Bible Study Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

[netchaplain]

The Christian life is that which is beyond human morality, which evaluates goodness by men “measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves†(2 Cor 10:12). For the believer, it is that “which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual†(1 Cor 2:13).

While we are aware that where “sin aboundedâ€, we are also aware that â€grace abounded much more†(Rom 5:20). This means that as the Spirit continues to take us into a deeper realization of the degradation and decadency of our Adamic nature, we can know that grace provides for us “a good conscience toward God†(1 Pet 3:21).

“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God†(1 John 3:20, 21). -NC

6-18. BELOVED OBJECT

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:10).

The Holy Spirit creates within us a hatred for the old nature, and a hunger for the new nature. Without a rejection of the old, there cannot be a projection of the new.

"I want a testimony that delivers me from the things I am occupied about in myself when I am suffering from them. I get it from God's gift that is perfect. I am 'accepted in the Beloved' (Ephesians 1:6). You say, There is something about myself I cannot get over. Remember, the testimony of the Spirit in us is the contrary of the testimony of the Spirit to us. In me, He takes notice of every fault that is not righteousness; but the testimony to us is, 'Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more' (Hebrews 8:12)."

"If we make morality our standard, we will be sure to fall below what we purpose. Whatever we put before us as our criterion, there will be always a falling short. If we have the Lord Jesus Christ risen and in heaven as our Object, we shall prove the power of His resurrection, not only in lifting us up when we are conscious of our exceeding short-comings, but in strengthening us to 'press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 3:14)."

"The Word of God teaches me union, but the Person of Christ brings out all that I derive from union with Him. The Word is always my authority for my position, but acquaintance with the Person confirms and manifests my position."

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord" (Ephesians 6:10).

WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

With this message I leave on a ten-day vacation and will be doing my best to maintain the posts and replies. I thank the Lord for all in “the Household of God†and may His Spirit’s instructions continue with us!

Blessed Be God


6-19. PROPER PRESENTATION

"The things that thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

Truth based upon law will be presented legally--it will be legislated. Truth based upon grace will be shared graciously, in love. "Adorn the doctrine of God" by "speaking the truth in love" (Titus 2:10; Ephesians 4:15).

"There are two things that have to be taken into account in communicating truth. Not merely should there be certainty that it is the truth from God, but it must also be suited truth to those whom you address. They might need it all, but they may not be in condition to receive it; and the more precious the truth, the greater the injury, in a certain sense, if it is presented to those who are not in a state to profit by it."

"We are to serve under His direction, and according to His pleasure; not just because opportunity or need offers. We require His direction, and the knowledge of His pleasure, however favorable the opportunity or the occasion. We see a servant in Acts 8 taken away from an interesting field of service, to meet one man in the desert. "It is not a question of how we succeed; but have we the assurance that we are doing the Lord's pleasure? Happy is the servant who is so led by Him that he always presents the measure of truth suited to the state of souls, and refuses to supply the knowledge that puffeth up."

"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13).

WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[Mitspa]

With this message I leave on a ten-day vacation and will be doing my best to maintain the posts and replies. I thank the Lord for all in “the Household of God†and may His Spirit’s instructions continue with us!

Blessed Be God


6-19. PROPER PRESENTATION

"The things that thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

Truth based upon law will be presented legally--it will be legislated. Truth based upon grace will be shared graciously, in love. "Adorn the doctrine of God" by "speaking the truth in love" (Titus 2:10; Ephesians 4:15).

"There are two things that have to be taken into account in communicating truth. Not merely should there be certainty that it is the truth from God, but it must also be suited truth to those whom you address. They might need it all, but they may not be in condition to receive it; and the more precious the truth, the greater the injury, in a certain sense, if it is presented to those who are not in a state to profit by it."

"We are to serve under His direction, and according to His pleasure; not just because opportunity or need offers. We require His direction, and the knowledge of His pleasure, however favorable the opportunity or the occasion. We see a servant in Acts 8 taken away from an interesting field of service, to meet one man in the desert. "It is not a question of how we succeed; but have we the assurance that we are doing the Lord's pleasure? Happy is the servant who is so led by Him that he always presents the measure of truth suited to the state of souls, and refuses to supply the knowledge that puffeth up."

"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13).

WithChrist.org/MJS

Great wisdom my brother

Have a great vacation, and I have a scripture in my heart for you?

"Be still, and know that I AM GOD!"

What joy and peace we find in Him!

