Your first instinct is to prepare yourself for a big battle and then pray to God to give you the victory in it. When we first start out, hungry and zealous for Him, it is often imagined that extensive progress has been made when as yet we have barely begun. Here is the image of God back on earth, this time in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s “last Adam” (I Cor. God deals with all believers on the ground—‘In Christ you died.’ But the Church of Christ, as a whole, ignores this fact. People are social beings, created in the image of God and designed to require the friendship, cooperation, support and community of others. They are the birthright of every child of God, and no one can dispense with them without dishonoring our Lord” (Spiritual Secret, p. 116). “When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (4:29). 1:1-3). Everything in this little book is essential to the Christian life. Success comes via failure; life springs out of death and so on. Read Document. 5:7) and “live” (Gal. This is more than acknowledging wrongdoing or promising to try harder. “Dr. When, however, you and I are prepared, in simple humility, to make the fact of our death with Christ our daily basis of life and service, there is nothing that can prevent the uprising and outflow of new life, and meet the need of thirsty souls around us.”. Through the years the hungry-hearted believer finds that he has been brought a long way, and each step of the way has been personally experienced. L.E. Life is meant to bring a succession of discoveries of our need of Christ, and with every such discovery the way is opened for a new inflow of the supply. To know God’s way of deliverance from sin as a master he must apprehend the truth contained in the sixth chapter of Romans. 2:1). This deep burden of self and hunger to be like Him cause the function of the cross—crucifixion—to become attractive. Selectivity. From an infinite number of ways, He chooses the most effective for each individual’s transition. You have found everlasting life! Then it can be, if necessary, “disallowed [rejected] indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious” (I Pet. As we learn to stand on the finished work of Calvary, the Holy Spirit will begin to faithfully and effectively apply that finished work of the cross to the self-life, thereby holding it in the place of death—inactive—resulting in the “not I, but Christ” life (Gal. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. 5:1). The need exists, and when he sees the rest in Him, all there remains to do is to appropriate! 10:38). Your email address will not be published. 6:5, 6). You are not walking in the Spirit but in the flesh. And everyone knows that evidence must be founded on facts. After we have seen our possessions in Christ and become aware of our need, then we must give Him the necessary time to work the appropriation into our everyday walk. 26:28). Jesus did not call us to only believe in Him (James 2:19). James R. McConkey: “Because He died ‘death hath no more dominion over Him,’ and because of our union with Him ‘sin shall not have dominion over you,’ even though it is present in you. Experiences and blessings, though real gracious visitations from the Lord, are not sufficient to rest upon, nor should they lead us to glory in ourselves, as if we had a store of grace for time to come, or were yet at the end of the conflict. Pray daily. “The believer can never overcome the old man even by the power of the new apart from the death of Christ, and therefore the death of Christ unto sin is indispensable, and unless the cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the old man, he only drops into another form of morality; in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome self, and the struggle is a hopeless one” (C. Usher). And in the hand of the Husbandman, there is no fear, but freedom. Until we have done this there is nothing else we can do. We rejoice with you as you continue in Him. Every believer is thereby freed from all bondage, but not every believer is aware of this liberating truth. Spiritual growth is essential for every believer. 13:5), and the recommendation is certainly not out of order at the very inception of this series of studies. As a result, sooner or later the grain of wheat finds itself, not high up on the stalk, but dropped to the earth, into the cold and strange darkness. Peter’s burden was: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. Our faith becomes a fixed attitude once it begins to rest in this wonderful fact. The believer’s cross is the cross of Calvary, the one on which he was crucified with Christ (see Gal. We stood on the fact of His dying for our sins, and this act of faith allowed the Holy Spirit to give us our freedom from the penalty of sin—justification. We are told to reckon, to count on, what we now know to be true of us in Him as set forth in the Word. He seeks to struggle forward via the love motive; i.e., He did for me, so I must do for Him. God can accept absolutely nothing from the old—He sees and acknowledges only that which is centered in His Son, who is our life. Be assured - God will never leave you nor forsake you. “Yield [present] yourselves unto God, as … alive from the dead” (Rom. B. Stoney). Death is his decreed portion. First, through the Word, we find out what God did about our problem. General conference Committee Annual Council. He is our file leader (see Heb. The great pity of it all is that we are saying, ‘O God bless us, bless us in this, bless us in that!’ and it is all done. Now, once we come to see the fact of the further aspect, we are urged in the Word to stand on the liberating truth of our dying with Christ in His death to sin, which allows the Holy Spirit to bring into our