Micah 6:8
Lists are everywhere. The sports page is full of them. Elsewhere we find lists of Academy Award winners, Pulitzer prize winners, and beauty contest winners. The publishing world has its best-seller list, the music world it gold and platinum album lists, the financial world its Fortune 500 list. Even the religious world has its list of super churches, largest Sunday schools, biggest worship centers, or those giving most to missions.
Usually after looking over such lists, I wonder, Who really cares? It is doubtful that God have ever been impressed with the size of anything. His Book invariably ranks quality above quantity. As a matter of fact, He seems to delight in reminding us that greater glory to Him takes place when victory occurs in spite of the odds. As in David vs. Goliath. Or the Hebrews vs. the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Or Gideon's few . O Jesus' small band of disciples.
For about the time I'm ready to suggest that we ignore all lists, I come across a list in the Scriptures! Dozens of them, in fact!
For example, God not only lists the Ten Commandments that depict His holy character, He lists the things He hates to find among His creatures. Remember them? Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, one who spread strife among brothers (Prov. 6:16-19).
The apostle Paul helps us out by listing "the fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22-23). Elsewhere, Paul lists he qualities of a maturing Christian (2 Peter 1:5-8), and John lists the first-century churches that represented examples worth noting (Revelation 2:1-3, 22). There are lists of qualifications for being an elder and also for being a deacon.
Lists, lists, and more lists! And since they are authored by the living Lord, we'd be wise to read and heed each one.
Even though it finds its origin in one whose life was not centered on Christ our Lord, Mahatma Gandhi's own list of "seven deadly sins" in the form of contrasts deserves our attention: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship with sacrifice, politics without principle.
Now, there's a list to heed and not carry out!
The prophet Micah names the absolute basics "required" by the Lord. The next time you're feeling that living for God is getting too complicated, blow the dust off Micah's list: to do justice, to love kindness, to walk humbly with God.
~Charles Swindoll~
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Our Thoughts Reveal What We Are Becoming
"...If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8)
The Bible has a great deal to say about our thoughts; current evangelicalism has practically nothing to say about them. The reason the Bible says so much is that our thoughts are so vitally important to us. The reason evangelicalism says so little is that we are overreacting from the "thought" cults, which would make our thoughts to be very nearly everything and we counter by making them nothing. Both positions are wrong.
Our voluntary thoughts not only reveal what we are - they predict what we will become. The will can become the servant of the thoughts, and to a large degree even our emotions follow our thinking. Thinking stirs feeling and feeling triggers action. That is the way we are made and we may as well accept it.
Thinking about God and holy things creates a moral climate favorable to the growth of faith and love and humility and reverence. We cannot by our thinking regenerate our hearts, nor take our sins away nor change the leopard's spots. But we can by Spirit-inspired thinking help to make our minds pure sanctuaries in which God will be pleased to dwell.
The best way to control our thoughts is to offer the mind to God in complete surrender. The Holy Spirit will accept it and take control of it immediately. Then it will be relatively easy to think on spiritual things, especially if we train our thought by long periods of daily prayer, even talking to God inwardly as we work or travel.
~A. W. Tozer~
The Bible has a great deal to say about our thoughts; current evangelicalism has practically nothing to say about them. The reason the Bible says so much is that our thoughts are so vitally important to us. The reason evangelicalism says so little is that we are overreacting from the "thought" cults, which would make our thoughts to be very nearly everything and we counter by making them nothing. Both positions are wrong.
Our voluntary thoughts not only reveal what we are - they predict what we will become. The will can become the servant of the thoughts, and to a large degree even our emotions follow our thinking. Thinking stirs feeling and feeling triggers action. That is the way we are made and we may as well accept it.
Thinking about God and holy things creates a moral climate favorable to the growth of faith and love and humility and reverence. We cannot by our thinking regenerate our hearts, nor take our sins away nor change the leopard's spots. But we can by Spirit-inspired thinking help to make our minds pure sanctuaries in which God will be pleased to dwell.
The best way to control our thoughts is to offer the mind to God in complete surrender. The Holy Spirit will accept it and take control of it immediately. Then it will be relatively easy to think on spiritual things, especially if we train our thought by long periods of daily prayer, even talking to God inwardly as we work or travel.
