Some people claim they believe in Jesus. Some will admit openly that they are following the Son of God. Some will say they know of Jesus Christ, but do they really?

St Matthew chapter 24 beginning with verse 23 makes a statement about the end of times which we are living in today. It says, "Then is any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christ's, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold I heave told you before. Wherefore if they say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not."

In these passages we see the desperation of man displayed. These passages reveal a people that want to be entertained by signs and wonders. This people are not interested in Spiritual edification but want to be a part of the show. They are not seeking Christ for salvation but following a false imitation of a person who they perceive could be the Christ. We see this more evident today than any other time. A man starting a church who claims to be Jesus incarnated and people flock to him as their spiritual advisor. Cults are forming all around the world with people following a man or a woman as their leader into the next life.

Not so evident are our conventional churches where a pastor is held in great esteem and regard among his flock. We are seeing pastors lifted to sainted positions and literally worshipped by members of the church.

In all of this the real Jesus is left out of the picture. Jesus of Nazareth is forgotten and not recognized as the only begotten of the Father. People have a way of substituting the lie in place of truth and convincing themselves that they are doing that which is right in order to create their own moral laws.

Philippians 2:12: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." What is this verse saying? Are we to know the real Christ by working? Is this referring to "works of righteousness" or "salvation by works?" After a careful examination it is clear that the redemptive work of Christ reveals that salvation is not based on the accumulated merits of our piety and good deeds. God's love is unconditional Romans 5:8 and abounds in grace, so salvation is free. It is not our work, which brings about salvation. It is the work Christ did for us Philippians 2:7-10 "taking on a form of a servant, humbling himself, became obedient unto death, even unto the cross, being exalted by God and given a name above every other name." This is the work, which brings about salvation. Through fear and trembling or through not the sense of being afraid but namely, "the awe", which comes when we contemplate God's work of "amazing grace" in Christ.

Working out our own salvation brings us closer to knowing the real Jesus Christ. Salvation is not something that we possess. It is rather a relationship in which we stand, becoming partakers of God's Spirit. So "our work" is the outgrowth of a dynamic relationship, whose author and finisher is God. Philippians 2:13 "For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." It is God's will and good pleasure that we have a personal relationship with him through his Son Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

It is the responsibility of each individual once they have heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation to believe in the promise of redemption. 2 Corinthians 7:10 "For godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation." 1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."

The salvation, which Christ has brought, is a promise stemming from his redemptive work. Yes that is correct everything he has promised us is by faith. I ask you, how do you know you are saved? You are still in this world aren’t you? You still get sick, and you still feel pain so where is that salvation that he has promised? Romans 5:1-2 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of the Lord." If you have been blood bought by Jesus Christ your assurance and hope rest in faith. Faith is something that cannot be seen nor felt but rather a faith, which manifest itself with our hearts, which brings us the assurance of salvation.

Many people today need to work out their own salvation. In working out their salvation many will come to realize that they have not known Jesus Christ at all. That they have been following a dead God, or a dead Christ who cannot bring any promise and whose redemption is faithless.

So who is the real Jesus Christ? Many people have been taught to believe that the first appearance of Jesus was in Bethlehem in a manger. This is absolutely false!

Proverbs 8:22-23 "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from everlasting, or ever the earth was. " This chapter goes on the explain not the existence of the human writer of the Proverb but rather it is referring to nothing less than the eternal Son of God.

Jesus has always existed. Before man, before recorded time, before his manifestation in the flesh in Bethlehem, Jesus existed.

John 1:1-3 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." Jesus was the Word of God from the beginning.

Colossians 1:16-17 "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Once again this refers to Jesus Christ the Son of God who is the head of the church.

In the book of Genesis during creation Jesus was the voice of God. God spoke and Jesus performed that which was spoken. "Let there be light" God spoke, and Jesus created the light. Here some proofs of the existence of Jesus during the Old Testament days.

Genesis 1:26 "And God said, let us make man in our own image, after our likeness." God surely was not speaking to the angels. He was speaking to Jesus "our own image," "after our likeness."

After Adam and Eve had ate from the tree of good and evil they knew they had wrong God because they immediately knew they had sinned and they felt separated from God. They went to hide themselves from God. The scripture points out that God come looking for them. Adam and Eve had a special relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. They literally spoke with God and had fellowship with him because they were in God's glory and sinless before this act. How did God come looking for Adam and Eve? Genesis 3:8 "And they heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." Yes that is correct, Jesus came walking through the Garden of Eden calling out to Adam.

After the flood in Noah's day there were a certain people that had migrated to a plain of land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. All of these people spoke one language and it was their goal to build a tower, which may reach heaven. These people wanted to be the greatest people upon the earth and they thought if they could reach heaven they could achieve this. They obviously had a good chance of making it because this concerned God enough where he came down to look at the city and the tower. As the bible records God put a stop to this structure. Genesis 11:7 "Let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." This was the tower of Babe l because God had confounded the language. Who was God talking to when he said "Let us" go down?" Of course it was Jesus. Who better to confound their language than the Word of God himself who had power to create worlds with his voice?

In the Book of Daniel, in a time long before the birth of the child in Bethlehem they called Emmanuel, there is a story to bring more confirmation to the truth of Christ.

Three Jews faithful to God refused to worship an image of gold, which King Nebuchadnezzar had made. At the sound of certain music everyone was to fall down and worship this image. He warned that any one who refused would be thrown into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. The three Jews Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego heard the music and refused to fall down and worship the golden image. They were brought before the king and responded by saying "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king, But if not, be it known unto you, O king that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up."

The king was furious and heated up the furnace seven times hotter than usual. He commanded that they be thrown into the fire. It was so hot that the men who tossed them in were consumed instantly by the heat. This is what followed Daniel 3:24 "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spoke, and said unto his counselors, didn't we throw three men bound into the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True O king. He answered and said, LO, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." So as illustrated here Jesus came to rescue these three men from the hand of death.

Hebrews 1:1-2 "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the Fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."

John 8:58 "Jesus said unto them, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."

Jesus spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:13-14 "And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers have sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is your name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you."

John 17:5, Jesus prayed for himself, for those of his day and for us in the future. In his prayer he made some very revealing statements about who he was. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."

I would encourage any one who reads this to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." To examine what it is you believe in and see if it is the Jesus Christ that the bible speaks of or are you following a Jesus, which the bible does not know. Is your Jesus the Word of God or is your Jesus a fable from doctrines of men?

Revelation 1:8 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."

In Christ Jesus,

Dale Thompson