His person /b y Ray C. Stedman
COME T he questions that matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by the words—“Come unto Me.” Not —do this, or don’t do that; but --—“Come unto Me.” If I will come to Jesus my actual life will be brought into accord ance with my real desires; I will actually cease from sin, and actually find the song of the Lord begin. Have you ever come to Je sus? Watch the stubbornness of your heart; you will do anything rather than the one simple childlike thing—“Come unto Me.” If you want the actual experience of ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus. Jesus Christ makes Himself the touchstone. Personal con tact with Jesus alters every thing. The attitude of coming is that the will resolutely lets go of everything and deliber ately commits all to Him. “. . . and I will give you rest.” Not—I will put you to bed and hold your hand and sing you to sleep; but-—I will get you out of bed, out of the languor and exhaustion, out of the state of being half dead while you are alive; I will imbue you with the spirit of life, and you will be stayed by the perfection of vital activity. — O s w a l d C h a m b e r s ( in “My Utmost for His Highest,” Dodd, Mead &Co., N.Y.)
of faith, a conscience cleansed from defilement, and a body separated to the fulfilling of the will of God. Let nothing said above be con strued as an attempt to minimize the cross. It is emphatically not that. The cross of Christ and the work of the cross remains, as al ways, the power of God unto sal vation. But it is salvation from sin. That is a stupendous achieve ment, but it is not enough. Life must be imparted, power must be communicated. These come only by knowing the living, all-powerful Christ. Let us shift our primary emphasis from the work to the Per son, for the work can be acknowl edged apart from His person, but the Person is inseparable from His work. Paul does not speak of the death of Christ; he speaks of the Christ who died. He does not invite men to believe in thé cross of Christ, but in the Christ of the cross. He refers but once or twice to the life of Jesus, but the theme of Jesus living is for ever on his lips. This is the dy namic need for a lost world. Tell men, then, of Christ! Of a theanthropic Christ, both God and man, for that involves His incar nation. Tell them of a suffering Christ, for that brings before them His matchless death. Tell them of a risen Christ who stands at the heart’s door today and knocks for admittance. Let them hear His voice, let them feel the pullings of His love. Let them know of the glory of His comradeship through the sunshine, the comfort of His presence in the night. Make them hungry for His nearness; heartsick till He comes. For the answer to the surging agony of the world, to the lonely misery of sin, is the life- giving glory of His person! END.
tional word used only of true be lievers, “For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Here “sanctified” oc curs again, but it is not the same tense as in the other two occur rences quoted. There it was past tense, referring to the cross; here it is present, continuous tense—“be ing sanctified.” This implies fellow ship with the Lord Himself. No continued cleansing is possible apart from His person. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin.” That is “being sanctified.” Thus we put together the pieces of this dark puzzle. Here are men and women who believe in Christ. They have accepted His work for their sins. But they balk at fellow ship with His person. They do not want Him as Lord of their lives. They want to live their own lives, go their own way, make their own decisions. What is the result? Their every deed becomes a “willful sin,” a sin committed without a sense of His restraint, a lawless action. And because His person can nev er be separated from His work, they quite unconsciously have “trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant . . . an unholy thing.” On the other hand there are men and women who believe in His work on the cross, but they also receive His person, they acknowl edge His claims upon them. In surrender to His will they turn over the reins of life to Him and ask Him to help them walk where He walks, in the light of righteousness. What is the result? There is a draw ing near to the ineffable glory, a true heart resting in full assurance
The King's Business
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