The Urgency of Working Out Your Salvation

I appreciate the first message about the tech amendment and the covening. I think you look in the world today, and I think we're probably more in the age of covening than we have ever been. It's like people want to get, get, get, and they are never satisfied. They achieve, they accomplish, but they're not satisfied. It's a reflection of the morality of our country and what has happened in this nation. Brother, we live in serious times, and I believe that there are critical prophetic indicators that are taking place right now that are occurring in this world. Just as you were to consider just the shortlist, we came up with a shortlist of what's obvious in the world, that's happening in this world today. You would have to conclude that. The United States and Britain are on a dramatic downward spiral, moral spiral, and the whole body is sick like it talks about in Isaiah from top to bottom. And just this. It seems like that we get worse and worse. Every time you pick up the newspaper, you read something else about what somebody else is thinking in the world, what they believe about the basic building blocks of what a family is. It's changing in an ever-increasing pace. Redefining the role of a husband, redefining the role of a wife, of children. The whole family is being turned upside down. The concepts of the nuclear family are disappearing. It is just a matter of time. It is a matter of time before it becomes something that infringes on your life more than you really would want it to be. Sometimes, you know, it's easy to say, well, I just want to get away from it. Well, the time may come when government may not let you get away from it. Then it's going to come to your door whether you want it or not. When we look at, again, what is happening in the United States and Britain, and it's deplorable what's occurring.

Israel is surrounded by armies. That should be obvious to us. I mean, every time I've looked at all of the news reports, you know, there are nations surrounding Israel that are openly advocating Israel's destruction, pushing them in the sea. How many times has Iran said we're going to push them into the sea? You know, how many nations surrounding Israel have taken that stance, have taken that approach? Look at the world today when it comes to even being a nominal Christian. I'm not talking about God's people. I'm not talking about the Church of God, but we're going to be lumped in with them when persecution begins to occur, if that persecution begins that way. But in the world today, Christians are being ridiculed. They're being imprisoned and differentiated. They've been enslaved in some countries, some areas of this world that we live in. Now, again, that's just one of the indicators. We see these things begin to happen. The European Union, which we've talked about for so long, meaning the future beast power that is coming along. We didn't know what was going to happen with the nations that were brought together in the European Union. Of course, with Brexit occurring, changing its path and withdrawing from the European Union, now you've got Germany that is beginning to step forward more and more. And they're now talking about a military. In fact, Mr. Trump went over there recently. It was a recent visit where he was criticized by so many people by asking the Europeans to begin to pony up more money. And I have fought for a long time, a long time, that the United States would probably suffer an attack from Europe from the future beast power with money that we have invested in Europe. I felt that a long time, because eventually the United States is going to be out of that, and we're not going to be there for favorite people in the future. And through cooperation, probably, with the Catholic Church, they may remember saying, look, we're willing to sacrifice the United States. And then Ezekiel 6 is fulfilled. Talk about the mountains of Israel, you know, being laid waste. The cities are going to be laid waste, and many people, again, will suffer in the future. So these are indicators that we're looking at. And we know the time is going to come when the ten nations are going to be brought together. You know, those ten tolls, remember, that are partly iron and partly mire clay, meaning, in other words, that you have some very strong nations that unite with some not-so-strong nations. In the end of the age, these ten nations are going to form the beast power that is going to take us right up to the second coming of Jesus Christ, you know, which the Bible, again, talks about in Revelation 13 and in other passages of Scripture that we need to review from time to time. And so there's this superstate that is beginning to, you know, come together to coalesce. It's going to have full military strength. And Isaiah 10 is going to be fulfilled, where it talks about how a modern day Assyria is going to destroy many peoples, although it says, although he does not think so. He doesn't think in his heart right now that that's what's going to happen, but the prophecy says that is what is going to occur. But we often ask the question, where are we now in Bible prophecy? Well, where are we now in Bible prophecy? You hear what I just talked about here just briefly? Let's go to Romans chapter 13. I want to tell you where we are in Bible prophecy. Romans 13 and verse 11 over here. Romans 13 and verse 11, we're going to end there at verse 14. And do this knowing the time. But now it's high time to awake out of sleep.

