them to Himself. Even so the Lord calls us and wants to teach us the Christian way of life. This is why we are to strive for the realization of Cod's love, peace, holiness, goodness and justice in our lives. When we come to know Cod's great deliverance we enter into a lifetime of practical training and spiritual encouragement, guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. It is unfortunate to hear of those who misinterpret Paul's words, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (2:12). No one can do one single thing to merit salvation. It is all a free gift in re sponse to our belief and accep tance of the Saviour's atoning work on the cross. It is very obvious that we can only work out what has already been worked within by His Holy Spirit. The exciting realization is that it is actually God in us, through the Holy Spirit, who does the out working (verse 13). His working begins with our wills. The reason is that willingness always comes before doing if it is going to be of any lasting value whatsoever. Apart from the work of Cod through Jesus Christ, no one has a free will where spiritual realities are con cerned. While we have a free will to decide certain things, we do not have a free will to decide all things. We can decide such things as whether we want to go to church on Sunday or stay at home. We can decide whether we go to work on Monday or pretend that we are sick. We can order turkey or roast beef at a restaurant. There are some things on which we have a choice. But, by our own free will, we can not decide to have a higher I.Q. than we already have. Our free Page 42
will is no help if we decide we want to become three inches taller than we are. We do not have a free will to run the 100-yard dash in eight seconds. We do not have a free will to look like somebody else either physically, intellectually or spiritually. Adam had free will but he lost it. All men since are without a com plete free will until recreated by the Holy Spirit. To illustrate, it is just as if a man were standing on the edge
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