me may find the heavenly way. Realizing that I died in Christ is just as import ant a part of the gospel as that Christ died for me. Both aspects of the cross are the gospel. Let us not separate in our thinking and living what God has joined together. The requirements of the New Testa ment as they bear upon the Christian life all presuppose this oneness of the believer with Christ in the power of His resurrection. Everywhere the Christian life is placed in the realm of human impossibility. A supernatural standard is set. The Christian life is placed on the plane of the miraculous. He who would live it must cease to move in the realm of the purely natural. Like Peter we essay to walk on the waves. We dare not look at the billows or listen to the boisterous winds. The moment we do, we sink, and hear the warning words of the Saviour, “ O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matt. 14:31). But looking to Jesus, and to Him alone, the miracle occurs. The wa ters become firm to support our as sured step. The step lengthens into a walk. The walk merges into a life—a life the testimony of which becomes that of the Great Apostle: “ I . . . [have been] crucified with Christ . . . and the life which I now’ live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.”
to dwell. Eternal death, the penalty of sin, is removed. I am baptized spiritu ally into Christ, His body the Church, and become vitally one with all true believers. I am sealed with the Holy Spirit and stamped as God’s own until the day of redemption. Positionally, I am perfect in Christ, one with Him for all eternity—a son, a priest, and heir. Why, then, you say, are there defeat, disappointment and struggle? Why so little experimental realization of that which I am in Christ? The answer: There is life, and there is fullness of life; there is the indwelling of the Spirit, and there is the fullness of the Spirit. As your faith, so be it unto you. You are a child of God: will you be lieve it, and thus enjoy the freedom of a son? You have the privilege of being filled with the Spirit: will you believe that God will fill you? You died with Christ: will you believe that you are dead to sin and self? You arose with Him: will you appropriate His resurrec tion power? 2. Believing That I Died In Christ Brings Me Fullness of Life. Life is not enough. I need fullness of life. The little streamlet will not suffice. Jesus prom ised, and; I need, rivers of living water. It is ' not enough that I go to heaven myself. I must become a channel of vic tory and blessing that others through
4. / Must Believe That As I Reckon On My Position In Christ Its Benefits Be come Experimentally Real. What a vast difference there often is between our unchanging position in Christ and our changeable practice in life, between our glorious standing and our too-often in glorious state. We are princes, but we frequently act like slaves. We are wealthy, but live as beggars. We are clothed in linen clean and white, but live as though covered with rags. We have manna from heaven, but eat the weak and beggarly elements of the world. We have water of life from the rock, but languish with thirst in the desert. We have the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, but stumble on in our own folly and self- sufficiency. Faith in the Son of God Determines The Degree W e Enjoy Fullness of Life. The Word of God through Isaiah to the faithless Ahaz may well be applied to every believer, hesitating and wav ering on the threshold of spiritual con quest and blessing: “ If ye will not be lieve, surely ye shall not be established” (Isa. 7:9). 1. Believing That Christ Died For Me Brings Me Life. I receive a new nature. The Holy Spirit comes into my heart
Our Hunan Bible Institute Family including Faculty, Student Body, Hospital Staff and Orphans
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Page Eight
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