Glorify God.

The following is VERY lengthy, a lot to take in should you decide to take the time and read all of it. I do have to say I feel as if though I've been greatly blessed by what I've read. By the will, and by the grace of God, I will study this even more deeply, letting the truth and only the truth remain in me so that I may accept Christ in me fully, letting Him in me glorify God in the only way it is truly possible.

 

Christ died so I may glorify God the Father. Christ gave up the divinity in the form He held it- God with God- before He became the only begotten Son in human flesh- and He gave it up eternally never to reclaim that state again but forever more retain flesh immortal, incorruptible changed flesh. Christ gave up all that- for me, so I may be able to glorify God, through Him, through His sacrifice.

 

Such blessing, beyond comprehension.

 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, thank you.

 

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 

 

Psa 22:23  Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. 

 

Joh_17:5  And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

 

1Co_6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

 

1Pe_4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

 

Rev_15:4  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

 

(Excerpt)

 

In John 17:4 the first clause of the verse is the words of Christ in that prayer for us all: "I have glorified thee on the earth." In the previous lesson we were brought to consider the purpose of God concerning man, even His eternal purpose and that that purpose is fulfilled before the whole universe in Jesus Christ in human flesh. The purpose of man's existence is to glorify God, and this has been shown before the universe in Jesus Christ, for God's eternal purpose concerning man was purposed in Christ and carried out in Christ for every man, since man sinned, and He says, "I have glorified thee on the earth." This shows that the purpose of God in man's creation is that man shall glorify Him. And what we shall study this evening is how we should glorify God, how God is glorified in man, and what it is to glorify God.

When we study Christ and see what He did and what God did in Him, we shall know what it is to glorify God.  And in Him we find what is the purpose of our creation, what is the purpose of our existence, and in fact, what is the purpose of the creation and the existence of every intelligent creature in the universe.

We have seen in preceding lessons that God alone was manifested in Christ in the world. Christ Himself was not manifested; He was kept back. He was emptied and became ourselves on the human side and then God, and God alone, was manifested in Him. Then what is it to glorify God? It is to be in the place where God and God alone shall be manifested in the individual. And that is the purpose of the creation and the existence of every angel and of every man.

 

To glorify God it is necessary for each one to be in the condition and in the position in which none but God shall be manifested, because that was the position of Jesus Christ. Therefore He said, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself" (John 14:10). "I came....not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me" (John 6:38). "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). "I can of mine own self do nothing"  (John 5:30). "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father" (John 14:9)? "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in him" (John 7:18).

 

Therefore He said, "The words that I speak....I speak not of myself," because as in the other verse, he that speaks of himself, that is, from himself, seeks his own glory. But Christ was not seeking His own glory. He was seeking the glory of Him that sent Him; therefore He said, "The words that I speak....I speak not of myself." In so doing, He sought the glory of Him that sent Him, and there stands the record that "he is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him." He was so entirely emptied of Himself, so entirely was He from being manifested in any way, that no influence went forth from Him except the influence of the Father. This was so to such an extent that no man could come to Him except the Father drew that man to Him. That shows how completely He Himself was kept in the background, how completely He was emptied. It was done so thoroughly that no man could come to Him--that no man could feel any influence from Him or be drawn to Him, except from the Father Himself. The manifestation of the Father--that could draw any man to Christ.

That simply illustrates the one grand fact that we are studying just now--what it is to glorify God. It is to be so entirely emptied of self that nothing but God shall be manifested and no influence go forth from the individual but the influence of God--so emptied that everything, every word--all that is manifested--will be only of God and will tell only of the Father.

"I have glorified thee on the earth." When He was upon the earth, He was in our human, sinful flesh, and when He emptied Himself and kept Himself back, the Father so dwelt in Him and manifested Himself there, that all the works of the flesh were quenched, and the overshadowing glory of God, the character of God, the goodness of God, were manifested instead of anything of the human.

This is the same as we had in a previous lesson, that God manifest in the flesh, God manifest in sinful flesh, is the mystery of God--not God manifested in sinless flesh. That is to say, God will so dwell in our sinful flesh today that although that flesh be sinful, its sinfulness will not be felt or realized, nor cast any influence upon others,  that God will so dwell yet in sinful flesh that in spite of all the sinfulness of sinful flesh, his influence, his glory,  his righteousness, his character, shall be manifested wherever that person goes.