For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. It's much closer than we ever thought. And Paul says the night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Again, it's time as God's people, if we've been asleep, if we have not been awake in a word, it's time to wake up. According to what the Bible says, we're to wake up. And it says, let us walk properly, as of the day, not in revelry and ruggedness, not in aludeness 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. So the time right now, rather, we are in prophecies the time to wake up. That's where we are in Bible prophecies, as God's people. On the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, we know the Statue of Liberty has been a beacon of freedom and liberty throughout the world for a long time. And it celebrates freedom. Many immigrants, you know, come by ship, you know, in New Harbor and seen Statue of Liberty and been encouraged by it. What does it say? There's an inscription on it that says, give me your tired and your poor, you know, your masses yearning to be free. That people look for that opportunity to have that liberty. And in this country, we have to prize ourselves for having the right to choose, to having liberty. The right, maybe, to govern ourselves as to how we're going to live. And it's certainly true, it's certainly true that God has given us the free moral agency, brethren, with the right to decide for ourselves what we need to do in our lives. But you know, in another place in the Bible, over in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 19, this is one of the verses we talked to the teens about at camp, is it says, God says, I set before you life and death, blessing, and then it says, the curse, blessing and the curse, you know, the curse. And there is indeed a curse in this world and the society we live in by the ways that people live. But God says, therefore, choose life that you may live, you and your seat.

So we have all this freedom that we talk about in the United States. And yes, we do have the freedom, don't we? And we can decide whatever we want. But you know what? We also have to face the penalties. And we don't get to choose what the penalties would be.

God is the one that does that. We can choose what we do, but we may reap the horrible horror within our lives by choosing the wrong way. So God says, choose life. You know, choose the way that's going to lead to life. You know, the Apostle Paul cites how Jesus Christ came in such humility of how He came and how He emptied Himself, of His powers as God. He was equal with God. It says there in Philippians, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God in the way that Paul expressed it. But He came in the form of a human being, in the form of a servant, with immense humility.

And He was humble. He was a servant that told His death on the stake. And He came, and that was the example that He set for every one of us. He came to set that kind of selfless kind of an example. And living God's way of life, He never violated God's wall. One, I owe it. And He died for all of us. He gave Himself for all of us. Let's go over down to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, over here, I want to, again, these things to lead up to the very reason I want to give this sermon.

I want to talk to you about this particular subject here. But here in Philippians chapter 2, and we'll read down in verse 12 here, it says, It says, Remember that Paul founded Philippi at about 49 A.D.

And this is one of the prison epistles along with Ephesus and Colossians and Philemon. You know, of the prison epistles. Here Paul was incarcerated, and he was still thinking about the brethren. His focus was on them. But going on, he says here, you know, I worked out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His own, for His good pleasure. And it says, do all things without complaining in disbudy. Again, talking about the 10th commandment of not being dissatisfied with your life. Actually, being the kind of person who is not a complainer, not a carper.

You know, because if with all God has given us, brethren, we are dissatisfied with what He's given to us, you know, we are very selfish people. You know, I've seen how people live in Africa. I've seen how people live in other parts of the world. And I'll tell you, even the poorest person among us is rich here in this country. So Paul says, do all things without complaining in disbudy. That you may be blameless and harmless. Children of God without fault. He says here, nearly 2,000 years ago, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Yes, and if I pour out as a drink offering, as the sacrifice and service of your faith, I'm glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason, you will also be glad and rejoice with me. So Paul was willing to be poured out as a drink offering. He was trying to mimic the example of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself in selfless service.

The focus I want to do in this sermon, brethren, here is verse 12 here. In the context of verses 12 through 18, work out your own salvation with fear and trouble. What does that mean? What does that mean? Work out your own salvation with fear and trouble. Does it mean we're all independent Christians? You've got your journey, I've got my journey, and don't expect what God requires of me that He does not require any view. To indicate that, I know we all, again, have different foibles. We all have different problems that we have to wrestle with.