-Mitspa

 

[netchaplain]

6-20. SELF-ABANDONMENT

"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin" (Romans 6:11a).

All of the cults, from TM to ST to SDA, are simply self-improvement aberrations. The Cross alone provides death to self and life in the Lord Jesus Christ. "God forbid that I should glory, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14).

"What becomes us now is to have the Lord Jesus before us, and not the correction of the old man. The snare of trying to improve oneself is very common, and it is important to see, that however well-meaning it may be, it is really a denial that our old man has been crucified, and a revival of that which has been judged in the death of the Cross.

"It is plain that if you are clear of the domination of the old man you can have no man before you but the Lord Jesus, and the more sensible you are of how ready the flesh is to intrude."

"God never means me to be able, with the Pharisee, to thank Him for the goodness that I find in myself. If I will be at it, He leaves me to find in this irreparable flesh, which cannot be mended, what I may break my heart over, but never alter.

"It is a quicksand which spoils all my building--a morass impracticable to cultivation; and God uses this, in His sovereignty over evil, to wean me from self-confidence and self-complacency, and to cast me upon Himself."

"Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be. . . alive unto God through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Romans 6:11b).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-21. PERSONIFICATION

"God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction" (Genesis 41:52).

To share what we have may minister temporarily to the physical; but to minister to the spiritual in an eternal way we must share what we are, and that calls for growth in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"We can only comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God. Others can only really be helped by what has been the power of life in the would-be helper.

"Information, by itself, however correct and orthodox, however strongly held in conviction and passed on in passion, will lack an essential and indispensable quality or value for spiritual constitution.

"Hence it has ever been God's way to raise up a vessel, personal or corporate, in which His message has been wrought by fiery ordeal. The messenger must not only have the message in him, but he must be in the message: not only in mind and feeling, but in experience and being." -T. A-S.

"We really can only come into the reality of things by being 'pressed out of measure' (2 Corinthians 1:8). So the Lord has to take much time to make our spiritual history. When at length our eyes are open, we cry, 'O, why did I not see it before!' But everything else had to prove insufficient before we could really be shown, and that takes time."

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).

WithChrist.org

 

[God's_gift]

6-21. PERSONIFICATION

"God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction" (Genesis 41:52).

To share what we have may minister temporarily to the physical; but to minister to the spiritual in an eternal way we must share what we are, and that calls for growth in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"We can only comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God. Others can only really be helped by what has been the power of life in the would-be helper.

"Information, by itself, however correct and orthodox, however strongly held in conviction and passed on in passion, will lack an essential and indispensable quality or value for spiritual constitution.

"Hence it has ever been God's way to raise up a vessel, personal or corporate, in which His message has been wrought by fiery ordeal. The messenger must not only have the message in him, but he must be in the message: not only in mind and feeling, but in experience and being." -T. A-S.

"We really can only come into the reality of things by being 'pressed out of measure' (2 Corinthians 1:8). So the Lord has to take much time to make our spiritual history. When at length our eyes are open, we cry, 'O, why did I not see it before!' But everything else had to prove insufficient before we could really be shown, and that takes time."

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).

WithChrist.org

Welcome back netchaplain, been waiting for your post here in BS since last day ... Thank you and God bless you

 

[netchaplain]

Hi God's_gift and thanks for the "welcome back" and for expressing your concern for this material. God's blessings to your Family!!

6-22. TRUTH TRIUMPHANT!

"To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice" (John 18:37).

Charismatic Arminianism's experience omits truth. Covenant Calvinism's legality chokes truth. Cross-centered Christianity's Christ-life is Truth!

"Greater zeal for the salvation of sinners, and the amelioration of the condition of mankind, never was more manifested than at present (1850). This is ground of rejoicing to all the friends of the Gospel. But there is one unhappy symptom of the present times, with respect to Christianity. Zeal for the purity of divine truth has not kept pace with zeal for the salvation of sinners." -A.C.

"The semblance of love which does not maintain the truth, but accommodates itself to that which is not the truth, is not love according to God. In the last days the test of truth is the maintenance of the truth.

"God would have us love one another; but the Holy Spirit, by whose power we receive the divine nature, and who pours the love of God into our hearts, is the Spirit of truth, and His office is to glorify Christ.

"Therefore it is impossible that a love which can put up with a doctrine that falsified Christ, or which is indifferent to anything that concerns His glory, can be of the Holy Spirit--still less so, if such indifference be set up as a proof of that love."

