“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”
(Phil 2:12, KJV)
Another false horn believers are often tied to when they enter the Kingdom of God is the gospel of Christ as all-fulfilling righteousness. This gospel is founded upon the fundamental truth of Christ’s work on the cross being a complete act of redemption, one which needs no further effort on man’s side. All that was needed was achieved through Christ’s crucifixion, and the believer only needs to believe the validity of this victory, profess it to the world, and live according to its truth. From this perspective the past has no bearing on the new creation, and should be left behind and forgotten.
Thus believers may state that they have been delivered from deliverance, that counselling is an unnecessary process, that spiritual warfare is an irrelevant farce – they believe that the blood of Christ covers all things and that Satan has been trampled by Jesus and the church.
Although there is some measure of theoretical truth in this approach, it simplifies a very complex matter.
According to John 19:30 Christ’s last words on the cross were “It is finished!” Two verses prior to this statement we read that He knew that all had been fulfilled (verse 28), which is clear if one considers that his works were finished from the foundation of the earth (Heb 4:3). As Christ says to his disciples in John 4:34 – “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
The blood of Christ is the only sacrifice believers may make use of. But the fact that this blood has already been spilled, does not imply that everyone is already saved through it. The blood needs to be accepted and applied. This happens through restitution and the seeking of forgiveness, thus “sprinkling” Christ’s atonement. He has taken all iniquities upon himself, but even this truth needs to be accepted before the process of ridding them can take place. We apply the blood, we are enforcers of Christ’s atonement. Christ’s crucifixion may be a completed act, but we remain violent men who need to take the Kingdom of God by force (Matt 11:12). We are God’s “fellow workers” (Matt 11:12), working alongside Christ to transform the earthly kingdoms into Godly ones (Dan 7:27). We work out our OWN salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12), as Dutch Sheets states, “enforcing the victory of Calvary”.
Sela: Reconcile the previous and the teaching of today.
- Read: 2 Sam 17; Prov 21; James 2
- Memorise: James 2:18-20 (a very important scripture in the context of this teaching)
- For a deeper understanding: Read Chapter 9 of Dutch Sheets’ Intercessory prayer.
