Working Out Salvation

Q: What does the Bible say about working out salvation?

The Bible teaches that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, relying on God's empowerment. Philippians 2:12-13 urges believers to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, emphasizing that our ability to do so comes from God who works in us. This passage should not be misinterpreted as a call to earn salvation or prove our worth through works. Instead, it's an encouragement to live in light of the salvation already given, acknowledging that God is the one who enables us to will and to act according to His good pleasure.

Q: How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Scripture clearly teaches that salvation is entirely by grace, not by our works. Ephesians 2:8-9 states that we are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from ourselves; it is a gift from God. Salvation cannot be earned or deserved through human effort. Throughout Scripture, we see that God alone is the author of our salvation, having chosen His elect before the foundation of the world. The finished work of Christ utterly secures our redemption and shows that salvation is solely a result of God's grace, further underscoring that we receive it freely, not based on our deeds.

Q: Why is understanding Christ's obedience important for Christians?

Understanding Christ's obedience assures us of our standing before God as perfectly righteous in Him. Christ's obedience is crucial for Christians because it is through His perfect obedience that we are seen as righteous before God. As the sermon highlights, we cannot claim to have obeyed God perfectly ourselves, yet in Christ, we are recognized as having always obeyed. This is foundational for our faith, as it clarifies that God's acceptance of us is solely based on the obedience of Christ that is credited to us. This understanding leads to assurance and rest, knowing that we stand justified not by our works but wholly in the righteousness of Christ.

Q: What does it mean to look to Christ alone for salvation?

Looking to Christ alone means relying solely on Him for our salvation and righteousness. Looking to Christ alone signifies placing our full trust in Jesus as the sole source of our salvation. It involves turning away from self-reliance and recognizing that all our righteousness comes from Him. The sermon emphasizes that our works do not contribute to our salvation; rather, they flow from a heart transformed by God's grace. By focusing on Christ and His finished work, we acknowledge that He is our only hope and refuge. This focus enables believers to live a life marked by faith and obedience that stems from gratitude rather than obligation.

Q: How does God's sovereignty relate to salvation?

God's sovereignty guarantees that He accomplishes the salvation of His elect without fail. God's sovereignty is a comforting truth in the doctrine of salvation, as it underscores that He has the ultimate authority and power to save His people. As highlighted in the sermon, God does what He wills and no one can thwart His plans. This means that He has unconditionally chosen a people for Himself and ensures their redemption through Christ. In understanding God's sovereignty, believers can find assurance that our salvation is secure, as it is not dependent on our actions but rather on His gracious will and perfect timing.

We're going to be in the book of Philippians chapter two, if you would like to turn there. Philippians chapter two. Our text starts out by saying the word wherefore, and that's the same concept of saying therefore, and we often say the term, what is the therefore there for? So we have to go back a little bit and realize that he's speaking in context of what he had already spoken. Look at verse two of chapter, I'm sorry, look at verse one.

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, If any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercies, fulfill you my joy that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

So he's saying servitude. He's speaking of servitude. He's saying serve one another. Fulfill my joy by serving one another, by serving the Lord. And we know the only way we can do that is by looking to Christ. We look to Christ. And knowing that we cannot serve the Lord as we ought to, or as we want to, but yet he served on behalf of his people. So we look to his servitude. We look to his sacrifice.

And in doing so, the Lord's people are motivated to actually help one another. But not as any part of righteousness, not as any part of salvation. I delight in helping my brethren. I joy in, if you needed something, I would be glad to help you if I had the means or the ability. And you're the same way. And that's the heart that the Lord gives to his people.

Now, in no way do we look at that and say, okay, I know that I'm his. because of my service. No, that's not what we do. He's saying we do it by looking to Christ alone. That's what Paul is getting across to the Philippians. Now, with all that in mind, let's look at our text, Philippians 2, verse 12 and 13.

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. This in no way means work for salvation. I remember a time when I was in false religion, and maybe some of you can relate to this, but they would talk about this verse in particular as figuring out what pleases God and doing that. Working out your salvation. I'm going to work towards my salvation. I'm going to work to keep or to show evidence of my salvation. That's not what this is saying. That's not what he's saying at all. It's in the light of what we have already read.

Let this mind be in you, which is in Christ Jesus. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works. He's saying, Christ is salvation. As you are doing this you are looking unto Him alone. As you do unto each other. He's not talking about for salvation. He's saying as you have been saved how you live your life is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. As all our righteousness, all our wisdom, all our sanctification and redemption. Otherwise we'll find ourselves trying to work. We'll find ourself trying to do. We'll find ourself trying to add to or take away from the finished work of Christ. So he cannot be saying, do something to add to or take away from it because he's talking about the servitude that the Lord's people do unto the Lord and unto each other. It also does not mean look to self and figure out how to get saved.

