Outline & Resume of So Great Salvation — Paris Reidhead

Review of the Salvation Outline

For you that are visitors and haven't been here, I understand that this doesn't have much meaning, but it will shortly. So you have nothing but a blank piece of paper with a little chart indicated A and B and numbers to 14.

Now, if you reach number nine correctly, you will have 100 percent, because that's as far as we have gone. And so I'm going to ask that you that have been here previous nights will, if you will, it will at this time, fill in as much as you can of that which has been presented to you.

Each of these for you that are here for the first time, one word for each of the numbers, just one word. It hasn't been a great deal, I've asked them to remember. I will relate to you, while you are doing this, that which I have spoken of in the past, concerning the young man who was called to a church, and he brought one sermon, and he walked around among the people all week, and so the next Lord's Day he brought the same sermon.

And he walked around with the people the next week, and the third Lord's Day he brought the same sermon. And the elders and the deacons waited on him and said, Now listen, that was a good sermon, and we complimented you the first time, and we got something out of it the second time, but today was too much.

Well, he said, Listen, if you will do what I told you to do in the first one, we'll go on to the second, but there's no use going on until you do what was set forth in the first one. And I rather feel like that tonight, and so I would like to have you check up and see how far you've come with these key words that are so important in our thinking.

There's A, and your own expression of it is not, you don't have to remember my words, but so that they're equivalent, and then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, A and B and 6. B has not been given, and so it'll be just 7, 8, and 9.

See what you can do with it, will you? And I shan't give you long. I'm going to ask that you that are not endeavoring to fill this in, turn, if you will please, to Romans 12, Romans chapter 12, for we shall begin with that in just a moment.

Now, I want you with your finger in Romans 12 to turn back to Romans 6, in verse 6. And then I would like to have you read Romans 1 to 6, and then turn to Romans 12 and read verses 1 and 2. And I make this observation that Romans 12, 1 and 2 follows Romans 6, 1 to 6.

Now, I believe that most have stopped writing. If there's anyone that would like additional time, just raise your hand. No hands are raised, and so we shall proceed. A, born, and if you are here for the first time, I suggest that you fill it in now, and that I trust that some value will come, even if you have nothing more than just the words.

The Spirit’s Work in So Great Salvation

So that's why I had one of these sheets given to each of you. They represent something of what we understand to be that so great salvation of which the writer of Hebrews spoke, saying, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

And so A has been to us, born of the Spirit. Did you have that? How many had that? Let's see. Excellent. Thank you, both of you. There were two or three more than that. Born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit offers Jesus Christ to the sinner.

Number one, awakened. Awakened. This is the first work of the Spirit of God. Awakening or awakened. Did any of you have this correctly? Let's see your hands. That's fine. Thank you. Number two, conviction.

He is the Spirit of Truth, reproving or convicting the world. Awakening, conviction. Do you see the logic of it? First He alerts us and then He brings the word to bear upon our consciences until we realize that we stand before God as criminals.

Convicted of sin. Three, repentance. Repentance. Repentance follows conviction. First the nature of the crime revealed and then an attitude toward the crime changed. How many had number three correct?

Would you raise your hands? Yes, again, thank you. Both of you. And number four is faith. Faith. Saving faith. Saving faith. Receiving faith, if you please. I've called it saving faith. Because there's been faith in the scripture.

Faith in the fact that He is God. But this is that faith which reaches out to personally embrace the Son of God. And it can only be exercised after repentance. That's why Paul preached repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ there in Acts 20.

Number five, a, justification. This affects our legal standing where all our sin is counted to Christ and the righteousness of Christ is counted to us. Justification. This affects our standing before the Lord.

And b, regeneration. This is that operation of the Spirit of God in the heart of the repentant believing sinner wherein he is made partaker in beginning measure of the divine nature. The Spirit of God regenerates or makes him alive.

This is arbitrary and we've pointed out that our Calvinist brethren two hundred and three hundred years ago put regeneration where we've put awakening. But in order that we might be in keeping with the day in which we live to this degree of being in step with our evangelical brethren, we have said that it is this work of regeneration to which incidentally the great Puritan and Calvinist teachers of that period I mentioned would call conversion.

