Work Out Your Own Salvation. BY MR. GEO. MURRELL, OF ST. NEOTS. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."-(Phil. ii. 12, 13). THE will of man in his fallen state is rebellious, the heart being at enmity with God, and that enmity is seen as much, and sometimes more, in moral men than in profane. There was never a heart more at enmity with God than the man who thought himself a good man, who thought he was the favourite with heaven, and sure of going there. This man was Saul of Tarsus; but with all his religion and morality, and his burning zeal, he was an enemy to God and a rebel against the throne of the Most High. This is not a solitary case, but.the universal case. Among all Adam's descendants, there is not a solitary exception -God makes no difference; there is this, and this difference only the believer knows something of his own helplessness, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do." It is God that worketh in you to do. I know some of you have got a great deal more will than you have power; Paul had- -"For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." You would be very different, poor soul, if you could I know you would; God has set your will in motion, and if your power were equal to your will, you would be very different to what you are. Your will is to love God, your will is to the honour of God; your will is to be saved by sovereign grace, you will to pray, you will to repent, you will to love the perfections of God, but it is the Spirit of God's power in your heart and mind that hath given us this will. Sometimes we feel an inclination after God; spiritually, we have but small abilities; it is God, therefore, that made us willing, and it is God that worketh in us to do His will. My text was not directed to the ungodly; these utterances did not form part of the sermon that Paul preached to the multitude. These words were directed to the Church, to the Church of Saints, to the people who stood high in Paul's esteem, who dwelt even in his heart. Now, this portion, like many others, has been perverted. Poor mistaken men, no doubt in strict honesty, have addressed these words to men dead in sin, "Work out your own salvation." Paul never thus addressed the ungodly-he spoke to the congregation, to the Church, to the believers in the Son of God. These words belong to us, Christian friends; they are not so much the words of Paul as they are the words of God, for Paul was but the mouth-piece: the address is from heaven's high throne. It is to you, my dear brethren, the deacons to every member of the Church here, to every regenerate character here. speaks to you; what does he say? "Work out your own salvation"you have already received it; work it out. God With God's blessing, I will try and notice the following thoughts: salvation-your own salvation; salvation is nothing to us if it is not "Your own salvation," and how God worketh it in us. Then, how a Christian is to work it out, for it can never be worked out if it is not first worked in; and if it be worked in, it is by such sovereign favour, our own; and will be worked out by honest repentance for our follies; and thankfulness for our mercies. Salvation. This is a large word, and a most blessed word, too; it seems to guide us in our deepest love. It seems to guide us and to follow us, and at last to raise us up to the highest blessing. Salvation !—I would say it comprehends the grace of the Father, the merits of the Son, and the work of the Holy Ghost. Are we not saved by love? and is there not salvation in love? For our God says, "By grace are ye saved;" this is salvation by, and in strict accordance with, the honour of God's law. Christ shall save His people in that way, which is in perfect harmony with the rights of the Divine government; for while mercy reigns, justice will be honoured, hell defeated, and God's people for ever secured. Salvation is wrought in us by the blessed Spirit; it is the Spirit's work to lead the soul to God; the heart that is not sanctified and renewed is not a saved character; the Holy Ghost works in us; we are saved by the " washing of regeneration, and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost." Salvation comprehends pardon; this is what we very much want when the Holy Ghost shows us our guilt. Salvation also takes in justification, which is more than pardon, for by it God conveys grace on His people beyond forgiveness. Our pardon is not more than half of our salvation; pardon is a special and a blessed part, but not the whole; forgiveness would secure us from the curse, but it might leave our souls short of heaven. It is our comfort, that where grace begins it progresses; God does not give pardon, and then leave the character; but He goes forth in the great work of justifying the man. I know God's dear people are much set on pardon, and rightly, too; they think, when they feel their load of guilt, when they dread the fires of hell, and tremble at the thunderings of the law, how happy they should be if they were but pardoned. But pardon is not enough; God does more; He forgives, my friends, graciously, and his forgiveness comprehends all our salvation blessings. But after He has forgiven us, he gives us a robe of righteousness; this is the best covering the soul can have; this is the best robe. This, dear friends, is the garment that will never spot, we can never rend it nor destroy it; it is a perfect robe, and the soul being once attired in this blessed garment, the robe can never more be put off. Poor sinner! did you ever receive this garment? Have you been justified? have you been condemned? have you felt sin a burden? If you have