Philippians
2:12
(KJV) Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
The following transcript is
from Pastor Joseph Prince’s message, “God’s Holiness Is On Your Side” Part 3.
“The pulpit is not to
beat, it to feed.” When a preacher wants to deal with someone’s sin they go
behind the pulpit to preach on that particular sin, “Today my topic is on
adultery, don’t you think for one moment you can commit adultery . . . blah,
blah, blah.” And they slap 1000 people to slap one person in the service; while
the rest don’t even know what’s happening. There are people happily in love in marriage
sitting there and they get slapped pow, pow, pow, pow just to slap that one
person in adultery. That preacher has no guts. “The pulpit is not to beat, it
to feed.”
“If someone has been in
church for sometime; if someone is a leader sins, confront the person. That’s
what we do at New Creation Church
“If they say, ‘You don’t
love me.
“But it’s only after
stage, after stage of refusal and many times, it’s amazing, when people see how
loving Jesus is and they are living in sin, they leave church. It’s because of
love they cannot sin; for if we preach the Law it’s easier to hang around.
“The Law is impersonal,
it’s two sets of stones. When you unveil a loving Jesus it is very hard to be
in His presence; and either they allow their sin to go or they will go; but
remain they cannot stay the way they are.
“So this guy [a world-wide
famous preacher at a conference both him and Pastor Prince were speaking at]
says privately, ‘The Bible says work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.’
“Whenever somebody says work
out you salvation with fear and trembling do you know what they are trying to
say? They’re trying to give the impression, it’s not enough just to believe;
you have to work for your salvation.
“I said, Brother, that’s a
misquote. You are quoting verses out of context. He said, ‘No I’m not. It’s
from Philippians.’ I said, I know where it is from. I can quote to you the
entire portion and I quote off—‘Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. For [because] it is God which works
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.’ (Philippians 2:12-13)
“In other words you cannot
work out something you don’t have. If you don’t have salvation what do you work
out? God works in you the willingness and performance. For example, God works
in you the romance towards your wife—you work it out. God works in you the
diligence, you work it out.
“God works in you the
patience with a brother, you work it out. You work out what God works in first.
It’s God that works in you the willingness and the performance of His good
pleasure.
“Now why is it that Karen
who plays the keyboard most beautifully; why is it that Karen has an interest
in music; she has written so many beautiful songs in our church? Why is it the
rest of us have no interest in writing songs? Why is it? Because, God has
worked in her the willingness in writing music. God has given her not only the
willingness but also the performance of that writing.
“Pastor Henry has no
willingness to write songs, until today, Amen? He has no willingness nor the performance.
God didn’t work it in, therefore he cannot work it out. But I tell you what
Pastor Henry has the gift of healing. When he prays for five people at least
two will get healed. Some of the other pastors will pray for five people and
they walk away saying, ‘Keep praying, God will heal you one of these days; keep
on believing now!’
“You can tell the calling
that you have in God by the passion in your heart. And, Pastor Henry has the
passion for the sick. That’s why he likes to read books on divine healing;
Smith Wigglesworth etc.; in fact he believes everybody should read these books.
He buys the books for people; for all the pastors—we have all received books
from him that we don’t read . . . [laughter] but he loves it, he believes
everybody should read this book.
“Why does he have a
passion for books of healing? You know why? Because, God has worked in him the
gift, Amen? It’s God that works in him the willingness and the performance of
the good pleasure. Amen!
“So what the verse is
saying is that you work out [motions to belly – pulling deep within] work out
your salvation that God first worked in. God works in, the willingness for certain
ministry, you have a love for children, most likely you are called to the
children’s ministry. If you don’t like children, don’t worry, go and say, ‘I
will sacrifice myself and go into the insurance ministry.’ We love our
children, please, please, don’t you dare go there . . . [laughter] Amen?.
“I love reading books with
a hot cover, ‘Lexicon Aid to the Greek Dictionary.’ I love reading books like,
‘Interlinear Hebrew and English Bible’; ‘Vines’ Expository Study of Words.’
People don’t like these books, these books are so big you can choke a donkey .
. . [laughter]. I don’t have enough space in my study for these books.
“There’s a passion in my
heart to study these aids; Bible study aids they call it. It’s God that works
in me the willingness and the performance of His good pleasure. Don’t let
anyone tell you that to work out your salvation means to work for your
salvation.
“Now you have a big
problem. You are compromising the Gospel. Which is which now? Do you have to
work for your salvation or it’s by grace thru faith by which Christ has done?
“Does fear matter? ‘What
about fear and trembling pastor? Work out your salvation with fear and
trembling!’ Now, you must always let the Bible define the Bible. You know
what’s fear and trembling in the Bible? It’s not this fear and trembling
[cowers down and shakes].
“If you look at the Bible
carefully you’ll find that it’s a very good connotation. The Apostle Paul says,
‘I was with you in great weakness in fear and trembling.’ And what happened?
His speech was in demonstration of the Spirit.
“In closing I just want to
show you real quick. What is fear and trembling? Bible interpret Bible ok?
