Over coming faith.
I believe there may be a great deal of missunderstanding in my posts so please hear and undrstand everything im trying to get across im working and waiting on God to bring to pass in my own life.There is so much more for us all in Christ Jesus and i pray that God the Father may take us all unto perfection in Christ.
CHAPTER 2
THE SCRIPTURALNESS OF THIS LIFE
When I approach this subject of the true christian life, that life which is hid
with Christ in God, so many thoughts struggle for utterance that I am
almost speechless. Where shall I begin? What is the most important thing
to say? How shall I make people read and believe? The subject is so
glorious, and human words seem so powerless!
But something I am impelled to say. The secret must be told. For it is one
concerning that victory which overcometh the world, that promised
deliverance from all our enemies, for which every child of God longs and
prays, but which seems so often and so generally to elude their grasp.
May God grant me so to tell it, that every believer to whom this book
shall come, may have his eyes opened to see the truth as it is in Jesus, and
may be enabled to enter into possession of this glorious life for himself.
For sure I am that every converted soul longs for victory and rest, and
nearly every one feels instinctively, at times, that they are his birthright.
Can you not remember, some of you, the shout of triumph your souls gave
when you first became acquainted with the Lord Jesus, and had a glimpse
of His mighty saving power? How sure you were of victory then! How
easy it seemed, to be more than conquerors, through Him that loved you.
Under the leadership of a Captain who had never been foiled in battle, how
could you dream of defeat? And yet, to many of you, how different has
been your real experience The victories have been but few and fleeting, the
defeats many and disastrous. You have not lived as you feel children of
God ought to live. There has been a resting in a clear understanding of
doctrinal truth, without pressing after the power and life thereof. There
has been a rejoicing in the knowledge of things testified of in the
Scriptures, without a living realization of the things themselves,
consciously fe lt in the soul. Christ is believed in, talked about, and served,
but He is not known as the soul’s actual and very life, abiding there
forever, and revealing Himself there continually in His beauty. You have
found Jesus as your Saviour and your Master, and you have tried to serve
Him and advance the cause of His kingdom. You have carefully studied the
Holy Scriptures and have gathered much precious truth therefrom, which
you have endeavored faithfully to practise.
But notwithstanding all your knowledge and all your activities in the
service of the Lord, your souls are secretly starving, and you cry out again
and again for that bread and water of life which you saw promised in the
Scriptures to all believers. In the very depths of your hearts you know
that your experience is not a Scriptural experience; that, as an old writer
says, your religion is "but a talk to what the early Christians enjoyed,
possessed, and lived in." And your souls have sunk within you, as day
after day, and year after year, your early visions of triumph have seemed
to grow more and more dim, and you have been forced to settle down to
the conviction that the best you can expect from your religion is a life of
alternate failure and victory; one hour sinning, and the next repenting; and
beginning again, only to fail again, and again to repent.
But is this all? Had the Lord Jesus only this in His mind when He laid
down His precious life to deliver you from your sore and cruel bondage to
sin? Did He propose to Himself only this partial deliverance? Did He
intend to leave you thus struggling along under a weary consciousness of
defeat and discouragement? Did He fear that a continuous victory would
dishonor Him, and bring reproach on His name? When all those
declarations were made concerning His coming, and the work He was to
accomplish, did they mean only this that you have experienced? Was there
a hidden reserve in each promise that was meant to deprive it of its
complete fulfillment? Did "delivering us out of the hands of our enemies"
mean only a few of them? Did "enabling us always to triumph" mean only
sometimes; or being "more than conquerors through Him that love us"
mean constant defeat and failure? No, no, a thousand times no! God is able
to save unto the uttermost, and He means to do it. His promise, confirmed
by His oath, was that "He wou ld grant unto us, that we, being delivered
out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness
and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." It is a mighty work
to do, but our Deliverer is able to do it. He came to destroy the works of
the devil, and dare we dream for a moment that He is not able or not
willing to accomplish His own purposes?
In the very outset, then, settle down on this one thing, that the Lord is able
to save you fully, now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin,
and to deliver you altogether out of the hands of your enemies. If you do
not think He is, search your Bible, and collect together every
announcement or declaration concerning the purposes and object of His
death on the cross You will be astonished to find how full they are.
Everywhere and always His work is said to be, to deliver us from our sins,
from our bondage from our defilement; and not a hint is given anywhere,
that this deliverance was to be only the limited and partial one with which
the Church so continually tries to be satisfied.