But doesn't it say in the book of Jude? Jude, of course, was Christ's brother, that we should earnestly contend with the faith once delivered? So that means that we ought to contend for the faith once delivered, and we're all supposed to do that, that we're all going in the same direction. God expects us of the same things of us, in other words, in terms of obedience. So it does not mean we're independent Christians if we work out our own salvation with fear and trouble.

There are many other scriptures that show us that, in fact. But what does it mean? Let's go to Ephesians 2 over here. Ephesians 2, again, keeping that thought. What does it mean to work out your own salvation with fear and trouble? Ephesians 2, in verse 8, let's notice this. It says, For by grace you can say, through faith, through God's wonderful grace, God is afforded the opportunity to be saved, that not of yourselves is a gift of God, not of works.

Now we all understand that, lest anyone should boast. So salvation doesn't come by the works that we do. But notice the last part, verse 10, For you are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. So we're God's workmanship for good works, to live according to a certain level of life and have good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

And what he's talking about here, of course, remember, the Old Testament Scriptures were the only thing they had available. Or walking by God's laws, God's commandments, and God's statutes. So what we must do, brethren, works of obedience.

And James himself says that faith without works is dead. You know, the person claims they have faith and they don't have works. You know, James says faith without works is dead. God gave his Holy Spirit to those who obey him, as it says in Acts 5, verse 32. So there are a lot of Scriptures that we could point to to show that God expects us to walk in the laws that he has given to us.

You know, when Paul says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, fear is phobos. All of us, of course, have heard of the word phobia, right? The word phobos means alarm. It's like, you know, if you go camping and, you know, you've got the zipper down and you take the zipper up and you see a bear.

You have alarm, right? You're afraid right away. It means afraid. It means afraid exceedingly. The word trembling, you know, would be what you would do if you saw a bear right outside your tent. You'd be quaking with fear. You know, what was the question that came up? What do you do when you see a bear? You know, and it was so funny, I was talking to one of the little kids at camp. We had some pre-teen campers there.

And I said to them, what do you do when you see a bear? What are you supposed to do? And one of them immediately said, you make yourself look as big as possible. And I said to him, I said, what if you're little, though? You know, it's kind of hard to rip things if you're little. But, you know, I don't know that it would be a good idea to run, but that would be my natural inclination to get out of there. That probably would not be a good way to handle a bear. But trembling would be if you were facing straight down the long end of a loaded gun. So we had the trigger popped on it. That would be trembling, right? You'd be sweating bullets. So work out your fear with fear...work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

No, as I mentioned, Paul was in prison when he wrote Philippians. And we wrote to the brethren at Philippi. Now, there are two ways, brethren, that we obey God. Number one way is we obey God in the presence of other people, right? When other people are around.

It's much easier, isn't it, when other people are watching? What we do. You can be very nice. How many times do sometimes parents, you know, when they're dealing with the kids, and they're hollering the kids, you know, maybe about a block from church. You could be...Mom is very angry, and they drive in the parking lot, and everybody's fine.

Of course, we know all of what happens about what we do in the presence of others. We don't want to appear as though, you know, we're not keeping God's laws. Number two way we obey God is in the absence of other people when we're alone. And this is why Paul was writing the book of Philippi. He probably was in a cell, and he was concerned about what people were doing when he was not alone. When he was there, they were splendid examples of what Christians ought to be.

But he didn't know what they would be doing when he wasn't there. You know, you hope that when, you know, as a pastor you leave, you leave the church in good hands. But, you know, I was like, we talked to Mr. Miller and other elders. You know, it's like when the pastor's out of town, it is amazing how many things happen. That's not, of course, something that should be shocking to us. Because Satan, you know, thinks, well, I can take advantage now. You know, because he's gone.

And I've seen that happen through the years, and I'm sure a lot of elders would agree with that. Satan takes advantage when maybe the pastor is gone out of the area. It's probably true of anybody in spiritual leadership of any kind. But when we obey, in the absence of others, it shows really in a greater way how much we're obeying out of respect for God. Love for God. Fear of God. In other words, it's not for an outward show to other people. Nobody knows what we're doing. Nobody knows how much we're praying. Nobody knows how much we're studying.

