You are exhorted by the Scriptures to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”  The “crown of life” lies at the end of the Christian race.  When we step over the boundary between time and eternity our salvation is then eternally secured.  Praises be to God!  It is for this crown of amaranthine glory, or blessed eternal salvation, that we are to watch and labor with fear and trembling.  O may you be very careful!  Be watchful, lest something should hinder you in your Christian race, and you miss at last the blessedness of heaven.  Guard the affections of your heart with the strictest vigilance.

I said above that God would always give us power to will, if we would but make use of that power.  For proof of this I shall refer you to Phil. 2:13, which in our common version is rendered thus:  “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”  The meaning of this text is not so readily comprehended by this version as it is by some others.  By Conybeare and Howson it is translated in these words:  “It is God who works in you both will and deed.”  Upon examination of the different translations we find the meaning of this text to be this:  “It is God that gives us power to will and to do his good pleasure.”  In the verse preceding this one the apostle tells us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling,” and then he adds for our encouragement, “God will work in you the power to will and to do that which will secure your eternal salvation.”  Never say, “I can’t.”

Here is something which will prove very valuable to you in your Christian life if you can only get to fully comprehend it:  You can do nothing; your will is powerless without God and his grace, and God can do nothing in you without the consent of your will.  God does everything, and we do everything:  we are to purify our hearts, and yet it is God who purifies our hearts; we are to make us a new heart, and yet it is God who gives us a new heart; we are commanded to work out our salvation, and God gives us power to do it.  God furnishes the power; we are to do.  Do not think that God will act for you.  He will give you power to act, but he will not do the act for you.  Do not, therefore, say, “I can’t.”  You can do “all things” through Christ, who strengthens you.  You can serve God in a way acceptable to him; you can keep your mind stayed on him; you can pray; you can resist the devil and temptation and be an overcomer; you can endure unto the end—­you can do “all things” by the grace and power of God, and he will always give you power to do his pleasure.  Do not serve and praise God only when he gives you blessings and joy, but serve him and praise him when the way is dark.  Have a fixed decision of the will to serve God no matter what the feelings may be.  Be thankful to God for the will-power he has given you, and use it manfully, nobly in his service.  Do not cower and tremble before temptation.  You are to “fear and tremble” before God, but never before trials, temptations, sin, nor the devil.  God will cause you to triumph by giving you power to will.  Be steadfast, be faithful, fix your will unswervingly to serve God, and in due season you shall reap if you faint not.