POSSESSING, AND "WORKING OUT."
I CAN imagine some one asking: What does that passage mean--"Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling?" Well, I want you to
emphasize the word _your:_ "Work out _your_ salvation." That is most
important. You hear people talk of working out salvation, when all
the time they have not got it. How can you work out what you do not
possess? Paul is here writing to the Christians at Philippi. They
were already saved by the grace of God. Now that they had got this
wonderful gift, he says: "Go, work it out." When you see a person
working for salvation, you may know that he has got a false idea of
the teaching of the Scripture. We have salvation as a gift; and of
course we cannot get it by working for it. It is our appreciation of
this gift that makes us work.
Many people are working and working, as Rowland Hill says, like
children on a rocking horse--it is a beautiful motion, but there is
no progress. Those who are working for salvation are like men on a
treadmill, going round, and round, and round; toiling, and toiling,
and toiling; but nothing comes of it all. There is no progress, and
there cannot be until you have the motive power within, till the
breath of life comes from God, which can alone give you power to
work for others.
Suppose I say to my son: "You are going away from home; and I want
you to be very careful how you spend that $500." "Well," he says,
"if you will give me $500, I will be careful about it; but how can I
be careful in spending what I have not got?" And so, unless you have
salvation, you cannot work it out.
Take another illustration. One summer my boy asked me to give him a
piece of ground that he might have a garden all to himself. I said I
would give it to him; but that I expected he would keep it clear of
weeds, and use it in some way that would make it pleasant and
profitable to him. He was to work out the piece of land; but he
could not do that until I had given it to him. Neither was it his
working it out that secured him the garden. I gave it to him freely,
apart from any merit of his own; but I did so on the understanding
that he should employ it to the best advantage. I think that is a
fair illustration of our working out the salvation that God has
given us.
Of course these illustrations fail in some points. I could not
impart to my son the willingness to work out the piece of land,
though I could provide him with all the necessary implements. God
not only gives us salvation freely, but he gives us the power to
work it out.
A writer says on this point: "Paul does not command the Philippians
_to save themselves_. There was no thought in his mind of any
meritorious self-righteousness. Man can by no work of his own either
procure salvation or merit salvation. God worketh the salvation
_within_ the soul--man only worketh that salvation _out_ in the
Christian life. To break off from known sin; to renounce all
self-righteousness; to cast ourselves in loving faith on the merits of
Christ crucified; to commence at once a life of self-denial, of
prayer, of obedience; to turn from all that God forbids, resolutely
and earnestly, unto all that God requires--this is what the text
implies. But then this is not salvation. Salvation is of God--of
grace--of free grace. From the germ to the fruit, from foundation to
top-stone--it is of grace, free grace, altogether and only. But the
'_working out of salvation_'--is _man's part_ in the work of
salvation. God will not repent for the man; nor believe for the man;
nor lead a holy life for the man. God worketh inwardly--man worketh
outwardly. And this outward human work is as necessary as the inward
Divine work."
God works in us; and then we work _for_ Him. If He has done a work
in us, we certainly ought to go and work for others. A man must have
this salvation, and must know it, before he can work for the
salvation of others.
Many of you have tried hard to save yourselves; but what has been
the end of it all? I remember a lady in the North of England who
became quite angry when I made this remark publicly: "No one in this
congregation will be saved till they stop trying to save
themselves." Down she came from the gallery, and said to me: "You
have made me perfectly miserable." "Indeed," I said, "how is that?"
"Why, I always thought that if I kept on trying, God would save me
at some time; and now you tell me to stop trying: what, then, am I
to do?" "Why, let the Lord save you." She went off in something like
a rage. It is not always a bad sign when you see a man or a woman
wake up cross, if it is the Word of God that wakes them up. A day or
two afterwards she came and thanked me. She said she had been
turning over in her mind what I had said; and at last the truth
dawned upon her, that though she had worked long, though she had
formed a good many resolutions, she had made no progress. So she
gave up the struggle; and then it was that the Lord Jesus saved her.