Nobody knows any of these things. Frankly, maybe when we obey in the absence of others, it shows more how much of a Christian we really are. Remember a story that was told about a family who had gone to church, and following a great sermon on evangelism, one family thought that they'd better do something. If they were going to witness for Jesus, as oftentimes in the process of the world, people talk about witnessing for Jesus, so they decide they're going to invite their neighbors to dinner the following night.

The murderer was keen to show their neighbors that they upheld the highest Christian standards in their home. They were trying to be a light, again, to someone that they were trying to evangelize. So she asked little five-year-old Johnny, her son, to say grace. Little Johnny was a bit shy at the dinner table, and he said, I don't know what to say. As oftentimes a kid will burn out if they're really small like that. And it was kind of an awkward pause at the dinner table, followed by a reassuring Christian smile from the boy's mother. And she said, well, darling, just say what, Danny? He said it at breakfast this morning.

And immediately the five-year-old boy repeated, oh, God, we've got these awful people coming to dinner tonight! So again, what we do when nobody's around catches up with us, right? Well, obviously, you know, none of this is perfect, and we should obey in the presence of others, and we should obey in the absence of others as well.

We should strive to do both. But the real test is in it what we do alone, what we do without anybody else. Otherwise, we're merely men-pleasers. You know, we're waiting for somebody to see what we do. Colossians chapter 3 over here. Colossians chapter 3, let's do this over here. Again, one of the prison epistles here. In chapter 3, in verse 22, here Paul is reaching out from prison, and he says, Bond service, obey in all things your master according to the flesh. Not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fairy God.

Don't we, during the days of unleavened bread, keep the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth from the heart by what we do? And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. We can do things to please God in our lives. We're going to do a whole lot better than just doing it to please other people. To obey from the teeth out, brethren, is hypocritical.

But doing it from one's heart is what God is seeking. This is obedient in all of us in what we do. Another thing, realize this, that liberty and free moral agency means you have a role to play in salvation. Yes, you're free. You can decide whatever you want. But again, you can't choose the penalty if you do the wrong thing.

So all of us have a role in our salvation. Though you can't earn salvation, we still have to obey God. Of course, as I've always told people, how long would you have to work to earn salvation? Eternity. How long would you have to work to earn eternal life? Well, you'd have to work for eternity, right? In order to pay for it, so to speak, which none of us could do. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 7 over here. 2 Corinthians 7. You know, we actually at camp talked about five topics, and I thought, you know, this would be a good program to present at a local church.

And I brought the banners, and I brought all of the things from camp, and I'm thinking about actually incorporating it into a sermon here at camp. Or, you know, local church, or other, applying it here. But in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10, it says, And then for Godly sorrow, here Paul was talking to the Corinthians of how he had had to remember to correct them over the Passover issues of 1 Corinthians 11.

And then there's another issue regarding the man who had committed adultery with his stepmother, that he had had to correct them, and, you know, had to correct them on a number of things. In fact, in the 1 Corinthians. But then he comes back and he said, Godly sorrow, which they had, produces repentance leading to salvation. When we have the right attitude, we do something wrong, and we repent, it leads to salvation.

Not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing that you sorrow in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication, and all things you proved yourselves to be clear, he says, in this matter. You know, when people have something that comes from the heart, God says that the slave is like the clean.

Anything we've done contrary to his law, God just likes it clean. And as it says in Psalm 103, he puts it as far as east is from the west, from us. That the sin is put far from us. That God does not recall it, in fact. True repentance has a measure of the right kind of fear that we should have of God. And the kind of respect that we accord our God.

But we have to do our part. We have to change. We have to put into action the things that we're hearing. You know, no knowledge is of any value, brethren, unless we put it into practice. You know, when Peter preached on Pentecost back in 31 A.D., it talks about how the people that heard, that responded, were smitten in their hearts, and their instant statement was, what shall we do? What should we do now?

And that is when, of course, remember that Peter told them to repent. And, you know, if they repented, that they were baptized, that their sins would be blotted out. They would be forgiven there. And, of course, that was not the only thing they had to do. There were many other things that they were talked to about on that particular day. But they had to do things in accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. And we have to do the same thing, brethren. Work out your own salvation.

