The Biblical Worldview on Salvation: Your Personal Relationship with God

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Check out Virtue, our website for Christian women. Go to harvest.org forward slash virtue. Pastor Greg Laurie points out God wants a one-on-one relationship with each of us. Even if others don't, we need to focus on the Lord. Only you can work out your salvation.

This is the day, the day when life begins. Where does your electricity come from in your home? The electric company, right? You're connected directly. Your neighbor is connected directly.

You're not running an extension cord over to the neighbors to power up your lights. At least I hope not. Well, we each need a direct spiritual connection to our Heavenly Father. And today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how that sheds light on Paul's injunction to work out our own salvation. Glad you're along today for Pastor Greg's new Worldview series.

This is the day, the day when life begins. What does that mean? It means only you can work out your salvation. Wouldn't it be nice if you could hire someone to work out for you? You say, you know what, I don't want to work out. Why don't you go work out for me? But you can't do that. You have to go work out for yourself. So work out your own salvation. This is not something someone else can do in your place.

This is something you must do for yourself. It's a personal choice. But Paul throws in an interesting thought here in verse 12. Therefore my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but more in my absence. So basically Paul is writing to the believers here in Philippi from a prison.

He's been arrested. And he can't go and be with them as he was in the past. And so he misses them and they miss him. So basically he's saying, now guys I'm not with you but I still want you to work out your own salvation. I think the New Living Translation is helpful here where Paul says, dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. But now that I'm away you must be even more careful to put into action God's saving work in your lives.

So here's what Paul is saying in effect. Guys you need to grow up spiritually. You can't build your spiritual life on me. Don't even for a moment think you guys can go into spiritual cruise control if I'm not personally there for you because it's God that works in you.

Not Paul. I'm not doing the work in your life. God is doing the work in your life. Now I bring this up because sometimes we can allow people to take the place of God in our life. A husband chooses to not go to church because his wife doesn't go anymore.

Or maybe the kids don't go to church because their parents don't go anymore. Listen you need your own relationship with God. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You say but Greg my parents were hypocrites or I saw a hypocrite in church. Yeah get over it.

Grow up. Put your faith in Christ and follow Him. So Paul is saying it can't be all about me being there with you because I won't always be there with you but the Lord always will be there with you. So work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

As I misunderstand this Paul did not say work for your own salvation because salvation is a gift of God. And by the way this is a gift that grows more valuable with the passing of time. It is not that it becomes more valuable.

It always was. But we are just discovering the value of it. Because the salvation God gives us saves us from our past, our present, and our future. First it saves us from our past. The sins we have committed.

The wrongs we have done. It is removed. It is taken away. It is erased.

We have been given a clean slate as I pointed out. But now it saves us from our present. The power of sin in my life.

I have God's power to overcome it. And lastly it saves me from a future judgment. So that is why the Bible calls it such a great salvation. You see the value of it more and more with the passing of time. And so Paul says work out your salvation.

Don't work for it. It is a gift to you from God. Ephesians 2 says by grace you have been saved through faith not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.

So what does it mean? It is interesting the verb that Paul uses carries the meaning of work to full completion. Work to full completion your salvation. There is work involved in the Christian life as I play out.

As I discover what God has done for me. It doesn't say sit out your own salvation. It says work out your own salvation. Going back to the analogy of a gym. You go and you work out to get into better shape.

The more you do it the better the results will be. Maybe it is because you are having issues. The other day I literally thought I might be close to having a heart attack. And the reason is I was feeling pressure on my chest. And so then I googled symptoms of heart attack. It says pressure on your chest. And the pressure grew stronger as soon as I read that.

Literally. And then it said nausea. And I was nauseated the second I read it. So I am going to see my doctor. So I called him up. I have to come over right now. And I came over and he hooked me up from EKG.

And he said Craig you are absolutely fine. And then about a week later I got the bill and I did have a heart attack. So what happened was I have been playing racquetball. I used to do that years ago.

I started playing again. Because I hate cardiovascular. I hate treadmills. I hate stationary bicycles and all that pedaling. And so racquetball is fun because I will go to any length to chase a stupid ball around a court.