~A. W. Tozer~
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
How To Waste Time
[Let's take a few days off from in-depth studies and rest and relax a bit. I'll go back to the in-depth studies but I think we may need a respite to think about what we have learned to date. So enjoy the less in-depth for a few days!]
James 4:13-17
Have you noticed how many day-planners are available these days? And then there are the time-management self-help books: how to increase your efficiency, hot to make every moment count, how to invest your time wisely and productively.
While all those voices and handy products scream for your attention, I'd like o play devil's advocate and tell you how to waste your time. Five proven ideas come immediately to mind:
First, worry a lot. Start worrying early in the morning and intensify your anxiety as the day passes. Worry about your own failures and mistakes - about what you should or could have done but didn't. To add variety, worry about things you should not have done but did. Hanging around negative people is another secret you won't want to forget. Remember: potential ulcers need fresh acid!
Second, make hard-and-fast predictions. Of course, you'll need to ignore that little throw-away line in the fourth chapter of James: "you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow." But forget that comment and set your expectations in motion. Be as specific as you can. For example, one month before his July 1975 disappearance, Jimmy Hoffa announced: "I don't need bodyguards."
Third, fix your attention on getting rich. You'll get a lot of innovative ideas from the secular bookshelves (I counted fourteen book on the subject the last time I was in a bookstore), plus you'll fit right in with most of the hype that's pouring out of entrepreneurial seminars and high-pressure sales meetings.
Fourth, compare your self with others. Not only will you ricochet between the extremes of arrogance and discouragement, you will also spend the time not knowing who you are.
Fifth, lengthen your list of enemies. If there's one thing above all others that will keep your wheels spinning, it's perfecting your skill at the Blame Game. With a full arsenal of suspicion, paranoia, and resentment, you can waste endless evenings stewing over those folks who have made your life miserable!
Put these five surefire suggestions in motion, and you can forget about all the hassles connected with being happy, efficient, productive, and contented. Within a couple of months, those things won't even be on your agenda.
All this sounds like foolish exaggeration, doesn't it? But just stop and think: How much time are you already wasting on some of these things?
~Charles Swindoll~
James 4:13-17
Have you noticed how many day-planners are available these days? And then there are the time-management self-help books: how to increase your efficiency, hot to make every moment count, how to invest your time wisely and productively.
While all those voices and handy products scream for your attention, I'd like o play devil's advocate and tell you how to waste your time. Five proven ideas come immediately to mind:
First, worry a lot. Start worrying early in the morning and intensify your anxiety as the day passes. Worry about your own failures and mistakes - about what you should or could have done but didn't. To add variety, worry about things you should not have done but did. Hanging around negative people is another secret you won't want to forget. Remember: potential ulcers need fresh acid!
Second, make hard-and-fast predictions. Of course, you'll need to ignore that little throw-away line in the fourth chapter of James: "you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow." But forget that comment and set your expectations in motion. Be as specific as you can. For example, one month before his July 1975 disappearance, Jimmy Hoffa announced: "I don't need bodyguards."
Third, fix your attention on getting rich. You'll get a lot of innovative ideas from the secular bookshelves (I counted fourteen book on the subject the last time I was in a bookstore), plus you'll fit right in with most of the hype that's pouring out of entrepreneurial seminars and high-pressure sales meetings.
Fourth, compare your self with others. Not only will you ricochet between the extremes of arrogance and discouragement, you will also spend the time not knowing who you are.
Fifth, lengthen your list of enemies. If there's one thing above all others that will keep your wheels spinning, it's perfecting your skill at the Blame Game. With a full arsenal of suspicion, paranoia, and resentment, you can waste endless evenings stewing over those folks who have made your life miserable!
Put these five surefire suggestions in motion, and you can forget about all the hassles connected with being happy, efficient, productive, and contented. Within a couple of months, those things won't even be on your agenda.
All this sounds like foolish exaggeration, doesn't it? But just stop and think: How much time are you already wasting on some of these things?
~Charles Swindoll~
God's Supreme Interest in Man # 7
And just note them, how true that was. We have here in Luke four a temptation in three forms; not three temptations, but a temptation in three different realms with three different aspects. First of all, the body - the temptation came in the body. "he "hungered". The tempter came along the line of physical demand, physical need, and physical interests. Now His body is already in principle made the whole sacrifice, for in His body there was utter obedience.
