"Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom" (1 Kings 2:28)
Joab withstood the greatest test of his life, remaining absolutely loyal to David by not turning to follow after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. Yet toward the end of his life he turned to follow after the weak and cowardly Adonijah. Always remain alert to the fact that where one person has turned back is exactly where anyone may be tempted to turn back (see 1 Corinthians 10:11-13). You may have just victoriously gone through a great crisis, but now be alert about the things that may appear to be the least likely to tempt you. Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall.
We are apt to say, "It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world." Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect. They may not be forceful and dominant, but they are there. And if you are not careful to be forewarned, they will trip you. You have remained true to God under great and intense trials - now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be abnormally examining your inner self, looking forward with dread, but stay alert; keep your memory sharp before God. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.
"... kept by the power of God ..." - that is the only safety. (1 Peter 1:5).
~Oswald Chambers~
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
What It Means to be a Christian # 5
Well, all this is the setting of the Christian life; this is the background of a Christian. Is it not immense? We struggle for words in order to try to set it forth, it is so great. All I can hope to do is to leave an impression on you. I cannot explain, I cannot define, I cannot set it out, I cannot convey it; but all this, which is so poor an expression, surely, surely, should leave at least an impression upon us. We should at least grasp this - that a Christian is set in an eternal background. It is a wonderful thing to be converted and to become a Christian; it is blessed to be saved; but oh! our conception and experience of the Christian life is such a little thing compared with God's thought. We need to get the eternal dimensions of the significance of Jesus Christ as the setting of a Christian life.
Christianity does not begin when we accept Christ. By accepting Christ we are placed right back there in the eternity of God's thought concerning man. We are brought into something that has been from all eternity in the intention of God, and, as we shall see later, linked on with a realization unspeakably wonderful in the ages to come. To become a child of God, to be born again, however you may define or explain it, is to come right into something that is first of all not of time at all - it is of eternity - it is not just this little life here on earth; it is of Heaven, it is universal in its significance. It is a wonderful thing, beyond all our powers of grasping, to be a Christian. If we could only get some conception of the cost of our salvation, the cost of redemption, the cost of recovering the lost inheritance; the cost to God, the cost to God's Son - the awful depths of that Cross; if only we could get some idea of this, we should see that it is no little thing to be a Christian. It is something immense.
What I have said has not been outside the Word of God; I have been keeping closely to the Book. I have not turned you from passage to passage, but there is a vast amount of Scripture behind what I have said. All that I have given you, and more, is in the Word of God. And the important thing is that what I have said can be put to the test - it can be made true in experience, now, in this life. That is just the wonder of it: a truly born-from-above child of God knows within himself or herself, "This is true; this is why I have a being; now I have the explanation, and much more."
Now if this is true, if all that is the meaning of being in Christ - and I put the "if" by way of argument - what an immense challenge it is to be a Christian, and what a terrible thing it will be not to be in Christ. What an immense thing it will prove to be, not only in this life, but more, infinitely more, in the ages to come, to be in Christ!
If there is one reading these lines who is not yet in Christ, it is a challenge to you. You are not dealing merely with your father's or mother's beliefs or faith. You are not dealing with something that you call "Christianity," or with your own conception of a Christian, which may be all wrong, faulty, or at most, inadequate. You are dealing with a vast thing, an immense thing. May God help you, from this contemplation of the setting of the Christian life, to reach out, if you have never yet done so, to embrace God's gift. If we know what it is to be in Christ, let us make sure that we are set upon knowing all that the Christian life means, that we are not going to be content with a little Christian life, with anything less than God's fullness for us; and if we have a lot of experience and knowledge, let this all lead us to a new determination that we shall not stop sort anywhere of God's full and ultimate intention in apprehending us in His Son.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 6)
Christianity does not begin when we accept Christ. By accepting Christ we are placed right back there in the eternity of God's thought concerning man. We are brought into something that has been from all eternity in the intention of God, and, as we shall see later, linked on with a realization unspeakably wonderful in the ages to come. To become a child of God, to be born again, however you may define or explain it, is to come right into something that is first of all not of time at all - it is of eternity - it is not just this little life here on earth; it is of Heaven, it is universal in its significance. It is a wonderful thing, beyond all our powers of grasping, to be a Christian. If we could only get some conception of the cost of our salvation, the cost of redemption, the cost of recovering the lost inheritance; the cost to God, the cost to God's Son - the awful depths of that Cross; if only we could get some idea of this, we should see that it is no little thing to be a Christian. It is something immense.