But for us we've used arbitrarily the title, the word regeneration. And six, witness. The witness of the Spirit. Because we are regenerated, the Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit enabling us to cry, Abba, Father.

The witness of the Spirit. We affirm and hold to be cardinally true that no one in the universe has the right to tell a soul they're saved but the God that saves them. That this is his sovereign prerogative and that it is the consequence of his regenerating work.

The witness of the Spirit. It's not an emotion or a sensation but it is the testimony that God gives that causes you to know that you are his. Number seven. We are now in another area as you see. We've changed not for want of space but because be when we come to it will indicate a phase of relationship.

Temptation, Confession, and Cleansing

The basic principle underlying this is as follows. That you notice five and A up on the little diagram. Five is the crisis preceded by a process and followed by a process. Do you see? Five is the crisis, the peak.

It's preceded by a process, it's followed by a process and it issues into another crisis of twelve which is followed by a process. This is the reason for the diagram in order that we can point out these two peaks of crisis that most can trace in their Christian life.

So number seven. You see it follows after the witness of the Spirit and the assurance you're saved. What is it that comes to most Christians? Isn't it temptation and the possibility of sinning? And oh what an assault that it is on this newborn child of God to discover that he's still capable of being tempted.

And how many there are that cast away their confidence in that time of testing and say well nothing happened. Here I am being tempted to do the same thing that I turned away from. Temptation and the possibility of sinning.

And you notice I said possibility. I didn't say necessity of sinning because even here there is grace and I do not maintain it is necessary for a child of God to sin at any point in their Christian pilgrimage.

When I speak of sin I use it in the way of the Scripture, transgression of the law which obviously involves the intelligence and the volition. We're not speaking of that failure to measure up to the infinite perfection of God.

We're talking about that which involves the intelligence and the will. And so seven is temptation and the possibility of sinning. How many have had that correct? Yes I see that. Thank you. Now number eight.

This is confession, brokenness and cleansing. This is where we find that precious word in 1 John. To any man's sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We confess our sins.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But you notice we've said confession and this we've defined in previous meetings to mean a saying with God what God says or in taking of the same attitude toward that which is transpired as God takes.

It's not just a light little tipping of the head or flexing of the knee. Lord if I've sinned please forgive. That isn't confession. Confession is to say with God what God says and it involves brokenness and it results in cleansing and restoration to fellowship.

Now as long as you live you'll be tempted and as long as you're tempted of course there's the possibility of sin and whenever you grieve him whose name is holy you must come back to number eight and there must be confession and brokenness and cleansing.

You never outgrow the necessity of this. You never outgrow it. But lest we should stop there and say that this is the normal Christian life and that this is all there is we hasten on to number nine. Number nine.

Identification with Christ and Victory Through the Cross

Identification with Christ and if you wish in parentheses victory through the cross and you will have on your notes, your previously made notes five areas or aspects of identification with Christ and so if you want to go down lower on the paper and put the nine and fulfill the asterisk I'll give you quickly those five for some are here for the first time and will be leaving and not joining us again in the future and perhaps this would be of help to you.

Incidentally in this connection in the area of seven, eight, and nine, and ten I would suggest that you get the booklet The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee which has been so helpful to so many. Nine.

Identification with Christ. One. Crucified with Him. That's Romans 6, 6. Crucified with Christ. Two. Buried with Christ. Romans 6, 4. You see when He died, He not only died for you, He died as you. That means that you died when He died.

So when He was crucified in the Father's eyes you were. This dealt with you. You were buried with Him. This insulated you from the world. And then you were quickened with Christ. Number three. Quickened with Christ.

Ephesians 2, 5. Therefore we are quickened together. And four. You were raised with Christ. Raised with Him. Therefore we are raised up together with Him. And five. You were seated with Christ in the heavenlies.

Now do you notice? You were seated with Him. This is the scope of our identification, our union with Christ. How glorious. Crucified with Him we have victory over ourselves. Buried with Him we have victory over the world.