Have a respect for God. You do have a part to play, brethren. Let's go to Philippians 2. Yes, God helps us, brethren. Without God's help, we could not do it. None of us are going to be able to change just on our own. I mean, people have a hard enough time with physical addictions. Talk about some of the addictions that are embedded in all of us. It's called human nature. It would stick a dynamite, and, of course, we wouldn't be around, would we, if we exploded the dynamite, would be gone.

But with God's help, we can overcome even the most difficult things. I remember going to the feast many years ago up in the Ozarks. And I started talking to one of the deacons there about his life. He said, you know, as we do, we talk about, how did you come along? And I was really shocked, because I had not really met anybody like that. But he said to me, I was a professional thief. He was in Kansas City. That even fits, doesn't it? A lot of times, a lot of thieves. I remember I lived in Kansas City for a while, so a lot of thieves in that part of the world.

Not that they're not all over, but, you know, mafia and other things were pretty heavy in Kansas City area. But anyway, he was talking about how he was a thief. And I said, well, God. And I said, what happened? What happened is he went and he confessed. When he repented, he confessed of the thievery that he had committed. He said, I went to prison. And he found out about God. He found out about the truth when he was in prison. He repented and he came back and he got involved in his local church. And he became a deacon in the church.

He transformed his life, you see. And that is God's miracle in his life, that he changed the kind of person that he was. But here in Colossians, I guess we don't need to really go to Colossians here, but Philippians. I think that's where I was going. My teeth, my tongue got over my teeth. I couldn't see where I was looking, so sorry about that.

Philippians 2, verse 13. But again, just as an example there of his life and how God really was a part of the solution to the problems in his own personal life and how he was transforming. Yeah, I was wanting to show here in verse 13, after it talks about working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, but in verse 13, For it is God who works in you both to will and do for his good pleasure.

See, God puts it in you to do with his good pleasure. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit when we repent. No, God helps us, but let's keep in mind that we're to work out our own salvation and that what we're doing is a part of the equation. Though God works in us, God gives us the help, the power of the Holy Spirit. When you pray and ask God to forgive you of sin, ask him for more of his Spirit to overcome the sin that you've asked him to forgive you of, to prevent you from doing it again.

And God will give you the strength based on your sincerity. How sincere are you? We don't often see, brethren, the heavy responsibility that is on us for our own personal calling of what we're supposed to do. You know, world religions have perverted the grace of God through Jesus Christ and basically cheapen the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and say that, well, God does it all for you.

No, much is expected of us. That's a part of the equation of our calling, of overcoming, that we have a fear of God, a respect for God, and it will overcome. You know, the Apostle Paul says this. When I was a child, he said, I spoke as a child. I felt as a child. I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, in other words, I've matured, spiritually speaking, I have put away childish things.

He also said in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, for you see your calling, brethren. Well, brethren, do we see our calling? That we've got to mature up and we've got to wake up and begin to really apply ourselves to the things that we're hearing, not let them slip away. In this world that we live in today, there's so many things happening around us that we get distracted. We need to learn how to focus. I think a little meditation is in order. I think we need to take some long walks and ask ourselves, how much more serious we need to be about our calling and what we're doing. And maybe if you've done that, again, wonderful, I'm glad if you've done that. But I think all of us could do better. I think we can all do better by really applying ourselves, redoubling the efforts we're already making. And it probably still would not be enough. There is rather than a right kind of fear in our calling. The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. And what kind of fear is that? Is there the cowering, craving fear? No. But it is the beginning of knowledge. So what kind of fear is it? The Proverbs are replete with discussions about the fear of God. I'm not going to turn to them all, but I do want to give you them. And you can see some others in the Proverbs as well, besides these. Proverbs 1 verse 7 says that fear of the eternal is the beginning of knowledge, which we just quoted. In Proverbs 10, 27, the fear of the eternal prolongs days. It prolongs your days. But the years of the wicked shall be shortened. Proverbs 14 verse 26 and 27, the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. You have more confidence in your calling. And its children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the eternal, it goes on to say, is a fountain of life to depart from the stairs of death. Your escape, in fact, weighs people down where they don't ever get ahead. They don't feel like they are making progress in their life. It may relate to how seriously do we take what God says and the fear of God.

