We Are As He Is

When we are reborn we are imparted with eternal salvation (the only kind there is – Heb 5:9), and all that is yet to come is unceasing growth in our faith—for the purpose of drawing nearer to God, encouraging the saved and being used of Him to “draw” the lost!



We Are As He Is

If we are born of God we are abidingly His children, and we have the right to take our position as that before our Father. It is now our privilege to think of ourselves according to what we are as being in the Lord Jesus Christ; and this is always maintained by Him (being also the “Finisher of our faith” - Heb 12:2—NC). That is eternal; it is unchangeable. The Lord Jesus is ever before the face of the Father. He is our Life and Advocate there.

What we are by grace, as in Him before the Father, is unchangeable (Rom 11:29; Num 23:19—NC), and our interests are in His hands. He has a righteous claim to be our representative there. Do our failures, our sins (unlike an unbeliever, the sins of a believer are never “willful” – Heb 10:26—NC), in anywise alter what He is there for us before the face of the Father? What He is there is what we are, not of course in ourselves, but as being in Him. Our standing before our Father is not according to what we are in ourselves. By the grace of God we have been made partakers of the Son. We have His nature (Col 3:10; 2Pe 1:4—NC), we partake of His life (Col 3:4). As having it, for the Father we are characterized by it, “that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

What the nature and life are in Him determines what they are in us. Our bodies are yet to be conformed to His body. In this respect we are not yet “as He is,” but as regards the life that has been given to us, it is even now while we are still in this world what it is in Him. If we speak of ourselves as characterized by the life that has been imparted to us we may say, “We are as He is”; that is simply saying we have community of life with Him.

But if we are participators with Him in life, the abiding character of that life does not depend on us (in the new nature we are completely “conformed in His image” and our maturing will progressively manifest it—NC). Whether we are faithful or not (unfaithfulness manifests a babe-in-Christ maturity because all who are reborn eventually matures in Christ’s image by the Father’s “work in you,” via the Spirit using the Word of course – Phil 2:13—NC), the character of the life is unchanged. If we sin, He remains the same, and the believer, however troubled he may be about his sins, has the privilege of looking at Him and to say, by my sins I may have falsified the life He has imparted to me, but in Him it abides in its perfect eternal character. He is before the face of my Father for me, my Life there. In Him my relation to the Father is maintained in righteousness. “The Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

As regards our sin, then, our Advocate with the Father is “propitiation.” This does not mean that He has to make propitiation for our sins. He is not now making propitiation; Himself is the propitiation (1 Jhn 2:2). And since He is ever before the Father’s face, He is in the place of favor. And He is appearing “in the presence of God for us” (Heb 9:24). He is in the position of favor for us. This means that the Father’s attitude toward us is based upon Him. We are the objects of the favor of the Father as being in His Beloved.

The Lord Jesus then, is the Father’s satisfaction concerning our sins. It is not that He does not abhor them; He surely does; but His Son having glorified Him concerning our sins has an undisputed claim on Him for being looked upon as fully appeased respecting the sins of those who through grace have come to be in Him. What comfort in knowing, when I have been ensnared and overcome, that as I turn to look upon my Representative before that face of my Father, His gracious attitude towards me has not been affected; that He still looks upon me, not according to what I am in myself (one with a sin nature—NC) but according to the One in whom He has accepted me.

-C Crain




Excerpt from MJS devotional for June 6:

“Often the lapidary will polish the jewel with its own dust. Just so our Father makes use of the weak and beggarly element of our nature to produce the mirror-like lustre in which His image is finally reflected for all to see. “They shall be Mine. . . in that day when I make up My jewels” (Malachi 3:17).” - MJS

“Those who know the Lord best are those who have gone the deepest way. Those who go the deep way of trial do so because God puts the premium upon their knowledge of Him. They are the people who are shut up to God. But this knowledge is firstly, constitutional: that is, it is to constitute a certain kind of person and character; and secondly it is vocational: it does not end with the person concerned, but is the essence of service, in time and eternity. God is very practical, and requires that things in His service are never merely theoretical but real and true to life.” -T. A-S.

http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/
 
If we are children of God, it means we are HIs sons or daughters...a son does not stop being a son and a daughter does not stop being a daughter. We will never be orphans because God our Father is forever snd ever, he does not die.