Failing there, the tempter came along the line of the soul, when he took Him up to the pinnacle of the Temple and said, "Cast Yourself down, for it is written, 'He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee ...'" The devil can quote Scripture, but the devil left out one very vital fragment of the statement in Psalm 91. He did not complete it, he did not say, "... in all thy ways." That would have been dangerous. There are ways in which you cannot even rest upon Scripture, for there are ways in which even God will not protect you, if they are the ways of presumption. If you are presuming upon God, if you are testing God, you cannot claim the protection of His Word or His hand. It is not, "in all thy ways." It is only as ALL thy ways are in God.
However, here the point of the temptation was, "If you do this, cast yourself down, the world will acclaim you at once." They will say, "This man has come down out of heaven, we saw Him, He actually lived a life in our midst, and has come down and from the great height, here He is." They will acclaim You. The world will accept You. The world will applaud You. The world will be won. Just one act and You will win the world; You will gain what is called the world. You will have the acceptance, the popularity of the world.
That is our soul. My, is that not testing? Reverse that order, and see if you do not get the world's disapproval, its rejection, its persecution, you will not get a place nor a standing in the favor of the world, in the favor of men.
Sometimes that can be exceedingly testing. Many a person has to put everything in the balances of loyalty to God on the one side, and whether he is going to get the favor of men and position and advancement and all that on the other side by some way that is a bit crooked, that is not straight, not right before God. This matter of standing well with the world sometimes becomes a very acute thing. The god of this world makes it so: it is areal temptation in the realm of our souls, the soul that wants to stand well with men, and the whole of our temptation to compromise is on this - to get an easier way in the world, to get the favors of the world.
So, when the devil failed there, the enemy swung round to another angle. The devil took Him up into the great high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof and said, "All this will I give You if You will worship me." The devil has moved from the outer circle of the body into that inner place of the soul, and now he has gone right for the heart, the citadel, the spirit, the worship. It is the place of God only. God only, and the question is, "Who is to be God? Who is to occupy that inner sanctuary of man's being/" Well, now I am not dwelling upon these three things in particular that I am showing you, but I am trying to show you the inclusiveness of this temptation where the whole man was involved: body, soul, and spirit. He was tried there in these three realms.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 8)
Failing there, the tempter came along the line of the soul, when he took Him up to the pinnacle of the Temple and said, "Cast Yourself down, for it is written, 'He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee ...'" The devil can quote Scripture, but the devil left out one very vital fragment of the statement in Psalm 91. He did not complete it, he did not say, "... in all thy ways." That would have been dangerous. There are ways in which you cannot even rest upon Scripture, for there are ways in which even God will not protect you, if they are the ways of presumption. If you are presuming upon God, if you are testing God, you cannot claim the protection of His Word or His hand. It is not, "in all thy ways." It is only as ALL thy ways are in God.
However, here the point of the temptation was, "If you do this, cast yourself down, the world will acclaim you at once." They will say, "This man has come down out of heaven, we saw Him, He actually lived a life in our midst, and has come down and from the great height, here He is." They will acclaim You. The world will accept You. The world will applaud You. The world will be won. Just one act and You will win the world; You will gain what is called the world. You will have the acceptance, the popularity of the world.
That is our soul. My, is that not testing? Reverse that order, and see if you do not get the world's disapproval, its rejection, its persecution, you will not get a place nor a standing in the favor of the world, in the favor of men.
Sometimes that can be exceedingly testing. Many a person has to put everything in the balances of loyalty to God on the one side, and whether he is going to get the favor of men and position and advancement and all that on the other side by some way that is a bit crooked, that is not straight, not right before God. This matter of standing well with the world sometimes becomes a very acute thing. The god of this world makes it so: it is areal temptation in the realm of our souls, the soul that wants to stand well with men, and the whole of our temptation to compromise is on this - to get an easier way in the world, to get the favors of the world.