not, you are not attired in this robe. If attired in Christ's robe, you are blessed-sin cannot damage it, Satan cannot rend it, we cannot defile it, and if once robed we can never be uncovered again. Adam was soon stripped of his garment, but the Christian man can never be deprived of his. The work of grace then advances, it is a progressive work, there is forgiveness and there is justification. Salvation, I notice, friends, is by substitution. Do you see that? How are we saved but by the work of another. Our salvation don't depend on ourselves; in one sense we have no hand in this mighty work, only by the hand of reception; yes, we receive into our hearts the love of God, and we have conscious enjoyment of the blessed effects. Salvation is a work which belongs to the Lord, and is effected by substitution. Poor believer! where, but at CALVARY, do you look for salvation? You hear of the sacrifice of Jesus, you look to Him, you long for Him, you Look on trust in Him; He carries all your cares, He becomes accountable for all your wrongs and answerable for all your debts. Here is the fountain to wash you from all pollution; what you have made wrong, He, as your surety, undertakes to make right. See what He has done on the cross, trace His work-there are no spots in His work or in Him. his work: there is no deficiency there. Who shall judge? I would not take judgment, but leave God the Father to judge. I think the Father had a perfect knowledge of the worth of the work of His Son. What is God the Father's opinion? Why, that His Son has done the work well, and the Lord the Father "was well pleased for His righteousness sake.' Here my heart shall cling-here my soul shall rest; our acceptance, then, is in the Son, provided by the Father; not in His person merely are we received, but the Father puts a proper value on his Son's work, and says, "He was well pleased." What?-With His person? Yes, and He was well pleased with his righteousness. Here, then, my friends, you and I can find pleasure where our Lord God has found pleasure. There seems something beautiful and wonderful in the idea of Jehovah the Father finding pleasure in the person and work of His dear Son; surely, then, our souls may safely rest here, and find pleasure. Where else can the poor law-smitten sinner find pleasure? In the work of his hands? No, only in the religion, the person, and perfect work of Jesus Christ. My Lord looks on Jesus His Son with pleasure-there I will seek my pleasure, where God finds His pleasure; as the Lord is well pleased "for His righteousness sake," so am I, my friends. Blessed be God He is well pleased with my Saviour; there is no sacrifice, there is no acceptance, there is no advancement, there is no beauty apart from the dear Saviour. Whatever, therefore, was requisite, in order to deliver us from hell and to take us to heaven and to fit us for heaven, whatever was necessary Jesus Christ by substitution has effected. Some of you, I have no doubt, sometimes sing-I do sometimes "Jesus is our great salvation Salvation, I notice next, dear friends, takes in sanctification of the heart by the HOLY SPIRIT. Our hearts must be quickened to life that they may feel, the mental eyes must be opened that they may see, the heart softened by grace that we may repent, The Holy Spirit must take possession of our hearts, enabling us to believe in Jesus, that sin may be hateful and holiness desired, that Satan may be dethroned, and Jesus Christ reign in the poor sinner's heart. Now, this salvation is a gracious salvation, is it not? How gracious to forgive faults like ours; what efficacious grace, to cleanse hearts so filthy as ours; how beautifying that it covers our souls with incomparable beauty, covered with the Saviour's person, and blessed with blessings vast and gracious; "By grace are ye saved, through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Then, friend, salvation is not only gracious, but it is also just; God's justice shall lose nothing by our souls being saved by grace, shall lose nothing by your soul's justification and mine. The Great Creator shall receive payment in full; the Divine law shall be magnified, justice shall be satisfied, all interested parties shall be honoured, while Satan shall be defeated. I think I should not like God's salvation half so well as I do if it were not just. We are not to go to heaven as if we were smuggled there. Believers, it is by the Holy Ghost we are led into the privileges which belong to us in Christ; by Him we see ourselves justified, by Him we enjoy pardon for all our offences, and are members of that Head, Jesus Christ, and derive all our beauty from the headship character. Salvation, therefore, is equitable; it is just then that the saints should go to heaven-it is right, it is proper; I know it is merciful; I know it is a gracious act, but I know also it is just and right that souls should be saved since Christ has died. I say these are some of the qualities of salvation; it takes the sinner, and raises him out of the deepest woe, up to the highest honours. Is there a case too bad? Is there a sinner too deeply sunken? Is there one too far gone into the mire that grace, mercy, and salvation cannot raise him up and save him for ever? This great work of salvation springs from the Father's loving heart-flows through the Saviour in streams of blood, brought into our hearts by and through the power of the Spirit; Jesus stands as the substitution of another; He stands in our place, whose work is highly appreciated by God. God takes pleasure in the work of His Son, how much I do not know; but where God finds pleasure, poor souls find salvation