You ever heard that terminology before? I got saved. That's not in the Bible. Nobody gets saved. God saved his people from their sin, and in time he calls them to the knowledge of that truth. And we find ourselves, the benefactors, we find ourselves the recipients, by his grace alone, of salvation. We didn't get saved, he bestows it freely by his grace. So he's not talking about working in order to figure out how to get saved. Salvation's of the Lord all by grace. It's not saying do something as the cause of your salvation or the evidence of your salvation.

Every time we're given something to do, we will make a work out of it if our eyes are not focused on Christ alone. Every single time we're given something to do, we will look to ourself. We will always look to self. That's how we are by nature. It's our natural response to look to self.

But faith looks to Christ alone. So what is our Lord, through Paul, teaching God's elect here? Well, as I was studying this, I don't normally confess this, but I was struggling because Sometimes the Lord just will not show his face. And I'm not just gonna put things down, just be putting words down. I wanna see his face. I wanna see what his message is for you. This is not a performance.

This is a, I'm giving you all my heart that the Lord has given to me to give to you. The message that the Lord's given to you, to me, for you. And the Lord showed me something glorious and I rejoiced, I cried. I got to receive it first and I pray if he would be willing to give you that same piece of your heart what I'm about to tell you.

Look at verse 12 and I want you to notice one word, one word always. I want you to notice this word. Wherefore, My beloved, as ye have always obeyed. I'm gonna stop right there. You have always, my beloved, you have always obeyed. Can anybody present say that you have always obeyed God in everything?

Can anybody say that? I can't say that. I want to. I want to be able to obey him in all things, but that's not possible for us. But he just said, you have, beloved, that's the Lord's elect. You have always obeyed God in all things. How is that possible?

Because I know he ain't talking about this. I know he's not talking about me, because I see myself, I see my sin. If I could obey God in everything, I would never sin again. I would never do anything against his holy law. I would never do anything against his word. But he's saying that that's exactly what I do. How is that even possible? How is that even possible? Does this describe my obedience to God? No. No, it describes the obedience of Christ. It describes the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God does not see my unbelief. God does not see your unbelief if we're his. God does not see my sin and see your sin because of the finished work of Christ. We were given to Christ before time ever began, and we have always been seen in Christ. He has seen us and is seeing us right now, whether we're awake, whether we're asleep, Whether we're eating, no matter whether we're working, or whatever we may be doing, He sees us in perfect obedience to Him.

Rob Hicks, you've obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ in everything. Linda Lash, you've obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ in everything. Do you believe that? Only because you're in Him. Al Yarkas, you obeyed God in everything. If you're in Christ, isn't that glorious? You can't even describe how fantastic that that is, how awesome that, because we see ourself as utterly sinful, destitute.

And I'll name everybody else in here. I'm not picking favorites here, so don't get offended. I love all of you the same. It's just, look, I obey, I obey. My substitute did. My surety did. And because I was in him, I lived a perfect life before God so that my title and your title, so that our record is perfectly righteous. Never having sinned one time. Oh, there's rest. I can rest there. I can just sit right there forever. I stay right there. That is rest. That's rest.

You have always obeyed, always obeyed. You've never once failed to obey God, not in his eyes. You haven't sinned one time. You know why? Because he sees us in Christ. The glorious part about God's salvation is he's the one that put us in Christ. Therefore, nobody can take us out of Christ. So if he sees me as obedient now, he's seen me as obedient before the foundation of the world. Meaning I've never sinned one time. I've never disobeyed one time. I've never done anything wrong one time in his eyes. I love that.

Because all I can see is this sinful nature that I have. All he sees is the new nature on the inside. He sees the faith that we live by. Looking to Christ alone is all of our righteousness. You ever feel unworthy? Yeah. Often. He sees you as worthy. Because you're in Christ. Worthy of his salvation. Worthy of his redemption. Worthy of his full pardon. He sees his people as worthy. What a thought. He sees me. As worthy. If I'm in Christ, he does. This is how we work out our salvation, making certain we're looking to Christ alone.

Paul said in another place, I believe it's Galatians, I can't remember and I didn't look it up, so if it's not Galatians, I'll go ahead and apologize, but he said, work out your own soul. No, I'm sorry, that's the wrong verse. I just had, that's right here.