So, when the devil failed there, the enemy swung round to another angle. The devil took Him up into the great high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof and said, "All this will I give You if You will worship me." The devil has moved from the outer circle of the body into that inner place of the soul, and now he has gone right for the heart, the citadel, the spirit, the worship. It is the place of God only. God only, and the question is, "Who is to be God? Who is to occupy that inner sanctuary of man's being/" Well, now I am not dwelling upon these three things in particular that I am showing you, but I am trying to show you the inclusiveness of this temptation where the whole man was involved: body, soul, and spirit. He was tried there in these three realms.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 8)
The High Cost of Free Grace
"In [Christ] we have redemption through His blood" (Ephesians 1:7)
Redeeming grace is free to us, but its cost is inestimable.
Sin is not a serious issue to most people. Our culture flaunts and peddles it in countless forms. Even Christians who would never think of committing certain sins will often allow themselves to be entertained by those same sins through television, movies, music, and other media.
We sometimes flirt with sin, but God hates it. The price He paid to redeem us from it speaks of the seriousness with which He views it. After all, we "were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold ... but with precious blood, as of the lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" 91 Peter 1:18-19).
In Scripture the shedding of blood refers to violent physical death - whether of a sacrificial animal or of Christ Himself. Sin is so serious that without bloodshed, there is no forgiveness of sin in God's sight (Hebrews 9:22).
The sacrificial animals in the Old Testament pictured Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. That's why John the Baptist called Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
The Old Testament sacrifices wee necessary but incomplete. Christ's sacrifice was perfect, complete, and once for all (Hebrews 10:10). No further sacrifices are needed other than the "sacrifice of praise to God" for what He has done (Hebrews 13:15) and our very lives in service to Him as "a living and holy sacrifice" Romans 12:1).
By His sacrifice Christ demonstrated not only God's hatred for sin, but also His great love for sinners. You could never redeem yourself, but Christ willingly paid the price with His own precious blood. He "gave Himself up for [you], an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" (Ephesians 5:2). His sacrifice was acceptable to the Father, so your redemption was paid in full.
Suggestions for Prayer: Worship God for His wonderful plan of salvation. Worship Christ for the enormous sacrifice He made on your behalf. Worship the Holy Spirit for applying Christ's sacrifice to your life and for drawing you to Christ in saving faith. Ask God to help you guard your heart from flirting with sin.
For Further Study: Read 2 Samuel 11. What circumstances led to David's sin with Bathsheba? How did David attempt to cover his sin? How did David finally deal with his sin?
~John MacArthur~
Redeeming grace is free to us, but its cost is inestimable.
Sin is not a serious issue to most people. Our culture flaunts and peddles it in countless forms. Even Christians who would never think of committing certain sins will often allow themselves to be entertained by those same sins through television, movies, music, and other media.
We sometimes flirt with sin, but God hates it. The price He paid to redeem us from it speaks of the seriousness with which He views it. After all, we "were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold ... but with precious blood, as of the lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" 91 Peter 1:18-19).
In Scripture the shedding of blood refers to violent physical death - whether of a sacrificial animal or of Christ Himself. Sin is so serious that without bloodshed, there is no forgiveness of sin in God's sight (Hebrews 9:22).
The sacrificial animals in the Old Testament pictured Christ's sacrifice on the Cross. That's why John the Baptist called Jesus "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
The Old Testament sacrifices wee necessary but incomplete. Christ's sacrifice was perfect, complete, and once for all (Hebrews 10:10). No further sacrifices are needed other than the "sacrifice of praise to God" for what He has done (Hebrews 13:15) and our very lives in service to Him as "a living and holy sacrifice" Romans 12:1).
By His sacrifice Christ demonstrated not only God's hatred for sin, but also His great love for sinners. You could never redeem yourself, but Christ willingly paid the price with His own precious blood. He "gave Himself up for [you], an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" (Ephesians 5:2). His sacrifice was acceptable to the Father, so your redemption was paid in full.
Suggestions for Prayer: Worship God for His wonderful plan of salvation. Worship Christ for the enormous sacrifice He made on your behalf. Worship the Holy Spirit for applying Christ's sacrifice to your life and for drawing you to Christ in saving faith. Ask God to help you guard your heart from flirting with sin.
For Further Study: Read 2 Samuel 11. What circumstances led to David's sin with Bathsheba? How did David attempt to cover his sin? How did David finally deal with his sin?
