That is a comforting verse. Turn with me to the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 4. I'm going to look, Lord willing,
at verses 20 to 23 before I get to those verses. This verse of
Scripture came to my mind. Philippians 2, verses 12 and
13. Let me read this to you. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye
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, for it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of His good pleasure." The believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ is sure of one thing. He is absolutely sure of this
one thing. Salvation is of the Lord. He
knows that. Electing grace, sanctifying or setting apart
grace, justifying grace, redeeming and
regenerating and keeping grace is God's prerogative. We know
that. And it is His prerogative and
His choice and His will and His purpose to give, to bestow that grace
on whomsoever He will. Now we know that. Salvation has never been based
on man's merit or work but totally upon the good pleasure of God
to show mercy to whomsoever He would. And when we say salvation, salvation
is of the Lord. When we say salvation, what does
that mean? When Jonah made that declaration
in the belly of that whale. Salvation is of the Lord. The word that is used there is
a word that sets forth God's grace and mercy to preserve a
people from danger and from suffering. Now, I'm talking about eternal
danger and suffering. That word, salvation, I'm going
to read a Scripture for you in just a minute that shows you
the difference. But this word, salvation, it means it is God's
grace and mercy that preserves His people from something. Here's a verse of Scripture that
uses the same word that Jonah used. Salvation, Exodus 14, 13.
Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not. Now that's a comfort. Isn't it a comfort? Don't be
afraid. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord which He will show to you today. For the Egyptians
whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more
forever." Stand still. Stand still. Don't be afraid.
But doesn't that just take all of the pressure off of us? What can I do? What can I do? What can I do? What must I do
to work the works of God? This is what the Lord said. This
is the work of God that you believe. Stand still and see the salvation. That word salvation is a word
that reveals God's pleasure and purpose. that has already occurred
in His eternal counsel. And it is experienced in time
by His people. That word salvation, it is a
word that means that God will keep you from harm. David said in Psalm 62, 1, truly,
My soul waiteth upon God. From Him cometh my salvation."
A word that sets forth that God keeps His people from something. Damnation, harm, suffering, eternal
damnation, harm, and suffering. Now, I want to read something
for you out of the book of Joshua that shows you The other words,
save or salvation, it's Joshua 10.6. Let me read this to you. And the men of Gibeon sent unto
Joshua to the camp of Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from
thy servants. Come up to us quickly and save
us. That's another word, salvation.
And save us and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites
that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us."
Now that word is a word that means to save from the possibility
of harm or death. Two-word salvation. One of them
means to save us in the sense of keeping us from the possibility
of death and harm. The other one means a setting
forth of God's eternal counsel that keeps you from any harm,
eternal harm. I know in this life we're going
to have tribulation, trials, troubles. But this word, salvation,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That word
is a word that keeps us from something. That word salvation
is that which God has eternally kept us from. We've never entered
into it. One word means keep us from the
possibility of it. Work out your own salvation.
When Paul the Apostle said, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling, what did he mean? Work it out. Well, I'd tell you
first of all, it can't mean that my salvation comes from myself. I know that. When he says, Work
it out with fear and trembling, because he also said in that
last part of that verse, For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do, to purpose and to accomplish. Here's good
pleasure. Working out. Work out. That is, it's an exercise of
the new man that is the result of or the evidence of God's work
in you. Work it out. It means perform. Work out your own salvation. It's not a working for life,
but it's a working from life imparted. It's not a work for
grace, but it's a result because of grace. Work out. Perform. Evidence. God's work in us is evidenced. And that evidence is actually
what Paul sets forth as a working out, not something You do. But it is something that God
Almighty does in you. And it is evidenced. It is to
be done with fear and trembling. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. That is, with a serious caution. And that is the way God's people
are. It is the most amazing thing
to me. The more evidence there is of
a believer, the more obvious it is how concerned they are
over their salvation. An unbeliever has a kind of a
light, flippant attitude about salvation. Oh, he's got a hope. It's not that he doesn't make
any claim whatsoever, but it's so frivolous. It's so light. And a believer, they are so cautious You say, do they have no hope?