He said, examine yourself. See if you be in the faith. He's not saying look at your good works or look at your actions. Do they line up with what God said and does that show you that you have been saved? No, he's saying examine on the inside. and see if there'd be anything, anything that you're looking to as any part of your righteousness, as any part of your wisdom, as any part of your sanctification or any part of your redemption other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's how we work out salvation. We look to Christ alone. David said, if there be any, anything in me, anything in me. He said, create me a clean heart, oh God. If there be anything in me, get rid of it. Now that's the believer's prayer. Lord, I don't want to look at anything else but you. I don't want to see anything but you because you're the only one that can save me. If we are in Christ, then we're looking to him, his service and sacrifice, not ours. And when he looks upon his people, that's all he sees is the service of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, the life of Christ, the finished work of Christ, the blood of Christ.

He doesn't see our sin. He said, your sins and iniquity I will remember no more. He put them away by the sacrifice of himself. He took them out of the way, nailing them to His cross. He suffered and bled and died to make certain His people would be seen as perfect.

Do you feel perfect? You are in His sight, and how God sees it, that's really how it is. I love that. I know I'm not perfect. But if I say I'm not perfect, now think about this. If I say I'm not perfect, and yet I believe Christ, I'm calling God a liar. Because the Lord says, perfectly righteous. So we have to be like the Syrophoenician woman that says, truth, Lord, whatever you say, because how you see it really is how it is. And you can just rest. You can just rest.

This statement assures us he's referring to everyday life of the child of God, whether we are waking or sleeping or working, whatever we're doing, he has predestinated his people to perfect obedience. Isn't that glorious? He says in Ephesians 2.10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. What is that?

Looking to Christ. Looking to Christ in all things. And we do. The inward man, the outward man perished, the inward man is renewed day by day. How is the inward man renewed day by day? It's looking to Christ all the time. The Lord has never seen us not looking to His Son ever.

So whenever we get upset about something, or we do something like, ah, I wish I had done that, I messed up again, I know that that was wrong. The inward man's still looking to Christ. That's what God sees. That's what God sees, the one created in righteousness by his spirit.

How is it possible for you and I to be in Christ? Because that's the only possible way, and we all agree on that, that we could have been always, as he says, obeyed, always obedient because we're in Christ. How is it that we're in Christ? Well, first, God chose his people, his elect before time in Christ. That's where we were chosen is in Christ.

He was the only one worthy to take the book and loose the seals thereof. He was the only one worthy to die the death that would satisfy God. You and I could have died, but it would just been eternal hell for us. It would have done any good, but he took He took our punishment on the cross of Calvary. He was the only one capable of doing so.

Therefore, God elected a people in the Lord Jesus Christ before time. We literally given to him, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, if I can put it that way. And we had to be redeemed. So Christ was ordained to be the redeemer of his people. He was ordained to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He was the one that was going to do the suffering and the dying.

He said, I'll redeem them. I'll redeem them. You remember the story, Boaz and Ruth. Boaz says, I can't redeem you. There's a kinsman nearer than me. That was the law that was nearer than our kinsman redeemer, Jesus Christ. And the law had rights. It had rights to us. It had a hold on us. It had a grip on us. It demanded death. Wages of sin is death.

You remember the story, Boaz, he goes to talk to the nearest kinsman and he says to him, to redeem the land that Naomi owns. He said, yeah, I could do that. I could redeem the land. That's not a problem. He said, well, the day you do, you'll have to take the Moabitess Ruth.

And he says, oh, I can't do that. Can't redeem her. It would mar my inheritance. See, the law of God can't redeem, and yet men are constantly going to the law, trying to live a certain life or a certain way, thinking that they're gonna please God, and they're gonna find redemption. That's not what's gonna happen.

All that's gonna be is condemnation. That's all that the law can say is guilty, guilty, guilty. When it says guilty, it demands death, even the most minute sin. Guilty, death. There is no little sin, big sin, people think about. It doesn't work that way. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death, period. We can't fix that.

But because the nearer kinsman couldn't redeem us, Boaz says, I'll redeem her. I'll redeem her. And he did just that. Our Lord and Savior became a man to redeem his people. He became a creature of dust upon this earth, just as you and I are. The likeness of sinful flesh, the scripture says. And it says, and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

He satisfied the law's demands. He made certain to redeem his people. were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world." So everything that He did, whether He was walking, whether He was talking, He was constantly looking to the Father. He was always in complete obedience unto the Father. And because we were in Him the Lord has put that on our record, the record of His people.

We have always, I should have titled this message, Always Obeyed, but I didn't. I don't know if I told you the title. Working out salvation, yeah, that's what it was. We've always obeyed. Always obeyed. I can't, I can't get over that. Because I don't feel like I've ever obeyed. Anybody relate to that? I don't feel like I can obey. I want to. Paul said, to will is with me. But, can't do it. Can't do it, evil's always present.