~John MacArthur~
Monday, October 1, 2012
God's Supreme Interest in Man # 6
The Pattern and the Purpose
This is Putting on the New Man
Colossians 3:8-11
Now we will go over the five points that compare the above verse: first, the retrospect to the Creator and the created, where it says, "...created in Him after the image of Him that created him." This is going back to the Creator and His creating. Next, there is the pattern and the purpose of the creating. Christ is the Pattern, the Purpose; and man is the created who is to be "renewed after the image of Him." Then, thirdly, there is the real nature and meaning of the crisis in the life of the believer, which involves "ye have put off ... and put on." Then there is the occupation and energy of the Holy Spirit, where man is "being renewed after the image." And, finally, there is the exclusiveness and the inclusiveness of Christ, where "there cannot be ... but Christ ... ALL, and in ALL."
We have dwelt for some time upon the first of those things mentioned: the man and his Creator, the Creator and the created. We have spoken of the disintegration of the first man and the invasion of schism into human life resulting in the long history of human frustration. That on the one side, and on the other side is the intervention through the Incarnation of God in Christ to reintegrate and reunify human life, to redeem man from that state of schism and frustration. And all this is leading us to the final emphasis, which is really the focal point of all our consideration and concern at this time - the dominant idea in all is God's supreme interest in man. God is supremely concerned with this that is called man, human life, manhood, according to His Son Jesus Christ.
God is not concerned or interested or active in relation to mere things. We are concerned with things, and we are tremendously affected by things. What I mean is this, a lot of our time and energy is taken up with systems and with societies and with institutions and with organizations and forms. Even in our Christian life and worship, there are things - there is the outside. God is not so concerned as we are with all that. If we could just cut in there between these interests, we would be saved from so much. We are almost harassed by the things of Christianity, with the meetings and ministers and forms of worship, how things are done, for there are the thousand and one things which have been built up around Christianity. Now I say, we are concerned with and affected by the things of Christianity. But God is not: God goes right through all of this and looks inside of all this. He does not look on the "outside" as we do. He just goes right in, and what He is interested in, concerned with, and seeking for, is man himself - man, a human lie that satisfies His created thought. He is dealing with you and with me as people.
As we have said, sometimes He seems to be so concentrated as to single us out as though we were the only individuals in His universe. It seems as though the whole world is something that relates to us only. Do you understand that He isolates us by our experiences and shuts us up and imprisons us into spiritual history in order to deal with us? Yes, God is supremely concerned with man, men if you life - mankind. He is looking for men in order to make of mankind a man after the image of Him that created him, that is, Jesus Christ. The only possible reunification, reintegration of human life is Christ, is in Christ; and it will be - this is quite a simple statement and an obvious one, but one which we very much overlook - it will be just in the measure and degree in which Christ, the Man, the Heavenly Man, is in us that we shall be united with one another. We can put it the other way: in the measure in which Christ is not there in our relationships will be the measure of our schism and the measure of our frustration.
Now let us go on to the second of these points: The Pattern and the Purpose, "being renewed after the image of Him that created him". We have to focus our attention, our heart's attention upon the Him Who is the IMAGE, unto which we are to be renewed. So we find the Image introduced, inducted, presented, and He is officially from heaven and historically on earth, presented to us at His baptism, foreshadowing His Cross. "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." That marks a point at which He assumes His official position as the IMAGE unto which this renewing is to take place. He is presented, inducted, and introduced into the world before heaven. The heaven was opened, the Voice said before men and before hell, "Behold" - Thou art My Beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased."
God made Him the focal point of this universe and all creation. Here is the focal point: Which is the IMAGE introduced and presented, to Which humanity is to be conformed, to Which humanity is to be renewed or perish and pass out. Governing all is the presentation of the IMAGE. After the presentation or the induction, there came immediately the testing. It is spiritually important to recognize the sequence, the immediate sequence, presented, introduced, inducted, and then tested.
You know that there ought to be no break in those chapters three and four in the gospel by Luke. Jesus baptized, coming up out of the water, heaven opened, the Spirit descending, the Voice from heaven attesting. "Then was Jesus led" of That Spirit which had come upon Him, into the wilderness, to be tempted or tried by the devil, the other central figure in creation. After the identifying - "This is My Beloved Son" - the testing came.