What I have said has not been outside the Word of God; I have been keeping closely to the Book. I have not turned you from passage to passage, but there is a vast amount of Scripture behind what I have said. All that I have given you, and more, is in the Word of God. And the important thing is that what I have said can be put to the test - it can be made true in experience, now, in this life. That is just the wonder of it: a truly born-from-above child of God knows within himself or herself, "This is true; this is why I have a being; now I have the explanation, and much more."
Now if this is true, if all that is the meaning of being in Christ - and I put the "if" by way of argument - what an immense challenge it is to be a Christian, and what a terrible thing it will be not to be in Christ. What an immense thing it will prove to be, not only in this life, but more, infinitely more, in the ages to come, to be in Christ!
If there is one reading these lines who is not yet in Christ, it is a challenge to you. You are not dealing merely with your father's or mother's beliefs or faith. You are not dealing with something that you call "Christianity," or with your own conception of a Christian, which may be all wrong, faulty, or at most, inadequate. You are dealing with a vast thing, an immense thing. May God help you, from this contemplation of the setting of the Christian life, to reach out, if you have never yet done so, to embrace God's gift. If we know what it is to be in Christ, let us make sure that we are set upon knowing all that the Christian life means, that we are not going to be content with a little Christian life, with anything less than God's fullness for us; and if we have a lot of experience and knowledge, let this all lead us to a new determination that we shall not stop sort anywhere of God's full and ultimate intention in apprehending us in His Son.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 6)
A Job Experience # 7
"Thus Job Did Continually"
So Job is one of the first of God's people to be involved in the unseen, spiritual warfare that has continued throughout the ages; and we have seen that Job was praying when this battle began. We believe it was Job's prayers that caused satan to turn his attention to Job at this time; for satan fears and hates the results of the effectual prayer of a righteous man, because satan sees his end in the results of prayers that are prayed with God's End in view (James 5:16). So, satan immediately sets out to stop, or hinder, such prayers.
However, satan did not set the appointed time for this warfare in which Job's spirit, soul, and body are the battleground. No! The battle took place in the sovereign timing of the Lord, for God "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Beloved, we need to come to a place in the Lord where we realize that God is never surprised. He is never taken off guard by anything. He knows all things past, present, and future, for He is the Lord. He is the Eternal One, and no matter what satan [the adversary, the opposer, the withstander of God's purpose in Christ] does in his attempt to stop it. God's purpose continues on exactly as He determined "in the beginning" (John 1:1-3; Eph. 1:1-14).
So Job is praying and although it is unknown to him at the time, as he is praying, Job enters the battle of the ages; and the unseen warfare intensifies! Job is praying, he is continually worshiping and praying, because he is concerned for his children. Do we find him praying for his children's health? Do we find him praying for their safety and protection? Do we find him praying for their prosperity? Do we find him bemoaning his own state or wanting out from under the pressure that every parent suffers when their children worry or trouble them? No, we do not find him praying this way. Now, we are not saying it is wrong to pray in some of these ways, for we need to cast all our care upon the Lord; but what we are saying is that Job had his priorities right, and when he prayed for his children, he prayed prayers that had God's End in view.
Consequently, we find Job concerned, first of all, for God's satisfaction; and more than anything else, this caused him to be concerned about his children's heart relationship with God: for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned (missed the mark that God has set before them) and cursed (renounced) God in their hearts." We know that Job was more concerned about God's satisfaction, about God's desires, than he was about anything else, because he offered "burnt offerings"; and the burnt offering which is symbolic of the Perfections of Christ, was offered wholly for God's satisfaction. The burnt offering typified Christ offering Himself without spot to God. It was a voluntary offering - Christ laid down His Life voluntarily and devotedly - He cried: "I delight to do Thy will, O My God" (Psalm 40:7, 8; Hebrews 10:5-10). The entire sacrifice was burnt upon the altar, which means the entire sacrifice was wholly and completely for God, such was the devotion of Christ's heart.
