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Once reborn there is nothing that requires us to be “troubled” neither “afraid” (Jn 14:1, 27). What problem is there in the life of believers that mind and soul should be bothered beyond regaining encouragement in the Lord Jesus? Acceptance is ever present and never falters, and there’s nothing in their lives occurring that isn’t being used their “good” (Ro 8:28). I believe growth in our faith will be seen most by realizing that God is teaching us that the more we see of the definite and unchanging position to which we have in Christ, the more we apprehend the sufficiency and permanency of the Blood of the Lord Jesus for us against the “old man”; thus in time we are shown that the sole element continually needing restored is a greater “joy in the Lord” which “is your strength” (Neh 8:10). After all, God’s love for believers far outweighs His hatred and displeasure of the sin nature in them (Rom 5:20); yes, a Son’s-worth!
NC
NC
The Light and the Blood
Every believer stands before the face of the Father in all the value of the priceless Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The light in which the Father has placed us shows that. What a revelation! God Himself is in the light; the sin in us is in the light, and though we see it to be utterly abhorrent to our Father, yet the same light that shows this manifests how He removes all the defilement there is in us. The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son is shown to be the Father’s provision for it, and it is a perfect provision. The light itself can discover no sin in us for which that Blood is not an absolute remedy.
Those who come to the light, drawn there by the power of the grace of Him who is light, find the light manifests their deeds (Eph 5:13). Now this manifestation is not simply for the moment in which we first come to the light. It is a continuous work: the light is constantly detecting in him the contrarieties to the light; but in this searching of the heart, the light shines as well on the Father’s remedy for the sins detected, and manifests its absolute perfection as a remedy. This sustains the believer before the light.
No sin can possibly be discovered by the light for which the Father has not provided, or for which He is not perfectly sufficient. Hence the child of God can say, no matter what evil in me may be searched out by the light in which I walk, my abiding position there is secure. The Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, in its infinite value and eternal efficacy, is what cleanses me before my Father. In the consciousness of this I may say, Let the defiling evil in me be searched out: nothing can possibly be brought to light that can alter the eternal position of favor and blessing in which my Father has placed me on the ground of the merits and value of the Blood of my Savior.
What peace! What rest! A sinful creature in myself, put before the face of the One who makes me realize as I abide with Him how unlike Him I am, but realize also that He who is thus constantly searching out the defiling evil that is in me is ever looking upon me as perfectly and eternally cleansed from it! May the Father grant to His beloved people to have an ever-deepening realization of this.
But it may be asked, “Are not our sins a violation of righteousness? Do they not defile?” The answer is, God is just in fulfilling His promise of forgiveness and remembering the sins no more. He has provided a remedy—a way if cleansing. He has given His own Son to bear the due of sins. Purification of sins have been made. “When He has by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3); therefore the Maker of it has the right of cleansing all who believe on Him.
It would be unjust to the Lord if the Father did not apply the purification to the one who believes. The believer then, whatever the record of his sins, and however conscious of being sinful in himself, has the divine assurance that in the sight of the Father he is perfectly cleansed, and stands before His face forever forgiven. As identified with the interests of the Lord Jesus here on earth he is subject to divine discipline, correction, reproof or child-training. He is not exempt from the government of God. But as in His Beloved, he is cleansed from all unrighteousness. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jhn 1:7).
- Corydon Crain (1847-1925)
MJS devotional excerpt for May 25:
Believers are not occupying their position! At best, most are trying to attain a victorious position by means of prayer, Bible study, commitment, re-consecration, surrender, and so forth (thinking service is fellowship, one may unknowingly substitute fellowship with service—NC). But the answer is simply to abide where we have already been placed—in our risen Lord Jesus Christ. Abide above, and keep looking down! -MJS
“Our Father has taken us over Jordan and placed us in Canaan, but the reality of it is never known until by faith we accept the fact on the basis of having died with Christ, and that therefore heaven is our place, and we know it to be our place now; and that this side is not our place, and we know that it is not.
“The more we abide in the Lord on the other side, the less disappointed we will be here, for when we are there we import new joys and new hopes into this old world, from an entirely new one, and we therefore in every way surpass the inhabitants of this lost world.” -J.B.S.