- Examine Yourselves, whether ye be in the Faith - God admonishes each of us to conduct a soul-searching examination of ourselves with the Word of God, to evaluate our spiritual condition to determine if we are truly “in the faith”, if we truly have received the gift of eternal life based on what the Bible teaches about salvation. Am I really in the faith? Have I been born from above? or Have I been deceived? This is not an idle question given the fact that deception is not only the hallmark of the human heart (Jer 17:9), but the very essence of the time period we are now living in, known as the Great Tribulation as Jesus so emphatically stressed three times in Mat 24:5, 11 and 24: “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect”. It requires that each of us soberly examine ourselves in the light of God’s Word, according to 2 Cor 13:5: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”. Even in this, we need God’s help, as Psa 139:23-24 acknowledges: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. And what is the evidence of being “in the faith” or the Salvation? It's the Obedience to the Word of God. In light of the gravity of this question, we would do well to heed the admonition of Jam 1:21-25: “... be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”. 1 Cor 1:12 makes this serious warning: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” These and other similar verses in the Bible highlight the enormous importance of honestly assessing the spiritual condition of our souls.
1 Kin 8:39 “Then hear thou [LORD] in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men)”
Jam 1:21-25 “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
- Work out your Own Salvation with Fear and Trembling - Reverential fear of God is a characteristic of the Lord Jesus Christ and of each true believer. The chief characteristic of the child of God is that of steadfast obedience to the Bible out of love for His Savior. Only true believers are qualified to obey God’s commandments as He works in the lives of His people (Eze 36:26-27). The indwelling work of God the Holy Spirit (by the gift of God’s grace), is a dominant factor both as God draws us to Himself and after we have become saved. Even after we have become saved, we are admonished to live out our lives in the fear of the Lord as Php 2:12-13 points out : “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”. Those whom God has saved, or reconciled, have a deep fear and sensitivity to God’s Holy Word, the Bible, because they are fully aware that His Word is an extension of God Himself. Everything in the Scriptures shows us that God is not to be trifled with or lightly esteemed. The child of God fully comprehends the ominous warning of Gal 6:7: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. Heb 12:28 alludes to how this new life in Christ is to be expressed: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire”. We are commanded to glorify God with our lives, with our bodies, and all that we have – our time, our talents, our money, our speech, and our actions. Yet when all is said and done we can only humbly say in the words of Luke 17:10, “We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do”. May God give us the respectful “fear of the Lord” – if we do not already possess it – according to His infinite pity and compassion. May each of us, by God’s mercy, examine ourselves to see if we can identify with Isa 8:13: “Sanctify the lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread”.
Eze 36:26-27 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”
1 Pet 1:17 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear …”
2 Cor 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
1 Cor 11:31-32 “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”
Ecc 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
- We are more than Conquerors through him that Loved us - As we have seen, Matt 10:28 warns, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him [God] which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. Another very helpful verse that can aid in our understanding of the “fear of second death” is 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love”. Why does “fear” have “torment”? Mat 25:46 describes the end of the world and the final destinations of the unsaved as well as the saved: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal”. Now we can see why “fear hath torment” (or “punishment”), and why unsaved man fears death because of what awaits him – the trial of the last day and the sentence of eternal damnation in Hell. 1 John 4:18 also indicates that “perfect love casteth out fear”. What is “perfect love” and how can it “cast out fear”? 1 John 4:16-19 gives the answer. The Christian has “boldness in the day of judgment” because his salvation is totally dependent on the work and faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, “We love him, because he first loved us”. Wonderfully, he can rejoice in what 2 Tim 1:9-10 proclaims: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel …”
1 John 4:16-19 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.”
Rom 8:31-39 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
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