Looking for Something Else?

A Christian, to be spiritual, must, then, be filled and kept filled by the Spirit. An experience may or may not accompany the first entrance into the Spirit-filled life; but, even when there is an experience, the Bible knows nothing of a “second blessing,” or “second work of grace,” wherein there will be any less need of the mighty enabling power God tomorrow than there has been today. One may learn better how to “walk in the Spirit”; but he will never come to a moment in this life when he will need to walk less by the Spirit. The divine resources for a moment by moment triumph in Christ are limitless; but the utter need of the helpless creature never ceases. L. S. Chafer, He That is Spiritual.

When Paul experienced his “blinding light” experience on the road to Damascus, he was saved at that time. He met Jesus head-on. At this time he received the Spirit of God in its sealing capacity. Later after he arrived in Damascus, Ananias came to him, placed his hands on him. At this time Paul received his sight and the filling of the Spirit of God. His salvation (sealing) came on the road to Damascus, and the filling came later once he entered the city where Ananias waited. If you note in Acts 9:17-20, Paul went on to preach in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. He wasn’t aware of some great “second filling” at that time or “second blessing.” Nevertheless, he was filled with the Spirit of God as he preached Jesus. These two are distinct in nature.

In a day and age where many Christians are looking to receive something extra in their salvation, know this; Jesus finalized all that we will ever need in our salvation in the moment it happens. We don’t need Him to add anything to our salvation. In fact, how scary would our salvation be if God didn’t get it right the first time and needed to add something to it once we received it? It really wouldn’t be finished would it? This is why we also see Jesus say on the cross before He died, “It is finished.” If it weren’t finished, then God wouldn’t be perfect in sealing us maybe either, which means He didn’t either have or remembered to do it right. This means He isn’t God, because God is perfect; and our salvation is perfect too!

As one speaker I was listening to this last week said; “Too many times we are looking for God to add something to our lives and asking for things in our lives, when all we need to do is deal with the sin in our lives and it will become a life of reward and happiness.” We constantly are looking for something in our lives many times as Christians and are missing the life that we have been given in Christ. Most of the time it is because we are looking to live the life of Christianity outside the original design of what Jesus intended. We want to morph the life we have now and ask God to bless it when it doesn’t even line up with the plan He has set for us.

So what do we do about learning and understanding what our lives are about in this thing called Christian Salvation? Let’s do some studies in the following areas: Grace, Propitiation, Substitution, and Righteousness, to name a few. Take your concordance out and look up these words this week and coming. I guarantee you will have plenty of things to consider that you might not have seen before. May the Lord guide your studies when you do so!