Even if, like the prodigal son in the story, we travel far away from our father, and get into all sorts of trouble, He longs to call us home to Himself and it does break His heart if we become lost. HE will go and look for us like the shepherd leaving the 99 safe and going after the one that went astray. This is how much He loves us!!
 
If we are children of God, it means we are HIs sons or daughters...a son does not stop being a son and a daughter does not stop being a daughter. We will never be orphans because God our Father is forever snd ever, he does not die.

Even if, like the prodigal son in the story, we travel far away from our father, and get into all sorts of trouble, He longs to call us home to Himself and it does break His heart if we become lost. HE will go and look for us like the shepherd leaving the 99 safe and going after the one that went astray. This is how much He loves us!!
Hi Lan, and appreciate your input! To me, the prodigal wasn't lost but learning, because he was already saved (a child of God--born again), unless you mean that he was lost concerning not knowing he was in the wrong.
 
Hi Lan, and appreciate your input! To me, the prodigal wasn't lost but learning, because he was already saved (a child of God--born again), unless you mean that he was lost concerning not knowing he was in the wrong.
Well he went astray is what I meant he didnt stay home where it was safe and with his family, and he wasnt following God at the time of spending all his inheritance on riotious living. You could say he lost his way.
Of course there are people that leave their families but they still follow God like go on missions, and serve the Lord but he wasnt doing that he was just living it up. Also the brother that stayed home, he didnt realise all he had already and was kind of jealous when his dad welcomed his long lost brother home. Back then they wouldnt have kept in touch like you can do nowadays with facetime etc!
 
Well he went astray is what I meant he didnt stay home where it was safe and with his family, and he wasnt following God at the time of spending all his inheritance on riotious living. You could say he lost his way.
Of course there are people that leave their families but they still follow God like go on missions, and serve the Lord but he wasnt doing that he was just living it up. Also the brother that stayed home, he didnt realise all he had already and was kind of jealous when his dad welcomed his long lost brother home. Back then they wouldnt have kept in touch like you can do nowadays with facetime etc!
Appreciate your explanation, and always thankful for your replies!

God's blessings to your Family!
 
Thank you for posting these netchaplain I enjoy reading and digging deeper into Gods word. Luke 15:24 shows that the father said my son who was lost is now found. So thats why, obviously I thought of this story.

I mean his dad did not say, my son was away learning at school and now hes come back home. It wasnt like that!
 
That would be funny if my parents killed the fatted calf everytime I came back from school. The prodigal son didnt go away to go to university after all. Lol. Basically he shocked his dad because he wanted to leave home, and he wasnt getting married either. Maybe he thought staying at home was no fun. The dad let him go though, he didnt stop him, but he did spend all his money! Most people that go overseas work hard to save up and then go or go for a working hokiday but this son just asked money from his dad. The cheek. Of course when he spent it all and had to come back, possibly the Father knew this. But imagine not knowing where you own son is.

You can actually work for others and live away from home but in those days you stayed home and worked on your own land. All families had their own businesses, which they handed on to their sons. JEsus worked for his earthly dad as a carpenter. Its just what you did. It would have been silly to work for someone else. I can imagine this prodigal sons family must have been very wealthy cos it mentions servants so maybe the sons didnt even have to do any hard labour.
 
Thank you for posting these netchaplain I enjoy reading and digging deeper into Gods word. Luke 15:24 shows that the father said my son who was lost is now found. So thats why, obviously I thought of this story.

I mean his dad did not say, my son was away learning at school and now hes come back home. It wasnt like that!
I know what your mean, and we see it differently but that's okay of course. I believe the word "lost" refers to not knowing the proper way to live, while at the same time still a son. Analogous to being reborn and learning the early lessons in the walk of faith.
 
All parents want to know where their children are they dont want to give them up for dead. I had a friend who actually did go missing and her parents were distraught she never called them to say where she was either they found out through the police. BUt they never did find out what really happened she never came back and no body either.
 