And seated with Him we have victory over principalities and over powers. Now these things must come in sequence. It isn't as though when you understand nine that you'll never have need of eight or experience seven.

It isn't that you'll never be tempted or that you'll never have need of understanding your identification with Christ. You'll be tempted as long as you live. There's no experience with Christ or state of grace that will keep you from being tempted.

Remember that. But there is no temptation which is irresistible. Remember that. There is no temptation wherein you must sin. I want this truth to lay hold upon you. There is no temptation that is irresistible.

For the scripture is clear wherein God has said there is no temptation overtaken you. But such as is common to man. And God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. But will with temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

I talked with a young person, a college student some years ago, two I believe now, who stated, Brother Edad, I heard you talking about victory in this last session. But I want you to know it doesn't work.

For I've been quoting that verse. There's no temptation overtaken you. But such as is common to man. And every time I'm tempted, I quote it and quote it and quote it. And it just doesn't work. And he said, I think you ought to tell young people that there are people like me where this doesn't work lest they go into despair.

I said, but what is the way of escape? He said, that verse. I was told if I quoted that verse I'd get deliverance. And then I took the verse, opened my Bible to it, and we went over it carefully. And I showed him how that in 1 Corinthians 10, 13.

He doesn't tell us how we're going to escape. He simply tells us there is a way of escape. There is a way of escape. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but hath with the temptation made a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

And he said, well, I thought the verse was the way of escape. And I had to point out to him that no scripture is a private interpretation and no verse is to be considered of and by itself apart from its context, for in a sense all scripture is commentary upon any scripture.

And that in this he was saying that there is a way of escape, but he doesn't tell there what it is. In Romans 6 he tells us what this way of escape is. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, establishes the fact that when Christ died, you died.

Reckoning yourself to be dead in the moment of temptation releases the power of God into your life to implement the fact. Do you see? Knowing that when he died, you died, establishes a historical foundation for your dealing with the Lord.

And therefore if you do not know that Christ died as you as well as for you, there won't be victory. Because this is the way of escape. He was made to be sin for you. You see, so many think that all Christ did was to die to save them from hell.

But if he had just died to save you from hell, then he would have had to have taken you to heaven hell worthy. And if he had taken you to heaven hell worthy, then there wasn't much prospect that you'd be any better in heaven than you were on earth.

And even some of our other friends that take the name Christian who do not believe as we believe in the grace of God that saves in this fashion, still have had to invent a place where they could have, if it couldn't be taken off by the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost, they've recognized that heaven has to be a holy place, and so they've had to invent a place where it could be burned off because they couldn't have unholy people going into a holy heaven and still have it holy.

And it's the necessity, the sheer logical necessity of keeping heaven holy. And it's an invention because they have neglected so great salvation. Christ didn't die just to save you from what you've done.

He died to save you and me from ourselves. And the only way He could save you from yourself was to become what you were so that you could become what He is. And so the moment that you say, Well, I'm not worthy of what Christ did.

I don't need this kind of... I mean, when you say, Well, I'm not so bad as to need cleansing from heart sin and heart impurity and heart uncleanness. I don't need that. You're simply saying that the death of Christ was useless and meaningless and valueless and that He wasted His sacrifice.

No, the Lord Jesus wanted to save us not only from the consequences of our acts, but He wanted to save us from ourselves which produced the acts and the attitudes. And so to do this, He had to become what you were in order that you could become what He is.

Now, if you get this one principle in your mind, then you're going to have one of the basic concepts of the Christian life that the Lord Jesus wanted to save you not only from what you had done, but from what you were.

To do this, He had to take the penalty not only of what you had done, but He had to take the corruption of what you were. So when He rose in Gethsemane's garden, He not only had the penalty of your sin like a bundle, for it was yours and on you that He gathered up and laid upon Him.

Far too many people see just that and nothing more. The penalty of our sins carried by Christ. But all that can do is save us from the consequence of penalty. And it would mean if that's all He did, that you'd have to be in heaven the kind of a person you were, worthy of hell.

