Basic - Working Out Our Salvation

Tanner’s Beard

We do not work for our Salvation

(ESV)

8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

But we were created for good works

(ESV)

12Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14Do all things without grumbling or disputing,

15that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

16holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

That is the beauty of reading the Bible because the Bible is always talking to people like us.

18Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Their attitude to Him was more important than their flawless performance of worship rituals. Even their prayers would be ineffective if their attitude to God was not right (v. 15).

That is the beauty of reading the Bible because the Bible is always talking to people like us.

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Ritual contrasted with reality 1:10–17

Their attitude to Him was more important than their flawless performance of worship rituals. Even their prayers would be ineffective if their attitude to God was not right (v. 15). We have the same problem today. This passage repeats descriptions of the Israelites’ worship so often that the reader gets tired of them, just as God did.

(ESV)

11“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.

12“When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?

13Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

Work Out You Salvation By Receiving the Teaching of God’s Word.

People will not want to hear the teaching of God’s Word

(ESV)

3For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

4and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

5As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

People will have no maturity and be unable to understand scripture.

(ESV)

11About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

12For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

13for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

14But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

This is how Jesus spoke about receiving the Word of God.

(ESV)

18“Hear then the parable of the sower:

19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,

21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

23As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Working out our salvation requires being diligent to study and know God’s Word and to let God’s work do the work in us.

Work Out You Salvation By Loving like no Other

(ESV)

9Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

10Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.

12Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

13Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

17Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

20To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

In , Jesus spoke about the new commandment to love one another. He was talking particularly about believers have love for each other.

(ESV)

35By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

We will work out our salvation by loving each other so that the world looks at us and wonders!

Work Out Your Salvation By Growing to Maturity

The result of working out our salvation is to grow in maturity. To grow like children out of our immature grumbling and weakness to fully mature believers that act a look a certain way.

(ESV)

18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

21envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

What people see when they look at us.