In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 we see salvation in sanctification of the Spirit unto the obtaining of the glory of Christ to express God. God chose us unto salvation, but the salvation referred to here is not the salvation from perdition or from God’s condemnation. God has chosen us unto a particular kind of salvation, and this salvation is in the sanctification of the Spirit. This is to be saved by being sanctified by this all-inclusive Spirit all the time. When we are going shopping, we need the salvation which is in the sanctification of the Spirit. When we go shopping, most of the time we are “going downhill.” Many times while we are going up in the elevators or escalators in the department stores, actually we are going downhill. Sometimes when we want to purchase something, there is One within us telling us not to buy it and even telling us to go home. The only One who can save us from purchasing things according to our lusts is the sanctifying Spirit.
Also, who can save us from the temptation of exchanging words with our spouse? It must be Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the embodiment of the Triune God, consummating in the Spirit. This Spirit separates you from your habit and desire to exchange words, and this is the sanctifying. We daily need this kind of sanctifying salvation. We need to be saved from losing our temper and from the desire to gossip on the telephone. To many sisters the telephone is very “sticky.” Once these sisters pick up the telephone, it is hard for them to put it down. The only One who can save us from this is the sanctifying Spirit. We need a daily, practical, and present salvation, not by mighty power or miracles, but by the quiet, gentle, mild, sanctifying Spirit. He does not fight us nor does He force us not to do certain things. He is like a dove within us. We need such a salvation, and God has chosen us unto this salvation in the sanctifying grace of the Spirit.
The result of such a salvation is the obtaining of the glory of Christ to express God. When we are saved by the sanctifying Spirit, we are people under glory, and this glory is for the expression of God. Many of us really love the Lord, but in our daily lives when we go shopping, when we gossip, and when we argue there is no obtaining of the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ is to be God’s sons, possessing God’s life and nature to express Him. If we would be saved by the sanctifying Spirit daily, we will surely bear the glory of Christ to express God as sons of God, possessing His life and partaking of His nature.
According to 1 Timothy 3:16 the Spirit is vindicating the manifestation of God in the flesh. This transpired in Christ while He was on this earth. He was God manifested in the flesh and this was vindicated and verified by this Spirit. The same principle applies to us, the church, today. God is manifested in our flesh, but this has to be verified, justified, and vindicated by the all-inclusive Spirit. This means that only when we live in the all-inclusive Spirit, do we have a kind of vindication, justification, and verification that God is manifested in us, the church.
In 1 Timothy 4:1-3 the Spirit speaks to the believers, warning them of apostasy in later times. This is the Spirit who dwells in our spirit and speaks to us there (Romans 8:9-11, 16). We need to exercise our spirit that it may become keen and clear to listen to the Spirit’s speaking and be kept from the deceiving spirits and teachings of demons.
In 2 Timothy 1:14 the Spirit is also dwelling in the believers through whom they guard the good deposit. Since we were saved we have received many things from God into us as a kind of deposit. This is just like a deposit in a bank. Within us and especially within our spirit, we have a divine deposit. God’s life, God’s Spirit, and all the precious truths we have seen in the Lord’s recovery have been deposited into our being. How can we safeguard this deposit? It is only through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. If we are a person acting, behaving, and having our life in the Spirit, all that has been deposited into our being will be guarded. If we forget about the Spirit and walk in our flesh and according to our mentality, we will immediately be the same as the nations who are apart from God (Eph. 4:17-18). If this were the case, there would be no safeguarding of the good things deposited in our being. We need to safeguard the good deposit by the Spirit.
Finally, Titus 3:5 tells us that God saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit began to renew us from our regeneration and is renewing us continuously every day and all day to make us a new man with the divine life. Whenever we gather together for the ministry of the Word in a conference, we experience the renewing of the Spirit, and we go back to our localities as renewed persons. This is the saving work of the sanctifying Spirit. Actually, His sanctifying is His renewing.
Through all the points we have covered in these seven books, we can see that the Spirit in Colossians through Philemon on is the Spirit of the practical Christian life. The first item of the practical Christian life is the love in the Spirit toward all the saints until we reach the last item, which is the daily renewing by the all-inclusive Spirit. This is our practical Christian life. In these seven books the all-inclusive Spirit is such a Spirit.