Alright? The Bible says to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Using
the phrase fear and trembling let’s find any other passage in the Bible.
“In the Old Testament we
find in Jeremiah 33:9 God says, ‘And this city will be to Me a name of joy,
praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the
good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good
and all the peace that I make for it’ (New American Standard Bible (NASB)) God
says, ‘When I bless my people, my people will fear and tremble for all the
goodness and all the prosperity that I will do unto them.’
“It’s a working out
something I see in you this [motions to belly – pulling deep within] awesome
realization of these extra big blessings and for the love of God that you fear
and tremble. Figurative speaking, it’s not this [cowers down and shakes] fear
and trembling that you are afraid of God. Amen? You fear and tremble because of
all the good and prosperity that God has provided. Amen!
“I will give you now
another verse from the New Testament. Remember the woman who had an issue of
blood for twelve years? She was suffering with a hemorrhage for twelve years.
She came behind Jesus and touched the hem of His garment. Do you remember that?
And she was healed instantly.
“Jesus says, ‘Who touched
Me?’ Now watch this: what happened to her? She was healed while Jesus was
asking, ‘Who touched Me?’ In Mark 5:33 we read, ‘But the woman fearing and
trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and
told Him the whole truth.’ (NASB)
“What had happened to her?
She was healed. She was trembling because of that thing that was happening to
her. She was fearing and trembling because of something good that was happening
to her! Bible interpret Bible. Amen? Hallelujah!
“Let me bring this to a
close church. It all happened at the cross. [motions to the skyward] When the justice of God [motions his arms out
wide] kissed the mercy of God. [motions his finger tips pointing towards each
other] The righteousness of God met the love of God.
“Jesus was the love of God,
paying for the justice of God, on our behalf. And the justice of God says, ‘Satisfied
forever!’ And the devil wants to hide this glorious message from the sight of
the average person out there watching television or online.
“Because the Bible says, ‘Our
glorious Gospel,’ say that—Glorious, [Glorious] The Bible says, ‘The god of
this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving lest the glorious Gospel
should shine unto the hearts of the people.’ (See 2 Corinthians 4:4)
“Have you ever thought why
the devil has to blind people’s minds to not see the glorious Gospel? If our
Gospel is not attractive why try to blind people’s minds? Amen? You know your
wife will never cover your eyes when a lady in front looks like a grandmother.
“She wouldn’t do this [stretches
out arm with hand to cover the eyes] When
a lady is attractive or she’s dressed in a way that may attract, your wife may
do this [stretches out arm with hand to cover the eyes]
“So why would the devil
try to cover up our eyes to the glorious Gospel? Because, IT IS THAT GLORIOUS!
If the world’s eyes were not covered they would break down the walls to get in.
Amen? Because they think that what we have here is a religion; when what we
have is a wondrous reality, of standing before God in the full light of His
holiness, with an uncondemned conscious and an emancipated heart.
“Knowing full well that an
infinite holiness that cannot bare to look upon sin. I can stand in that
holiness knowing that, Jesus works has perfectedly removed my sin. And the
light today in God’s presence when I come to God and stand in the light; don’t
be afraid of that light. Light will not expose your sin. The light can only
show how perfect Jesus work is in removing sin.
“I repeat, and I close
with this. When you come to God’s presence; that’s why the priests in the Old
Testament had gems on their breasts; precious stones; with names of the tribes
of Israel, to show us, to demonstrate to us that Jesus sits as our High Priest
today carries your name and mine, on His heart of love into the presence of
God.
“Why is it precious
stones? Ladies you all know [motions to the skyward] underneath yellow light,
what happens to stones? The rubies, sapphires—come on—it shines. So, God wants
you to know that Jesus is presenting you in the perfection of His finished work,
so that when God’s light shines on you, you shine back. It reflects back that
light.
“That is the perfection of
the work of Jesus Christ. When you come to God don’t be afraid of that light.
Be at home and enjoy that light because that is showing—sins put away, sins
removed, sins purged. It’s showing the glorious redemptive work of Jesus
Christ. It shows how perfect Jesus work is in removing your sin.
“Away from God’s presence
you don’t see how perfect it is; but the more you come to God’s presence you
see in the light of His holiness how perfect Jesus has removed your sins.
That’s how you should always see God.
“And, when you see one
another with a vision of the Almighty and when we see our spouse as someone not
perfect but we are not behold their sin—can you imagine what that would do if
we practiced that for ten days? Not that there is no sin in them but we don’t
see the sin. Can you imagine what would happen to our marriage?
“And let’s extend that to
one another, for all intents and purposes this is how to love one another.
Amen? We’ll see one another, not having no sins, but that we would not see the
sin [nature] We choose to see you in the beauty of Jesus.
“And, even when we correct
you, we are seeing you in the beauty of Jesus. Because, we love you. It’s
another thing to correct someone, you see their ugly, like always failing and
being hopeless, and you correct them in spirit and seeing them perfect and
whole. You them to excel in every area.
