repent of sins, God wants us to move forward and build some character.

That may be some of the things we do and have done in the past we don't do anymore. Or at least we lessen what we do. We control ourselves more. It says in verse 10, Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and your election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. Pay attention to your character. And he talks about the qualities of character we have to have as God's people, brethren.

So liberty and free moral agency, brethren, means you have a role to play. And this is the role, brethren, to build the character. That was what was missing in Adam and Eve, the character. They were perfect human specimens, but they were incomplete. They lacked holy righteous character that God could not put in them by instant fiat, or they would have been automatons. But they had to choose. They had to use that free moral agency to choose. And Satan came along in Genesis 3 there, and shipwrecked their trek to building that character.

But God reserved the right to call whoever he chose to call. And there were only a few you could count them on your hands prior to the flood who were really righteous. Noah, of course, was one of them. And Enoch and Abel. Just a few, I'm sure there were others. But the ones that we see noted in the Scriptures are just very few.

Well, brethren, are we going to be among the few? The chosen ones, the Bible talks about. Are we going to do that? But, brethren, as Christians, we must be diligently seeking the King of God through each day we live. It's not just a matter of accepting Jesus, as our Savior, as so many people talk about.

You know, then what God did is He died for us. You know, we know that Jesus Christ died for us, that we would have that opportunity to repent. But we must go on and do our part. And when Peter preached on Pentecost in 31 A.D., remember all those people that are gathered together were spent in their heart, and they said, What do we do?

What do we do? And Peter basically said, Well, you should repent and accept Jesus Christ and be baptized. You know, you should do that. But it goes on to say that with many other instructions they gave to them as well, there were many other things they had to do. The things, brethren, you and I have been made aware of in this time that we're living in.

Yes, we have a role, brethren, to play in what we do and our calling. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Don't think for one minute, brethren, you come here and sit here every Sabbath. That's all you got to do. Boy, that's just the start. Then you got to open your ears. And, you know, I know sometimes it's painful to listen, to hear, especially when things we're asked to do are things we got to change, which is often the case.

But, brethren, we, as God's people, have to be so desirous of obeying God, we're willing to suffer for what we are striving to do as God's people. Again, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, brethren. And, again, that means we're a part of the equation. Though God is the one working through us, we wouldn't make any progress at all.

If God's Spirit was not working on us, our minds would not be illuminated. We wouldn't see the truth at all. But God has given us the knowledge of the truth, but He says, now, act on it. Use what you've been taught. We don't see, brethren, what a heavy responsibility our calling is when we're first called. We just don't. I know I didn't. I didn't realize how serious it was, what was required of me, but God was going to one day ask me. We know we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. He's going to ask us what we did with what we were given. No, worldly religion, brethren, perverts God's grace and cheapens the sacrifice of our Savior.

By telling people that the sacrifice of Christ did it all for you, that's all you've got to do. Just believe on the Lord. No, brethren, much more is expected of us in our calling once we've accepted Jesus Christ. That just gets us in the door to be forgiven of sin. When we repent and move on in our lives. But don't underestimate as well the power of the Holy Spirit that God gives you. It is very powerful.

If you set your mind to do anything with God's Spirit, you can accomplish anything. There's nothing you can't do. Obviously, I say that within the human realm. You're not going to be sprouting wings and flying. That's not going to happen. Reminded what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13. When Paul was talking about love and charity, he said, When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I felt as a child. I thought as a child. He said, Now that I've become a man, I have put away childish things.

And, brethren, we need to grow up spiritually speaking. Realize we've got to take on some responsibility here. Paul said to the church in Corinth, he said, For you see your calling, brethren.

Then he goes on to say that not many wise, not many noble. That God has called the weak of the world. That should really send a big alarm up to us. If we're the weak of the world, we better listen very carefully. If you're going into the class, let me say this. If you're going into the class, you don't know anything about mathematics. You don't even know what 1 plus 1 is.

You better listen. You agree with me, brethren? You better listen. If you want to pass that class, you've got to listen up. God is saying to us, we're the weak of the world. We better listen. We better listen, and we better apply. There's nothing you can't accomplish as long as you use God's Spirit and you make your effort, but you better listen to what's being said. You may not hear it again, and you don't know when you're going to hear certain things again.

The Bible does talk about a time coming when there's going to be a famine of the Word. Now, how that's going to translate, we don't quite know. But we know that maybe the things about God that we're so familiar with in the church, you can come here every Sabbath, you can hear these things.

Maybe they won't be available in the future. Maybe they won't be there. So, brethren, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. There's an urgency for us to do that. There is a place, brethren, in this life for a right kind of fear, and that place is in our calling. There is a right kind of fear in our calling.

Fear is the beginning of knowledge, the Bible says. It's the beginning of knowledge, it's the beginning of understanding, and it's the beginning of wisdom. You can't have wisdom without fear. And, you know, Proverbs is replete, brethren, with instruction about the fear of God. I'm not going to go through each of them and have you turn there, but you might want to write these down. Proverbs 1, verse 7 says, The fear of the eternal is the beginning of knowledge. It's the very start of knowledge. You know, if you go into the military, by the way, you know, the sergeant, he tries to put the fear of God in you, doesn't he?

