The
Christian’s Second Crisis
By
Arthur J Licursi
Romans
5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
There
occur two crises in the life of every matured Christian. This first is
a crisis in life by which we realize that we need a savior to save us
from perdition, judgment and damnation. It may be of our
self-interest, but since God also has interest in us, He uses this
motive to draw us to His self. By grace we are eternally saved from
judgment and penalty of eternal separation from Him. Yet, beyond our
initial salvation from damnation that all Christians enjoy, God
desires to satisfy the hungry hearts; to save them further, this time
from the emptiness and waste of life that is our portion when we live
life apart from relationship and union with Him.
This
paper concerns the second crisis every Christian faces, that is if
they are to go on to see and enjoy the full salvation that is ours, by
Christ’s work through the cross, which was according to the eternal
purpose that God purposed in Him. I am writing of a genuine second
work of grace, which actually is based upon the simplicity of
Christ indwelling the believer; this is ever so powerful and
life-changing. Christ’s first work on our behalf was
reconciliation (past tense) through His shed blood
and death, for us. Now Paul speaks of this second work
as something yet future for believers, by using the words “shall
be” in Romans 5:10b.
Though
a second work of grace, it has been made possible from the time of the
cross. Each believer already has the deposit of this second work of
grace right now in their spirit, but…it has not yet necessarily been
revealed to them in order to make it beneficial to them. All of
God’s work on man’s behalf was finished through the cross
of Christ. This second work of grace may only become visible to us
some time after being “reconciled” to
the Lord. That reconciliation came by
Christ’s death for us. We had a debt that we could not
pay – Christ death paid that debt for us. This payment
reconciled us to God.
But
additionally, and somewhat by contrast, Paul writes here, in Rom 5:10,
of a “much more” than reconciliation.
In contrast, this “much more” comes not by
His death of Christ but by the deposit of His
resurrection life into the believer’s spirit. This
further salvation comes “by His life.” Sadly,
most Christians have not yet gained much beyond reconciliation and
salvation from perdition, since that’s almost all we hear preached.
We all know we are saved from hell by what He did for us.
But some have also to come to see and know who Christ is
within them as their life.
This
second work of grace comes to benefit us only by having received
divine “revelation;” it’s a life-changing revelation to
believing seekers who desire an ever deepening relationship with
Christ.
You
might ask, “Revelation, what actually is to be revealed?” To
answer this we must first interpret the word “saved”
in Romans 5:10 as it was originally written in Greek. “Saved”
here is the Greek word sozo, meaning, to make
whole, or make complete. From this one
might conclude that apparently the reconciled Christian believer is
not yet complete, however, we know from Paul’s Col 2:9-10, Christ is
“the fullness of the Godhead bodily” and “ye are complete
in Him.” Well, are we or are we not “complete in Him”?
The answer is that we in fact are complete by the indwelling of Christ
taking residence within our spirit, to be our new and only core-life
(Gal 2:20). We already possess all of Christ, but …we don’t
necessarily know this by revelation of the Spirit. If we
don’t know this, then we will not yet believe this to the pint of
trusting Him in all things; then we can not yet become true
expressions of this Christ who is in us as our life.
But
how do we get such a powerful revelatory knowing as to make us
really, really see and believe that Christ lives in us as the new us?
Revelation is divine; only God, by His Spirit, controls and dispenses
such revelation. Even the mighty Apostle Paul could not
dispense revelation; thus, he prayed to God that the Ephesians would
receive “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Him” – such that they might “know the riches of the
inheritance (Christ’s Spirit of life) that (presently)
is in the saints (believers)” (Eph
1:15-18). I believe God the Father reserves the revelation
of His Son indwelling the believer until such time as we are
desirous to know Christ, and ready to appreciate Him, and the grace of
His indwelling life. God knows our heart.
It
is God who goes about working in our lives to prepare us for receiving
such revelation. Philip. 2:13 For it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. This
is where the word “crisis” comes in, such as I have used in
the title of this paper. In the opening paragraph I briefly described
the first crisis of life that drives us to receive the Lord
initially. Yet, we need a second crisis of life in order to drive us
to receive this most powerful of all revelations. This second crisis
is simply…a realization that we, in ourselves, can’t in all
honestly, live the Christian life – that we are hopeless and
helpless in and of our selves – even though we are already saved
from judgment..
Such
a realization only comes at the hand of the Lord, who has known our
present impoverished condition all along, but now He is making us
aware of our impotence toward God and true righteousness. We must see
that God is not expecting anything of us – out of our resources at
all. He knows that we are bankrupt in and of ourselves. The second
crisis is to push us turn to God to now see the inheritance of Christ
in us, Christ being the riches that God has deposited in us. Gal
2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me… Thus, we may now
see that we’ve become literal partakers of God’s life, which
is in Christ, as the resurrected Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom
8:2a), come to dwell in us, in place of our old self.