Before the burnt offering was sacrificed upon the altar, the worshiper laid his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and this symbolizes the completeness of our atonement; for there was a double transfer: the unworthiness of the offerer was transferred to the offering (Christ) and the acceptableness of the offering (Christ) was transferred to the offerer. "...wherein (in His grace) He hath made us accepted in the Beloved (Lev. 1; Eph. 1:6). "And the priest shall burn all upon the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor, a sweet and satisfying odor, unto the Lord" (Lev. 1:9). And in Ephesians 5:2, we find in Christ the reality of that which is symbolized by the burnt offering: "...Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for the sweet-smelling savor."
Thus Job the servant, the bondslave of the Lord, offered burnt offerings on behalf of his children. He prayed and stood in the worthiness of Christ, and even though disaster struck and his children lost their lives on this earth, they were not lost to God - because of Job's stand in Christ, they were "accepted in the Beloved." It was Christ's worthiness that caused both Job and his family to be "accepted in the Beloved"; and because of Christ's worthiness, we can take the same stand, and have the same assurance, that our loved ones are "accepted in the Beloved." Nevertheless, the loss of one's children is one of the hardest things that anyone must endure; and Job had to endure this pain fr the rest of his life on earth. But let us remember this, God knows the end as well as the beginning and Job has now been with his children, all of his children, and he has been with the family of God, for over 4,000 years according to our time; and according to God's purpose in Christ, he will be with them for eternity.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 8)
So Job is one of the first of God's people to be involved in the unseen, spiritual warfare that has continued throughout the ages; and we have seen that Job was praying when this battle began. We believe it was Job's prayers that caused satan to turn his attention to Job at this time; for satan fears and hates the results of the effectual prayer of a righteous man, because satan sees his end in the results of prayers that are prayed with God's End in view (James 5:16). So, satan immediately sets out to stop, or hinder, such prayers.
However, satan did not set the appointed time for this warfare in which Job's spirit, soul, and body are the battleground. No! The battle took place in the sovereign timing of the Lord, for God "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Beloved, we need to come to a place in the Lord where we realize that God is never surprised. He is never taken off guard by anything. He knows all things past, present, and future, for He is the Lord. He is the Eternal One, and no matter what satan [the adversary, the opposer, the withstander of God's purpose in Christ] does in his attempt to stop it. God's purpose continues on exactly as He determined "in the beginning" (John 1:1-3; Eph. 1:1-14).
So Job is praying and although it is unknown to him at the time, as he is praying, Job enters the battle of the ages; and the unseen warfare intensifies! Job is praying, he is continually worshiping and praying, because he is concerned for his children. Do we find him praying for his children's health? Do we find him praying for their safety and protection? Do we find him praying for their prosperity? Do we find him bemoaning his own state or wanting out from under the pressure that every parent suffers when their children worry or trouble them? No, we do not find him praying this way. Now, we are not saying it is wrong to pray in some of these ways, for we need to cast all our care upon the Lord; but what we are saying is that Job had his priorities right, and when he prayed for his children, he prayed prayers that had God's End in view.
Consequently, we find Job concerned, first of all, for God's satisfaction; and more than anything else, this caused him to be concerned about his children's heart relationship with God: for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned (missed the mark that God has set before them) and cursed (renounced) God in their hearts." We know that Job was more concerned about God's satisfaction, about God's desires, than he was about anything else, because he offered "burnt offerings"; and the burnt offering which is symbolic of the Perfections of Christ, was offered wholly for God's satisfaction. The burnt offering typified Christ offering Himself without spot to God. It was a voluntary offering - Christ laid down His Life voluntarily and devotedly - He cried: "I delight to do Thy will, O My God" (Psalm 40:7, 8; Hebrews 10:5-10). The entire sacrifice was burnt upon the altar, which means the entire sacrifice was wholly and completely for God, such was the devotion of Christ's heart.
Before the burnt offering was sacrificed upon the altar, the worshiper laid his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and this symbolizes the completeness of our atonement; for there was a double transfer: the unworthiness of the offerer was transferred to the offering (Christ) and the acceptableness of the offering (Christ) was transferred to the offerer. "...wherein (in His grace) He hath made us accepted in the Beloved (Lev. 1; Eph. 1:6). "And the priest shall burn all upon the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor, a sweet and satisfying odor, unto the Lord" (Lev. 1:9). And in Ephesians 5:2, we find in Christ the reality of that which is symbolized by the burnt offering: "...Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for the sweet-smelling savor."