In the military. And the reason he does it is he wants his men to listen. Because they're talking about physical warfare. We're talking about spiritual warfare in the church. And the Bible does compare us, does it not, brethren, to soldiers in the book of Timothy? That we better listen, because it's a matter of our spiritual survival. Proverbs 8, verse 13 says, The fear of the eternal is to hate evil. You know, to hate evil. Proverbs 10, verse 27, The fear of the eternal prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

So if we have the fear of God, it prolongs our days. Now that doesn't mean you're going to live to be 100 years old. But it means, certainly, ultimately, you're going to have eternal life. And I think all of us want that prolonging, don't we?

Proverbs 14, in verse 26 through 27, I like this verse here, by the way. Of course, we love all of God's scriptures, but here it says, The fear of the eternal is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the eternal is a fountain of life to depart from the stairs of death. You know, you're going to veer away, in other words, from, you know, death, if you have the fear of God.

You don't want to even get close to the cliff, do you? You don't want to be near that which is going to lead to death. Now, oftentimes, by the way, when I talk about fear, and I hope there's no one here that has this approach, but when I talk about fear, you know, the scripture that many people instantly think of is 1 John 4.

But I think we should know, again, the Bible talks about fear throughout, from cover to cover. It's quite clear, you know, that God wants us to have fear. But over here, oftentimes, people read this verse in 1 John, and like many scriptures, they misunderstand what God is saying. But in 1 John 4, verse 17, it says, Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in the world.

And hopefully, again, we're like Christ. We're following in the footsteps of our forerunner, Jesus Christ, our elder brother. But in verse 18, it says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. Now, I just read to you from the Proverbs, all the scriptures that say, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and it sounds like a contradiction.

But here it's saying that perfect love casts out all fear. So you and I don't have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Is that what John is saying here? What John is saying, brethren, is that true agape love, and we all know the difference between the different forms of love. There is philia, which is brotherly love. There is eros, which is love between a husband and his wife. And there is agape, which is godly love.

But true agape love dissolves, brethren, this. It dissolves a wrong kind of fear in our calling. But I said earlier there is the right kind of fear. That word fear also we could translate as respect, or I would say a healthy respect, a very healthy respect. Because fear, like I said, is the beginning of knowledge. Like Solomon wrote in so many places in the Proverbs. The thing is, brethren, most have not known the kind of fear and trembling which causes a person to obey and love God at the same time. Consequently, they demean the kind of fear that we're talking about here.

As long as we are walking within God's laws, brethren, we don't really have a great deal of need to fear. But if we start veering away, we better fear. And we better have that kind of fear all the time. To fear to disobey God. To walk contrary to God. Like I say, true agape love dissolves the wrong kind of fear. But it allows us to work out our salvation with the right kind of fear and respect for God in honor of God and trembling before Him to be very careful about what He tells us to do.

Knowing that God, again, is working through us by His Spirit to build the kind of character needed so that we can have His favor. That we can be in His kingdom and He can give us that free gift of eternal life and salvation. Let's go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. There's so much we could talk about with regard to this. But in Hebrews 13, Paul, once again, here, he's talking to the General Assembly of Israel. But in Hebrews 13, in verse 20, it says, "...now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of everlasting covenant, make you complete every good work..." Here again is that word, work again.

Although the work doesn't earn, as I've said many times in sermons, brethren, how long would you have to work for eternal life? You'd have to work for eternity, wouldn't you? So it has to be a gift of God that God gives. But we have to have good works. "...make you complete every good work to do His will, working in us or working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom the glory..." It says, "...be forever and ever.

Amen." So, brethren, we have to, again, have those precious work. And God is working through us by His Spirit. But, you know, God wants us to make the effort in our life. He will allow us to do what we are making the effort to do. It's like if, you know, give an example, a physical example, of God wanted you to lift a car for the instant.

And I don't know that there's ever going to be a need for you to lift a car, although I've heard of people that, in an unusual, very difficult circumstances, have done just that. You probably have heard of people that have done that as well. Maybe a car has fallen on somebody, and all of a sudden they muster on a strength, and they lift this thing off, and somebody's freed, you know, from under a car.

But if you're going...if there's a need, and you call on God to help you to do something, God makes up the difference. But you've got to be the one to start lifting the car, right? The same is true with our lives and obeying God. Even when we're having to overcome hard things, brethren, we're having to overcome things that have maybe been ingrained in us that we're going to change.

You make that effort, and God will make up the difference. He'll give you what you don't have. You can do it, brethren. If you lie upon God, and trust in God, you know, whatever you need to do, you know, God, through His grace, His favor, brethren, will give you the power and the strength to do it. Now, another thing that Paul said when he said, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, he said, do it without murmuring.

Don't be complaining. You know, God does not like complaining. He does not like people carping and, you know, criticizing. We, of course, could go back. I'm not going to go back to examples of Israel. But Israel is an example of people who complain. They complain. They complain. You know, I've told you about one time I saw a comedy series about the Weiner family.