 

This was precisely the case with Jesus in the flesh. And so God has demonstrated to us all how we should glorify God. He has demonstrated to the universe how the universe is to glorify God--that is, that God and God alone shall be manifested in every intelligence in the universe. That was the intent of God from the beginning.  That was His purpose, His eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

We might read it now. We shall have occasion to refer to it afterward. We will read the text that tells it all in a word. Eph. 1:9, 10, "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself." What is that will which He hath purposed in Himself? He, being the eternal God,  purposing this purpose in Himself, it being His own purpose--it is the same that is spoken of in another place as His "eternal purpose." What is God's eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord? Here it is:  "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth."

 

Look that over now, and think that God "might gather together in one all things in Christ." Who is the "one" into whom God gathers all things in Christ? That "one" is God. Who was in Christ? "God was in Christ." Nobody was manifested there but God. God dwelt in Christ. Now in Christ He is gathering "together in one all things," "both which are in heaven and which are on earth." Therefore His purpose in the dispensation of the fullness of times is to gather together in Himself all things in Christ. Through Christ, by Christ, and in Christ, all things in heaven and earth are gathered together in the one God, so that God alone will be manifested throughout the whole universe, that when the dispensation of times is completed and God's eternal purpose stands before the universe completed, wherever you look, upon whomsoever you look, you will see God reflected. You will see the image of God reflected. And God will be "all in all." That is what we see in Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6:

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We look into the face of Jesus Christ. What do we see? We see God. We see the Father. We do not see Christ reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. He emptied Himself, that God might be reflected, that God might shine forth to man, who could not bear His presence in His human flesh. Jesus Christ took man's flesh, which as a veil so modified the bright beams of the glory of God that we might look and live. We cannot look upon the unveiled face of God, not as much as the children of Israel might look upon the face of Moses. Therefore Jesus gathers in Himself man's flesh and veils the bright, consuming glory of the Father, so that we, looking into His face, can see God reflected and can see and love Him as He is and thus have the life that is in Him.

This thought is noticed in 2 Cor. 3:18. I will merely touch the verse for the present. We will have occasion to refer to it again before we are through with the lesson. "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord"--where do we behold the glory of the Lord? "In the face of Jesus Christ." But He says we behold it as in a mirror. What is a mirror for? A mirror gives no light of its own. A mirror reflects the light that shines upon it. We all, with open face, behold in the face of Jesus Christ, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord; therefore, Christ is the one through whom the Father is reflected to the whole universe.

 

He alone could reflect the Father in His fullness, because His goings forth have been from the days of eternity,  and as it says in the eighth of Proverbs, "I was with him, as one brought up with him." He was one of God, equal with God and His nature is the nature of God. Therefore one grand necessity that He alone should come to the world and save man was because the Father wanted to manifest Himself fully to the sons of men, and none in the universe could manifest the Father in His fullness except the only begotten Son, who is in the image of the Father. No creature could do it, because He is not great enough. Only He whose goings forth have been from the days of eternity could do it; consequently, He came and God dwelt in Him. How much? "All the fullness of the Godhead bodily" is reflected in Him. And this is not only to men on the earth, but it is that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one --in Christ--all things which are in heaven and which are on earth. In Christ God is manifested to the angels and reflected to men in the world in a way in which they cannot see God otherwise.

 

So, then, we have so much as to what it means to glorify God and as to how it is done. It is to be so emptied of self that God alone shall be manifested in His righteousness, His character, which is His glory. In Christ is shown the Father's purpose concerning us. All that was done in Christ was to show what will be done in us, for He was ourselves. Therefore it is for us constantly to have before our minds the one great thought that we are to glorify God upon the earth.

 

In Him and by Him we find that divine mind which in Christ emptied His righteous self. By this divine mind, our unrighteousness is emptied, in order that God may be glorified in us and it may be true of us, "I have glorified thee on the earth."

 

Let us read those two verses in Corinthians now for our own sakes. A while ago we read them as from His side,  "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4:6.

 

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

 

Look at ourselves now. What, first, has God done? Shined into our hearts. What for? "To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

 

Don't you see, then, that God in Jesus Christ is manifesting, showing forth from the face of Christ His glory which, reflected in us, shines also to others? Therefore, "ye are the light of the world." We are the light of the world because the light of the glory of God, shining forth from Jesus Christ into our hearts, is reflected, shines forth, to others, that people seeing us, seeing our good works, may glorify God in the "day of visitation." "May glorify the Father, which is in heaven."

 

Mat_5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid

 

1Pe_2:12  Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

 

Study the process.