lives freedom from the power, the enslavement, of sin—progressive sanctification. Then how are we to grow? Christian fellowship is mandatory for Christian growth. As we, in our abject need, consistently and lovingly look upon our Lord Jesus, who is revealed to us in the Word, the Holy Spirit will quietly and effortlessly change the center and source of our lives from self to Christ—hence for each of us it will be “not I, but Christ” (Gal. Certainly this is not to discount a Spirit-fostered experience, blessing, or even a crisis; but it is to be remembered that these simply contribute to the overall, and all-important, process. There are … And dear old Andrew Murray encourages us with “Even though it is slow, and with many a stumble, the faith that always thanks Him not for experiences, but for the promises on which it can rely—goes on from strength to strength, still increasing in the blessed assurance that God himself will perfect His work in us (Phil. I’m convinced that little biblical capsules (memory verses) are the best medicine for sustained emotional health. It might be good to stress several points just here. Only one here and there is a soul winner. It is not impressions, strong or weak, which will make the difference. Right? Second Peter 1:3 promises, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life.” It is God who transforms us into his image, but it is our responsibility to implement all that he teaches us. The believer sees what he possesses in Christ, and the need enables him to reach out and confidently appropriate and accept the required rest. It is not that there will be no service for us until we are spiritually mature but that most of our service on the way to maturity is for our own development, not so much that of others. So many dear Christians just keep plodding (or racing) through the deadening routine of their multitudinous church activities and duties, expecting that in time self will change for the better as they grow. Dr. J.E. Accept by faith the further fact that you died with Him, i.e., that your ‘old man was crucified with Him’” (The New Life, p. 51). And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. In other words, Calvary is as much the foundation of sanctification as of justification. In regard to this subject George Goodman writes: “Some have been betrayed into professing perfection or full deliverance, because at the time they speak they are happy and confident in the Lord. (1) Never was a believer brought into healthy spiritual maturity by means of pressure meetings and constant exhortation nor before he was prepared by the Spirit. When Tim wassmall, he wanted to drink milk because Bill Buckner (Cubs' firstbaseman) advertised it. First is the principle of selectivity. What shall I do? ‘Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin. “The ‘flesh’ will only yield to the cross; not to all the resolutions you may make at a conference, not to any self-effort, not to any attempted self-crucifixion; only to co-crucifixion, crucified together with Christ (Gal. For believers to ‘consecrate themselves to God’ ere they have learnt their union with Christ in death and resurrection (identification) is only to present to God the members of the natural man, which He cannot accept. Nowhere was our Lord Jesus more explicit and firm than when He mentioned discipleship. Human growth occurs through the multiplication of living cells and the development of a skeleton to support them. This passage is the foundation as well as the key to the possibility of a ‘walk in the Spirit’” (He That Is Spiritual, p. 154). All this paradoxical progress—the way up being down—has a strong tendency to make us feel that the Lord is not taking us on. 1:21) and, “I can do all things through Christ” (4:13). many Christians misunderstand this. The cross of Calvary resulted in the death of the Lord Jesus, both for sin and to sin. First of all, it is utterly futile to expect a believer, by means of consecration, surrender or commitment, to step from his ground of substitution as spoken of in Romans 3-5 on to that of the deeper truths in Romans 8 and 12:1. How can we ever expect to have intimate fellowship with One we know little of? You have to be restored to fellowship, and when you are, you find your acceptance with God unchanged and unchangeable. It covers this situation, too. Hunger has to be created, and it can be created in others only by those who carry with them the impressions of God.”. Complete in Him; 7. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his” (II Tim. It is necessary to remember a fundamental principle in the spiritual life: that God only reveals spiritual truths to meet spiritual needs. “Is it, Reckon yourself to be weak in reference to sin? When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years, but when He wants to make a squash, He takes six months.’” Strong also wisely points out to us that “growth is not a uniform thing in the tree or in the Christian. So the New Testament has a lot to say about growing up, leaving childhood and attaining unto full stature. Then—the length of time depends on the difficulty of the language and the ability and industry of the pupil of course—a miracle seems to happen. We find out everyone else by first finding ourselves out. If the old ‘I’ is in active possession of us then Christ cannot be. To some men constant peril is the only spur to action, and many religions and psychologies are dependent on fear to keep their disciples in line. Watchman Nee: “The Blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my ‘old man.’ It needs the cross to crucify me … the sinner… Our sins are dealt with by the Blood, but we ourselves are dealt with by the Cross. If he is alive unto sin it will be due largely to the fact that he has failed to reckon himself dead unto sin” (Ruth Paxson). No believer ever fell into maturity, even though he is complete in Christ. We must be brought back to the two basics: freed from the penalty of sin by His finished work; freed from the power of sin by His finished work. Now, as long as the believer does not know this dual aspect of his salvation, the best he can do is seek to handle his sins via confession (I John 1:9)—that is, after the damage has been done! Often the believer struggles hopelessly for years, until he listens to the teaching of the Spirit, as He glorifies Christ again, and reveals Christ, our Sanctification, to be appropriated by faith alone…. “Sonship is something more than being born again. 8:31).”. Of course, our blessed Lord died on the cross; but who else died there? It is highly possible for a man, after having found justifying rest in Christ, to enter upon a state of deep need as regards sanctifying rest. Though God saves us and gives us a new spirit, it is our duty to control our thoughts and focus our minds on what honors him, so that our minds can be transformed. 2 Peter 3:18 NIV. Once again we believe and declare it. Yielding to Him on any different basis will simply amount to our trying to live for Him in the self-life. J. Penn-Lewis: “If the difference between ‘Christ dying for us,’ and ‘our dying with Him,’ has not been recognized, acknowledged, and applied, it may safely be affirmed that the self is still the dominating factor in the life” (Memoir, p. 26). One does not enough go forth to work in the joy and strength of one who comes out from his home to run his course. Principles of Spiritual Growth 1. “Nothing can set us apart for God, nothing can make us holy, except as the cross is working in us, because the cross alone can keep the hindrances to holiness in the place of death” (G. Watt). 5:19-21); the life in which there is no good thing in the sight of God (Rom. It may be very much of a Romans seven experience. “Calvary precedes Pentecost. God didn’t train Israel at the first but a leader to lead Israel. 3:10). His eye rests on the work accomplished by Christ for the believer. As we thus follow in the steps of those who ‘by faith and patience inherit the promises,’ a new divine thing will happen within us. He knows how much we can take in, and He does not fail to minister to us the very food that is suitable to our present need. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (7:18). No believer will truly come to know the Lord Jesus as his life until he knows by experience the deadly self-life deep within for what it is. God is able to be at peace with us through our Lord Jesus Christ, “having made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:20). “We often come across Christians who are bright and clever, and strong and righteous; in fact, a little too bright, and a little too clever—there seems so much of self in their strength, and their righteousness is severe and critical. Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well. This is the flawless provision of God’s grace but this accomplished fact can only become an actual reality in the believer’s experience as faith lays hold upon it and enables him moment by moment, day by day, though temptation assail him, ‘to reckon’ it true. Bible study finally grinds to a halt; everything seems to add up to nothing. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest shine hand, they are filled with good” (Ps. The ladder is grace. You will only build askew if the foundations are not properly laid! And from the very outset, until hard experience teaches him otherwise, the well-meaning believer thinks that since he has the will to obey God and to be what He intends for him, he should attempt to carry it out through personal consecrated effort with His help. ‘Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him’ (Rom. Don’t try to be like Him, just look at Him. Youth and immaturity tend to act first and think later, if at all. When he thinks that more prayer will supply it, he finds that, indispensable as prayer is, it is not enough. They think because they have the will it is enough, and that now they are able to do. That is to say, the first stage of faith is always the battle of taking hold by the will, heart, and intelligence of some truth or promise which is not real to us in experience, and declaring it to be ours in spite of appearances. For the sun meets not the springing bud that stretches toward him with half that certainty as God, the Source of all good, communicates Himself to the soul that longs to partake of Him.”. True spiritual reality comes in no other way, but, praise the Lord, it does come in this way! Acceptance. The bludgeon most commonly used is: “The Lord Jesus gave His all for you, now the least you can do is give your all for Him!” The believer is exhorted and pressured to consecrate, surrender, commit his life to Christ on the basis of his love and gratitude for what has been done on his behalf at Calvary. And here is how we take up and bear our cross: Finally prepared by our needs, aware that our bondage was broken in Christ on Calvary, we definitely begin to rely on that finished work—we appropriate. “There are other laborers besides those who are seeking for pardon—for justification. Our reckoning it to be true only makes us begin to realize the fact in experience” (The Way of Victory, p. 16). Paul, with God’s “Not I, but Christ” (Gal. Behold the Lord.”. As growing Christians, it is time for us to see the necessity of going beyond the love motive to the life motive. They may be present and they may be valuable, but the Spirit’s object is something far greater—to form Christ in us through the working of the cross.
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