"In all things commending ourselves as the ministers of God. . . by the word of truth" (2 Corinthians 6:4,7).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

As believers, we could not be in better hands. Regardless of what occurs or what our old minds may think up, our Father never turns us over to anything but His own training of love-chastening. Nothing ever negative comes from God’s care for us, even when there may be times when something may start as a negative, God works it out as a positive for our good and not a moment of time is wasted.

When we become too self-centered, any negativity from self can be enhanced, even beyond necessity and the carnal imagination can take flight, attempting to discourage but even this, along with whatever transpires is the believer’s life, will be used as an advantage.

For the “household of Godâ€, all is blood-covered, so “casting all your care on Him†(1 Pet 5:7) is the instruction of the day and there is no greater exercise of faith than to realize He already knows everything we will think and do and yet, He wants us to understand and believe “He made us accepted in the Beloved†(Eph 1:6). -NC

6-23. LOVE'S LEGACY

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).

Ignorance insures insecurity; scriptural knowledge secures strength. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).

"In mechanics, wobbling is weakness. Power issues from God's restfulness. Are we resting in the Lord? Can we wait patiently for Him to act? Anxiety reduces spiritual energy. Lack of rest of heart is one of the most serious hindrances to Christians.

"Fret of soul when wronged, or fuss over financial or other concerns, is a depletion of power, a dissipation of energy. From the rock basis of rest in Him we can put forth the whole of our energies. Perfect peace is our promised portion."

"Martha gets instruction; we all get that, for our Lord neglects none of us; but she did not get His company; company is what gives rest to the heart."

"Nothing can separate the believer from the love of God, and under no circumstances whatever can he come under the infliction of wrath from God. He may have to correct His saints for their sins, and where there has been no failure He may chasten (child train) them for their profit, that they may become partakers of His holiness; but all this is in love, not in wrath. Every action of God toward His saints is in grace and blessing; it is ever the outcome of His love."

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-24. GRATUITOUS GRACE

"Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).

Grace forsaken is freedom forfeited.

"In considering the whole testimony of the Bible, it is almost as important for the believer who would do the will of God to recognize that which does not concern him as it is for him to recognize that which does concern him.

"It is obvious that, apart from the knowledge of dispensational truth, the believer will not be intelligently adjusted to the present purpose and will of God in the world. Such knowledge alone will save him from assuming the hopeless legality of the dispensation that is past or from undertaking the impossible world transforming program belonging to the dispensation which is to come." -W.S.C.

"The Law of Moses is interrelated and wholly dependent on the sacrifices and ritual provided for Israel in the land. The laws of the kingdom (Sermon on the Mount) are only related to the future kingdom conditions which shall be in the earth under the power and presence of the King when Satan is bound, creation delivered, and all shall know the Lord from the least unto the greatest.

"All harmony of truth is shattered when there is the slightest commingling of the principles of law and grace. Grace alone now reigns through Christ to the glory of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

"By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-25. PLUS, OR MINUS?

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6).

Grace + Law = Death. Grace - Law = Life!

"Covenant theology, which has molded the major theological conceptions for many generations, recognizes no distinctions as to ages, therefore can allow for no distinctions between law and grace. This dominating attitude of Covenantism must account for the utter neglect of life truth (growth) in all their works of theology.

"No more representative theological dictum from the Covenant viewpoint has been formed than the Westminster Confession of Faith, which valuable and important document recognizes life truth only to the point of imposing the Ten Commandments on Christians as their sole obligation, and in spite of the teachings of the New Testament which asserts that the Law was never given to Gentile or Christian."-L.S.C.

"While freeing believers from the bondage of Rome, the Protestant Reformation brought them back, in large measure, under the bondage of Sinai. The Reformation took away one set of bindings, but bound the believers with another--and this has atrophied the spiritual life of multitudes." -D.G.B.

"Not a single cluster of living fruit ever was, or ever will be, culled from the tree of legality. Law can only produce 'dead works,' from which we need to have conscience purged just as much as from 'wicked works.'" -C.H.M.

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1 ).

WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-26. EDIFYING EQUILIBRIUM

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15).

There should be neither undergrowth, nor overgrowth, but balanced growth. Spiritual equilibrium alone will bring forth much fruit both in us and in others.

"A popular notion that the first obligation of the Church is to spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. The first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it. . . to spread an effete (worn out) and degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the Great Commission."

