[Aquila]

CONTINUED...

Though the believer’s very spirit (inner man) is in union with the Holy Spirit and is sanctified being a partaker in the divine nature… a man’s soul is still functioning according to its desire to please the flesh and preserve the self. So now the battle begins as the believer seeks to establish harmony between his soul and his spirit, a spirit infused with divine grace and presence. So the believer finds himself still attracted to those sinful things that have pleased the flesh in the past. The believer still finds himself repeating the habitual behaviors that have pleased the flesh in the past. The believer, though his spirit is partaking in the divine nature of Christ Himself, is essentially trapped, subject to a carnal mind that still finds pleasure in sin. And so the believer must now engage in the process of renewing the mind through the Word of God. This requires prayer, study, listening to the preached Word, and focus on practice of those things taught. Slowly this begins to renew and overwrite the sinful patterns of the carnal mind. While the man’s spirit was sanctified and sealed upon regeneration, the man’s soul is being sanctified through a continual renewing through the Word of God and prayer.

The only part of man that isn’t so radically changed is the flesh, the man’s physical being including his anatomy, biology, and hormones. The flesh is still very much alive and fallen. Its desires and impulses scream to the soul for fulfillment. The soul is renewed through the Word of God a man must make a conscious choice not to fulfill the desires of the flesh. This is where sin and the saint often tangle. The saint of God finds that the un-renewed aspect of the soul (the carnal mind) is still prone to listen to the desires of the flesh. And so this carnality in the mind of a saint often causes the saint to choose sin. The saint of God finds that the very things he detests and doesn’t desire to do are the very things he finds himself doing. And the righteous and holy good that the saint desires to do… he often doesn’t do. This is the real war.

So now the saint of God is confronted with the sinful tendencies of the flesh and the carnal mind. As the saint grows in Christ they discover failures, faults, and sinful proclivities that war against the Spirit within. When sin is committed (and it will happen) a sense of condemnation and shame is encountered. This is because the saint’s actions are not on congruence with the divine nature of the Holy Spirit within. In fact, such shame and condemnation is one evidence of regeneration and being truly “born again”. Now the accuser will accuse the saint of sin. It is here that the saint must realize, it is not he that sins… but it is the principle of sin that resides in the fallen flesh and the still being renewed carnal mind. They must realize that they stand complete and perfected only in Christ Jesus. Their salvation is in no way determined by their actions, but is predicated upon Christ’s righteousness.

We often see people who appear to have been regenerated yield to the flesh and the carnal mind. Such will lead to alienation and death, being cut off by the departure of the Spirit of God. This isn’t an example of one who was truly born again, though they have “tasted of the heavenly gift” and the things pertaining to salvation. It takes place that it might be manifest to us who are of the elect that they were never truly of us. God isn’t in Heaven hoping they will choose to be better Christians. God already knows the choices that they will make and their inevitable spiritual shipwreck. Christ will NEVER loose one of His own. Christ will NEVER fail to preserve those who were called in Him from the foundations of the world.

Though the saint of God might indulge in sin, and even depart from the fellowship of the church for a season they will inevitably return to the fold. Why? Because God’s seed (the divine nature of the indwelling Holy Spirit) resides in them. Continual sin is against their nature and at some point the very divine nature of the Spirit will prevail and they will persevere in Christ.

Some argue against the above saying that it is inconsistent to say that the Spirit will not choose to depart from them and will cause them to persevere through Christ. They forget that for the elect, Christ is our propitiation. That means that Jesus was the object of God’s wrath upon the cross for every sin of the elect… past, present, and future. They have been secured in Christ predicated upon God’s foreknowledge and providential grace. With regards to the elect… the whole of God’s wrath against their sin is satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The key to spiritual victory isn’t "obedience", “trying harder”, or “trying to be a better Christian”. That's legalistic foolishness. Even at our best… we aren’t good enough. God is soooooo Holy… even the best of us is unworthy and incapable of gaining God’s approval. Salvation is only achieved through Christ’s righteousness received by faith alone. The key here is identity. The elect of God must know his identity in Christ. The saint of God is one with Christ. The saint of God’s “self” must be eradicated that the very person of Christ might be manifest and imaged in the person of the saint. It isn’t about rule keeping or “will power”… it’s about identity and “who power”. Christ IS the standard. Christ revealed all that the Father desires, and it is Christ in us that attains what the Father desires. The saint’s call is to be in such union with Christ, that Christ’s very heart beats within their chest. Their very shadows be seen with nail pierced hands. This oneness with Christ will overcome sin and the world, and it’s accomplished by faith and reckoning. Reckoning our identity as being consumed in Christ and reckoning Christ as being the one who pours forth from us as believers.

Life is a training ground, a battlefield, and a proving ground… proving to us who we are, demonstrating that God is just in His judgment. While one’s spirit is fully sanctified at regeneration, the mind (soul of a man) is being continually sanctified through the Word of God and prayer. Life will prove, test, and reveal the nature of those who profess Christ; the saint of God being inwardly compelled by the divine nature of the Holy Spirit to persevere. We cannot judge the eternal destiny of one based entirely on their current condition. Often those who struggle with the carnal mind throughout their lives find themselves transformed into all that God intended to be in the final stretch of their lives. This too is predicated upon the grace of God.

God’s ultimate desire for the elect isn’t that they be good Christians. It is that they be conformed into the very image and likeness of Christ. This isn’t accomplished by the law or religious observances of dos and don’ts. This is predicated entirely upon the indwelling nature of Christ through the Holy Spirit. It isn’t a modification of behavior, such is legalistic religion wherein the those who are not truly saved hide and appear to be the elect. The finished work of grace in the believer’s salvation is a change of nature. A change in being. A change in WHAT the believer is. Believers aren’t considered obedient predicated entirely upon their deeds… the believer is obedient because of WHAT they are in Christ… new creatures. Obedience (works) is the result of a changed nature… they are not the effort by which one attains salvation. Because obeying any specific list of rules doesn’t change one’s nature. Obeying the rules of the Amish makes one a good Amish. Obeying the rules of the Pentecostals makes one a good Pentecostal. Obeying the rules of the Southern Baptists makes one a good Southern Baptist. Christ is none of these, therefore these works of obedience do not make one like Christ. Legalism and law keeping is a siren’s song that will leave one shipwrecked upon the rocks of man made religion and self righteousness. Only the new nature produces saints who are conformed into the image of Christ.

Does this mean that we can sin that grace may be said to abound? As Paul said, God forbid!!! Those who do such only demonstrate that they are not of us and the love of the Father isn’t in them. The saint of God finds sweet peace, relief, and blessed assurance. An assurance that is transforming in it’s power. A freedom to be what God has made them…partakers in Christ’s divine nature that they might become… like Christ. So let us make our calling and election sure.

So let us ditch the “Pentecostal religion” and begin a journey of being conformed into the likeness and image of Jesus. Let it be said that we are crucified with Christ, and yet we live. Not us. But Christ who lives within us. Allow Christ to live out the divine life of the Holy Spirit through us… that when one beholds us… they behold Him. Let us go and … be Jesus. For that, and that alone, is the Father’s desire.

This is a brief summary of what I believe concerning salvation.