…work out your own
salvation…for it is God who works in you… —Philippians 2:12-13
“Your will agrees with God,
but in your flesh there is a nature that renders you powerless to do what you
know you ought to do. When the Lord initially comes in contact with our
conscience, the first thing our conscience does is awaken our will, and our will
always agrees with God. […] What causes you to say “I will not obey” is
something less deep and penetrating than your will. […] The will is the
essential element in God’s creation of human beings— sin is a perverse nature
which entered into people. In someone who has been born again, the source of
the will is Almighty God. “…for it is God who works in you both to will and to
do for His good pleasure.” With focused attention and great care, you have to
“work out” what God “works in” you— not work to accomplish or earn “your own
salvation,” but work it out so you will exhibit the evidence of a life based
with determined, unshakable faith on the complete and perfect redemption of the
Lord. […] Stubbornness is an unintelligent barrier, refusing enlightenment and blocking
its flow. The only thing to do with this barrier of stubbornness is to blow it
up with “dynamite,” and the “dynamite” is obedience to the Holy Spirit.” CHAMBERS
The problem is not my will,
it’s my won’t. Self-determination is at the very foundation of this country’s
existence. The freedom of a people to
determine the way in which they shall be governed and whether or not they shall
be self-governed. But self-determination
also has the meaning of the freedom to live as one chooses, or to act or decide
without consulting others. And that is
what gets in the way of obedience to God’s will. We want to decide what is best for us. If we need God’s help, we will let Him
know. Typically that is when our plan
fails. Imagine thinking that we know
better than the Creator God. We do it
all the time. Just like we did with our
parents. The reason we went our own way then is because we wanted what we wanted and felt
that all they wanted was to keep us from getting it. We lacked understanding. What drove us, and may still be driving us,
was our lust to get what we wanted. (Proverbs
14:12) “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of
death.” Do you believe that? Are you living it today? You don’t have to, you know. There is a better way of life. That life is just beyond “yes, Lord to Your will
and to Your way.” Yielding your stubborn heart to the leading of the Holy
Spirit. To the council of the Word of God.
(James 1:14-15) “… each person is tempted when he is lured and
enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to
sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” Death is separation from God. I am not suggesting loss of salvation, but
there is always the possibility of a lack of salvation. There are many people that believe that
becoming a Christian is found in the saying of certain words and not faith in
Jesus. The dependence upon an “incantation”
if you will, for salvation is equivalent to believing that you can be saved by
works or, in this case, words and not by faith.
That is clearly not true. I often
share Romans 10:9 with people “if
you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” But Romans
10:10-11 complete that truth “For
with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses
and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be
put to shame.’” It is not just words, it
is faith followed by words that profess that faith.
When we have sinned, God will
only hear a confession, not a cry for help. We would like to pretend that there is no sin
and move on in our relationship with God. And frankly, get back to doing what
we want to do. That my friend is a miserable
existence. God has much more for us than
that. Get right with God this morning. If you are a Christian, then confess and
repent. If you are not . .stop kidding
yourself … believe and profess. God
loves you .. and wants you to love Him back.
CHARLEY
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