Thus Job the servant, the bondslave of the Lord, offered burnt offerings on behalf of his children. He prayed and stood in the worthiness of Christ, and even though disaster struck and his children lost their lives on this earth, they were not lost to God - because of Job's stand in Christ, they were "accepted in the Beloved." It was Christ's worthiness that caused both Job and his family to be "accepted in the Beloved"; and because of Christ's worthiness, we can take the same stand, and have the same assurance, that our loved ones are "accepted in the Beloved." Nevertheless, the loss of one's children is one of the hardest things that anyone must endure; and Job had to endure this pain fr the rest of his life on earth. But let us remember this, God knows the end as well as the beginning and Job has now been with his children, all of his children, and he has been with the family of God, for over 4,000 years according to our time; and according to God's purpose in Christ, he will be with them for eternity.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 8)
Our Richest Treasure: Inner Knowledge of God
"...Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: ... Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land ..." (Deuteronomy 1:6-8)
Large numbers of supposedly sound Christian believers know nothing at all about personal communion with God; and there lies one of the greatest weaknesses of present-day Christianity!
The experiential knowledge of God is eternal life (John 17:3), and increased knowledge results in a correspondingly larger and fuller life. So rich a treasure is this inward knowledge of God that every other treasure is as nothing compared with it!
We may count all things of no value and sacrifice them freely if we may thereby gain a more perfect knowledge of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This was Paul's testimony (Phil. 3;7-14) and it has been the testimony of all great Christian souls who have followed Christ from Paul's day to ours.
To know God it is necessary that we be like God to some degree, for things wholly dissimilar cannot agree and beings wholly unlike can never have communion with each other. It is necessary therefore that we use every means of grace to bring our souls into harmony with the character of God.
As we move farther up into the knowledge of Christ we open new areas of our beings to attack, but what f it? Remember that spiritual complacency is more deadly than anything the devil can bring against us in our upward struggle. If we sit still to escape temptation, then we are being tempted worse than before and gaining nothing by it.
~A. W. Tozer~
Large numbers of supposedly sound Christian believers know nothing at all about personal communion with God; and there lies one of the greatest weaknesses of present-day Christianity!
The experiential knowledge of God is eternal life (John 17:3), and increased knowledge results in a correspondingly larger and fuller life. So rich a treasure is this inward knowledge of God that every other treasure is as nothing compared with it!
We may count all things of no value and sacrifice them freely if we may thereby gain a more perfect knowledge of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This was Paul's testimony (Phil. 3;7-14) and it has been the testimony of all great Christian souls who have followed Christ from Paul's day to ours.
To know God it is necessary that we be like God to some degree, for things wholly dissimilar cannot agree and beings wholly unlike can never have communion with each other. It is necessary therefore that we use every means of grace to bring our souls into harmony with the character of God.
As we move farther up into the knowledge of Christ we open new areas of our beings to attack, but what f it? Remember that spiritual complacency is more deadly than anything the devil can bring against us in our upward struggle. If we sit still to escape temptation, then we are being tempted worse than before and gaining nothing by it.
~A. W. Tozer~
Monday, October 22, 2012
What It Means to Be a Christian # 4
The Incarnation of the Lord Jesus
We come now to the next phase of things - the incarnation of our Lord Jesus: for it is just at that point - the incarnation - that all that was appointed for Him, all the Divine design and conception of God's Son in this universe, all the creative activity through Him and by Him and unto Him, and all the meaning of man's creation, as we have been trying to show, is taken up in a definite way for realization.
This incarnation, the coming of the Lord Jesus into this world, is a far, far greater thing than any of us has yet appreciated. The Word of God makes a great deal of this coming into the world. You know that, at a certain season of the year, we are talking all the time about the birth of Jesus - about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. There is much about that in our carols and in our talk. It is all about the birth of Jesus. But the Word of God, while it uses that phrase, "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem ..." says far, far more than that about His coming. That was not the beginning of Jesus: that was the "coming" of Jesus. He definitely and deliberately and consciously, in that full form of His eternal existence with God, made a decision about this matter, a deliberate decision to come. Coming in baby form had its own particular meaning - we cannot now stay with all the details of this - but it was a coming.