Let me give you a few texts on this subject. When the angel of the Lord
appeared unto Joseph in a dream, and announced the coming birth of the
Saviour, he said, "And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins."
When Zacharias was "filled with the Holy Ghost" at the birth of his son,
and "prophesied," he declared that God had visited His people in order to
fulfil the promise and the oath He had made them, which promise was,
"That He would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of
our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before Him, all the days of our life."
When Peter was preaching in the porch of the Temple to the wondering
Jews, he said, "Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent
Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."
When Paul was telling out to the Ephesian church the wondrous truth that
Christ had loved them so much as to give Himself for them, he went on to
declare, that His purpose in thus doing was, "that He might sanctify and
cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to
Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish."
When Paul was seeking to instruct Titus, his own son after the common
faith, concerning the grace of God, he declared that the object of that grace
was to teach us "that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world "; and adds, as
the reason of this, that Christ "gave Himself for us that He might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify us unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous
of good works."
When Peter was urging upon the christian, to whom he was writing, a holy
and Christ-like walk, he tells them that "even hereunto were ye called
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should
follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth";
and adds, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose
stripes ye were healed."
When Paul was contrasting in the Ephesians the walk suitable for a
christian, with the walk of an unbeliever, he sets before them the truth in
Jesus as being this, "that ye put off concerning the former conversation the
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
And when, in Romans vi., he was answering forever the question as to
continuing in sin, and showing how utterly foreign it was to the whole
spirit and aim of the salvation of Jesus, he brings up the fact of our judicial
death and resurrection with Christ as an unanswerable argument for our
practical deliverance from it, and says, "God forbid. How shall we, that are
dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore
we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life." And adds, "Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin."
Dear christians, will you receive the testimony of Scripture on this matter?
The same questions that troubled the Church in Paul’s day are troubling it
now: first, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" And second,
"Do we then make void the law through faith?" Shall not our answer to
these be Paul’s emphatic "God forbid"; and his triumphant assertions that
instead of making it void "we establish the law"; and that "what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit"?
Can we suppose for a moment that the holy God, who hates sin in the
sinner, is willing to tolerate it in the christian, and that He has even
arranged the plan of salvation in such a way as to make it impossible for
those who are saved from the guilt of sin to find deliverance from its
power?Gopd has a body of believers that belomng to His Son Jesus and Him alone.
I believe there may be a great deal of missunderstanding in my posts so please hear and undrstand everything im trying to get across im working and waiting on God to bring to pass in my own life.There is so much more for us all in Christ Jesus and i pray that God the Father may take us all unto perfection in Christ.
CHAPTER 2
THE SCRIPTURALNESS OF THIS LIFE
When I approach this subject of the true christian life, that life which is hid
with Christ in God, so many thoughts struggle for utterance that I am
almost speechless. Where shall I begin? What is the most important thing
to say? How shall I make people read and believe? The subject is so
glorious, and human words seem so powerless!
But something I am impelled to say. The secret must be told. For it is one
concerning that victory which overcometh the world, that promised
deliverance from all our enemies, for which every child of God longs and
prays, but which seems so often and so generally to elude their grasp.
May God grant me so to tell it, that every believer to whom this book
shall come, may have his eyes opened to see the truth as it is in Jesus, and
may be enabled to enter into possession of this glorious life for himself.
For sure I am that every converted soul longs for victory and rest, and
nearly every one feels instinctively, at times, that they are his birthright.
Can you not remember, some of you, the shout of triumph your souls gave
when you first became acquainted with the Lord Jesus, and had a glimpse
of His mighty saving power? How sure you were of victory then! How
easy it seemed, to be more than conquerors, through Him that loved you.
Under the leadership of a Captain who had never been foiled in battle, how
could you dream of defeat? And yet, to many of you, how different has
been your real experience The victories have been but few and fleeting, the
defeats many and disastrous. You have not lived as you feel children of
God ought to live. There has been a resting in a clear understanding of
doctrinal truth, without pressing after the power and life thereof. There
has been a rejoicing in the knowledge of things testified of in the
Scriptures, without a living realization of the things themselves,
consciously fe lt in the soul. Christ is believed in, talked about, and served,
but He is not known as the soul’s actual and very life, abiding there
forever, and revealing Himself there continually in His beauty. You have
found Jesus as your Saviour and your Master, and you have tried to serve
Him and advance the cause of His kingdom. You have carefully studied the
Holy Scriptures and have gathered much precious truth therefrom, which
you have endeavored faithfully to practise.