Oh, they have hope. Paul says, I know whom I have
believed, and I persuade it. But the more they know concerning
Him, the more they know about themselves. And they work it
out. They perform it. They evidence
it. And they do it with fear and
trembling. It's amazing. You talk to a believer, and that's
what they want to talk about. You talk to an unbeliever, they
don't want to talk about that. Psalm 28, verse 1 says, "...Unto
thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me, lest if
thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the
pit." Well, knowing that there is a new man created in righteousness
and true holiness, that is what Ephesians 4, verse 24 says, that
man now has spiritual eyes to see. He has spiritual ears to
hear. And he has a new heart that loves
and longs after the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants to hear His
voice. He wants to hear His voice in
the preaching of the Gospel. All of God's people, they come
together and they sit in your attentive. You want to hear. You long to hear. Lord, speak
to me. God Almighty, please have mercy
on me today. Speak to my heart. Lord, reveal
Yourself to me. Lord, as You spoke to Moses face
to face, speak to me. Lord, allow me that I might have
an intimate, an intimate, God's people want to have an intimate
relationship with Him. They long for that. Does that
sound strange to you? It's not. That's what Paul meant. Oh, that I might know Him. I
long to know Him. I desire to know Him. That right
there, that right there is working out your own salvation, your
own salvation, your salvation. Now in knowing what it is to
work out your own salvation, not something you do, in order
to be saved, converted, settled, but because God Almighty works
in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now, Proverbs
4.20 says this, and here it is, working out your own salvation. My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my sayings."
Attend or give attention to. This is what he is saying. Listen
up. Give attention. Hear. Incline. Stretch out is that word. Here,
look here. Lord, I am listening. Stretch out. Incline thine ears
to my saying." The Lord said in Mark 4, 23, 24, if any man
have ears to hear, if any man is endowed with the faculty of
spiritual hearing, let him hear, let him attend, let him consider.
God's people are listening. They are listening. They are
listening to hear Him. And he said to them, if any man
have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said to them, Take heed
what you hear, and with what measure you meet it shall be
measured to you, and unto you that hear shall more be given."
Now what did he mean when he said that? Take heed what you
hear and with what measure you meet. It shall be measured to
you. This is what he said. Carefully
hear. Carefully hearken to what you
hear. Labor to understand. Labor to understand what you're
hearing right now. The way that you measure what
you're hearing right now. And if you have any measure at
all to desire to hear, It is God that worketh in you to will
and to do of His good pleasure. If God Almighty has given you
ears to hear and you consider and you hearken and you desire
and you long for what you're hearing, a greater measure shall
be given you. Isn't that a precious promise? If God has given you a heart
to hear and you desire to hear and you ask, Lord, I do want
to hear. I do want to know. I do want
to understand. He said a greater measure will
be given. And God's people rejoice in that. I want to hear. Luke 8, 18 says, Take heed therefore
how you hear. For whosoever hath, that is the
faculty to hear spiritually, to him shall be given and whosoever
hath not, From him shall be taken away even that which he seemeth
to have or thinks that he has." As Brother Carl was saying a
while ago, as this time continues on and we're all getting older,
as we start looking and beholding the twilight of our years, And we
know that so. For a believer, those years get
more precious. That time gets more precious.
Seeing Him gets more precious. And you long for and you hunger
for and you desire after. And you listen to what we talked
about a while ago, the way things shall be, the way they are now. in part, and how we know in part,
but in that day. And you're listening. You hear
the river. You hear the tree of life. And
you're saying, Lord, one of these days it won't be anymore by faith. It won't be through a glass darkly.