And of course the trouble is that you might start an insurrection in heaven and ruin everything there and go through the whole thing over again. And so He wouldn't take a chance on that. And thus He was willing to die not only for what you had done, but for what you were.

So as it were, He reached out and drew you to Himself, so that He stood before the Father as you. Your substitute, your representative whom the Father saw to be you. Not only with penalty upon you. You know the penalty for lying is death.

The penalty for blasphemy is death. The penalty for immorality is death. The penalty for stealing is death. The soul that's in it, it shall die. That's the penalty. That's the penalty. But who is it that lied, a liar?

Who is it that stole, a thief? Who is it that blasphemed, a blasphemer? Is it just to save from the penalty or to save from the thing that produced the conduct? And so the Lord Jesus died to save you not only from what you have done, but from what you were.

So that in the eyes of the Father, He stood before the Father, the thief that I was, the liar that you were, the angry one, oh, all that we were. If you've ever seen yourself, name it, and it's true of you and of me.

And this was what our Lord Jesus did. That's why He groaned. That's why He would have died in the garden if it hadn't been that He was strengthened by angels. When the infinitely holy Son of God had to reach out and draw you to Himself, when holiness had to come into contact with impurity and uncleanness, and He had to stand there identified with you, so that when the Father saw Him, He saw you.

His holy soul shrank from it, and He would have died had it not been that angels strengthened Him. Because of the contact that He was going to have to have with you in order that He could redeem you and me from what we were as well as from what we've done.

And so He went to the cross as us. He went there as you, so that the Father saw Him as you. And when He died, since He was dying as you, you died. When He was buried, since He was buried as you, you were buried.

When He was raised, He was raised as you, you were raised. When He was seated, He was seated as you. And so in that sense, you were seated with Him in the heavenlies in Christ. This is identification.

The Cross and Death to Self

But of course, when you come to the place where you know it, there also has to come the place of reckoning. And that's where the cross cuts. That's where the sword pierces. That's where you'll have to take sides with God against yourself.

We're not talking about sins now when we come to this point. We're not talking about sins as such. We're talking about something deeper. We're talking now about the right to your rights. We're talking now about the thing that's going to stand in the way of God's fulfilling His purpose in your life.

You see, when you were a sinner, you used your faculties in the wrong way. And this was what put you on the wrong side with God, got you in trouble with God. You used your tongue to lie, if you please, your eyes to see the forbidden.

So did I. And this got us into trouble. Now we've ceased from doing that. And we have purpose to use our faculties for God. We have purpose to do it. But sin had so affected us that everything that we did was corrupted by what we were.

And how strange it is that somewhere shortly after we come to know that we're forgiven, we begin to feel that we can serve the Lord with the same power and energy and abilities with which we served the devil.

And so someone, some pastor, leader, Sunday school teacher will usually say to us, now come on, let's get busy for the Lord. Well, there is a value in that, I guess, and all of us, I suppose, go through it.

I think perhaps the greatest value is this, that it shows us shortly how utterly frustrating and futile is this type of service. For we soon discover that we do not have what it takes for the kind of a life the Lord wanted lived and the kind of service that He wanted rendered.

Now some, I suppose, out of moral cowardice, retreat and refuse to do anything and then by refusing to do anything, they never discover how weak and powerless and impotent and futile they are. And so they can hide throughout all the days of their years, never having been exposed to themselves by their unwillingness to undertake any responsibility.

Responsibility Reveals Spiritual Inability

But it is when this, you remember in Luke, the thirteenth chapter, that a man at midnight had his friend come. Apparently he had a job on the highway feeding the late travelers. I am not sure of that, but for my illustration we will allow it.

And this was his responsibility. And someone came at midnight and knocked on the door and said, We're hungry. Oh, he said, I forgot. And he went to the cupboard and in his inability to fulfill his responsibility, he discovered his great need.

Now the need had been there and possibly he'd had some glimmer of it, some faint idea of it, but it wasn't until he came face to face with his responsibility that he discovered his inability. That's the reason why I seek to get people, that especially those that have been Christians for any length of time, engaged in some responsibility.