"We were created for more than our own spiritual development; reproduction, not mere development, is the goal to mature being--reproduction in other lives. There is a tendency in some characters, running parallel to the high cultivation that spends its whole energy on the production of bloom at the expense of seed.

"The flowers that are bent on perfecting themselves, by becoming double, end in barrenness, and a like barrenness comes to the soul whose interests are all concentrated upon its own spiritual well-being, heedless of the needs around. The true, ideal flower, is the one that uses its gifts as means to an end; the brightness and sweetness are not for its own glory; they are but to attract the bees and butterflies that will fertilize and make it fruitful." -L.T.

"Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain" (Philippians 2:16).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-27. TRUTH, OR CONSEQUENCES

"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you" (1 John 2:14).

Experience may ratify, or it may repudiate, truth. The Word alone, to faith, is truth unalterable.

"If I allow the thought that what I am toward God will in some way or other affect what God is toward me, I shall be filled with the spectre of bondage. But when I see that what God is toward me is altogether the outcome of what He is, and that He is this though knowing perfectly what I am, it puts my heart in the right direction for liberty." -C.A.C.

"God speaks to us according to His estimate of our standing, our position: it may not be our heart's experience. There is a distinctness between the operation of the Spirit of God in bringing me unto the Lord Jesus, bearing witness to me of God's love, and of the efficacy of what Christ has done--and His operation in my soul to produce the image of His Son.

"That which is the subject of experience is what is produced in my soul, whereas that which gives me peace is His testimony to the work and life of Christ. A Christian who doubts the Father's love to him, and who looks for peace to that which passes in his own heart, is doubting God's truth. The Word is the revelation God has given of Himself; it displays the love of God toward us, and what is in His heart. I can trust the declaration of what is in God's heart, and not what I think of myself." -J.N.D.

"If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:6).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-28. THE TREE OF LIFE

"Not I, but Christ" (Galatians 2:20).

It is not a matter of what fruit, but of which tree!

"What salvation has done is not merely forgiving me my sins; forgiveness, cleansing, justifying, applies to my responsibility and guilty condition in the first Adam; but salvation applies to my standing in the Last Adam. It is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

"What would you do if you wanted to make something of a crab tree? Not nurture, and prune, and dig about it. That God has done with His fig tree (Israel). If you know anything about it, you will cut it down and graft it. Until you find out that the old man is utterly bad, and that there is no mending it, you will not give it up. If you cultivate the old crab tree you will have fair blossoms but only bigger and more sour crab apples." -J.N.D.

"Before we were saved, worldly objects and affairs usurped the place of Christ; but after being saved, spiritual objects and affairs now tend to occupy His place. Earlier God took from us the things of this world; presently He is taking away our spiritual thing or things. He removes our personal patience, love, power, gentleness, humility.

"Indeed, He removes all, that we may not live by these good things but live by a Person instead. We are patient not because we have received a power to be so, but because we have got a patient Person. So it is with humility and the rest: not a power but a Person." The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Christ.

"For to me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:27).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-29. APPLICABLE APPLICATION

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3).

We have all cringed at the sad spectacle of the "nouveau riche." And yet many of us as believers present the same failure--flaunting and mishandling our spiritual riches in Christ Jesus.

"The Lord deals with us in order that we might be able to minister in an apt way. His stewards are to be men of understanding, who can touch the various needs, who can reach the heart, so that the Lord's children are saying: That just fits me! That touches my case! That person must know! That one must have been through it! Yes, the Lord knows, and He would take you and me through experiences such as will make us sharers in a living way--and that is what He is doing." -T. A-S.

"It is a new day to your soul when you realize that Christ is the Source of everything, and that it is from Himself you must draw, and not from ministry about Him. Many can explain Scripture and even apply it, who are not under the effect of it themselves. They have not come from Him, and are not themselves imbued with that which they are trying to convey.

"There is much wise counsel and good teaching which is not applicable to the moment and to the need. It does not effect what is the Lord's desire as the end of the ministry, which is to lead the soul to Himself, because it is not spoken in communion with Himself. You must first get to where He is, and then you are brought into harmony with the scene where He is."

"Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:4).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-30. NO CROSS, NO CHRIST!

"Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:27).

One hears much today about "body life," with its emphasis upon New Testament gathering, rather than Christ-centered growth. The Body is meant to manifest the Head, and that necessitates spiritual members.

