At present, we are working with the light of truth presented by Dr. Francis Schaeffer from his book True Spirituality where we are discussing the basic considerations of the Christian life, or true Christianity.

Part 29

Salvation:  Past, Future, Present

Continuing from yesterday…. 

We read this promise of Christ:  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  John 14:16-18 ESV.  We are not ‘orphaned’; Christ comes to us through the agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  And, in verse 23, connected with this, Jesus says: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  In this context the thrust is that the Holy Spirit indwelling the individual Christian isn’t only the agent of Christ, but he is also the agent of the Father.  Consequently, when I accept Christ as my Savior, my guilt is gone, I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and I am in communication with the Father and the son, as well as the Holy Spirit—the entire Trinity.  Thus now, in the present life, if I am justified, I am in a personal relationship with each of the members of the trinity.  God the Father is my Father; I am in union with the Son; and I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  This is not just meant to be doctrinal; it is what I/we have now.   

Let me stress it again:  salvation is all one piece.  All salvation—past, present, and future—has one base.  That base is not our faith.  If we are confused here, then we are confused completely.  A man can never be justified on the basis of his own faith.  Through all of salvation the only base is the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross in history.  Faith is the empty hand, the instrument by which we accept God’s free gift.  Faith is simply believing God.  It is not a leap in the dark.  It is a ceasing to call God a liar, and believing him.  Justification is only on the basis of the finished work of Christ.  Faith is the instrument by which we accept that finished work.  This is the how, but this ‘how’ extends through all salvation.  

Friends…this is gold: verse 23, John 14…Jesus says that He and the Father will come to make their home inside us…wow…that is as close to heaven on earth as we can get in this present age.  And ‘that’ is where we want to be….to learn to spend as much time as possible in the moment-by-moment awareness of that reality…to practice the reality of the presence of the God Trinity living inside us.  I am learning that this is a practiced discipline…maintaining the ‘awareness’.  You have to practice it through time in meditation, time in conversation with the Trinity, time in God’s word which is the fuel that gives us the energy to move to conversation with the Trinity.  In this fallen state, in this fallen flesh, the desires of the flesh as we live in this fallen world will always seek to keep us distracted ‘so that’ we do not practice awareness of the presence of the Trinity living inside us.   But if we can really begin to get-hold of this reality…God the Father, Jesus the Christ, the Holy Spirit God, living inside us…wow.  Once we learn to practice ‘awareness’ of the Trinity living inside us, we will begin to realize the change in our moment-by-moment thinking and choices as we live-out our daily life.  As we learn to practice ‘awareness’ we naturally bring God ‘in’ to center of our thinking and choices on a more consistent basis.  And ‘that’ is the essence of a Christ centered life.   No..I am not nearly fully there yet…but I am, day by day, seeking to practice His presence more…’so that’ I can bear more eternal fruit and please the Father with my life.  (con’t tomor)

 
Thoughts developed or used directly from the work of Schaeffer, Francis. True Spirituality . Tyndale House Publishers, Inc