Because as they undertake the responsibility, if they will do it sincerely, and in the spiritual context or context of eternity, they soon are going to discover their complete inability. This is what happened here in Luke 13.

The man discovered that he didn't have the resources with which to fulfill his known responsibility, to feed the hungry at midnight. And so now he's awakened and he does at midnight what he ought to have done the day before.

He goes to his friend who has plenty and he begins to knock. And the friend undoubtedly had been aware of the dereliction and the indolence and the spiritual indifference of the individual. And so he says, oh, here's this pestiferous fellow that doesn't care about his task or work and only gets excited in an emergency.

I'm just not going to bother him. I'm sorry the family's in bed and we won't be disturbed. But the man stands and knocks and knocks and knocks. And it isn't just because of his persistent knocking. It's because the one on the outside of the door is now rightly related to his own inability and his responsibility.

He wants the bread not for himself, not for his comfort, not for his fame, not for anything that's personal. He wants the bread because he wants to fulfill his responsibility. And it's not until the good man of the house hears the man outside rightly related to this that he's prepared to arise and give him.

How many people have wanted to be filled with the Spirit because they thought they would be happy if they were filled with the Spirit. And they knock and the good man of the house doesn't move. How many people have wanted to be filled with the Spirit because if they were filled with the Spirit then they would be successful like Billy Graham or Charles Finney.

And the good man of the house doesn't move. And how many people have wanted to be filled with the Spirit of God Because if they were filled with the Spirit of God, their unsaved loved ones would be saved.

And they're not moved at all, because they're concerned not so much about the unsaved as such, but it's my husband, my wife, my brother, my sister, in a personal relationship. Not responsibility, but personal involvements.

And finally, as they come face to face with their irresponsibility and their inability, then they come to the realization that Jesus Christ does not get glory until they're filled with the Spirit. Sinners do not get adequate witness until they're filled with the Spirit.

Their life is not used to the eternal glory of Christ until they're filled with the Spirit. And because their life is now becoming rightly related to responsibility and their inability, the good man of the house hears their cry and arises and gives them more than they've asked for.

But it's this that is so tremendously important. There must be a right relating to responsibility. And so as you recognize, therefore, that it's the cross that's going to cut right deeply down here, into your heart, across your time and your reputation and your name and your plans.

There is a veil that keeps people from God. There is an outer veil of sin, outward sin, that we will call the temple in the outer court or the veil in the outer court. This has to be torn down. This has to come down because there is no possibility of forgiveness and pardon until there's repentance and faith.

But after this, in our chart four and five, after this, there is another veil, an inner veil, that separates from God. And this is the veil, if you please, of the self-sins. Not outward sins, not the transgression of the law.

You see, I would suppose it's even wrong to call itself sins. I think that this isn't quite proper. It may be this, and we may have to come to that in a moment. But you see, there's such a thing as saying, well, I have a right to my time.

Well, of course you do. When you were a sinner, you used your time to serve the devil. And now you have a right to use your time to serve the Lord. And then there's such a thing as a right to your name.

Before, you didn't care about your name, but now you're concerned that your name should be protected. And then there comes such a thing as a right to your ministry. You've worked for it, you've worked for this, and you have a right to it.

Yes, that's right. But when God begins to bring you to the cross, the cross in its deepest cutting aspect and work goes right down through all of that. And the thing that God is going to have to sever, if He's ever to reveal Himself to you in the measure that He wants, is right there.

And this is the deepest aspect of this matter of identification, where you're prepared to embrace the cross when it cuts right across the right to your time. And you come to the place where you say, it's not my time anymore.

My days from here on are in His hands. I can't claim this moment, this hour, this day, or this week as mine. It's got to be His from here on. It can't belong to people, it has to belong to Him. It can't belong to you, it has to belong to Him.

Can't even belong to your family in that final sense, it has to belong to Him. It is no more right for you to turn that time over to everybody that comes along that would seek it, than it is for you to take it yourself and use it every way you would.

