question, "What is the chief end of man?", "To know Cod and to enjoy Him forever." Do you know j Him as He is revealed in Jesus Christ? Have you believed the rec ord that Cod gave concerning His Son? Does your heart accept Him and your mouth gladly confess that He is Lord to the glory of Cod, the Father? If you have this new life within, are you praising Him with all your heart, and extending the knowl edge of this wonderful life to your friends, as well as to your enemies? In this manner we are not only the receivers of life eternal, but also the givers of life eternal to others. May this be our spiritual reality, j and to God be the praise forever Sharing life in the Spirit with j each other is the very essence o f ! the Church. The Church is not a : building or an organization, but it j| is made up of people who have j I repented of their sins and placed j their confidence in the Lord Jesus, j Upon so doing they have been bap- I tized by the Spirit into the body of j Christ. This is a living organism. So II we are joined to the Saviour for- | ever. Our ministry is to proclaim j this truth to all men everywhere, U seeking to persuade them to be-1 lieve and thus to be reconciled to I Cod (II Corinthians 5:20, 21). The l love of Christ is what constrains I and compells us. We must share ] with others this good news. We j are in the world as the salt of the I earth and the light of God, holding j forth the Word of Life among men. | The problem is that we are so j often prone to faint. The difficul-1 ties are many and there is a ten dency to lose courage. We become j and forever. Life is Tension
believe. Cod puts to our credit Christ's righteousness. This is the only faith by which men are saved. This is imparted to us in regenerat ing grace as the Spirit of Cod makes us alive. It creates within us a new nature. Through sanctification we become more and more con formed to God's thoughts and to Christ's image. In vrs. 11 through 16 we see that this life is permanent. That which the law talked about was only tem porary. We are accepted in the be loved never to be rejected. We are forgiven never to be guilty. Vrs. 17 and 18 indicate that this is the life of liberty and freedom, which is the same theme of Rom ans 8, Galatians 5 and many other portions of the New Testament. We are now free from the guilt of the law, and from the condemna tion which it brings. We are free from the defilement and pollution of sin. We no longer have to sin, but can learn to do righteousness. We have access to Cod and an im mediate audience with Him. We can ascribe unto Him all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. We can rest and relax in His presence. We can open the Word with an expectancy of un derstanding. This is true liberty. This transformation in our lives takes place by the continual re newing of our minds. It is a free, voluntary process based on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by which we are being changed into His image and likeness from glory to glory. This whole life in its ac- ception, realization, manifestation and development is a life of glory which all reflects Cod. No wonder the old Westminster Catechism states, in answer to the Page 44
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