Well—well, if you believed in God your case would not be hopeless.  But some men—a few out of the many wanderers—find God out here in these wilds.”
              –Zane Grey (Wanderer of the Wasteland)

       “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.”
              –Philippians 2:13(NKJV)
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There is a verse that has long made me ponder, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12, NKJV.  We are saved by grace, so what does this verse mean?  I cannot add to my salvation, hmmm.
    Sometimes we work so hard in helping others that we do not take the time to grow in the Lord ourselves.  There are times to be a “Martha,” but there are also times to just sit at the feet of Jesus like a “Mary.”  It is to walk blamelessly in our testimony to those around us.  It means to repent and confess any sins we have committed at once, do not let them linger in your life.  Matthew Henry puts it this way, “The working of God’s grace in us, is to quicken and engage our endeavours. God’s good-will to us, is the cause of his good work in us.”
    I have said many times how thankful I am for those men who study God’s Word.  I am thankful for their insight and diligence in studying God’s Word then presenting it to readers such as myself.  I want to borrow some thoughts from George H. Morrison that may help explain how to work out our/my own salvation.  He points out a passage in Acts, where Peter found himself, again, in prison.  “And the angel said to him, ‘Put on your belt and strap on your sandals.’ And he did so. And he said to him, ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.'” (Acts 12:8, NASB)
    The angel is breaking Peter out of prison; a person would think there would be haste, but look at the angel’s words, “strap on your sandals.”  Take time to get ready.  It was dark in the prison cell and Peter would use the light of the angel to strap on his sandals.  Now, here is what Morrison points out, the angel told Peter to do it.  The angel wasn’t going to dress Peter.  Work out your own salvation…”No beating of Peter’s hands will burst the gate, and therefore it is the angel who unbars it.”  Even when God is at work there is something for us to be doing. (Morrison)
    Let’s look at the life of Jesus and His work.  “He makes the wine, but will not fetch the water; it is in the power of the servants to do that.  He feeds the famishing thousands on the hill, but the disciples must bring the bread and distribute it.  The hand of man must roll away the stone when Lazarus is to be summoned from the grave, and when the breath of life has been bestowed, it is for others to unwrap his cerements.” (Morrison)
    Here is an important aspect.  When we work out our salvation with fear and trembling it makes us fellow workers with Christ.  Paul and Apollos worked the fields, but it is God that gives the harvest.  We work on ourselves, for our fellowman, in service to others, but we cannot give them the grace of God.  “All that you cannot do, God will do.  All that you can do, God will never do.” (Morrison)
    Another factor we see in the account of Peter.  When the angel gave instructions, Peter obeyed.  He didn’t wait for the angel to strap on his sandals or pick up his coat.  Hmmm, there may be a hidden meaning there–just think from that time forward every time Peter puts on his sandals he will think of the deliverance by the angel from the prison.  But something even more, Peter was not idle.  “It is only a fool who would be idle because he was assured the light had some.” (Morrison).  The light was there for Peter to use, not to bask in it.
    Look at this passage once more.  There is one more lesson for us to learn.  Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t answer you right now?  You want an answer, yet it seems as if it is slow in coming.  Listen, there is no hurry in the plans of God.  “Even so, Lord Jesus, come,” and then we add, “come now!”  But He will come at the appointed time, but in the meantime He wants us to be working out our salvation.  To grow in grace does not mean sin more, but to work where Jesus has placed us in the midst of the pagan, apostate, and foolish world.  It is to produce works by our faith.  If you wonder about how to work out your salvation and grow in grace, then read the Book of James.

Sittin’ on my porch.  Enjoyin’ the sunset.  I do believe this is why we were created.”
              –Stephen Bly  (It’s Your Misfortune)

    “Foolishness is joy to one who lacks sense, But a person of understanding walks straight.”
              –Proverbs 15:21(NASB)
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How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World

Key Verse:  “We know that we ourselves are children of God, and we also know that the world around us is under the power of the evil one.”   –1 John 5:19 (Phillips)

This world is evil, don’t compromise with it, do not deny it, and do not become complacent in it.  First of all, know the truth.  Get into the Bible, study it, mark the doctrines then do your  job as a believer:  live by them, guard them.  When you know the truth you can confront what others in the world call “truth.”  The foolishness of those living today make this harder to do as they continually change the truth.  For instance, truth states that there are two genders (and the laws of biology confirm them), yet there are those in the world whose “truth” says that there are many genders.  Not only is that not of the truth, but it is idiocy.  The postmodernist with their relative truth can jump all around a subject simply by stating that is truth to them, and you have your own truth.  Foolishness!  Apostasy!
    When we know the truth we can avoid subtle heresy.  I don’t see the gift of being an auditor in the Bible, but I can fully understand what Kierkegaard what saying, “An apostle proclaims the truth, an auditor is responsible for discovering counterfeits.”  We must know the truth, and it is our responsibility to spot heresies or counterfeits to the truth.  This can only be done if we have knowledge of the doctrine, of the truth.  It is then, when we know the doctrine that we have true fellowship with God and our joy may be complete.