“But the question of
acceptance with God, even though they are under correction will never come into
the picture. For God to bring up the question of sin again [the sin nature] is
to bring up the efficacy of the finished work of Jesus, and that God cannot do.
“ There are many questions
I did not answer. It is not possible. Time would fail me to speak of Barak,
Sampson, Gideon, so I cannot say everything, alright; trust me there’s a lot
more questions but I’ll give you this rule of thumb, this rule of
interpretation: Never, Never, Never, Never allow, Never allow obscure passages
of the Bible ROB YOU of the joy of passages that are clear and certain.
“Somebody else brought me a
verse and said, ‘What about this?’ And it seems to contradict forgiveness of
sins, of Jesus work and all that. Never allow obscure passages of the Bible ROB
YOU of the joy of the certainty of clear passages. OK?
“For example, For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, is it clear?
shall believe in Him, is it clear? shall not perish, is that clear? but have everlasting life. How long is it?
EVERLASTING! is that clear?
“Now, if someone brings
you something that makes you think you can lose your salvation, there is an
explanation alright? is obscure, and there is an explanation just say, ‘If you
give me time I’ll explain.’ But, if you don’t understand how to explain it,
don’t allow obscure passages of the Bible ROB YOU of the joy of the certainty
of clear passages.
“Your sins are remembered
NO MORE! is it clear? Amen! God is not the author of confusion, man’s
interpretations are, but God is not. And in an alleged discrepancy at times but
only alleged, it’s not a real discrepancy.
“So I leave you with this
rule of thumb for questions that go unanswered because of time limits never allow
anyone to quote you obscure passages—that ROB YOU of the joy of the certainty
of clear passages.
“If you want to put your
trust in the finished work of Jesus; remember your trust does not make it any more
perfect. Your believing will not make the payment. The payment has been made a
long time ago and God has been satified with the sacrifice of Christ, the
payment of Christ.
“Have you put your trust
in God’s satisfaction? Have you placed your belief in Jesus perfect work? You
walk today with true peace in your heart, true peace in your conscience, and
joy in your heart.
“All it takes is a belief,
that Christ paid the penalty of our sin on the cross and satisfied God. And it
perfectly answered all the claims against us in the eyes of God. God is
satisfied. If this is you now you know why God brought this message to you
today.
“He wants you to enjoy an,
untroubled, uncondemning conscience. He wants you to walk in joy and peace. If
you want all that has been shared with you to be real in your life right now
pray this,
“Heavenly Father, what a
good God you are, you loved me before I knew You, You saw my need before I ever
did, and You sent Jesus Christ, in full knowledge of my sins, that He might become
the perfect payment, the perfect answer, to all my sins, my sin nature,
“I may not know everything
right now Lord, but I know one thing, You are satisfied, with the payment of
Christ, on behalf of my sins, You are satisfied, Your Holy claims are glorified,
and I am satisfied, because You are, I surrender myself to Jesus Christ as my
Lord and Master, You raised Him from the dead, without my sins,
“To demonstrate, You are
fully pleased, with His work, and I’m risen with Him from the dead spiritual life
I’ve led. Jesus Christ is my Lord now and forever more, every single day, I
walk, under the favor of God, no longer afraid, that my sins will put me out of
fellowship with You, Jesus Christ is my Lord, now and forever, I pray this by
using the power of attorney given to me by Jesus, I don’t know how this all
works yet but Jesus said I can come before You Father and end my prayers by using
His Name, Jesus’ Name, knowing that this prayer is a legal oath before You and
all Heaven, Amen!
“Rejoice! Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord! Have you been blessed? Remember this, there is a lost world
crying, sighing out there. They are crying out for the love that you and I
enjoy. They’re out there looking for love in all the wrong places and we are
feeding upon that love over here.
“Go out there, spread the
word, proclaim the Good News far and wide, tell them the love of God sent His
Son and His Son has paid for all their sins, tell them that all they are to go
on is the belief that the payment has been made. Will you be the carrier of the
Good News church? Amen? Will you be a mess <enger> and Ev
<angelist> a Good News preacher? Amen?
“Father I thank You for
everyone who has heard this message, as they go on their way today Father, I
pray for a great sense, a greater sense of being under Your divine favor,
living in the full light of Your grace, having a desire in our hearts Lord, for
You to glorify the Name of the One Who gave His life for us,
“I pray Father that
everything in our studies, in our work life, in our marriage, in our
relationships, that we will seek only one thing, that Jesus and His Name be
glorified, Father anoint us Lord, toward that end and purpose, and we thank You
Father, that You will never see sin upon us, because of the perfection of Jesus
work, we thank You for that,
“Give us a greater sense
Lord, of boldness, and liberty in Your presence, keep the truth of what we have
heard, strong, and let the Holy Spirit remind us throughout this week, I pray
Father, the supernatural favor of God, I pray that our supernatural favor will
also be seen, physically, tangibly, and effectively in our lives, in Jesus
Name, Amen!
“Did you enjoy this
message? God Bless You!”
