Salvation -The Doors to Life

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any may hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20)

Salvation/The Doors to Life

Dr. Sid Collison

   What is salvation" Most Christians or those who understand the historical position would readily answer, "It is being saved, knowing Christ as your Savior, being born again; it is knowing that you are going to heaven when you die."

  You're right. It is all of the above. Those who are Christians, and most who claim to be, at least understand the concept of being born again. In fact, the terminology "born again" has become a popular term, particularly among some politicians at election time. The unregenerate, as well as the carnal Christian, will not hesitate to use the Christian identification at any time that it will promote the cause of the flesh.

  Of the hundreds of people that I have seen in my counseling ministry, the majority come to me with two very definite characteristics. First, they believe that they are saved, born again, Christians; and second, their lives are totally miserable and unhappy. Some come with anxiety, hostility, panic attacks, eating disorders, lust problems, demonic activity, thought of suicide, having attempted suicide, marriages that are disintegrating, and overwhelming depression. In other words, all of the things that are happening in the world are happening to the Christian or those who think that they are Christians.

  Have you ever wondered, "Is this the way life is supposed to be for one who is a child of God?" No! I believe the answer is found by understanding what the scripture means by the word "Salvation."

  LOOK WITH ME NOW AT THE “THREE DOORS OF SALVATION.”

The Three doors of salvation: Savior, Lord and Life.

  The Hebrew and Greek words for salvation set forth the ideas of deliverance, security, preservation, healing, and soundness. Salvation is the great inclusive word of the Gospel setting forth the redemptive acts and processes of justification, redemption, grace, forgiveness, and sanctification, just to name a few. Salvation is in three tenses or doors. Each door opens as the key of faith is used (Ephesians 2:9, Revelations 3:20) and once through the door, it closes behind the believer and is never opened again as God is faithful to His word.

DOOR ONE: JESUS AS SAVIOR

  The believer is saved from the guilt and penalty of sin, he is "born again." Once the believer accepts Christ, he is eternally secure. He knows the Savior and is a "new creature in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17, Luke 7:50, 1 Corinthians 1:8, John 3:1-21). Many try to teach that this is the end of God's program for man and that when a man is born again there is no further need. If that is true, then why are so many who know the Savior so unhappy and unfulfilled? The answer may be found in understanding what is meant by Paul's admonition to the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

DOOR TWO: JESUS AS LORD

  The believer is being saved from the habit and the dominion of sin. He is accepting Jesus as Lord and Master (Romans 6:14, Romans 12:1, Philippians 1:19, Philippians 2:12,13, 2 Thessalonians 2:13)

DOOR THREE: JESUS AS LIFE

  The believer is in the process of being brought into conformity to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29, Romans 13:11, Hebrews 10:36, 1 Peter 1:5, 1 John 3:2)

  Only as the believer comes into the fullness of his identity with Christ and the "Exchanged Life" will his life take on the abundance of the supernatural blessings the Lord has intended for His children (Galatians 5:22-25).

Copyright 1996-1998 by RAB Tech and/or Life Exchange Ministry

Blackmon, Selma, editor. The Exchanged Life News. Volume 3 Issue 2. January 12, 2003.

"Called Unto Holiness" by Ruth Paxson, part 3

Called Unto Holiness by Ruth Paxson

Fullness of Christ

Ruth Paxson spoke during the Keswick Convention in 1936. The addresses are printed as delivered at the three meetings for ladies only and at the closing fellowship gathering. This is the third meeting titled FULLNESS OF CHRIST from the book

  

   “The church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” Eph. 1:22, 23

   “Think of it! ‘The church, the fullness of Christ’! The Christian, the fullness of Christ! Is that your conception of what it is for you to be a Christian. You, living in your home; you, walking up and down the streets of your town or city, the fullness of Christ! That is what the Word says. ‘The fullness of him who filleth all in all.’ Here we are told how it is possible. He fills us with His own fullness. John 14:16, 17; Acts 2:4

   Has such fullness been provided for me? Oneness in Christ made it ours. Col. 2:9, 10 ‘And ye are made full in him.’ Our position in Christ makes us potential partakers of the fullness of Christ. We ‘are made full’ it says, not we will be. The moment we become a part of the body of Christ, the fountain of fullness in Him is opened to us. The fullness has been provided for every Christian.

   Is such fullness possible for me? Can the fullness provided be made personal? John 4:14 ‘Water’ in Scripture is the type of the Spirit as Christ Himself interprets it in John 7:38, 39. Christ is never called the water of life, but He gives this water to those who thirst and drink. Christ gives the Holy Spirit to the Christian. He is promising here the gift of the Holy Spirit.

   ‘In him a well’-is the Holy Spirit indwelling which Christ promised the disciples.

   ‘A well of water springing up’-leaping up in an exhaustless, irrepressible way; springing up and overflowing. Is not this fullness?

   ‘Whosoever’-Did you get that word?..

   ‘Shall never thirst.’ Do you believe it?.. Perfect inward heart satisfaction. Do you have it?..

   ‘Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst’ but shall have perfect inward satisfaction and sufficiency. No matter what the circumstances or the environment or the spiritual and temporal need, Christ is enough and equal to it all. Christ only satisfies; Christ only suffices because the indwelling Holy Spirit fills the life and makes Christ a living reality within. Is He doing that for you?..

   ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water’ John 7:37, 38

   ‘Rivers of living water-not a rivulet, or stream, or even a river, but ‘rivers,’ the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Yangtze, the Thames, all put together into one.