         “And as we believe and understand and practice these things in our relationship to God, in our relationship to one another as Christians, and in our relationship to the world that is outside, the joy will remain in us.  Indeed, it will increase and continue, and at the end we shall find ourselves standing in His holy presence with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
                   –D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

         “And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”
                   –1 Peter 1:9 (NASB)

I believe a song by Barney E. Warren, should be etched in our soul.  It will help us live in this world and walk in fellowship with God.

         “I have found His grace is all complete,
          He supplieth every need;
          While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet,
          I am free, yes, free indeed.

          I have found the pleasure I once craved,
          It is joy and peace within;
          What a wondrous blessing, I am saved
          From the awful gulf of sin.

          I have found that hope so bright and clear,
          Living in the realm of grace;
          Oh, the Savior’s presence is so near,
          I can see His smiling face.

          I have found the joy no tongue can tell,
          How its waves of glory roll;
          It is like a great o’erflowing well,
          Springing up within my soul.

                     It is joy unspeakable, and full of glory
                     Full of glory, full of glory;
                     It is joy unspeakable, and full of glory
                     Oh, the half has never yet been told.”

The world says this is pleasure, this is happiness, this will bring joy.  Come, eat drink and be merry, you have only this one life.  Ah, but when we find Jesus we find the pleasure we once craved, walking and talking and living in this world with Him.

Some people you can’t change; you just have to outlive them.”
              –Elmer Kelton  (The Time It Never Rained)

    “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
              –Revelation 21:8 (NKJV)
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How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World

Key Verse:  “We know [for a fact] that we are of God, and the whole world [around us] lies in the power of the evil one [opposing God and His precepts].”   –1 John 5:19 (Amplified)

This epistle is not a doctrinal letter yet it is full of doctrine.  Doctrine seems to be neglected by the church today.  There are several reasons for that, but for the most part those in the congregation do not care to listen to doctrine, yet it is doctrine upon which we build on the foundation of Jesus Christ.  Without doctrine there is no comfort.  Without doctrine there is nothing with which to fight this pagan world.
    The Word of God is under attack from many quarters as is the Person of Jesus Christ, the living Word.  This is the fundamental doctrine, there is one way to God through His Son, Jesus Christ.  The message of Jesus Christ cannot be denied or changed, or modified, or excused.  “God forbid that we should be so interested in the words of the Bible as to miss the Word itself.” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones) Jesus is the Word!
    When this letter was written there were already attacks on the Word.  These false doctrines came under the guise of Gnosticism.  It was a mixture of philosophy and mysticism.  Gnostics claimed to have special knowledge and/or unique revelation.  Most of them denied the the doctrine of the God-man and the nature of sin.  There are several aspects to this, I will mention only three.
         1)  Jesus did not have a true body, it was a phantom body–the Word was not made flesh, but the Word, the eternal Son of God, came and put on a sort of phantom body, so that He never really suffered in the flesh on the cross.  (see, Colossians 2:9).
         2)  There is a sharp distinction between the man Jesus and the eternal Christ–the eternal Christ came into the man Jesus when He was baptized of John; on Calvary Christ went out of the man Jesus.
         3)  Matter was essentially evil and anything that belonged to matter was in and of itself evil–God could not have created the world; it was an emanation from God (i.e., angel worship)
    There were false reactions to sin and evil.  There became attempts to reason out evil and sin and how it affects man.  Monasticism came into being in which men attempted to mortify and mutilate the flesh and separate themselves from the world (which in reality is not possible).  Liberalism is not new, it began to seep in saying that yes, the flesh is evil, but the soul is not flesh, so it does not matter what the flesh does.  There is no such thing as sin, I may do something which is wrong, but it does not matter, the flesh will be destroyed and my soul will be going on to God.
    This is what John faced; this is what John wrote about and against in 1 John.  Keep in mind that the epistles were written to the Church, not to the pagan world.  John used a very tactful term, he called these people–LIARS!  Not very political correct today, not very tolerant, not very cancel culture, yet to the proponents of these ideas John would say the same thing, these people are–LIARS!