for their souls, and are meetened for heaven, where we shall one day safely arrive as a matter of right, as a matter of strict equity and mercy. "Work out your own salvation." Now, this comprehensive phrase seems to look down upon a people, and says, it is your own-your own salvation. What is God's salvation is ours, my text says so-"Your own salvation." There is nothing your own so much as the salvation of God, poor believer. Your God is your own, your soul is your ownsalvation is yours. Can you say that of your property? Is your family your own? Is your wealth your own? There is nothing so much your own as the salvation of your precious souls by our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation would not do you any good, brethren, if it were not your own; but as we look at its different parts, we can say it all belongs to us. The sacred judgment that covers the poor believer is his own. He did not buy it, he did not work it, it cost him nothing, he laboured not for it, the garment was freely bestowed by the God of grace who delights: to give it, not to offer it, not to hold it up for sale, but it is freely bestowed. The coat on my back is my own, I bought it, and paid for it. But the religion of Jesus Christ is my own in a far nobler and better sense, This garment of mine I may be deprived of, it will certainly wear out, thus become good for nothing. But the garment wrought by Christ will never lose its beauty, that will never wear out, and of it we shall never be deprived. We want, then, salvation for our own, we want pardon for our own, righteousness as our own, sanctification for our own hearts, we want the Christ of God for our own, we want His love for ourselves; the throne for our own, we want all the mighty work for our own. Another's interest will never satisfy the sinking, sin-condemned soul. The earnest, convinced soul will frequently cry as one who has gone before cried, "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." We want pardon applied, righteousness appropriated, love shed abroad, we want God to be our own God, to know it experimentally, and to be enabled to say, "My Lord, and my God," "Thou art precious, Christ is my own, my brother, my portion, my inheritance." But why, why, this gratuitous grant of salvation? It is of God, God gives it; what is given is mine, what is lent me may be called back again; if you lend me an article, you have a right to demand it back again, while if you give me anything it is mine, not yours. So with our God in salvation. He gives it graciously, it then becomes our own. Poor soul, is not the realization of this what you desire? You may not have arrived at the enjoyment of the fact of your salvation; how the poor doubting, fluttering heart seeks, prays for mercy, how he sighs for a manifestation of the fact, to know that Jesus Christ, is his; his in the perfections of His nature, that Christ would be his portion in life, and his joy for ever and ever. It is a blessed thing to have clear evidences of our interest in the Saviour's work, not only to talk of salvation but to realize its effects on the heart. This seems to my soul like being in earnest, like the soul being thoroughly awakened, when we join with the poet, whatever we may have besides, our cry is : "Give me Christ, or else I die." A good old friend, a minister, said, a short time before he departed, to be no more seen by mortals, in reply to a kind inquiring friend who asked how things were with him, as he drew near death? "Blessed be my God," he said, "I believe I am as safe as if I were in heaven, but not so happy; but I shall wrap myself up in my Saviour's robe, and fall asleep." What a sweet thought! friends; the righteousness of Christ is a precious robe for a Christian man to be buried in; he shall rise in the morning, when he shall rise without his shroud, robed in the wedding garment, fit for the wedding day. These are, then, the gifts of salvation. We cannot deserve salvation, we cannot offer any suitable price for it. God would have been just if He had withheld it, and He is just and merciful in giving salvation. Do you want it, poor sinner? Do you want this free salvation? You are damned without it; you will go to hell without it. Do you want this salvation, then, this salvation is of God? Are you seeking it? praying for it? searching for it? If you are, you shall have it. If you think you can buy it, you will never get it that way, You may beg for it; God likes beggars; but you shall never buy it. Here are milk and honey, "Come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price." You, poor beggars, may have it; God giveth it to everyone that is brought humbly to ask for it; he delighteth to bestow salvation free and complete to every guilty soul that feels he can do nothing to merit the salvation of his soul. Do you feel empty Poor soul! Christ will fill you. Is your heart broken? Christ healeth the broken in heart. If you are humbled, Christ will raise you up. If you are stripped of all self-righteousness, if you are self-condemned, seeking salvation, prayerfully and earnestly from God; he will never shut his merciful ears from your cry, but he will release the poor and needy. As sure as you are made sensible that you are lost men and women, without mercy, God is just, and he will keep you from perdition, he will keep you as beggars at his door of mercy, but he will never leave you: the time of love shall come when the Spirit shall witness with your spirits that he is the God of your salvation. "Your own salvation" God is said to work in us, salvation is within; then we are admonished to work it out. How does God work с |