 

There is the Father, dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, of such transcendent glory, of such all-consuming brightness of holiness, that no man could look upon Him and live. But the Father wants us to look upon Him and live. Therefore the only begotten of the Father yielded Himself freely as the gift and became ourselves in human flesh that the Father in Him might so veil His consuming glory and the rays of His brightness, that we might look and live. And when we look there and live, that bright, shining glory from the face of Jesus Christ shines into our hearts and is reflected to the world.

 

Now the last verse of the third chapter again, "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image."

 

2Co_3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

The image of whom? The image of Jesus Christ. We are "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Jesus Christ reflected the image of God;  we, changed into the same image, shall reflect the image of God.

 

The German gives another reading, more emphatic, even, than ours here. I will read it in English. "But now is reflected in us all the glory of the Lord." Do you see it? "But now in us all is reflected the glory of the Lord." The idea in our English version and this idea in the German are both correct. We see in the face of Christ the glory and are changed into the same image from glory to glory and then there is also reflected in us the glory of the Lord.

 

Now I will read the rest of the verse of the German. "But now is reflected in us all the glory of the Lord with uncovered face and we are glorified in the same image from one glory to another as from the Lord, who the Spirit is." The Lord who is the Spirit; the previous verse said the Lord is that Spirit.

 

So you see that the whole sense is that God shall be glorified in us, that we shall be glorified by that glory, and that this may be reflected to all men everywhere in order that they may believe and glorify God.

 

Look now again at the seventeenth of John. He tells the same story there, in John 17:22. I will read again the fourth and fifth verses:

 

I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father,  glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

 

Now the twenty-second verse: "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them."

 

He has given it to us.  Therefore it belongs to us. This glory belongs to the believer in Jesus.

 

And when we yield ourselves to Him, He gives us that divine mind that empties ourselves and then God in Jesus Christ shines into our hearts from which is reflected His own glory, His own divine image.

 

And this will be so perfectly accomplished that when He comes in every believer upon whom He looks He will see Himself. "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." He sees Himself reflected in His people, so that all reflect the image and glory of God.

 

Let us use natural things that we may, if possible, see this a little clearer. There is the sun shining in the heavens.  You and I would like to look upon the sun and see Him as He is. But even a glance so dazzles our eyes that it takes a moment for them to recover their natural strength. Thus we cannot look upon the sun to behold the glories that are there. The sun has glories and beauties as He shines forth in the heavens. Now if you take a prism--a three-sided, three edged piece of glass--and hold it to the sun that the rays of the sun may shine through it, you see reflected on the wall, upon the ground, or wherever it may be that the reflection falls--in such reflection you see the sun as he is in himself. But what do you see? What is it called? A rainbow. And what is more beautiful than a rainbow? You cannot have a more wonderful blending of colors than are in the rainbow.  but that rainbow is simply the sun, with his glory so distributed that we can look upon it and see how beautiful he is. We look yonder. All this glory is there, but we cannot see it there. We cannot see it in the face of the sun.  The sun is too bright. Our eyes are not accustomed to the light. We cannot take it in. Therefore the prism takes that glory and causes it to shine forth in such rays that we can look upon it. And this enables us to see the sun as we could not otherwise. Yet when we look upon the rainbow, we are only looking at the sun. Looking at the rainbow, we see simply the glory that there is in the sun as he shines in the heavens. Looking though into the open face of the sun we cannot see him as he is. But looking at the reflection we see the glory of the sun in a way that it delights us to look upon it.

 

Now God is ever so much brighter than the sun. If the sun dazzles our eyes by a mere glance, what would the transcendent glory of the Lord do upon our mortal, sinful eyes? It would consume us. Therefore we cannot look upon Him as He is in His unveiled, unmodified glory. Our nature is not such as to bear it. But He wants us to see His glory. He wants the whole universe to see His glory. Therefore Jesus Christ puts Himself here between the Father and us and the Father causes all His glory to be manifest in Him, and as it shines forth from His face, the glory is so distributed, so modified, that we can look upon it, and it is made so beautiful that we delight in it.  Thus we are enabled to see God as He is. In Jesus Christ we see nothing that is not of God in the full brightness of His unveiled glory.

 

Now the sun shines in the natural heavens day by day and all these glories He makes known to the sons of men and places before the children of men. All that the sun needs in order to keep his glories ever before us in that beautiful way is a prism--a medium through which to shine for the refraction of His glory and something for these rays to fall upon for reflection, after they have passed through the prism. You could have a rainbow every day in the year, if you had a prism and something for the refracted rays to fall upon.