Our Lord chose to make us fit subject for the kingdom of heaven, not wretched, vile sinners, not dead dogs, but the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He chose to do that. He decided to provide everything he required because he knew that we couldn't satisfy him. We could not. We didn't have righteousness to offer him. He demands perfect righteousness. We didn't have holiness to offer him. He demands holiness. We couldn't satisfy his justice because it would have never stopped being poured out upon us because we can't take away sin.

But Christ, when he had by himself purged our sin, he sat down. He sat down. And when he sat down, we sat down with him. We rest in Him. Not, I mean literally. We are seated in Him in the heavenlies, the scripture says. It is in Him that we live, we move, and we have our being. This is working out salvation, brethren. This is, look to Him. Look to Him.

Our Lord chose to be the author and finisher of faith because he is all sovereign. You know what that means? We use that word sovereign a lot, but I don't know that I've really ever defined it. Basically, as simple as I can put it, he does what he wants. He does what he wants and nobody can stop him. Nothing can stop him. There's not a power that is even close to his. You know why? He has all power. That means there's really no other power. Think about that, he has all of it.

And he chose to save, we're called worms in the scripture. And that term worm, you look that up, look up what that word is, it's a maggot. That's what we're described as. But on the cross of Calvary, Psalm 22, you know what the Lord says? Prophetically David was speaking, but you know what the Lord says?

I am a worm and no man, he became He became that, that we might be made righteous, that we might be saved from our sin. He had to go to the lowest lows, to the deepest depths. He had to go to hell on the cross for you and I and endure the full wrath of God so that you and I could be set free and be seen as always obedient unto him, as always being righteous, as always being perfect, being sanctified, being redeemed.

Now why would he do that? Well, Ezekiel 20, 44 says, and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, not according to your corrupt doings, or your house of Israel, saith the Lord, for my name's sake. For his own glory. For his own glory.

That's why Paul said, woe unto me if I glory save the cross of Christ. And he's not talking about the physical cross, he's talking about the work that was performed on the cross. He's talking about the finished work of Christ and the salvation of his elect. God chose to bestow grace and mercy where wrath was owed, where death was demanded, where justice had to be satisfied. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I will redeem them. And in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law. I find it interesting when you think about this, he had to become a man in order to be under the law. Do we see that?

Never really put two and two together before, but he was God, so he wasn't under the law. He was perfect. The law didn't apply to him. Well, he was still perfect when he became a man, but he had to become a man because the law was given to men. So he came under, think about the condescension in that. The Lord had a law and he was above it. He said, well, I'll go below the law. I'll be born of a woman under the law to redeem your people, the Lord's people. That's, that's glorious.

Our Lord came, not as the king Israel wanted. They wanted a king like David, really sat on a throne and ruled and reigned and they thought it'd be a utopia and they'd own the whole world, I guess. But he came, he didn't come that way. He came, he said, my kingdom's under this world. He came as the king of kings and the Lord of lords and nobody could see him. He came as the sovereign creator of the, he was the one that created everything.

So the tree that they hung him on, he made that tree. Think about that. And don't you think for a second, he didn't know what he, I mean, he knew. He could look through the corridors of time. He purposes all things. He knew from the time that that seed fell and hit, it was exactly purposed by God to start growing right then. He sent the sunshine. He sent the rain. He made sure that tree grew to the proper height. He made certain that everything we need for salvation was prepared. All the iron or steel that they used for the nails, the thorns that they put on his head, he made all of that. and nobody could even see him. People would talk to him, they didn't have a clue who he was.

And yet, by his glorious grace, by his precious mercy, he died in our place, in the place of his elect, in the place of his people, so that we would always be viewed as obedient. Scripture says he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I believe that's in this chapter. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The cross was a gruesome death. The cross wasn't a simple death. It wasn't sudden. It was long and grueling and agonizing.

Matter of fact, they pierced his side and forthwith came blood and water. But the other two male factors, they had to break their legs because they were still alive. When they came to Christ to break him, he was already deceased. So actually that was a prophecy that no bone in his body would be broken.

It was a grueling death, but that wasn't the difficult part. The physical agony was not why he was agonizing in the garden. The physical agony was the separation from the father and the full wrath of God being poured out upon him, the eternal judgment due you and us, you and me, you and I, upon him. That was the agony. That was the suffering. When his soul was made an offering for sin, when he was doing business with God alone, when the father wouldn't look upon him because of my sin and your sin, that was the agonizing part.