"Where there is no Cross there is no life, and no ministry of life. The object of suffering is that there may be a full and abundant ministry. . . . We are not to invite trouble, nor by austerity to ill-treat our bodies. The Holy Spirit Himself takes responsibility for our experience, leading us in paths where we encounter, in body, heart, or spirit, that measure of 'the dying of Jesus' that will mean enrichment of our ministry."

"There are many today who seem to think that it is all or largely a matter of the order, technique, and form, and if we are to return to the 'New Testament' form or order of churches all would be well. The fact is that, while certain things characterize the N.T. churches, the Word does not give us a complete pattern according to which churches are to be formed!

"There is no blueprint for churches in the N.T., and to try to form such churches is only to create another system which may be as legal, sectarian and dead as others. Churches, like the Church, are organisms which spring out of life, which life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers. Unless believers are crucified people, there can be no true expression of the Church." -T. A-S.

"God forbid that I should glory, except in the Cross" (Galatians 6:14).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-31. MANUALLY CONTROLLED

"Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them" (Colossians 2:15).

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:15-17). Amen!

"The sovereignty of God is what alone gives rest to the Christian heart in view of a world full of evil, which is gone astray from Him. To know that after all, in spite of the rebellion of the creature, things are as absolutely in His hand as ever they were--this brings, and alone brings, full relief. Still He rules over all, and where evil cannot be turned to good, limits and forbids it: He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath (what would go beyond this) He restrains (Psalm 76:10)." -F.W.G.

"People may quarrel with the sovereignty of God, but I love it, because I know enough about my natural bent and will to be sure that if left to myself I should have gone straight to perdition. Some believers talk about man's free will when they are on their feet, but all are firm believers in God's sovereignty when they get on their knees." -C.A.C.

"Human history is not in the grip of fate, but in the hands of Him Who was pierced for us on Calvary." -W.G.S.

"Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:14).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

7-2. PERSONAL APPRECIATION

"As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him " (Colossians 2 7).

We appreciate His benefits toward us, but are we appreciative do we express to Him our appreciation? "Let us be very watchful that the inner life, communion with the Lord Jesus, be the true source of our activities. "

The Lord Jesus longs for fellowship with us. He does not want patronage. It does not meet the desire of His heart to be followed, or admired, or gazed at, because of what He can do or give. He delights in a heart taught of the Spirit to appreciate His Person, for this glorifies and gratifies the Father. He retires from the gaze of an excited and tumultuous throng who would fain make Him a king, because they had eaten of the loaves and were filled; but He could turn with touching earnestness to the little band of disciples who still remained, and challenge their hearts with the question, 'Will ye also go away?'

"Love could never be too near to its object. Nearness to the Lord Jesus is the instinct of divine life, as we see in the first question of the two disciples who followed Him, 'Where dwellest Thou?' Why is not this the first question now? Because there is not simple devotedness of heart to the Lord Jesus Christ."
There is nothing in all the world so precious to the Father as a heart that, in any measure, appreciates His Son. "

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and l will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

At the next coming of Christ it will be our condition, not our position, which will change because our present position of acceptance with the Father could not be efficacious than it is now; for “He hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6).

Presently, the believer is guiltless before the Father, but conditionally, not sinless. This will not be until “the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:23), when it will be “the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Phil 3:20, 21) and only then will it be “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” (Eph 5:27).

Positionally, all believers are equal but conditionally, they vary. A believer’s manner of living is determined by the response acted upon concerning the Word of God, because it is the Word through which the Holy Spirit applies the life of Christ to change us “into the same image” (2 Cor 3:18).

What are the “spot, or wrinkle” and “blemish” that we will be lacking when “we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:51, 52) to “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17)? The corruptible body and the Adamic nature! -NC

7-3. NOW AND FOREVER FREE!

"Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7,8).

We can trust Him for our matriculation here, and we can trust Him for our examination and graduation in Glory!

That word, 'blameless,' may be translated 'unimpeachable' or unaccusable.' In other words, when we stand at last at the judgment seat of Christ, God Himself is going to see to it that no charge can stand against any believer, because the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for all our sins with His own precious Blood. Every failure in life will be dealt with there, and all the wood, hay, and stubble will be burned in the fire of that day and we shall stand before our Lord unimpeachable, unaccusable." -H.A.I.

"Instead of my sins being between myself and Him, as before, it is Himself who is now between me and my sins; and the One who has thus interposed has given me to know that in the doing it He has brought me to Himself, and tuned my heart to His own praise.
He has borne the judgment due to my sins, and condemned sin in the flesh; in the Person of my Substitute I am clear from, and carried beyond, the judgment forever, the power of death is annulled, that of Satan finally broken."