 

So also you can have the glory of God manifest every day of the year, if you will only hold Jesus Christ before your eyes as a blessed prism for refracting the bright beams of God's glory and your own self presented to God just as God would have you, for these refracted rays to fall upon for reflection. Then not only you but other people will constantly see the glory of God. All that God wants, all that He needs, in order that man shall see and know His glory is a prism through which to shine. In Jesus Christ that is furnished in completeness. Next He wants something upon which these refracted rays may fall and be reflected, that people can see it. Will you let yourself stand there, open to the refracted rays of the glory of God, as they shine through that blessed prism which is Christ Jesus? Let those rays of the glory of God fall upon you, that men looking there may see reflected the glory of God. That is what is wanted.

 

Another thought: Take your prism and hold it up to the sun. The refracted rays of light fall on the wall of the house and behold in the reflection the beautiful rainbow! But that plastered wall is only mud. Can that mud manifest the glory of the sun? Can the sun be glorified by that mud? Yes. Certainly. Can that mud reflect the bright rays of the sun so that it will be beautiful? How can mud do that? O, it is not in the mud. It is in the glory.  You can hold the prism up to the sun and let the refracted rays fall upon the earth. You can hold it there and that earth can manifest the glory of the sun, not because the earth has any glory in itself, but because of the glory of the sun.

 

Is it too much, then, for us to think that sinful flesh, such as we, worthless dust and ashes, as are we--is it too much for us to think that such as we can manifest the glory of the Lord, which is refracted through Jesus Christ--the glory of the Lord shining from the face of Jesus Christ? It may be that you are clay; it may be that you are the lowest of the earth; it may be that you are sinful as any man is, but simply put yourself there and let that glory shine upon you as God would have it and then you will glorify God.

 

O, how often the discouraged question is asked, "How can such a person as I am glorify God?" Why, dear brother or sister, it is not in you. It is in the glory. The virtue is not in you to make it shine any more than it is in the mud to make the rainbow shine.  It is our art to furnish a place for the glory to fall, that it may shine in the beautiful reflected rays of the glory of God. The virtue is not in us, it is in the glory. That is what it is to glorify God.

 

It requires the emptying of self that God in Christ may be glorified. The mind of Christ does that, and then God is glorified. Though we have been sinful all our lives and our flesh is sinful flesh, God is glorified, not by merit that is in us but by the merit that is in the glory. And that is the purpose for which God has created every being in the universe. It is that every being shall be a means of reflecting and making known the brightness of the glory of the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.

 

Away back yonder there was one who was so bright and glorious by the glory of the Lord that he began to give himself credit for that and he proposed to shine of himself. He proposed to glorify himself. He proposed to reflect light from himself. But he has not shined any since with any real light. All has been darkness since. That is the origin of darkness in the universe. And the results that have come from that, from the beginning until the last result that shall ever come from it, are simply the results of that one effort to manifest self, to let self shine, to glorify self. And the end of that is that it all perishes and comes to naught.

 

To glorify self is to come to naught, is to cease to be. To glorify God is to continue eternally. What He makes people for is to glorify Him. The one who glorifies Him cannot help but exist to all eternity. God wants such beings as that in the universe. The question for every man is indeed, "To be, or not to be; that is the question."  Shall we choose to be and to be a means of glorifying God to all eternity? or shall we choose to glorify self for a little season and that only in darkness and then go out in everlasting darkness? O, in view of what God has done, it is not hard to decide which way to chose, is it? It is not hard to decide. Then shall it not be our choice now and forever to choose only God's way? to choose to glorify Him and Him alone?

 

Now another word as to what that takes. Here is a passage in John 12:23:

Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Then, again, twenty-seventh verse:

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour.

What then did He say? "Father, glorify thy name." There He was, standing in the shadow of Gethsemane. He knew the hour was coming and He knew what it meant. Here was this trouble pressing upon His divine soul and drawing from Him, "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour."  The only thing, then, there was to say, as He came to that hour for that purpose, the only thing He could say was, "Father, glorify thy name." After that came Gethsemane and the cross and death. But in this surrender,  "Father, glorify thy name," there was taken the step that gave Him victory in Gethsemane and on the cross and over death.

 

There was His victory and you and I shall come to that place many a time.

