If anything Christians can agree together, it will be (John 3:16). No Christians would dispute this verse and everyone agrees this is the basis of Salvation. We have read it over and over again, How can we miss it? It is so clear that your Salvation cannot be lost.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE.
If you agree with any translation & dictionary, the meaning of EVERLASTING LIFE would simply be: Forever and ever without possible of stopping, or losing it by any means. It truly means if you believe in Jesus, you cannot lose your Salvation in Heaven! You will never go to Hell again (Perish), and Heaven is forever your home already.
Yet many Christians living their lives trying to maintain this EVERLASTING LIFE that they have already possessed it in the moment they received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They are doing unnecessary work of trying to keep the Law, only to frustrate themselves because their flesh will always fail now and then, here and then.
To make it worse, traditional Preachers also use threats and coercion to add up to the fear for them to continue to work for their salvation with fear and trembling; while their salvation actually has been safely secured by Jesus.
They used this verse taking it out of the context, let’s analyse the verse from the Context shall we?:
Php 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with FEAR and TREMBLING;
First of all : FEAR and TREMBLING is not a scary thing, not a bad connotation; but it is Hebraism, a poetic language of that time, in Hebrew it means: “AWESOME, IN AWE, speechless, so wonderful that puts you in an unspeakable feeling.” The example will be the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years (Mar 5:33) her fearing and trembling, knowing that she was miraculously healed!
Secondly, look at the next verse, who is the one working in you? You or God? Look here:
Php 2:13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. (NLT)
The verse cannot get anymore clearer that this! It is NOT you my friend, but it is God, who is continuously working in you, not only making you have the will (desire) to move on, but also providing you with the power, making you able to perform it well. And this is what pleases God. He loves to do it for you.
Thirdly, (Php 2:12) says you are to WORK OUT (not WORK FOR) , what God has already WORKED IN you.
BEING BORN AGAIN
Now we analyze what Jesus means when He said to Nicodemus a Pharisee, and a teacher of the Law: “Being born again” (John 3:3-10); which he cannot comprehend this truth.
In the natural, being born in the flesh, is a one done deal process, it happens immediately. It is not a long process like the head comes out first, then tomorrow the body, then the next day the limbs, etc… until one day it is complete a baby! No my friends, when you were born, it is immediately a complete human being, although you are still a baby, still you are a complete human being with head, body, and limbs completely formed already.
This is so when you decided to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are born again (in the spiritual realm) in that moment of day immediately. You are made a son, a child of God, you are made Righteous like Jesus. Although, as baby you may not know Him well yet, but this personal knowledge and revelation come later after you have been born. It is a journey walking with Jesus, that you will know Him more and more throughout your life time.
Contrary, to what traditional Christians believe, that you are born incomplete, you need to strive fighting sins with self-effort until you become a complete baby one day in the future. Then only you can be called “born again.”
This principle is what Jesus is telling Nicodemus…. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6).
Although ‘born of the flesh’ and ‘born of the spirit’, are two different things, but the principle is the same, i.e. “being born”. And you cannot be unborn after you are born. And Nicodemus did not understand this principle, just like today many born again Christians do not even know that they are born again complete in Christ already. They are fully born Righteous children of God, who can call God as “Abba, Father”.
My Friends, once you believe and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you have become complete Christian, born again in the spirit realm, you are a spirit being, the real you is the spirit man who lives in the shell called your body. You are being born not by your will, nor by any will of men, but by the will of God Himself. See NLT translation:
Tit 3:5 He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
Tit 3:6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Tit 3:7 Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”
Once you believe and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, this (Tit 3:5-7) will instantly take place in the spiritual realm. So much so that even when you fail or fall, let’s say you committed a horrible sins before God; yet you can never be “unborn again”, you have been born and are still a born again son. But you may be a born son who is doing a ‘dead work’ or ‘unfruitful deeds’. Nevertheless, not to worry, God will never leave you nor forsake you, it is His promise! And as (Php 2:13) says God is still working in you, giving you the desire and the power to perform well, picking you up and carrying you out of the problem. You just need to Realize this: your true identity is in Christ, do not go back to the Law, because the Law will only condemn you and strengthen the cycle of the sins (1Cor 15:56). God never condemns you because of the finished work of Christ; you are still righteous in His eyes, dust off your failures and walk again in victory and Reign in Life! (Rom 5:17).
Lifting Jesus in His Loveliness & the perfection of His work 