And I want you to note again the inclusiveness of this testing, this time of temptation. It must have been in the mind of Christ something tremendously important to take account of. The fact that it is recorded in all the gospels, and referred to later in the New Testament, and the fact that Jesus was reticent about speaking of His own inner history. He alone could have told about this experience, for no one else was with Him. He was in the wilderness alone. He alone knew about this, but at some subsequent time He must have told it, so that Matthew and Luke could record it to be placed on record; and divulging one of the deepest experiences of His earthly history in this way must surely mean that it held a very great significance in the whole meaning of the Incarnation.
And that is the point I want you to notice and to take careful account of. This stands in a position of very great significance in the whole meaning of the Incarnation of the Son of God. It is so inclusive of everything. Every subsequent temptation that came to the Lord Jesus, and this temptation was not the only one. You remember, it says at the end of this, and "then the devil leaveth Him for a season." For a season! It is as though the devil said, I will be back again, it is not the end of this and how true it was. Every subsequent attack of the enemy would take on the very things that were included in this one along different lines, in different garb, but the same thing, again and again in principle.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 7)
This is Putting on the New Man
Colossians 3:8-11
Now we will go over the five points that compare the above verse: first, the retrospect to the Creator and the created, where it says, "...created in Him after the image of Him that created him." This is going back to the Creator and His creating. Next, there is the pattern and the purpose of the creating. Christ is the Pattern, the Purpose; and man is the created who is to be "renewed after the image of Him." Then, thirdly, there is the real nature and meaning of the crisis in the life of the believer, which involves "ye have put off ... and put on." Then there is the occupation and energy of the Holy Spirit, where man is "being renewed after the image." And, finally, there is the exclusiveness and the inclusiveness of Christ, where "there cannot be ... but Christ ... ALL, and in ALL."
We have dwelt for some time upon the first of those things mentioned: the man and his Creator, the Creator and the created. We have spoken of the disintegration of the first man and the invasion of schism into human life resulting in the long history of human frustration. That on the one side, and on the other side is the intervention through the Incarnation of God in Christ to reintegrate and reunify human life, to redeem man from that state of schism and frustration. And all this is leading us to the final emphasis, which is really the focal point of all our consideration and concern at this time - the dominant idea in all is God's supreme interest in man. God is supremely concerned with this that is called man, human life, manhood, according to His Son Jesus Christ.
God is not concerned or interested or active in relation to mere things. We are concerned with things, and we are tremendously affected by things. What I mean is this, a lot of our time and energy is taken up with systems and with societies and with institutions and with organizations and forms. Even in our Christian life and worship, there are things - there is the outside. God is not so concerned as we are with all that. If we could just cut in there between these interests, we would be saved from so much. We are almost harassed by the things of Christianity, with the meetings and ministers and forms of worship, how things are done, for there are the thousand and one things which have been built up around Christianity. Now I say, we are concerned with and affected by the things of Christianity. But God is not: God goes right through all of this and looks inside of all this. He does not look on the "outside" as we do. He just goes right in, and what He is interested in, concerned with, and seeking for, is man himself - man, a human lie that satisfies His created thought. He is dealing with you and with me as people.
As we have said, sometimes He seems to be so concentrated as to single us out as though we were the only individuals in His universe. It seems as though the whole world is something that relates to us only. Do you understand that He isolates us by our experiences and shuts us up and imprisons us into spiritual history in order to deal with us? Yes, God is supremely concerned with man, men if you life - mankind. He is looking for men in order to make of mankind a man after the image of Him that created him, that is, Jesus Christ. The only possible reunification, reintegration of human life is Christ, is in Christ; and it will be - this is quite a simple statement and an obvious one, but one which we very much overlook - it will be just in the measure and degree in which Christ, the Man, the Heavenly Man, is in us that we shall be united with one another. We can put it the other way: in the measure in which Christ is not there in our relationships will be the measure of our schism and the measure of our frustration.
Now let us go on to the second of these points: The Pattern and the Purpose, "being renewed after the image of Him that created him". We have to focus our attention, our heart's attention upon the Him Who is the IMAGE, unto which we are to be renewed. So we find the Image introduced, inducted, presented, and He is officially from heaven and historically on earth, presented to us at His baptism, foreshadowing His Cross. "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." That marks a point at which He assumes His official position as the IMAGE unto which this renewing is to take place. He is presented, inducted, and introduced into the world before heaven. The heaven was opened, the Voice said before men and before hell, "Behold" - Thou art My Beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased."