You know, the whole family, just every place they went, they whined. They'll go to the restaurant. They whined about the, you know, the, oh, it's too hot in here. You know, they whined about the food. This is horrible food. Send it back, you know. And, you know, some people have that problem. They really do. I don't know if it runs in families or not, but sometimes, I guess in this comedy skit, in fact, they were showing the whole family where this was the case.

Well, God does not like whiners. You know, let's notice, brethren, over here in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. And down in verse 10, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10, it says, But by the grace of God, Paul says, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.

You know, here Paul, by the way, is basically saying that, look, I had to work harder than others did. But, you know, think about all the things that Paul had to go through. But Paul really only brought those things up when people started to grandize themselves. But imagine with Paul, Paul had to go through a lot. I mean, he was beaten three times almost to death. He was running for his life. You know, we read, it was shipwrecked, of course. There were so many other things that happened to Paul. You know, for us, most of us, we would probably have given up.

But Paul did not. But Paul was not an example of somebody who complained about those things. He was willing to suffer. He was willing to go through those things that he needed to go through. But, you know, with Israel, the problem is they lacked the conversion. And they were continually carping and complaining during their sojourners. And God, in 1 Corinthians 10, left as an example that we should not do as they are. And we're the Israel of God, brethren, the Church of God.

God doesn't want us to be complainers at all. I know when I was in high school, I used to have a math teacher. I found out he had died of cancer a number of months ago. Mr. Lattimore, my math teacher. And when people would complain about their math homework, when I was in, I think it was in the 10th grade, Mr.

Lattimore, his favorite saying was this. He would talk about when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And I remembered that. Well, brethren, when we think things are tough, don't complain. That's when you rise up and you start doing something. That's when the tough get going. That's when you really apply yourself. Don't be like other people. Don't be that way. Sometimes, though, people, it seems to me, brethren, so many people, it seems to me that in their lives, it's like they forget to do the things that Jesus Christ taught us to do.

He gave us the model prayer over there. Well, brethren, we need to get tough and get going. We need to be tough and get going. We ought to be praying, brethren, every day that, you know, model prayer, at least an outline. But to be praying that God would not lead us to temptation.

It seems like to me sometimes people are not praying, you know, God, please don't lead me to temptation. They're praying, lead me not to temptation because I can find it myself. It seems like people are heading that direction. I hope that none of us are, brethren, doing that on our own. But we're praying for God to deliver us from those things. But, brethren, fulfill your calling without complaint. Carl Sandberg said this, brethren, he said, Life is like an onion. You peel off one layer at a time and sometimes you weep. I think that's true.

Sometimes there's a time to weep, as the Ecclesiastes says. But, brethren, when we fall into trials, when we fall into difficulties, like James said in James 1, he said, My brethren, James 1 and verse 2 through 4, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different temptations, knowing this, that by the trying your faith works patience, but let patience have her for perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So, brethren, let's make sure again that we are fulfilling our calling. We're appreciating the times. Of course, we do that afterwards, not when we're going through them. But, appreciating the times when sometimes our mettle is tested, our faith is tested.

It is really good for us. In fact, the Bible says we should rejoice that we suffer like Jesus Christ. You remember the apostles were beaten after they were preaching on the temple, and when they were released after they were beaten, they were thankful to God that they were able to suffer as Christ. With Christ, they were thankful they could suffer with Christ. Are we thankful that we can do that, brethren? Or are we striving to have that attitude as God's people?

Brethren, I don't know if a solitary person in the church has been beaten because of persecution. Do you know anybody in the church that has ever been beaten? You know, because they were obeying God? Not in my memory. I can't remember. Do you know of anybody in the church, brethren, who has suffered those kinds of persecutions?

I mean, where they've suffered in the flesh. I really don't know of any. But I will tell you this, brethren, it's coming. It's coming. It is coming to this country. And, you know, it may be closer than we realize. When you see it happening as it's happening over in some of these countries, you know, like Iraq, where you have people, and I realize, brethren, they're not. They don't know God's truth as we know God's truth. But, brethren, they're suffering, some of them severe persecution. But the time is coming, brethren, where you and I are going to be suffering that as well. Maybe we'll suffer it before, you know, the place of safety. I don't know. I hope that's, that, you know, that time will come. Maybe we won't go through those things. But I think we will see some that will suffer those things before the place of safety takes place. You know, and God's people are put in a place of final training, as it was called in the past. So, brethren, there's an urgency. I've tried to convey this today. There's an urgency to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Don't neglect your calling. Don't let it slip away from your fingers. Work like it all depended upon you, brethren, but pray like it all depends upon God. In one sense, it all does depend upon God, doesn't it? Because He's the one that ultimately is going to reward the faithful with the free gift of eternal life and salvation. I talked about that Statue of Liberty, that is a beacon of liberty and freedom, the Greeks, immigrants, as they come into the harbor there at New York. Brother, let each of us be a beacon, a light of liberty and freedom, of people that are obeying God, of walking in God's ways, so we can inherit the promises. We don't suffer as the world suffers because we're living in God's way of life, that God can reward us both now and He can reward us in the future. So again, be that beacon of liberty and freedom to the world as God's people.