Working out your salvation

One of the qualities that are unique to God is that He does wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure (Isaiah 25:1). Indeed, He is the only God who announces what He will do before He does what He says He will do. Moreover, when what He announces comes to pass, it still takes His audience by surprise despite being forewarned. How is it possible? Who is this God? The Holy One of Israel, the Great I AM is His name. We are not worthy to be His image bearers, nor are we worthy to be adopted in His family. God’s goodness is unfathomable. I do not know why but this week, God’s all-knowing character and steadfastness jumped out of the pages of the book of Jeremiah. With an ever-increasing love God continued to speak to His wayward people bringing them the same message again and again without giving up. The way God acted towards the Israelites is the same way He acts towards us today, continuously calling us to Him, telling us to repent of our sins and choose life with Him, patiently waiting for us to return to Him like the prodigal son. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to take this God for granted in my life. I have come to understand and realize that nothing I do is because I have any merit of some sort, all that I am and do is all by the grace of God. I know in evangelical and reformed circles, this phrase is a cliché, however I fear many say it without understanding. Today, I would like to encourage us to ponder on the biblical truths we know but take for granted.

In the book of Jeremiah, God spoke a lot during the siege of the Chaldeans in Jerusalem. At a time when hope seemed to be lost, when physically, Judah had no way out, God speaks to reason with His people. God had warned His people repeatedly of the siege of the Chaldeans and the destruction of Jerusalem. One would think, being in the difficult situation he was, the king of Judah, Zedekiah would have humbled himself before the LORD. However, what we learn is that neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of God spoken through His prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:2). The word of the LORD which had been spoken to Zedekiah and all of Judah before the siege was being spoken again during the siege and sadly, the disobedience was still prevalent. Despite not living in a way that pleased the LORD, the king of Judah would still summon Jeremiah the prophet to inquire of the LORD or to intercede on behalf of the nation in the hopes that God would deliver Judah from the hands of the Chaldeans as though sin was not repulsive to the LORD. Every time that Zedekiah inquired of the LORD or asked Jeremiah whether there was a word from the LORD, Jeremiah always answered with the same message from the LORD which was “the Chaldeans will destroy this city” or “Jerusalem shall be destroyed by the king of Babylon”. 

Throughout the first thirty-seven chapters of Jeremiah where I have read so far, the message from God has remained the same: judgement upon Israel by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Furthermore, Israel was to surrender to Babylon if she were to survive. Indeed, God declared that the Israelites who would go into exile would become His remnant, and He would bring them back to Jerusalem and restore the city (Jeremiah 29-33). God’s plan had always been to restore His people and nation. The king of Babylon was being used to chastise Israel because of her sins yet a time would come when the LORD would also punish Babylon for its atrocities. God’s judgement is just and no one gets a preferential treatment. I am still baffled at the fact that God kept telling Judah one king after the other that they would surrender to Babylon, yet they all ignored it and sought to make alliances with foreign nations like Egypt to enlist their help against the Chaldeans. 

God’s people rely on God and God alone. Their help comes from the LORD and no one else. This is what God expects of His people. Today, this is still an expectation of the LORD. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whom we serve is a jealous God who does not share His glory and rightly so. Therefore, He cannot be a second thought, He will not tolerate being an option among many others or one of the many plans we have, no, He has to be the only option and the only plan we have. Our allegiance is to Him alone. Like Jesus said, we cannot serve two masters: either we will love one and hate the other or be devoted to one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24). We have to choose, that is why even today when we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we decide to have him take charge of our lives. We acknowledge then, that it is no longer we who are living but Christ who lives in us (Galatians 2:20). Indeed, our lives are no longer lived to gratify the desires of our flesh but we now live to serve the LORD. 

When I think about the people of Israel, specifically Judah, the fact that they rejected the counsel of the LORD so plainly again and again is terrifying and humbling at the same time. Among the two kingdoms, Judah was the one who remained steadfast to the LORD, they still observed the Law and the Temple of God was still in Jerusalem although it had now been perverted by all sorts of evil practices that the LORD did not approve of. These were supposed to be the redeemed people of God, yet they acted like they were His enemies. This sin grieved the LORD and displeased Him greatly, hence the judgement and deportation of Judeans. This tells me that being chosen by God is not the end of it all, you have to remain in Him. He chooses you and expects you to remain.

Similarly, those of us who have put our trust and hope in the LORD Jesus Christ know we were chosen by the Father to believe in His son, yet He expects us to remain in His son for only in the son do we have life and life eternal. What this means me is that once we have gained the new identity of children of God, redeemed by grace through faith, we have to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling as it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12). We cannot assume because we are saved, we do not need to do anything. Once we are saved, we do not work out our salvation to be saved, instead we work it out to express it. For it is the saved who works out his or her salvation, that is living in obedience to the word of the LORD, not falling prey to the lure of sin or the schemes of the devil. 

Unlike the people of Judah, we cannot take our salvation for granted, we cannot say that because our salvation is sure in Jesus Christ, we can live our lives anyhow we want for that would be foolish. We cannot think living a life that displeases the LORD while claiming to be a child of God will get us to heaven, this is simply deceiving ourselves. Instead, if you are saved, that is you have put your faith and trust in the sacrifice of the LORD Jesus on the cross, your life should be continually a living sacrifice to the LORD since you are no longer yours.

Seeing that it is the LORD who does marvelous things which He has planned long ago, we must realize that what we do cannot be credited to us but to the One who works all things for His good purpose. To that end, we ought to pray to the LORD to give us the desire to do the work He has already planned for us; we should pray to the LORD to draw us to Himself and open the eyes of our heart; we should pray to the LORD to convict us of our sins otherwise we would not come to Him. We are nothing without the LORD so let us pray ever more to the One who sustains us and knows all things. Amen.