You have no right to that. It's His time. The days of your years and the moments of your days are His. You've died to the right of time as something that's intrinsically yours. Talent the same way, maybe you've spent years preparing yourself for a certain career.

But now the deeper cutting aspects of the cross come right through, and it pierces there in that inner chamber of where you are. And you die to the right even to your profession, even to the right to the career for which you've prepared.

There's nothing wrong with your career. It isn't a matter now of wrong, it's a matter now of right. The right to your rights. Then there comes a time when your name is involved. Surely you've worked hard, you've lived as best you could since you've come to know Him in exemplary life.

Maybe you've achieved in some area, but you have to bring your name and your reputation and your standing right to the cross, and let the cross cut right through it. So that from this time on, you have no reputation, no honor, nothing that is of any value to you personally.

The only thing you can say is with John, He must increase and I must decrease. They called Him Beelzebub. They said that it was the demon that possessed Him. They said He was a buying bibber and a drunkard.

What right do you have to a reputation? And so the cross cuts there. It comes to the matter of your body. Now we're approaching number 10. Your body. Oh, I know that when you came to the point in your life of sin, you discovered that your body was the tool of your selfishness.

You used your eyes to see things that you wish now you could erase from your memory. You'd give anything if there was some ink eraser that would take the sights from your eyes. You've used your ears to listen to things that would break the heart of angels.

You've used your feet to take you places that you wish you could unwalk. You've used your hands to do things, your lips to say things, your mind to think things, and your body was the instrument of your ego.

But now you've come to the cross, and you've taken your place crucified with Christ. And the cross has gone right through time and reputation, career and talent, and it's come right down through the very center of your being.

Presenting the Body to God

And so here you are on the back side of the cross, crucified with Christ. This is where you believe yourself to be and know that God sees you to be. Well, now what's that mean? Well, it means that I haven't a ministry anymore.

I was a little while ago working for the Lord, but now the part of me that would work is here. And I did have a reputation as being, but now I'm here. And so finally, after this has done its deepest work, then you say, well, now I'm beginning to understand what the Lord Jesus meant when he said, I can do nothing of myself.

I can do nothing of myself. And so we're approaching number 10 in Romans 12, 1. And number 10 is this, presentation of your body. Presenting or presentation of your body. But do you see what's involved with it?

You've heard through all the days of your years as I did, preachers and teachers in young people's meetings and challenge services, saying to the young people, present your body to the Lord, a living sacrifice.

And you've tried to do it. Why didn't it work? I'll tell you why it didn't work. Because you weren't willing first to present yourself to the cross. If you're prepared to present yourself to the cross, then, and not until then, can you truly present your body to the Lord, a living sacrifice.

And so then the question comes this. If he is saying, present your body, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, what does this involve? Well, it involves all that we've seen heretofore.

It involves the presenting of yourself to the cross. It involves the bringing your ego to that place that God has designed for it. This union with Christ in death, crucified with him. But it also involves something else.

It involves the recognition that the Christian life as God designed it, was a marvelous relationship between you and God. You remember back there in Jeremiah 31, he said, I'm going to make a new covenant.

I'm going to write my law upon your heart. And in Ezekiel 36 he said, I'm going to put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And dear friends, what I want you to understand tonight is this.

That the purpose of presenting your body is not simply to fulfill the expectation of a preacher in a service, but it is to put yourself in a relationship with God, where God can fill you with the Holy Ghost and live through you his own life.

And this word, present your body, is a strange word in the Greek. It's one of the few places we have this construction. You will notice it is I beseech, that's the present tense, that ye present your bodies, the aorist tense.

And when the present and the aorist are joined in this way, this is the strength of it. I beseech you at this moment, that you present your body finally once for all irrevocably. That's the strength of it.

But you cannot do that until you have presented yourself to the cross. Now presenting your body is to be thought of as having immediately followed this experience of death to self, this awareness of it, this inward realization of it, this matter of appropriation in the issue.

Truth isn't yours because this moment you comprehend it. Let's suppose that someone for the first time sees this union with Christ in death and you say, yes, my heart leaps out to this. And so you'll say, well now that's fine, I understand it.