But notwithstanding all your knowledge and all your activities in the
service of the Lord, your souls are secretly starving, and you cry out again
and again for that bread and water of life which you saw promised in the
Scriptures to all believers. In the very depths of your hearts you know
that your experience is not a Scriptural experience; that, as an old writer
says, your religion is "but a talk to what the early Christians enjoyed,
possessed, and lived in." And your souls have sunk within you, as day
after day, and year after year, your early visions of triumph have seemed
to grow more and more dim, and you have been forced to settle down to
the conviction that the best you can expect from your religion is a life of
alternate failure and victory; one hour sinning, and the next repenting; and
beginning again, only to fail again, and again to repent.
But is this all? Had the Lord Jesus only this in His mind when He laid
down His precious life to deliver you from your sore and cruel bondage to
sin? Did He propose to Himself only this partial deliverance? Did He
intend to leave you thus struggling along under a weary consciousness of
defeat and discouragement? Did He fear that a continuous victory would
dishonor Him, and bring reproach on His name? When all those
declarations were made concerning His coming, and the work He was to
accomplish, did they mean only this that you have experienced? Was there
a hidden reserve in each promise that was meant to deprive it of its
complete fulfillment? Did "delivering us out of the hands of our enemies"
mean only a few of them? Did "enabling us always to triumph" mean only
sometimes; or being "more than conquerors through Him that love us"
mean constant defeat and failure? No, no, a thousand times no! God is able
to save unto the uttermost, and He means to do it. His promise, confirmed
by His oath, was that "He wou ld grant unto us, that we, being delivered
out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness
and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." It is a mighty work
to do, but our Deliverer is able to do it. He came to destroy the works of
the devil, and dare we dream for a moment that He is not able or not
willing to accomplish His own purposes?
In the very outset, then, settle down on this one thing, that the Lord is able
to save you fully, now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin,
and to deliver you altogether out of the hands of your enemies. If you do
not think He is, search your Bible, and collect together every
announcement or declaration concerning the purposes and object of His
death on the cross You will be astonished to find how full they are.
Everywhere and always His work is said to be, to deliver us from our sins,
from our bondage from our defilement; and not a hint is given anywhere,
that this deliverance was to be only the limited and partial one with which
the Church so continually tries to be satisfied.
Let me give you a few texts on this subject. When the angel of the Lord
appeared unto Joseph in a dream, and announced the coming birth of the
Saviour, he said, "And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins."
When Zacharias was "filled with the Holy Ghost" at the birth of his son,
and "prophesied," he declared that God had visited His people in order to
fulfil the promise and the oath He had made them, which promise was,
"That He would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the hands of
our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before Him, all the days of our life."
When Peter was preaching in the porch of the Temple to the wondering
Jews, he said, "Unto you first, God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent
Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."
When Paul was telling out to the Ephesian church the wondrous truth that
Christ had loved them so much as to give Himself for them, he went on to
declare, that His purpose in thus doing was, "that He might sanctify and
cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to
Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish."
When Paul was seeking to instruct Titus, his own son after the common
faith, concerning the grace of God, he declared that the object of that grace
was to teach us "that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world "; and adds, as
the reason of this, that Christ "gave Himself for us that He might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify us unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous
of good works."
When Peter was urging upon the christian, to whom he was writing, a holy
and Christ-like walk, he tells them that "even hereunto were ye called
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should
follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth";
and adds, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose
stripes ye were healed."
When Paul was contrasting in the Ephesians the walk suitable for a
christian, with the walk of an unbeliever, he sets before them the truth in
Jesus as being this, "that ye put off concerning the former conversation the
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness."
And when, in Romans vi., he was answering forever the question as to
continuing in sin, and showing how utterly foreign it was to the whole
spirit and aim of the salvation of Jesus, he brings up the fact of our judicial
death and resurrection with Christ as an unanswerable argument for our
practical deliverance from it, and says, "God forbid. How shall we, that are
dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore
we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life." And adds, "Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin."
Dear christians, will you receive the testimony of Scripture on this matter?
The same questions that troubled the Church in Paul’s day are troubling it
now: first, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" And second,
"Do we then make void the law through faith?" Shall not our answer to
these be Paul’s emphatic "God forbid"; and his triumphant assertions that
instead of making it void "we establish the law"; and that "what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit"?
Can we suppose for a moment that the holy God, who hates sin in the
sinner, is willing to tolerate it in the christian, and that He has even
arranged the plan of salvation in such a way as to make it impossible for
those who are saved from the guilt of sin to find deliverance from its
power?Gopd has a body of believers that belomng to His Son Jesus and Him alone.