Confessing Jesus is to Call His Name

 Bible Verses 

Phil 2:12  So then, my beloved, even as you have always 
obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my
absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 
(13)  For it is God who operates in you both the willing and
the working for His good pleasure.



Words of Ministry

To work out our own salvation is to carry it out, to bring it
to the ultimate conclusion. We have received God's salvation,
which has as its climax to be exalted by God in glory as the
Lord Jesus was. We need to carry out this salvation, to bring
it to its ultimate conclusion, by our constant and absolute
obedience with fear and trembling. We have received this
salvation by faith. Now we must carry it out by obedience. To
receive salvation by faith is once for all; to carry it out
is lifelong.

In verse 13 Paul goes on to say, "For it is God Who operates
in you both the willing and the working for His good
pleasure." The word "for" at the beginning of this verse
gives the reason we need to obey always. It is because God
operates in us. In God's economy [plan] we have the Lord
Jesus as our pattern, as the standard of our salvation, and
we also have God operating in us both the willing and the
working to carry out our salvation, to bring it to its
ultimate conclusion. It is not that we by ourselves carry it
out, but that God operates in us to do it. The only thing we
need to do is to obey the inner operating of God.

Paul's word about obedience in verse 12 answers to what he
has previously said about Christ becoming obedient (v. 8).
The Bible underscores the importance of obedience. For
example, in 1 Samuel 15:22 we are told that to obey is better
than sacrifice. We who have received Christ as the pattern of
our salvation must learn to always obey with fear and
trembling. Within we should have fear as the motive, and
without we should have trembling as our attitude, an
indication that we have no confidence in ourselves.