Now, God does it again, wants us to have a cowering, raven fear, but He does want us to have a very high regard. And I will put to you, brethren, when I say high regard, what you're thinking is not high enough. Not high enough. I know what I'm thinking probably isn't high enough. Put it as high as it was when you first found out about that first nugget of truth. And maybe that, that which motivated you to make, start making changes in your life, needs to still be there. Now. And greater. Even now. 1 John 4. 1 John 4. It's one scripture I think most of us are familiar with. And probably when we talk about fear of God, it's the first one we quote. But 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 this world. Are we? Are we like Christ? Are we following in the footsteps of Christ? I pray we are, striving more so day by day. It says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. So if we have the agape love, and we're full of the agape love, there is no fear. No, God does not want us to have a cower and crave in fear. You know, agape love dissolves wrong fear. There's a wrong kind of fear, and then there's a right kind of fear in our calling. And most frankly have not known the right kind of fear. Most haven't really come to the repentance in their life. They need to know what that fear is. They haven't gotten the fear and trembling that Paul was talking about, which causes us to obey God and to love God. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13.

And Hebrews 13. And verse 20.

It says, So this scripture says that God works in us. He's working in us, brother, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the same way he worked through Jesus Christ. And Christ is again a great example to us. But brother, we must make the effort. God can only bless the effort that you make.

He's not going to lift your arm up and make you do something. He's not going to do these things for us. We have to choose to do those things. And then God blesses the effort that you make. God says, I want you to jump over this mountain. Well, he's not going to ask you to do a foolish thing like that. But if he needed you to jump over the mountain, you've got to first take a run at it. And then he will bless you to do what he wants you to do. God can cause you to do anything, brother, that he wants you and desires you to do. Again, God can only bless the effort that you make individually.

Paul said, be confident of this very thing that he, which has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Until Christ returns. You know, God has begun a new work in each of us, brethren, when we were converted. Has it stopped doing it? He wants it to work as powerfully now in our lives as he did the day he called. Has it stopped? You know what Paul gave probably the most encouraging thing any human being could probably say? He said that he could do anything if Jesus Christ strengthened him. He could do anything. I don't think any of us compare with what Paul accomplished and what he did in his life. We haven't faced what he did, but he said he could do anything. And, brethren, I'm convinced we call this camp. Do whatever God gives to us to do. We can accomplish it. There have been things I've been given to do in my life. I didn't think there was any way in the world I could do it. But it was done. It got accomplished.

You know, when we pray every day, brethren, and we should be praying every day, you know, there's that little prayer that Christ said that we should be praying every day. He said we should pray every day deliverance from temptation.

I pray that you deliver me from temptation or from the evil one.

But let's not be praying, lead me not into temptation, because I can find it myself. You know, humanly, sometimes, you know, we, of course, almost, it's like we run to temptation.

You know, one of the things, when we pray that we ask God to not lead us into temptation, you know what we're really saying? By that phrase, they're alone. Do you think God would lead you into temptation to begin with? Okay. What it means is that you're inviting God in your life, and you're saying, God, direct my paths. Be in my life. Work with me. Show me which way to go. You know, I need you to guide me in everything I do in my life. Lead me not into temptation. Direct me away from the evil one. I want you to be involved in my life from the time I whipped up in the morning to the time I would have been in night.

That you're with me. And, God, I'm inviting you in my life. Please help me. That's what that little verse means.

That we're inviting God into our lives as our partner. We have that kind of attitude. No wonder Paul had this attitude. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

There's so much we can accomplish, so much we can do. You're going to be knowing that God is at work in us, ought to motivate us to work our own salvation more diligently to do our part. Another thing that I think is a part of working out our salvation with fear and trembling, brethren, is willingly fulfilling your calling without complaint. Remember, one of the things in the fact is, work out your own salvation without complaining.