"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Shall God that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? Shall Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is ever' at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us?" (Romans 8:33,34).

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There’s nothing more needless and unnecessary for the believer than to contend with the “old manâ€. Are we settled with the idea to continually turn everything over to over to the Lord? We can “wrestle†(Eph 6:12) without contending, for we are admonished, nay, commanded in “Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you†(1 Pet 5:7). Failure in this is to incur a hindrance, “for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage†(2 Pet 2:19).

To attempt to battle and overcome sin itself is to unknowingly misunderstand that it has been dealt with: “I am He who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death†(Rev 1:18). We “overcome evil†when attempted against us, by doing “good†(Rom 12:21); that is, overcome the evil man and the evil he has done you by doing good to him, as presented in the four preceding verses 17-20.

The believer is not to “give place to the devil†(Eph4:27) but rather, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you†(Jam 4:7). This accomplishment involves “That ye put off . . . the old man†that we may “put on the new man†(Eph 4:22, 24).

“The putting off of the old man is not a removing him from the saints, nor a destroying him in them, nor a changing his nature; for he remains, and remains alive, and is the same old man he ever was, in regenerate persons; but it is a putting him off from his seat, and a putting him down from his government; a showing no regard to his rule and dominion, to his laws and lusts, making no provision for his support.†-JG

We can “enter into His rest†(Heb 4:10) by realizing and remembering that Christ has already, for the believer, triumphed over all evil; whether it be evil from our fellow man, our “old man†or “spiritual wickedness in high placesâ€, we should identify and acknowledge the evil and cast our concerns of it on the Lord. -NC

7-4. REST AND REJOICE!

"Rejoice in the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4).

Exhaustive effort brings home the necessity of strengthening rest. The believer will not be ready to enter into his spiritual rest until he is utterly worn out by his unsuccessful efforts to conquer sin and the old man. There is no rest for the "wretched man" of Romans 7-that struggle must lead to the rest of Romans 8.

"Grace is sufficient for favorable circumstances, but they are by far the most trying (spiritually) to the believer. There is an easy way of going on in worldliness, and there is nothing more sad than the quiet comfortable Christian going on day by day, apart from dependence upon the Lord.

"It must be as with Israel and the manna; there must be the daily gathering and daily dependence upon God. If circumstances come between our hearts and God, we are powerless. If the Lord Jesus is nearer, circumstances will not hinder our joy in God ."

"The heart of man naturally seeks rest, and seeks it here. Now, there is no rest to be found here for the believer; but it is written, 'There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God' (Hebrews 4:9).

"To know this is both full of blessing and full of sorrow: sorrow to the flesh; because it is always seeking its rest here, it has always to be disappointed; blessing to the spirit, because the spirit, being born of God, can only rest in God's rest, as it is said, 'If they shall enter into My rest' (Hebrews 4:5). What God desires for us is to bring us into the enjoyment of all that which He Himself enjoys." -J.N.D.

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently' for Him" (Psalm 37: 7).

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7-5. HIS CROSS -- OUR CROSS

"He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him. . . take up his Cross daily " (Luke 9. 23).

We go all the way to Calvary in faith and there find ourselves identified with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection. And Calvary comes all the way to us in experience as the Holy Spirit applies that finished work to our lives.

"In the Reformation there was, through grace, a great deliverance. The groundwork of Christianity was recovered; namely, justification by faith. But though this was recovered, it was not maintained that the old man was crucified on the Cross, and hence they only refused the exactions of popery, but recognized the flesh as still before God. Refusing the exaction was right; but the retention of that in which the exaction could be made, the old man, was the weakness of the Reformation. "

"I do not see the Cross truly if I only see it as opening a way of escape for me, and yet allowing that in me to escape which has incurred the judgment of the Cross. "

"In the present day (1867) the truth is lowered to the measure of man's need; hence if the need is met, which grace does, the convert makes little or no advance; he rests in the satisfaction of his need, instead of being directed to the scope of God's thought, which only begins with his need. "Where would souls be put if they were simply and definitely instructed in Christ Jesus and Him crucified and risen; connected by faith with the living One, who was crucified, and whose death terminated man in the flesh?" -J.B.S.

"Whosoever doth not, bear his Cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple'' (Luke 14:27).

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