And what the Word of God says first of all about that coming is that it was a mighty, mighty renunciation on His part. Listen again. "Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross' (Phil. 2:6-8). And there is a clear implication in that sentence in His great prayer: "Father, glorify Thou Me ... with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:5). He has let it go. He has given it up. That was the mighty renunciation by God's Son of His heavenly, eternal glory, of His position of equality - down to what? Servanthood. The word is "bond-servant": a bond-slave, the form of a bond-slave. You and I cannot grasp all that, because we cannot grasp what it meant for Him to be equal with God. We cannot understand all that He was and had in the eternity past. We know so little about that; we understand less. But here it is: it has all been renounced, and He is now here in incarnation, not as a master, but as a bond-slave. "The Son of man," said He, "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Matthew 20:28). "I am in the midst of you as He that serveth" (Luke 22:27). "He took a towel, and girded Himself. Then He poured water into the bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet" (John 13:4-50. That was the job of the slave, the bond-slave.
The next part of the statement as to this cycle from glory to glory is - "being found in fashion as a man." This just relates to the central feature and inclusive meaning of the Incarnation: i.e., to all that is meant by the fact that everything was by Man - as man - for man. There were many theophanies in Old Testament times (theos = God; phaino = to show), manifestations of God to man by actual appearances (some believe that these were the Second Person of the Trinity, but that need not be discussed here). But the Incarnation is something different, and its essential point is that the great work of redemption was not committed to angels, but, as the hymn goes:
We come now to the next phase of things - the incarnation of our Lord Jesus: for it is just at that point - the incarnation - that all that was appointed for Him, all the Divine design and conception of God's Son in this universe, all the creative activity through Him and by Him and unto Him, and all the meaning of man's creation, as we have been trying to show, is taken up in a definite way for realization.
This incarnation, the coming of the Lord Jesus into this world, is a far, far greater thing than any of us has yet appreciated. The Word of God makes a great deal of this coming into the world. You know that, at a certain season of the year, we are talking all the time about the birth of Jesus - about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. There is much about that in our carols and in our talk. It is all about the birth of Jesus. But the Word of God, while it uses that phrase, "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem ..." says far, far more than that about His coming. That was not the beginning of Jesus: that was the "coming" of Jesus. He definitely and deliberately and consciously, in that full form of His eternal existence with God, made a decision about this matter, a deliberate decision to come. Coming in baby form had its own particular meaning - we cannot now stay with all the details of this - but it was a coming.
And what the Word of God says first of all about that coming is that it was a mighty, mighty renunciation on His part. Listen again. "Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross' (Phil. 2:6-8). And there is a clear implication in that sentence in His great prayer: "Father, glorify Thou Me ... with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17:5). He has let it go. He has given it up. That was the mighty renunciation by God's Son of His heavenly, eternal glory, of His position of equality - down to what? Servanthood. The word is "bond-servant": a bond-slave, the form of a bond-slave. You and I cannot grasp all that, because we cannot grasp what it meant for Him to be equal with God. We cannot understand all that He was and had in the eternity past. We know so little about that; we understand less. But here it is: it has all been renounced, and He is now here in incarnation, not as a master, but as a bond-slave. "The Son of man," said He, "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Matthew 20:28). "I am in the midst of you as He that serveth" (Luke 22:27). "He took a towel, and girded Himself. Then He poured water into the bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet" (John 13:4-50. That was the job of the slave, the bond-slave.
The next part of the statement as to this cycle from glory to glory is - "being found in fashion as a man." This just relates to the central feature and inclusive meaning of the Incarnation: i.e., to all that is meant by the fact that everything was by Man - as man - for man. There were many theophanies in Old Testament times (theos = God; phaino = to show), manifestations of God to man by actual appearances (some believe that these were the Second Person of the Trinity, but that need not be discussed here). But the Incarnation is something different, and its essential point is that the great work of redemption was not committed to angels, but, as the hymn goes:
"O generous love! that He who smote
In man for man the foe,
The double agony in man
For man should undergo."