When we are reborn we are imparted with eternal salvation (the only kind there is – Heb 5:9), and all that is yet to come is unceasing growth in our faith—for the purpose of drawing nearer to God, encouraging the saved and being used of Him to “draw” the lost!



We Are As He Is

If we are born of God we are abidingly His children, and we have the right to take our position as that before our Father. It is now our privilege to think of ourselves according to what we are as being in the Lord Jesus Christ; and this is always maintained by Him (being also the “Finisher of our faith” - Heb 12:2—NC). That is eternal; it is unchangeable. The Lord Jesus is ever before the face of the Father. He is our Life and Advocate there.

What we are by grace, as in Him before the Father, is unchangeable (Rom 11:29; Num 23:19—NC), and our interests are in His hands. He has a righteous claim to be our representative there. Do our failures, our sins (unlike an unbeliever, the sins of a believer are never “willful” – Heb 10:26—NC), in anywise alter what He is there for us before the face of the Father? What He is there is what we are, not of course in ourselves, but as being in Him. Our standing before our Father is not according to what we are in ourselves. By the grace of God we have been made partakers of the Son. We have His nature (Col 3:10; 2Pe 1:4—NC), we partake of His life (Col 3:4). As having it, for the Father we are characterized by it, “that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

What the nature and life are in Him determines what they are in us. Our bodies are yet to be conformed to His body. In this respect we are not yet “as He is,” but as regards the life that has been given to us, it is even now while we are still in this world what it is in Him. If we speak of ourselves as characterized by the life that has been imparted to us we may say, “We are as He is”; that is simply saying we have community of life with Him.

But if we are participators with Him in life, the abiding character of that life does not depend on us (in the new nature we are completely “conformed in His image” and our maturing will progressively manifest it—NC). Whether we are faithful or not (unfaithfulness manifests a babe-in-Christ maturity because all who are reborn eventually matures in Christ’s image by the Father’s “work in you,” via the Spirit using the Word of course – Phil 2:13—NC), the character of the life is unchanged. If we sin, He remains the same, and the believer, however troubled he may be about his sins, has the privilege of looking at Him and to say, by my sins I may have falsified the life He has imparted to me, but in Him it abides in its perfect eternal character. He is before the face of my Father for me, my Life there. In Him my relation to the Father is maintained in righteousness. “The Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

As regards our sin, then, our Advocate with the Father is “propitiation.” This does not mean that He has to make propitiation for our sins. He is not now making propitiation; Himself is the propitiation (1 Jhn 2:2). And since He is ever before the Father’s face, He is in the place of favor. And He is appearing “in the presence of God for us” (Heb 9:24). He is in the position of favor for us. This means that the Father’s attitude toward us is based upon Him. We are the objects of the favor of the Father as being in His Beloved.

The Lord Jesus then, is the Father’s satisfaction concerning our sins. It is not that He does not abhor them; He surely does; but His Son having glorified Him concerning our sins has an undisputed claim on Him for being looked upon as fully appeased respecting the sins of those who through grace have come to be in Him. What comfort in knowing, when I have been ensnared and overcome, that as I turn to look upon my Representative before that face of my Father, His gracious attitude towards me has not been affected; that He still looks upon me, not according to what I am in myself (one with a sin nature—NC) but according to the One in whom He has accepted me.

-C Crain




Excerpt from MJS devotional for June 6:

“Often the lapidary will polish the jewel with its own dust. Just so our Father makes use of the weak and beggarly element of our nature to produce the mirror-like lustre in which His image is finally reflected for all to see. “They shall be Mine. . . in that day when I make up My jewels” (Malachi 3:17).” - MJS

“Those who know the Lord best are those who have gone the deepest way. Those who go the deep way of trial do so because God puts the premium upon their knowledge of Him. They are the people who are shut up to God. But this knowledge is firstly, constitutional: that is, it is to constitute a certain kind of person and character; and secondly it is vocational: it does not end with the person concerned, but is the essence of service, in time and eternity. God is very practical, and requires that things in His service are never merely theoretical but real and true to life.” -T. A-S.
http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/
What bible is NC?
 
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