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 30

Continuing with… Salvation:  Past, Future, Present

The Bible makes it plain that the man who is a Christian has a right to know that he is saved:  it is one of the good gifts of God, to know truly that he is a Christian.  This refers not only to the initial fact, after one has accepted Christ as Savior, but also applies in those great and crushing moments in our lives when the waves get so high that it seems, psychologically or spiritually, that we can never find our footing again.  At such moment, a Christian can have ‘assurance’.  His salvation rests on the finished work of Christ, whether he accepts the peace he should have or not, and he can have assurance to the extent to which he believes the promises of God at that moment.   

It is exactly the same with sanctification.  The basis is the finished work of Christ; the instrument to lay hold of that which God means us to have at this moment is faith.  As a child of God, sanctification from the time of justification on, in the present life, is moment-by-moment.  Justification is once for all, at the moment when, by God’s grace, I accept Christ as my Savior; but sanctification is moment-by-moment, a moment-by-moment life of faith.  At this particular place the existentialist is right when he points out the moment-by-moment character of man’s life. 

1 John 5:3 ESV says… For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.  Is that true?  In ourselves, do we find that his commandments are not burdensome?  And the truth is that ‘we’ can and do find them burdensome until we see and understand God’s intention inside the context of this verse.  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.  For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. 1 John 5:3-4.  Fortunately, vs 4 does not end there, or it would not tell us the ‘how.’  

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  1 John 5: end of vs 4.  On the basis of the finished work of Christ, a moment-by-moment life of faith is ‘the victory.’ Not our victory, but Christ’s victory, purchased for us on Calvary’s cross, laid hold of moment-by-moment in faith. 

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