It was Man for man assuming responsibility for this state of things, and for the recovery of what was lost and the reinstating of what had been forfeited, the redeeming of man and creation. For that He became incarnate, and then straight to the Cross. He had no illusions about that - He had come for that. One of His great imperatives was always related to the Cross. "The Son of man must be delivered up ... and be crucified" (Luke 24:7). That imperative was in His heart as overruling and overriding everything else. He knew it, and that is why He repudiated and rejected the cheap offer of the kingdoms of this world at the hands of the devil: because He had come, not to have them as they were, but to have them as God ever intended them to be, and that could only be by the Cross.
So the Cross was the great repudiation of the world as it was and is, the great repudiation of man as he had become, whom God could not accept, in whose heart was found this pride. For, representatively, in the judgment and death of Jesus Christ God was saying concerning the whole race, "I have finished with that," and turning His face away. The heart of the Son was broken as He cried, "Thou hast forsaken Me!" Why? Because He was there as man's representative, the world's representative as it was, and He had to die as it. He "tasted death for every man," which meant experiencing God-forsakenness, repudiation, and the closed door of Heaven, God's eternal "No" to that fallen creation. By that means He redeemed man, He redeemed the creation, and in His resurrection-ascension to the right hand of God He reinstated man, representatively, in the place that God ever intended man to have. This is not all isolated action on the part of Jesus Christ. This is related all the time. He is the inclusive One, and what happens to Him is what God means to happen to man. Until man is in Christ he is repudiated by God. There is no way though. "No one cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). But in Christ the inheritance which was lost is recovered. In Christ, personally at God's right hand as His representative, man is reinstated. Christ is there as the earnest of what we shall be and where we shall be, by the grace of God. But, mark you, the Christ risen is not now the Christ made sin in our place, but with sin put away, and a new creation instated, though still man.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
A Job Experience # 6
Brethren, as we search into these scriptures about the unseen realm, there are many things that are difficult to understand. We can understand the angels of God coming before Him, but what is satan doing there? - satan whose very name means: the adversary of God and of God's Purpose in Christ! - the opposer of God and of God's Purpose in Christ! - the withstander of God and of God's Purpose in Christ! - the withstander of God and of God's Purpose in Christ! What is satan, the source of all evil, doing there?
Now we know that satan does not have free access into the Sovereign Presence of God, because satan is not, nor ever shall be, covered with the Blood of the Lamb. Job had access into God's Presence (Romans 5:2; Eph. 2:18; 3:12); Job could come boldly to the Throne of Grace because the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:18-20). All who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb have free access unto God; they can come boldly unto the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16); and Job lived in the good of the Blood of the Lamb, and he could pray and cry and say with assurance: "I know that my Redeemer liveth ..." (Job 19:25). Oh, beloved, because of the Blood of the Lamb, we have access! We have access! We can come boldly to the Throne of Grace!
But satan did not, nor ever will have, free access into the Presence of God. No! satan did not dare, nor will he ever dare, to come boldly into the Sovereign Presence of God. In God's Plan, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world, before anything was created, before there ever was a satan; therefore, from the beginning, satan has been a defeated foe because of the Blood of the Lamb.
So what does the Word of God mean when it says that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and satan also came among them? There can be only one answer - satan is there because he has been Sovereignly summoned by the Almighty God, and satan must, however unwillingly, subject himself and give account of himself to God.
The Lord's Own Words point this out when He says: "Whence comest thou?" Our All-Knowing God knew where and what satan had been doing; but now satan must give an account of himself before God. The fact that satan cannot tempt or test or touch Job, or his family, without permission declares satan's absolute subjection unto God.
We must always remember that God is never the source of evil; and if the Lord allows evil to afflict us, He will also cause it to ultimately bring forth that which He Purposed in Christ - God will cause it to bring forth that which is a measure of the Fullness of Christ; and every time there is an increase of the Fullness of Christ, satan again suffers a resounding defeat.