And it is a good workout. I sweat a little bit more. And also what I do is I fall. And I hit the wall really hard chasing the ball. And that is why I felt the pressure on my chest.

But I am ok for now. But you know sometimes you have to check up on those things. And your doctor will say you need an exercise regimen. So you go to the gym.

But here is the problem. Weird people hang out in gyms. You know what I am talking about. They are just strange people. There is a person who sweats all over everything. What is with that? Are you one of those people? Please stand up.

I want to talk to you. One of those sweaters. I mean seriously you know they get it from the equipment. Whatever it is. And there is just perspiration all over the floor. It is like can you like take a towel and wipe up after yourself. Or there is a guy that screams every rep because he is lifting too much weight. Stop it you know. But still you need to get in there and do what you can.

So you work out to get in shape. And the same is true of the spiritual life. I am not working for it. God has given me the salvation.

It is mine. But work it out or discover what it actually means for me. In fact the phrase that Paul uses here for work out is a phrase that is also used to explain working a mine. You know going into a mine and extracting the silver or the gold or whatever is in the mine. Many years ago in California we had the California Gold Rush. And there wasn't a lot of gold in this state. There is gold in them that are hills it was said. So people came from around the country and even the world to find their fortune. And the gold was soon gone.

I think people thought it was just like laying around on the streets you know. But they had to go into the mines and work at it in hopes of maybe discovering the mother load. So Paul is saying it is like a mine. Go in there and discover all God has done for you. Extract it. Live it out. Understand it.

Appreciate it. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now what that means is with self distrust. So I come with a reverence for God and a distrust of myself.

I can't do this on my own strength. And Paul explains it. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that works in you both too willing to do with His good pleasure. Some people say well God does it all and I do nothing. Others say I do it all and God does nothing.

Both of those views are wrong. God does it through you as you mine it and discover it for yourself. Work out your own salvation with self distrust. For it is God that is working in you. In a moment Pastor Greg points out how we can respond to our spiritual adversary when he tries to convince us that we're not really saved.

Good insight coming up in just a moment. Hey everybody Greg Laurie here personally inviting you to join us for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a Bible study. It's a worship service. It's church in your home. Maybe you're not able to get out to your church right now. If so join us for Harvest at Home. People are listening in from around the world and listen to this. We have seen thousands of people make a commitment to follow Christ.

So join us this weekend for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. Well we're taking a close look at Philippians 2 verse 12 today which tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Here's Pastor Greg once again. Now when it says work it out with fear and trembling I don't want you to think that Paul is suggesting that one can lose their salvation because I believe once you're saved you're saved. That's why we call it eternal life and not temporary life. And that's why you don't have to get saved again and again and again and again. You don't have to be born again again again again again again. You're born again once. Now you can make a recommitment to Christ if you need to.

But once you have eternal life it's a gift to you from God. And I bring this up because sometimes even believers who have known the Lord for years will doubt their own salvation. And you need to know that the devil loves to challenge what God has said. Don't forget in the Garden of Eden he came to Adam and Eve and he said, Did God really say what you thought God said? He challenged the Word of God. And he'll do the same to young Christians especially. Right after they believed he'll say, Do you really think you're saved? Do you really think Christ has come into your life? And it is then that I must stand on the promises of God.

This is bringing that biblical worldview. Not my emotions. Because my emotions can mislead me. I don't feel saved today. Maybe I lost my salvation last night.

No no. It's still there. It's still the gift of God.

It still belongs to you. And it is then that I come back to Scripture. Scriptures like 1 John 5-10. It says, Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart.

Romans 8-16 says, His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. John 5-24, Jesus says, I tell you the truth. Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and shall not be condemned.

He is crossed over from death to life. And really my favorite assurance verse, 1 John 5 says, These things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. So when the devil comes and says, You're not saved, you say to the devil, I know I am saved because the Bible says, These things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

And sometimes I will quote Scripture out loud to remind myself. Even Jesus did that. Remember when He was tempted in the wilderness? And the devil said to Him, Why don't you turn this rock into a piece of bread? Jesus says, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Satan says, Why don't you fall down and worship me? And Jesus says, It is written, You shall worship the Lord God and Him only shall you serve. The point is you come back with Scripture. That is what I mean when I say think biblically. Let everything go through the grid of Scripture. Not your emotions. This is something God has given to you. So we may wonder, Well can you lose salvation once you have it?