   ‘Shall flow’-not a Dead Sea that received and retains the blessings of Keswick, but the river Jordan that refreshes and renews every life it touches…

   ‘From within him’-an inflow demands an outflow and an overflow. Christ is enough  and to spare…

   ‘He that believeth on me’-not only for some great preacher or Bible teacher, not even alone for some one employed in Christian service, but for him who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe?..

  Is such fullness optional? May I choose whether I will be filled with the Holy Spirit or not? ‘Be ye filled with the Spirit’ Eph. 5:18. It is a command…

Experiencing Go Through Prayer

Experiencing God Through Prayer by Madame Guyon

   The reader finds on page nine that God delights when we come to Him in simple, childlike confidence.

   Madame Guyon teaches this simple truth and childlike confidence. We must learn to pray from our heart, not from our head. She explains how to sit quietly (while being active) and wait on God.

   “I would emphasis my statement to you-you are called to enjoy God-not only His gifts to you…

   The whole desire of our heavenly Father is to give Himself to every creature according to the capacity in which we will receive Him.”

   This is a small book of only 90 pages, yet it is difficult to try to limit the wisdom and knowledge to just one page.

   Starting on page 31 of chapter 7 The Bitter and the Sweet reads:

   “Be patient, dear ones, during suffering. It was through His suffering on Calvary that Jesus gave the greatest display of love.

   Don't be like those who give themselves to Jesus at one season only to withdraw from Him at another. They give themselves to Him only to be caressed, yet when in times of trouble, they turn back to man for consolation.

   No, beloved friends, you will not find consolation in anything other than the love of the cross and total abandonment. If you will not savor the cross you cannot savor the things of God. (See Matthew 16:23).

   It is impossible to love God without loving the cross. If you savor the cross, you will find even the most bitter things to be sweet.

   ‘To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet’ (Proverbs 27:7), because it finds itself hungering for God in the same proportion as it is hungering for the cross...

   Jesus Christ Himself chose to endure the utmost severity of the cross...

   (John 14:6)  Abandon [surrender] yourself then in Jesus. Follow Him as the way. Wait for Him to reveal truth to you. Allow Him to animate us with life.

   Abandonment [surrender] is the means God uses to reveal His mysteries to us.

   To bear all the marks of Jesus Christ is much greater than merely meditating on them. Paul said, ‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus’ (Gal 6:17). He does not say he merely thought about them, he says he bore them.

   As you abandon yourselves to Jesus, He will reveal those marks to you. You have no choice but to reach after Him. Dwell with Him. Sink into nothingness before Him.

   Accept indiscriminately all His gifts whether sweetness or bitterness. Let nothing retard your course for even one moment...

   If you sincerely love God, you will love all that belongs to Him.”

   In another chapter we read, “The only genuine means of bringing about change is by inward means. You must commit yourself wholly into the hands of a loving God. The simple act of commitment in every circumstance where self exerts itself will, in time, produce a separation of the sensual from the spiritual…

   The nearer your spirit draws to God, the further you become separated from the soulish demands…

   God himself will show you the areas of your life which need attention. Those who are  faithfully abandoning all to God will indeed be purified, polished, and perfected in His timing…”

   A quote from the chapter entitled Matters of the Heart. “Sin takes possession of the soul deficient in faith and prayer. If we would but teach our wandering brethren to simply believe and diligently pray, rather than engaging them in endless reasoning's, we would lead them sweetly into the arms of God.” And for references Madame Guyon gives Psalm 19:7, 119:130; Matthew 19:14, 11:25.

   Other chapter titles include: Thirsting For God, Scriptural Meditation, Surviving Dry Periods, Distractions, Put Off The Old, The Reward of Silence.

   Could our goals in life, our aim for class members, this book and the other resources we use as tools be:

   “To teach man to seek God in his heart, to think of Him, to return to Him whenever he has wandered, and to have a single eye to please Him, is leading that person to the source of all grace. There he will find everything necessary for sanctification…

   Teach the young to pray, not by reasoning or by method or by understanding, but by the prayer from the heart-the prayer of God’s Spirit rather than man’s invention…

   There is no better way to learn how to love God than to simply love Him.”

Satisfaction, Security, and Significance in Chirst

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them: Genesis 1:27

The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. He created us for Himself. Before the fall, man was in the likeness of God, bearing the image of God. Adam and Eve chose knowledge of good and evil which left them needy and empty. We have all inherited this neediness.  Most of our basic human needs can be categorized under the headings of satisfaction (forgiveness, rest, fulfillment), security (belonging, unconditional love, acceptance, connectedness, protectedness), and significance (value, importance, identity, separateness, adequacy).

Answer the following questions for your own better understanding of how you have attempted to get your needs met in your own way.

SATISFACTION

What have I done, or where have I looked to try to attain a sense of peace, fulfillment and satisfaction?

SECURITY

Where do I think I have looked to find security? What have I done to try to feel secure?

SIGNIFICANCE

Where have I looked to find significance? What do I think I have tried to do to have a sense of value?

Has confusion, disappointment and frustration been the results?

Ø  Isaiah 53:6 We have turned, everyone, to his own way.

Ø  Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.

Ø  Proverbs 21:2 Every way of man is right in his own eyes.

Ø  Proverbs 3:5 lean not on your own understanding

Ø  Romans 13:14 Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh

Ø  John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life

Ø  Galatians 5:16 Walk by the spirit and you won’t carry out the desire of the flesh