I'll see Him face to face. And I'll see Him as He is. And I'll be like Him. And all
of this suffering and anguish This body of death is going to
be put off in a moment. I behold Him. For a believer,
the more and the closer he gets to that point, the more precious
he desires to see his Master and his Lord and his friend,
his husband. But for an unbeliever, the closer of the time of departing,
that which he thinks he has, is taken away, taken away, taken
away. And he comes to the end of his
life, an unbeliever, with absolutely the evidence of no desire whatsoever. What we hear, take heed how you
hear and what you hear. The gospel of God, the gospel
of Christ, the gospel of free grace, Tell me again how God
Almighty saves. Tell me again that salvation
is of the Lord. Nothing that gives glory to man. Nothing that puffs him up. And
hear it with respect. Hear it with reverence. And hear
it with thankfulness. My son, attend to my words, incline
thine ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from thine
eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart." Boy, here's a
precious promise of His preserving grace. His words will not depart
from us. Let them not depart from thine
eyes. The hearing ear, the seeing eye,
the Lord has made even both of them. He appointed them. He bestows
them. He keeps them. The gifts of God
are without repentance. If God's given you eyes to see,
you see. If God's given you ears to hear,
you hear. And you'll always see. You'll always hear. That His words don't depart. from our eyes that we look for
Him in the Holy Scriptures. That is a miracle of God's grace. And it's all according to His
good will and purpose. Keep them in the midst of thine
heart. Hedge them about. Guard them. Attend to His words
in the center of your affection. Can I do that? Keep them in the
midst of my heart. It is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Lord, keep Your words in my heart. Lord, let me see one more time. Lord, let me hear one more time.
Lord, I need grace for right now. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow never gets there. Today
is the day of salvation. I need You right now. You think,
well, but what if His Word is all I've got? All of my hope, my hope built
on nothing less. and His blood and righteousness,
His sacrifice for me, His life for me, His death for me. Keep
them in the midst of my heart. That is truly how a believer
feels. That is truly what he desires. This is how he feels. This is why he feels that way.
The Lord sustain me. God has kept me. He has helped
me. His Word is the sword of His
Spirit. It keeps me. It sustains me.
It teaches me. It guides me. Verse 22, For they
are life unto those that find them, and health to all their
flesh. These precious words. It's by His Word, the preaching
of the gospel of His grace. That is how in time our life
began. That's how our life is sustained. That's how it's nourished. You
that believe Him, you must feed on Him. And you must feed on
Him often. Often. Lord, if you don't keep me, I
will not be kept. Lord, if you don't keep me to
the end, I will quit. And God's people never... This
is an amazing thing. They never presume on God. They never presume on God. You
keep me. You turn me, I'll be turned.
You keep me, I'll be kept." Paul said, I keep my body unto subjection
lest that after I've preached to others that I would find myself
to be a castaway. I wonder how many men I know
that at one time appeared that had a solid stand for the gospel
of God's grace. And they're not here anymore.
I'm not saying they've departed this life. I'm just saying they're
not here anymore. God's people never presume on
God. It's an amazing thing. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. Lord, keep me and I'll be
kept. Lord, don't tear me loose. John 6, 63, "...it is the Spirit
that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing." The words that I speak
unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. Those that find these words in
power, those have been found in God's
eternal purpose to do them good. These words, they are life unto
them that find them. They are life to you that believe. These words are life. No hope. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness and has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, their health to you,
their medicine, their healing, and to all their flesh, to all
of their being, the whole man, Body and soul. Even in the midst of our frailties,
we are walking in this body and we know it. We know that we are
failing creatures. We know that we are but dust
and God has sustained us. When we see corruption within,
when we see the failings of the old man, the sin that dwells,
His Word is the remedy. of our shortcomings. Lord, I'm
sorry. To Him we look by faith for mercy,
sure mercy, fixed mercy, everlasting mercy. David said in Psalm 119,
116, Uphold me according to thy word that I may live, and let
me not be ashamed of my hope. Now, you think about that. There's
a man after God's own heart saying something that you and I would
not even outwardly want to admit. The Scripture says things that
you and I would often be too embarrassed to say because we
would never want anyone to think we thought like that. Listen
to that verse again and I'll close. according unto Thy Word that
I may live, and let me not be ashamed of my hope." Is that
how you feel? Has God Almighty given you a
heart that says, Lord, don't let me be ashamed. Don't
let me be ashamed of Christ. Don't let me be ashamed of Him
who has loved me. Help me. Work out your own salvation. Set it forth in evidence. For it is God that worketh in
you both the will and do of His good pleasure. May the Lord bless
His Word to our hearts and to our comfort for Christ's sake.
Amen.