I already said, I don't think you can. So what about those people that make a profession of faith and say they are saved and we even see some evidence or so it would seem initially but then a month later, two months later, maybe six months later. They just walk away and they never come back. So is that someone who was saved who is now unsaved? I would suggest to you if a person walks away and never comes back they were never saved to begin with. Here is how you know who the real Christians are.

It is where they end up. Christians can go astray. Christians can be prodigals. Sons and daughters.

Can't they? But God will call them and if they are real believers they will always come home again. And if they never were believers they will never come home because it never was their home. We are told over in 1 John 2.19, They went out from us but they did not really belong to us.

For if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us for their going out showed that none of them ever belonged to us. So sometimes people will make a profession of faith that is based on emotion. Jesus talked about this in the parable of the sower. In Mark 4.16 He said those that receive the seed that goes on ground that is embedded with rocks so it shoots up but it doesn't take root. He says, These are those that hear the word of God with great enthusiasm but their shallow soil of character so when the emotions wear off or some difficulty arrives there is nothing to show for it. So these are the people that were never really believers at all.

It was just the whim of an emotion. So don't work for your salvation. Work out your salvation. And what an incredible gift it is. And all you have to do is receive it. I just flew back from Hawaii visiting our church there and I had to get a plane ticket and I printed it out. And I boarded my flight. And they always check your ticket. I want to make sure you are in the right seat. You cannot board a flight without a ticket.

I use this analogy a number of years ago at a Harvest Crusade and I was asking people, Do you have your ticket to go to heaven? And Stella, who was then a little girl, my granddaughter, heard me say this and she had a flyer that was given to her when she went in the event. And she held it up and yelled out to me. I couldn't hear her. She was so far away. I have my ticket, Papa, she said.

It was so cute. But really, do you have your ticket? You say, Well, what do you mean my ticket? Do you know that you are saved? You might say, Well, I think so. Hey, I think you will know it. If you don't know it, maybe you aren't. And I don't want you to leave this service today without knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that your sin is forgiven.

You say, Okay, how does this happen again? Remember Acts 13 says, This man Jesus gives forgiveness of sins, and whoever trusts in him is freed from all guilt, and he has declared righteous. So have you put your trust in Jesus? Again, Scripture says, Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

I have used this illustration before. But there was a time I was out with my son Jonathan in the ocean. And we got caught in a little riptide.

He was a young guy at this point. And I was kind of keeping him above the surface. And I couldn't believe I am in a riptide because the irony is I am like literally 12 feet from the shore. So I am thinking, I can't get in a riptide this close to the shore. But I am, and I can't get my feet on the ground.

And I am getting pulled out, and it is becoming a problem. And I see a lifeguard, and I thought there is no way on God's green earth I am going to yell for help this close to shore. And I am getting pulled out, and this lifeguard sees me, and she realizes I am in trouble. And she starts swimming toward me. She has got her little preserver.

She is swimming. I am going, Oh no, this is so humiliating. And finally I got my feet on the shore. I said, I am okay, I am okay.

Thank you, thank you. And I walked in, you know, though if you are going to get rescued I would rather get rescued by a girl lifeguard than a guy. Right?

Well if there is mouth to mouth involved you want it to be a girl. That's all. Let me say it. But here is the point. Because I was too proud to call out for help. That is how a lot of us can be. Maybe men especially.

But sometimes all of us. Oh I don't need to be saved. I am good. No you aren't. You are not good at all. Your situation is worse than a person in a burning building or in a combat zone.

Your situation is worse than a person caught in a riptide. If you don't have Jesus Christ living in you right now, bottom line, you are headed to a certain judgment in hell. And God does not want that. That is why He sent Jesus.

Christ died to save sinners like you and me. And you can be saved today. Forgiven of all your sin. Put all of your past behind you. Have a fresh start. A clean slate. Think about it.

And then have the power you need in your life to live the life God has called you to live. It can all happen. And it doesn't take years. It doesn't take months. It doesn't take days.

