Salvation has NOTHING to do with you. Ask
yourself these simple questions. Do you believe that the cross work of Jesus is
your only hope? Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins and was
resurrected for your justification? Do you truly trust that you cannot do
anything to save yourself and are wholly dependent on what Jesus did for you?
If you say yes, THEN YOU, my friend, ARE
SAVED! …. And there is NOTHING you can do to ‘unsave’ yourself because God has
sealed that contract in heaven. Your righteousness and justification are not
dependent on your performance or choices. Your righteousness and justification are
settled because of the performance and obedience of Jesus. I’m sorry to say,
but once you are saved, you, my friend, CANNOT get out of it, whether you want
to or not. Have you ever seen a baby get ‘unborn’. It is physically impossible.
Likewise, it is spiritually impossible to become ‘unsaved’. Just make peace
with it and continue to grow in the only other instruction that God has given
you, and that is you come to a knowledge of the truth, 1Tim 2:4.
Just like salvation, which is God’s work in
the heavenly realm, the fruit of the spirit that manifests in your life is not
your work, but that of the Word of God in you. Yes, you can get up in the
morning and choose to have patience, or choose to show an act of love to
someone, but that is a work that comes from a rule you make in your head. Acting
upon rules are going to end in condemnation if you fail to do, or perform on, those
rules. The true fruit of the spirit is not about rules in your head. It comes
from the Word of truth flowing naturally out of you. The more you are filled
with the written Word of God, the more it will manifest itself out of you. The
less you are filled with the word, the more you will try to do things in your
own strength and produce dead works. Your only command is to gain knowledge in
the Word. Your only ‘work’ is to get the written Word into you and let it work
itself out of you. Only then are you walking after the Spirit and mortifying
the nature of the flesh. (Read Romans chapter 8).
You will NEVER be able to produce the fruit
of the Spirit because you cannot. It comes from the work of the written Word
within you. It is actually the Word of God working itself out of you. What I am
explaining to you is what Paul tells us here,
Php 2:12-13 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. (13) For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
First, notice, it is God’s work! Not yours.
Second, understand that working out your salvation is not you trying to do
things, but rather it is you giving yourself over to obedience to the Word
working in you, Rom.1:5; Rom.16:26. Paul speaks of obedience to the faith. It
is simply a matter of obeying the working of the Word within you and allowing
it to work out of you. That is why you should maintain having a good measure of
Word within you so that it can provide you with the knowledge and wisdom to
make decisions and act in the will of your heavenly Father.
I hope the above advice helps you and settles you. The Christian life is not lived in the head, but by the living Word of God in your heart. Keep yourself filled with His Word and you will keep yourself in line with the thoughts and life God wants of you.
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