Working Out Our Salvation..

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Two misunderstandings prevail today concerning our great salvation. One is that the goal of our salvation is eternal residence in Heaven. The other is that we attain that goal by maintaining our belief in certain facts about Jesus Christ, whether or not we attempt to live a godly life. Some go so far as to insist that once we make the correct profession of belief in Christ, we are assured of our home in Heaven even though we are living in sin. The Book of Hebrews does not support these ideas.

(3/1/2009) Religion has a way of destroying God’s intention. The purpose of God’s redemption is to bring us into the rest of God, that is, into the way of living that results as we keep seeking the Presence of Jesus and obeying Him in every area of our life. We work out this redemption by continually maintaining this contact and obedience.

When we enter God’s rest, which is our land of promise, we then are able to inherit God, the nations of the earth, and all of the resources of the earth. Thus we become co-heir with the Lord Jesus.

This morning we are considering Chapter Three of the Book of Hebrews. The chapter begins with "Therefore." The previous chapter tells us how great our salvation is, and how the Lord Jesus Christ is bringing us into sonship, making us His brothers.

Notice that Heaven as our goal is not mentioned in the third or fourth chapters of the Book of Hebrews, when our "great salvation" is discussed. I believe it can be said truthfully that just about all Christian explanations salvation assume that going to Heaven when we die is our goal.

One might venture that the rest of God is residence in Heaven. However, this interpretation does not agree with the argument in Hebrews. The "rest" is compared with Canaan, with Joshua battling his way into the land of promise. I don’t think most Christians picture Heaven as being filled with enemies that we have to overcome in order to attain to our inheritance.

To attain to the rest of God is to cease from our own works (religious or secular), our own striving to attain survival, security, pleasure, and success, and to look to Christ for every thing we think, say, and do. To live in continual interaction with Jesus in this manner requires the kind of faith in God that works through our strict obedience to His continually revealed will. This is why we find the expression, "So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief."

Notice, in the following passage, how obedience and belief are related:

And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed[? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:18,19)

It is obvious that the writer of Hebrews is comparing the program of new-covenant salvation with the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. Therefore we conclude that the idea of holding "firmly tll the end the confidence we had at first" is not referring to holding firmly in our mind certain doctrines but remaining steadfast throughout the numerous problems and trials with which we are confronted.

God was not angry with the Israelites because they did not keep on believing that God had called them out of slavery to inherit a good land but because "Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways."

The problem of the Israelites was their continual sinning. The reason the men of war who left Egypt died in the wilderness was that they did not have faith that God was able to drive out the enemy. They murmured and complained every time they were fearful or uncomfortable.

God humbled them by making them dependent on the daily manna, just as He humbles us by bringing us into situations where we have to look to him constantly for survival and security. But the Israelites wanted meat, not manna.

God said they tested and tried Him even though they had seen His work for forty years. They hardened their hearts with a rebellious attitude.

Then, when they did enter the land of promise, they did not wipe out totally the inhabitants, as God had commanded them to do.

Obviously Canaan, the land of promise, is not a symbol of Heaven. We do not get into Heaven by war and then compromise with Heaven’s inhabitants.

Toward what, then, is our struggle directed as we out our salvation with fear and trembling? It is directed toward that state of being in which the will of Christ is being done in and through us at all times.

The expected Christian state is that of abiding in Christ. We are abiding in Christ when we are thinking, speaking, and acting in His Person and will. The writings of the Apostles serve as a yardstick that we can use to measure out behavior to see if we are growing in Christ. Such abiding is the "rest of God," which is presented in the Book of Hebrews as the goal of salvation.

Each day some sort of problem or pressure will attempt to disturb our rest in Christ. We may become angry or unforgiving. We may be tempted to indulge in immoral, nasty behavior. We may lie. We may steal. We may behave unfaithfully toward someone who is counting on us, such as our wife or children.

When we become aware we are not abiding in Christ in some aspect of our life, we have a decision to make. We can accept this sort of behavior even though we understand it is contrary to God’s Word and will; or we can determine to overcome such behavior through Christ. This is how we enter the rest the God has ordained for us.

God has commanded us to destroy utterly all sinful behavior of our personality. All sin is of Satan and must be driven from us. The reward of such deliverance is closeness to Christ and the opportunity to serve in the Kingdom of God. Such benefits are promised to the overcomers, to those who overcome their impulses to sin.

Israel was not faithful to destroy the enemies in the land. It is this way today. The believers do not attain to total victory over known sin.

Why don’t they attain to victory over their sinful behavior. It is because they do not believe Christ wants to deliver them or does not have enough power to deliver them.

Or it may be because the believers are too spiritually lazy to pursue a besetting sin until it is destroyed out of them.

Another major factor that prevents victory over sinful behavior is the way "grace" is taught. The idea presented today is that something termed "grace" removes the need for deliverance. The believer can continue to sin and it doesn’t matter because God is unaware of their behavior. It is covered by "grace."

Actually, grace, as it is taught today, is rebellion against God combined with schizophrenia. The Christian believes that God is pleased with him when such is not the case. The New Testament warns the individual that to live according to the lusts and passions of the sinful nature is to destroy one’s resurrection unto eternal life.

The teaching given to Christians today would be as though the Israelites were to take the position that because they believed the <MI>Torah<D> was God’s Word. the fact that they disobeyed God in the wilderness did not matter. The truth is, whether or not they believed the <MI>Torah<D> to be the Word of God, they would have died in the wilderness because of their disobedience arising from their unbelief.

In like manner, even though Christian people maintain a stout profession of belief in the plenary verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, they will die spiritually if their unbelief results in their disobeying Jesus Christ.

If a believer prays and reads the Bible each day, seeking the mind of Christ, he or she continually will be faced with temptations and problems that must be overcome. It is the act of overcoming through Christ our temptations that is what the Book of Philippians means by working out our salvation with fear and trembling—fear and trembling that we might miss God’s will for our life.

Our goal is not eternal residence in Heaven. Our goal, our land of promise, is not a place. It is a state of being. It is to be fashioned in God’s image in our character, and to rest in His Person and will. This is what it means for us to enter rest in His rest.

Attaining to this state of being is necessary if we are to participate in the resurrection out from the dead, the resurrection that will take place when the Lord Jesus returns from the spirit world with His saints and holy angels.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning.http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening.http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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