1.
The first work of Christ that we saw was His sacrifice at the
cross. In that seeing and receiving, Christ’s righteousness
was imputed or counted to us,
saving us from perdition.
2)
Now, the second work of Christ is seen by us – we see that Christ’s
life and righteousness have actually been imparted
to us. It is in seeing and trusting this that our self-soul is
being saved, as it is renewed to a mindset of Christ-dependence
(Philip 2:5).
Christ
thereby renews our soul. You see, since we are already complete in our
regenerated spirit, we already possess the very life and righteous
nature (2Pet 1:4) of Christ, but our soul-selves needs renewal to
righteousness. Paul expresses the fact of our ongoing soul renewal
here.2 Cor 4:16 … though our outward man perish, yet
the inward (soul) man is renewed day by day. Our
“outward man,” our physical body man, is dying without
doubt, but our inward man, our soul, is being renewed to a new
paradigm for living – one of simply trusting that the life and
righteousness of Christ at work in us, to be expressed as the new us,
through our vessel. Our vessel is soul with its organs of mind,
emotion and will.
For
we who now know Christ a life in us, there’s no more trying or
imitating – just trusting. Then Christ’s righteousness may be
expressed through us as we simply abide in our union with Him.
We never become righteous in our soul-selves – our souls never become righteous – we still enjoy being counted as righteous; but now we learn to bear His righteous life by co-operating with Him, by permitting His life to flow through our whole being and flow out of our vessel as we were made to be. Being simply living vessels of His righteous life, we never become Him; but we do bear His life as a branch bears the life of the tree. Yet, it can be said that we are one with Him, as the cup and the coffee may be considered “a cup of coffee.” We are a living containers who possess Him (1Cor 6:19), who alone is our content of worth. Ephes. 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. It is by this revelation knowledge that we genuinely come to know Him in us, as the new us. Col. 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
A
Personal Note:
Permit
me now to share my personal experience in such a realization by
revelation of Christ in me. I had a most wonderful and remarkable
preparatory experience one day in 1975, which was from my Father, to
once and for all time deliver me from seeking Him in outward
experiences.
At
this point in my Christian life I had been saved about 7 years and was
a founding teaching elder in a church we and three other couple had
founded. Yet, I still had a burning desire to know Him in a deeper
way, at any cost.
One
weekend I had been reading a little booklet someone had given me six
years earlier, but I had not yet read it. It was called “A
Simple Way to Touch the Lord”. The premise was that if I
wanted to touch the Lord in reality I could just call or breathe out
His name – “Lord Jesus.” The writer cited the many scripture
references of the people of God who “called upon the name of
the Lord.” He said by example, if one wanted to have the
presence of their mate elsewhere in the house, they could call, as I
do my wife - “Linda”. Well, this sounded too simple.
Nevertheless,
it was the Monday following that weekend in which I had read the
little booklet and I was driving on an overnight business trip from my
home in
So
then, alone but feeling conspicuous, I simply called upon His name –
and breathed out the words from deep within “Lord
Jesus.” I immediately sensed an almost liquid presence of the
Lord welling up within me. The tears flowed as I pulled my car
over to the side of the road. I recall then saying to myself in my
head “I can’t wait to get back tomorrow night to tell my fellow
elders of this new “experience” – BUT as I was speaking, I
heard what seemed to be the audible voice of God speaking to me
saying, “I did not do this so you would have yet another
experience… but to show you that I live in you and I am as close
as your breath.”
This
realization of His literal indwelling altered my Christian walk
forever. I felt I could no longer sing songs like “Reach Out
and Touch the Lord as He passes by,” because in now KNEW that
He dwelled in me. I no longer bought into the idea that
I needed to pray for God to go with me as I drove on trips – because
I now KNEW lives in me and every believer. 1
John 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in
him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
I
cannot say that this one experience has brought me to a complete trust
in the Lord, but it has introduced me to the fact which I now believe;
CHRIST LIVES IN ME AND HE ALONE IS MY ALL. My focus and perspective
has been forever altered from the outer realm of self-effort, to see
the indwelling Christ, to trust Christ who indwells my spirit.
Ephes.
4:20 “But ye have not so learned Christ.”
Now I can truly learn who indwells and speaks within me. Till
this revelation of Christ in me came, I had known mostly about Jesus
of Nazareth (outside of me), who I tried unsuccessfully to
imitate. I had never learned the indwelling One, who all that time was
so close at hand. I’m being saved (made whole) by His life in me. Romans
5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life.
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