one who uses them. But one who possesses the Christian life finds lasting satisfaction in Christ. “He satisfies, joy He supplies, Life would be worthless without Him ; All things in Jesus I find.” 2. It is a life characterized by love for one an other—John 13:34-35: “A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my dis ciples, if ye have love one to another.” Jesus said the distinguishing mark of His followers would be love for one another. When Chris tians manifest this love to one another, they reveal to the world that they have a new kind of life. 3. It is a life lived by faith — Rom. 1:17; II Cor. 5 :7 : “ For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith : as it is writ ten, the just shall live by faith” ; “ For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We are so prone to want to see where we are going, what we are doing, what the end will be, that there is little or no place for faith in our lives. But the Chris tian life is a life of faith, and therein it differs from any other kind of a life. All life must have food for the life itself to be maintained. This is equally as true of the spiritual life as it is of the physical life. The amazing thing about the Christian life is that the Lord Jesus who gives the life, also sustains it. In John 6:51, He said : “ I am the living bread which came down from Heaven : if any man eat of this bread he shall live "irever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” The Lord had miraculously fed the five thousand men with the five loaves of bread and two fishes, at the close o f a day o f ministry. That bread and meat only satisfied them temporarily. The next morning they returned for more, but the Lord said to them, “ Labour not for that meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you” (John 6:27). The Christian life, then, is a life that feeds upon Christ Himself. It draws from Him all that is needed to sustain the life and make it grow. This truth is also seen in our Lord’s teaching of the vine and the branch in John 15. The life of the vine flows out into the branches, making the whole vine one. As the branch is dependent upon the vine for life, for the power to bear fruit, so are we de pendent upon Him. When we realize that we are thus joined unto Christ it becomes easy for us to see how we can III. IT IS LIFE SUSTAINED BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
take His patience, His strength, draw upon His power, to live this life day by day.
IV. IT IS A DIVINELY-EMPOWERED LIFE.
We frequently hear people say they will become Christians when they are sure they can live the Christian life. What they do not know or realize is that they can never live the Christian life them selves, in their own strength. Nor did God ever in tend anyone to live it in his own power. Jesus said to His disciples just before ascending to Heaven, “ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1 :8). See also John 14:16-17. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit who will guide us into the truth—John 16:13. Our part is to walk in the Spirit—Gal. 5:16, and to be filled with the Spirit—Eph. 5:-8, not “quenching” or “ grieving” Him—I Thess. 5:19, Eph. 4:30. As we do these things, we will find that He will em power us to live the Christian life. This life that had its origin in the new birth from above will find its ultimate completion in the glories of Heaven with our blessed Lord. “ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory”—Col. 3 :3-4. The Christian life is to be lived out here on earth, but this is not the end. Our Lord has gone to pre pare a place for His own and has promised to come and receive us unto Himself—John 14:2-3. There we shall be forever with Him and the throng of redeemed ones. Then the toils o f life here, the cares, the burdens, the sorrows, any hardships that may have been endured for Jesus’ sake, will seem as nothing and be forgotten, in the joy of being in His presence and home in Heaven. “There’s a land that is fairer than day, V. IT W ILL BE A GLORIFIED LIFE.
And by faith we can see it a far; For the Father waits over the way, To prepare us a dwelling place there.” “We shall sing on that beautiful shore The melodious songs of the blest, And our spirits shall sorrow no more, Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.”
Reader, do you possess this Christian life? If not, you can have it right now, simply by receiving the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power [or the right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: which were born, not of blood, not o f the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13-14).
JANUARY, 1967
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