The Battle Begins
So the battle begins, and the Lord takes the offensive and puts satan on the defensive by asking him two questions which he must answer; and these two questions are designed by God to reveal the evil depths, intents, and character of the satanic being. Remember, God knows that in His appointed timing this great spiritual conflict will be recorded in His Word; and the Lord is allowing this unseen realm to be revealed so that His people may be prepared and equipped and instructed for the unseen, spiritual warfare which takes place, throughout the ages, until all things are consummated in Christ.
Therefore, when the Lord said to satan, "Whence comest thou?" He was commanding satan to give an account of himself and of his evil doings. And because satan had no choice, he answered: "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7).
In 1 Peter 5;8 we find a graphic explanation of what it means when satan, the adversary, is going to and fro ... walking up and down ... in the earth. Listen as Peter, who well knew what it meant to be a target of satan, listen as he issues a solemn warning: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour [seeking someone to seize upon and devour]. And what is satan's evil intent, what is satan, the adversary, the devil seeking to devour?? - he is out to devour that which God purposed in the life of His people! satan is out to stop an increase of Christ's fullness!
The Lord knows satan's evil intent; hence, He asks him: "Hast thou considered My servant Job? ..." (Job 1:8). The Hebrew Interlinear gives us the most accurate account of this scripture: "And Jehovah said to satan, 'Have you set your heart on My servant Job? ...'" And in the next few verses satan makes it clear that he has set his iniquitous heart upon Job; consequently, we see what motivates satan's evil heart, for the adversary of God is always seeking out those whose life is an expression of the Fullness of Christ - satan is always considering ways, setting his evil heart upon ways, of devouring the faithful in Christ. Job is one of the first upon whom satan "set his heart"; and throughout the ages, satan, the devourer, has continued his furious assault against God's own until, in the Book of Revelation, we find him turning all his devouring rage against the Church, which is the Body of Christ.
In Revelation, five times the Holy Spirit warns the churches of every age, of this evil adversary. Five times satan is singled out as the one who would stop the churches from becoming the Fullness of Christ. And before we go on, we must always remember that Revelation 12:9-12 tells us that the old serpent, called the devil and satan, is overcome because of the Blood of the Lamb. And in this group of scriptures, we are again shown God's Absolute Sovereignty over satan because Revelation 12:12 declares that satan knows he only has a short time; and this means satan only has a short time because God has sovereignty placed a limit upon the time that satan can do his evil.
~. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 7 - "Thus Job Did Continually")
Now we know that satan does not have free access into the Sovereign Presence of God, because satan is not, nor ever shall be, covered with the Blood of the Lamb. Job had access into God's Presence (Romans 5:2; Eph. 2:18; 3:12); Job could come boldly to the Throne of Grace because the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:18-20). All who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb have free access unto God; they can come boldly unto the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16); and Job lived in the good of the Blood of the Lamb, and he could pray and cry and say with assurance: "I know that my Redeemer liveth ..." (Job 19:25). Oh, beloved, because of the Blood of the Lamb, we have access! We have access! We can come boldly to the Throne of Grace!
But satan did not, nor ever will have, free access into the Presence of God. No! satan did not dare, nor will he ever dare, to come boldly into the Sovereign Presence of God. In God's Plan, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world, before anything was created, before there ever was a satan; therefore, from the beginning, satan has been a defeated foe because of the Blood of the Lamb.
So what does the Word of God mean when it says that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and satan also came among them? There can be only one answer - satan is there because he has been Sovereignly summoned by the Almighty God, and satan must, however unwillingly, subject himself and give account of himself to God.
The Lord's Own Words point this out when He says: "Whence comest thou?" Our All-Knowing God knew where and what satan had been doing; but now satan must give an account of himself before God. The fact that satan cannot tempt or test or touch Job, or his family, without permission declares satan's absolute subjection unto God.
We must always remember that God is never the source of evil; and if the Lord allows evil to afflict us, He will also cause it to ultimately bring forth that which He Purposed in Christ - God will cause it to bring forth that which is a measure of the Fullness of Christ; and every time there is an increase of the Fullness of Christ, satan again suffers a resounding defeat.
The Battle Begins
So the battle begins, and the Lord takes the offensive and puts satan on the defensive by asking him two questions which he must answer; and these two questions are designed by God to reveal the evil depths, intents, and character of the satanic being. Remember, God knows that in His appointed timing this great spiritual conflict will be recorded in His Word; and the Lord is allowing this unseen realm to be revealed so that His people may be prepared and equipped and instructed for the unseen, spiritual warfare which takes place, throughout the ages, until all things are consummated in Christ.