I want to ask you this question: If sin needs forgiveness--and all
sin is against God--how can you work out your own forgiveness? If I
stole $100 from a friend, I could not forgive myself, could I? No
act of mine would bring about forgiveness, unless my friend forgave
me. And so, if I want forgiveness of sin, it must be the work of
God. If we look at salvation as a new life, it must be the work of
God. God is the author of life: you cannot give yourself life. If we
consider it as a gift, it must come from some one outside of
ourselves. That is what I read in the Bible--Salvation as a gift.
While I am speaking, you can make up your mind that you will stop
trying, and take this gift.
I wish I could get this whole audience to drop the word _try_, and
put the word _trust_ in its place. The forgiving grace of God is
wonderful. He will save you this very minute, if you are willing to
be saved. He delights in mercy. He wants to show that mercy to every
soul. The religion of Christ is not man working his way up to God;
it is God coming down to man. It is Christ coming down to the pit of
sin and woe where we are, bringing us out of the pit, putting our
feet upon a rock, and a new song in our mouth. He will do it this
minute, while I am speaking, if you will let Him. Will you let Him?
That is the question.
I do not believe much in dreams; but they sometimes illustrate a
point. I heard about a woman who had been trying for a long time,
just like many of you, to be better and better. She tried to save
herself, but made no progress. One night she fell asleep in a very
troubled state of mind, and she had a dream. She thought that she
was in a pit striving to get out--climbing and slipping, climbing
and slipping, climbing and slipping; at last she gave up the
struggle, and laid herself down at the bottom of the pit to die. She
happened to look up, and she saw through the mouth of the pit a
beautiful star. She fixed her eye on it; and it seemed as if the
star lifted her up till she was almost out. But the thought of
herself came to her mind; she looked off at the sides of the pit:
immediately she lost sight of the star, and down to the bottom of
the pit she went. Again she fixed her eye on the star; and again it
seemed to lift her almost out. But once again she took her eye off
the star, and looked at herself; down into the pit she fell again!
The third time she fixed her eye on the star and was lifted higher
and higher, until all at once her feet struck the ground above, and
she awoke from her sleep.
God taught her a lesson by the dream. She learned that if ever she
was to be saved, she must give up the struggle, and let Jesus Christ
save her. My friends, give up the struggle today! You have tried
long and hard. It has been a hard battle, has it not? Give it up;
and repose in the arms of Jesus Christ. Say "Lord, I come to thee as
a poor sinner; wilt Thou not save me and help me?" "The gift of God
is eternal life." It is offered to all: who will have it?
I see some children here: let me tell you a story. If you have not
heard it before, please do not forget it. A Sunday school teacher
wished to show his class how free the gift of God is. He took a
silver watch from his pocket one day, and offered it to the eldest
boy in the class. "It is yours, if you will take it." The little
fellow sat and grinned at the teacher. He thought he was joking. The
teacher offered it to the next boy, and said: "Take that watch: it
is yours." The little fellow thought he would be laughed at if he
held out his hand, and therefore he sat still. In the same way the
teacher went nearly round the class: but not one of them would
accept the proffered gift. At length he came to the smallest boy.
When the watch was offered to the little fellow, he took it and put
it into his pocket. All the class laughed at him. "I am thankful, my
boy," said the teacher, "that you believe my word. The watch is
yours. Take good care of it. Wind it up every night." The rest of
the class looked on in amazement; and one of them said: "Teacher,
you don't mean that the watch is his? You don't mean that he hasn't
to give it back to you?" "No," said the teacher, "he hasn't to give
it back to me. It is his own now." "Oh--h--h! if I had only known
that, wouldn't I have taken it!"
I see you laugh; but my friends you are laughing at yourselves. You
need not go far away to find these boys. Salvation is freely offered
to all, but the trouble is that men do not believe God's Word, and
do not accept the gift. Who will accept it now?
I found a few lines the other day on this point that I thought very
good. I will close with them:
"I would not work my soul to save,
For that my Lord hath done;
But I would work like any slave,
For love of God's dear Son."