God made Him the focal point of this universe and all creation. Here is the focal point: Which is the IMAGE introduced and presented, to Which humanity is to be conformed, to Which humanity is to be renewed or perish and pass out. Governing all is the presentation of the IMAGE. After the presentation or the induction, there came immediately the testing. It is spiritually important to recognize the sequence, the immediate sequence, presented, introduced, inducted, and then tested.
You know that there ought to be no break in those chapters three and four in the gospel by Luke. Jesus baptized, coming up out of the water, heaven opened, the Spirit descending, the Voice from heaven attesting. "Then was Jesus led" of That Spirit which had come upon Him, into the wilderness, to be tempted or tried by the devil, the other central figure in creation. After the identifying - "This is My Beloved Son" - the testing came.
And I want you to note again the inclusiveness of this testing, this time of temptation. It must have been in the mind of Christ something tremendously important to take account of. The fact that it is recorded in all the gospels, and referred to later in the New Testament, and the fact that Jesus was reticent about speaking of His own inner history. He alone could have told about this experience, for no one else was with Him. He was in the wilderness alone. He alone knew about this, but at some subsequent time He must have told it, so that Matthew and Luke could record it to be placed on record; and divulging one of the deepest experiences of His earthly history in this way must surely mean that it held a very great significance in the whole meaning of the Incarnation.
And that is the point I want you to notice and to take careful account of. This stands in a position of very great significance in the whole meaning of the Incarnation of the Son of God. It is so inclusive of everything. Every subsequent temptation that came to the Lord Jesus, and this temptation was not the only one. You remember, it says at the end of this, and "then the devil leaveth Him for a season." For a season! It is as though the devil said, I will be back again, it is not the end of this and how true it was. Every subsequent attack of the enemy would take on the very things that were included in this one along different lines, in different garb, but the same thing, again and again in principle.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 7)
Our Great Salvation
"Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little" (Luke 7:47)
Did you ever make a decision that proved to be full of unforeseen consequences? Things can snowball until the final product is far beyond what we could ever have imagined. Sometimes this can be positive and sometimes negative. So it is with Jesus. To accept Him introduces us to unimaginable glories, while to reject Him dooms us to unthinkable misery.
When we first get saved, we have little idea of the scope and depth of our salvation. As we progress to Christian maturity, however, we begin to discover the astonishing power of the gospel. This discovery is facilitated by a genuine understanding of how totally lost we were before Jesus found us. Jesus said that he who is forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47).
The point is that, through the Cross, we have all been greatly forgiven, but few of us realize how much. If your unsaved heart were put under a divine microscope and you were allowed to fully view its desperate wickedness, you would have little trouble appreciating your great salvation. Any remedy that can present you blameless before the presence of His glory is a remedy that demands our entire life's devotion.
The Bible says that God made us alive together with Christ so "that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7). Apparently these riches are so unsearchable that it will take ages to properly display and understand them, but our gratitude can begin here and now.
Lord, through the Cross You have forgiven me of so much. Thank You for the divine remedy of the Cross that presents me blameless in Your presence. Amen
~Charles Stanley~
Did you ever make a decision that proved to be full of unforeseen consequences? Things can snowball until the final product is far beyond what we could ever have imagined. Sometimes this can be positive and sometimes negative. So it is with Jesus. To accept Him introduces us to unimaginable glories, while to reject Him dooms us to unthinkable misery.
When we first get saved, we have little idea of the scope and depth of our salvation. As we progress to Christian maturity, however, we begin to discover the astonishing power of the gospel. This discovery is facilitated by a genuine understanding of how totally lost we were before Jesus found us. Jesus said that he who is forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47).
The point is that, through the Cross, we have all been greatly forgiven, but few of us realize how much. If your unsaved heart were put under a divine microscope and you were allowed to fully view its desperate wickedness, you would have little trouble appreciating your great salvation. Any remedy that can present you blameless before the presence of His glory is a remedy that demands our entire life's devotion.
The Bible says that God made us alive together with Christ so "that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7). Apparently these riches are so unsearchable that it will take ages to properly display and understand them, but our gratitude can begin here and now.
Lord, through the Cross You have forgiven me of so much. Thank You for the divine remedy of the Cross that presents me blameless in Your presence. Amen
~Charles Stanley~
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