Ancient Israel lacked true conversion and evidence of that because they were constantly complaining. How can you tell if somebody is not converted? They're always complaining. They're discontent. They're satisfied with anything that God has given them or any job that has been given to them. They've got to have more or better, something different than what God has told them about. Paul said in his life, in all things he's learned to be content. He had had riches, he had been poor, he had nothing, and there's much, but in every way be content. So do it without complaint. Again, that was the problem of ancient Israel. And God said, don't be like they were because there were penalties to pay. Go look over there in 1 Corinthians 10. I'm not going to go there. Paul in Romans 5.3 says we should rejoice in trials because it makes us solid, it makes us steadfast. You know, if you ever have a trial, remember that's why you've got it. God wants you to make you more steadfast, more solid than you've ever been before. And he's got the perfect formula for that.

God wants us to realize that in the world, the squeaky will gets oil, right? In God's way, we get a trial. I was going to say a squeaky will gets replaced. That's not what happens. God gives us a trial to straighten the squeaky will up.

Sometimes, you know, people say, it couldn't be much worse than this. Then God says, well, wait a minute here. I think it could. I've been protecting you from this. I've helped you with this. I think it could. You know, James says that trials work patience in us and perfects us.

I had an old math teacher. His name was Lattimer. We were pretty good friends, you know, when I was in his math classes. He talked about how students complain. One of his favorite phrases was, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That sticks a line back in those years. You know, Carl Sandberg, who was a poet and an author, he wrote about Abraham Lincoln. He said, life is like an onion. You peel off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. Isn't that the way it is? Sometimes you cry. Life is not a box of chocolates, isn't it? You know, as old, you know, the first gump said it in the movie. You know, God gives us, in fact, what we are going to be eating, whatever that is, the next one we're going to have. You know, this world is constantly in chaos and conflict, but we have to be lights of God's way of cooperation and unity. And light is only valuable. Light is only valuable where, brethren?

If I take a flashlight right now and go outside, how valuable is the light out there? Not going to help much, is it? Light is only valuable where there is darkness.

And God wants us to be lights, brethren, in the darkness of this world and this society. We are to become blameless in this crooked generation that is more crooked than it was nearly 2,000 years ago.

So, willingly, brethren, fulfill your calling without complaint as you work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Next, brethren, rejoice that we can suffer as Jesus Christ did for us. Rejoice. You know, after Jesus Christ was crucified, the disciples preached, and they were summoned by the religious authority of the Sanhedrin. And they commanded them not to preach in the name of Jesus Christ, but what did they say?

We must obey God rather than men. And then they beat them and they commanded them not to preach in the name of Christ, and then they released them.

And what happened? The Scripture says that they therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoiced in that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor in His name. What has changed today? Whether or maybe we have not applied ourselves, or we might be facing things like this and this world today. If we're not doing now, what surely will happen in the future? For God's people?

To rather rejoice if you're able to suffer as Jesus Christ suffered for us. You know, I know of no one in this era of the Church who has been beaten for preaching the truth. Do you know of anybody? I don't know of anybody that's been beaten for preaching the truth. I know I've had people look at me very sternly, and I have had a shot, but I've never been beaten for preaching the truth.

You know, I've had a few things happen along that way. I've had a threat of a shotgun, but still haven't been beaten.

I didn't know what fear was. I think it's coming, though, brethren, when we may be beaten for what we believe. Will we be willing to suffer with Christ as the apostles of the earlier Church did? What are we willing to endure, brethren, to obey God now?

I'm not going to turn to it, but I'm going to read Romans 8, verses 17-18. It says, It says, If we are willing to suffer for Christ, brethren, then we're going to be glorified together with Jesus Christ. Does working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, brethren, mean that we're independent Christians, or we can do whatever we want? No, far from it.

It means that we must not, brethren, neglect our great calling. Work like everything depended upon you, but pray as though everything depends on God. In one sense, brethren, all does depend on God because he rewards the faithful with a free gift of salvation. But, brethren, be a light. Be a beacon of the true liberty and freedom that others to other people by diligently working out your own salvation with fear and reverence before our God. Be careful, again, how you're working on that. It's very important. Your calling is the most important thing of your entire existence.