And through the darkness, we hear the most glorious words after three hours, that's our hope, that's our rest, that gives us refuge, it is finished. Everything that God required, I have provided. I have provided, you have always been obedient because of that." That's all he sees.

Perfect obedience to his holy law, perfect obedience to his commandments. because of the service of Christ we are seen not as if we had done good but we are seen literally perfectly righteous in the eyes of God. I mean I can't there is no other gospel beside this gospel that gives hope to a sinner because every other gospel is always about due This, don't do that, do this, don't do that. This gospel is the only gospel because it says Christ is all in salvation and you have been made perfectly righteous because of what he accomplished.

You have been made righteous because of his election, because of his redemption. You have been made righteous because of his regeneration. brought you back to life, and he's going to keep you. He's going to keep you, because you're going to be seen perfectly obedient forever in his eyes.

In closing, I want to point out that Working, it's important that I say this, working out salvation, it's not keeping score of your obedience, as men make this out to be. Matter of fact, it's not keeping score of anything. It's not keeping score of our service to each other.

It's literally, literally, striving to look to Christ. Strive to look to Christ. Strive to rest in Him. Strive to believe on Him. Desire it more than anything. Is that not our desire? I want to see Him. Because when I see Him, I'm not looking at myself. I don't feel disgusted. I'm resting in Him. But as soon as I turn around and pull up the mirror of the law and examine myself, here I am.

What do the scriptures say? Full of putrefying sores from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, that's us. That's us. Lepers, that's us. It's not how God sees it. There's a bomb that was found in Gilead. He is that bomb. He fixed it. He made us clean. He took our sin away by himself. He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that were written against us, that were contrary to us, that we couldn't fix. He took them out of the way and nailed them to his cross. And he died in our place so that we would be seen as having perfect, always obedient, always obedient.

The words in verse 12, let's read 12 again and then I'll tell 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. The words in verse 12 could also have said, because you are in Christ and found obedient, strive to believe, strive to obey.

That's it. That's it. Obey what? Obey the gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. This isn't a call for you to do, I'm gonna become a missionary, I'm gonna go do something, I'm going to Africa. It ain't what that's talking about. That's not what that's talking about. Look to Christ. Don't look to self.

Now am I saying there's something wrong with going to Africa? Absolutely not. If you're doing it for your salvation, it's terrible. If you're doing it in service to the Lord truly, I'm thankful the Lord give men heart to do that. You understand what I'm saying. Don't strive to serve to prove something. Strive to look to Christ in all things. That's the call.

Because he's the only one, if I'm in him, I'm seen as perfectly obedient. If I'm not in him, I can't do anything right anyways. I've got to be found in him. Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but having the righteousness, which is of God by the faith of Jesus Christ, freely bestowed by his grace.

We don't strive to obey or believe for righteousness, but because we've been made righteous. We've been made righteous. We're not trying to accomplish anything for righteousness. Christ is our righteousness, by Christ alone. We don't do it as any part or evidence of salvation. But if you and I are his, do you know why we will do this? Look at verse 13. For it is God which worketh in you both the will and do of his good pleasure. God's the doer of it, that's why.

Don't you love the fact that we don't look like we used to in false religion and say, okay, man, I've really cleaned up my life. I'm doing so much better. And I would imagine there's things I could probably do that would be better than what I do. You know, health wise, I eat too much, whatever, I don't know, all kinds of stuff I could cut out.

But point I'm making, point I'm making, it's God that keeps his people. It's God that works in his people. We get no glory in any of this. So in no way can he be saying, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, but he's not saying figure it out. That's not what he's saying. Why would we be in fear and trembling working out our salvation? Because who we're looking to. Because who we're looking to. If somebody asks you, what is salvation? Tell them Jesus Christ. Tell them Jesus Christ. What is salvation, Jesus Christ? It's actually a who. Jesus Christ is salvation.

Believe on him. And if the Lord gives us the ability to believe on him, we have always, always been obedient unto God in everything. And he gets all the glory. This is how God's people work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would take this and bless it according to your will. All for your glory in Christ's name. Amen. Let's take a break.

Working Out Salvation

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about working out salvation?

How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Why is understanding Christ's obedience important for Christians?

What does it mean to look to Christ alone for salvation?

How does God's sovereignty relate to salvation?

Sermon Transcript

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Working Out Salvation

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about working out salvation?

How do we know salvation is by grace alone?

Why is understanding Christ's obedience important for Christians?

What does it mean to look to Christ alone for salvation?

How does God's sovereignty relate to salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Caleb Hickman

Comments

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