Therefore, when the Lord said to satan, "Whence comest thou?" He was commanding satan to give an account of himself and of his evil doings. And because satan had no choice, he answered: "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7).
In 1 Peter 5;8 we find a graphic explanation of what it means when satan, the adversary, is going to and fro ... walking up and down ... in the earth. Listen as Peter, who well knew what it meant to be a target of satan, listen as he issues a solemn warning: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour [seeking someone to seize upon and devour]. And what is satan's evil intent, what is satan, the adversary, the devil seeking to devour?? - he is out to devour that which God purposed in the life of His people! satan is out to stop an increase of Christ's fullness!
The Lord knows satan's evil intent; hence, He asks him: "Hast thou considered My servant Job? ..." (Job 1:8). The Hebrew Interlinear gives us the most accurate account of this scripture: "And Jehovah said to satan, 'Have you set your heart on My servant Job? ...'" And in the next few verses satan makes it clear that he has set his iniquitous heart upon Job; consequently, we see what motivates satan's evil heart, for the adversary of God is always seeking out those whose life is an expression of the Fullness of Christ - satan is always considering ways, setting his evil heart upon ways, of devouring the faithful in Christ. Job is one of the first upon whom satan "set his heart"; and throughout the ages, satan, the devourer, has continued his furious assault against God's own until, in the Book of Revelation, we find him turning all his devouring rage against the Church, which is the Body of Christ.
In Revelation, five times the Holy Spirit warns the churches of every age, of this evil adversary. Five times satan is singled out as the one who would stop the churches from becoming the Fullness of Christ. And before we go on, we must always remember that Revelation 12:9-12 tells us that the old serpent, called the devil and satan, is overcome because of the Blood of the Lamb. And in this group of scriptures, we are again shown God's Absolute Sovereignty over satan because Revelation 12:12 declares that satan knows he only has a short time; and this means satan only has a short time because God has sovereignty placed a limit upon the time that satan can do his evil.
~. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 7 - "Thus Job Did Continually")
Admitting Need
Exodus 17
A prayer to be said
When the world has gotten you down,
And you feel rotten,
And you're too doggone tired to pray,
And you're in a big hurry,
And besides, you're mad at everybody ...
Asking for help is smart. So why don't we? We want to know why? Pride. Which is nothing more than stubborn unwillingness to admit need. The result? Impatience. Irritation. Anger. Longer hours. Less and less laughter. No vacations. Inflexibility. Longer and longer gaps between meaningful times in God's Word. Precious few (if any) moments in prayer and prolonged meditation.
My friend, it's time to declare it: No way can you keep going at this pace and stay effective year after year! Give yourself a break! Stop trying to cover all the bases! Relax!
Once you've put it into neutral, crack open your Bible to Exodus 18:18-27, the account of a visit Jethro made to his son-in-law Moses. Jethro wasn't impressed as he watched Moses dash from one person to another, one need to another. "What is this thing that you are doing for the people?" he asked. Moses was somewhat defensive (most too-busy people are) as he attempted to justify his schedule. Jethro didn't buy it. He advised Moses against trying to do everything alone and reproved him with strong words: "The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out" (vv. 17-18).
In other words, he told Moses: CALL FOR HELP.
The benefits of shifting and sharing the load? Read verses 22-23: "It will be easier for you ... You will be able to endure," Isn't that interesting? We seem to think it's better to have that tired-blood, overworked-underpaid, I've really-got-it-rough look. Among Christians, it's what I call the martyr complex that announces, "I'm working so hard for Jesus!"
The truth of the matter is, that hurried, harried appearance usually means, "I'm too stubborn to slow down" or "I'm too insecure to say no" or "I'm too proud to ask for help." Since when is a bleeding ulcer a sign of spirituality ... or a seventy-hour week a mark of efficiency?
The world beginning to get you down? Too tired to pray? Ticked off at a lot of folks? Let me suggest one of the few four-letter words God loves to hear us use: HELP!
Efficiency is enhanced not by what we accomplish but what we relinquish.
~Charles Swindoll~
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