It doesn't take hours. It can happen just like that. If you will just call out to Him. So we are going to close in prayer. We are going to extend an invitation to anyone here. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your own Savior and your Lord and your friend, He can come into your life right now and forgive you of all of your sin and give you that fresh start you long for and give you the guaranteed hope of heaven.

If you don't know this for sure, let's get this settled right here. Let's all pray. Father, thank You for the incredible gift of salvation.

It is really the gift that keeps on giving. And I pray for any here or listening wherever they are if they don't know You yet, if they have not called upon Your name yet, would You help them to do that right now? I pray Your Holy Spirit will speak to their hearts. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important word of prayer. And if you would like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment before today's edition of A New Beginning comes to a close. Pastor Greg, we're so excited to make available your new book called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. So much research went into this book, and you've thought a lot about Billy's life in the course of writing this. If he could somehow be with us right here, right now, for just a few minutes, what do you think you would ask him?

Wow, that's a good question. I remember when I asked him, when I had the opportunity, I was in this home in Montreat, North Carolina, and I said, Billy, if an older Billy could speak to a younger Billy, what would he say? And really, without missing a beat, Billy said, I would tell myself to preach more on the cross of Christ and the blood of Christ, because that's where the power is.

And that was something he lived by throughout his entire life. As far as what I would ask Billy today, well, of course, if he was with us back from the other side, I would want to know a lot about the afterlife. So, Billy, what's heaven like, and what happened up there? But, you know, as far as any, I actually ask pretty much all of the questions I wanted to ask him, and I talk about them in the book, and I don't know that I would have anything new to ask him. But just, I think I would just tell him how much I appreciated him, I did tell him that. When I spoke with him for the last time, I told him I loved him, he told me he loved me.

I don't say that to people lightly, by the way. And so this, I had those opportunities to have final conversations with him, but I'd probably just say, you know, you're gonna be loved beyond the time you were on this earth and your legacy will live on, and I want to just say to you, thank you for being a good example, not only a great preacher, but thank you for being a good example and a good model of what it means to be a real Christian. Well, the book reflects that kind of spirit. It's Pastor Greg's look at the life of a good friend and a mentor. More than that, it's an evangelist's look at the life of history's greatest evangelists.

It's a celebration of a remarkable life. The title is Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. In fact, Franklin Graham wrote this about the book. I've often said that the public Billy Graham, seen on crusade platforms and television, was the same private Billy Graham at home. This certainly is revealed in Billy Graham, the Man I Knew, which is based on Greg's personal thoughts on the special time spent with my father and how his ministry impacted Greg's own life and evangelistic ministry. I'm grateful for Greg's friendship, for his love for my father, and for his proclamation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So can we send a copy your way? Pastor Greg is making it available to thank you for your donation of any size. And please know there are no churches or large organizations covering all the expenses.

No, it's only through the investments of listeners that these insights can come your way each day. So thanks for being a partner with us. With your donation today, be sure to ask for Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. You can write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. A call anytime 24 hours a day, 1-800-821-3300.

Or just go online to harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg, as we get close to the end of today's program, we want to give an opportunity for those who'd like to to make a change in their relationship with the Lord. Can you help them with that? I'd be delighted to. Listen, if you would like to accept Jesus Christ into your life right now, and by that I mean if you would like your sin forgiven and have the assurance that you will go to heaven when you die, would you pray this prayer with me? Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin and rising again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin, Lord, and I turn from it now and I put my faith in you to be my Savior, my Lord, my God, and my friend.

Thank you for loving me and calling me and accepting me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer in a minute, I want you to know on the authority of God's word that Jesus Christ has just come to take residence in your heart. The Bible says these things we write to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Listen, we want to send you some resources that will help you grow spiritually.

So here's Dave with some details. And let me say God bless you and welcome to the family of God. Yeah, and as Pastor Greg said, we have some resources we'd like to send your way to help you as you begin to live the Christian life. We call this resource collection our New Believers Growth Packet, and we'll send it to you free of charge. Just write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or you can call us at 1-800-821-3300.

We're here to take your call around the clock, again at 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org and click the two words, Know God. Next time, Pastor Greg brings good insight on adopting the biblical worldview on fear and worry. Hope you'll tune in next time here on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. In the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.