 

We have been in that place already--where there comes a time when upon me there may be this demand made. That experience has to be passed through and looking at it as it stands and as we see it, we shall be tempted to say, "Oh, is it necessary that that shall be borne? Is it not more than even God requires of man to bear?" "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?" Who brought you to that hour? Who brought you face to face with that difficulty? How did you get there? The Father is dealing with us; He brought us there. Then when under His hand, we are brought to the point at which it seems as though it would take the very soul out of a man to bear it, what shall we say? Father save me from this hour? Why, for this cause I am come to this hour. He brought me there for a purpose. I may not know what the experience is that He has for me beyond that; I may not know what is the divine purpose in that trial, but one thing I know. I have chosen to glorify God. I have chosen that God, instead of myself, shall be glorified in me, that His way shall be found in me instead of my way.  Therefore we cannot say, Father, save me from this hour. The only thing to do is to bow in submission; the only word to say is Father, glorify thy name. Gethsemane may follow immediately. The cross will certainly follow, but it is victory in that Gethsemane. It is victory upon that cross and over all that may come.

 

This is certainly true, for God does not leave us without the word. Read right on now.

 

What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

 

That word is for you and for me in every trial, because "the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them." It belongs to us. He will see that it is reflected upon us and through us that men shall know that God is still manifest in the flesh. What, then, shall be our choice? Let it be settled once and forever. It is, To be, or not to be?  Which shall we choose? To be? But to be, means to glorify God. The sole purpose of existence in the universe is to glorify God.

 

Therefore, the choice to be is the choice to glorify God and the choice to glorify God is the choice that self shall be emptied and lost and God alone shall appear and be seen.

 

Then when all is done the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians gives the grand consummation. Twenty-fourth to the twenty-eighth verses:

 

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

 

All in how many? He will be all in me; He will be all in you; He will be all in everybody through Jesus Christ.  There we see the plan completed. It is that the whole universe and everything in it shall reflect God.

 

That is the privilege that God has set before every human being. It is the privilege which He has set before every creature in the universe. Lucifer and multitudes of them who went with him, refused it. Men refused it. What shall you and I do? Shall we accept the privilege?

 

Let us see if we can get some idea of the measure of that privilege. What did it cost to bring that privilege to you and me? What did it cost? It cost the infinite price of the Son of God.

 

Now a question: Was this gift a gift of only thirty-three years? In other words, having consisted in eternity until He came to this world, did Jesus then come to this world as He did for only thirty-three years and then go back as He was before, to consist in all respects as He was before throughout eternity to come? And thus His sacrifice be practically for only thirty-three years? Was this sacrifice a sacrifice of only thirty-three years? or was it an eternal sacrifice? When Jesus Christ left heaven, He emptied Himself and sank Himself in us--for how long a time was it? That is the question. And the answer is that it was for all eternity. The Father gave up His Son to us,  and Christ gave up Himself to us for all eternity. Never again will He be in all respects as He was before. He gave His life to us.

 

Now I do not undertake to define this. I shall simply read a word on this from the Spirit of Prophecy, that you may know that it is a fact, and that you will know that we are on safe ground, and then take it as the blessed truth and leave the explanation of it to God and eternity. Here is the word:

 

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son."

 

He gave him not only to live among men, to bear their sins and die their sacrifice; he gave him to the fallen race. Christ was to identify himself with the interests and needs of humanity. He who is one with God has linked himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken.

 

Wherein did He link Himself with us? In our flesh, in our nature. To what extent did He link Himself with us? "By ties that are never to be broken."

 

Thank the Lord! Then He sank the nature of God, which He had with God before the world was, and took our nature, and He bears our nature forevermore. That is the sacrifice that wins the hearts of men. Were it looked upon, as many do look upon it, that the sacrifice of Christ was for only thirty-three years and then He died the death on the cross and went back into eternity in all respects as He was before, men might argue that in view of eternity before and eternity after, thirty-three years is not such an infinite sacrifice after all. But when we consider that He sank His nature in our human nature to all eternity, that is a sacrifice. That is the love of God. And no heart can reason against it. There is no heart in this world that can reason against that fact. Whether the heart accepts it or not, whether the man believes it or not, there is a subduing power in it, and the heart must stand in silence in the presence of that awful fact.

 

That is the sacrifice which He made. And I read on:

 

He who is one with God has linked himself with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken. Jesus is "not ashamed to call them brethren"; our Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, bearing our human form before the Father's throne and through eternal ages; one with the race he has redeemed--the Son of man.

That is what it cost: The eternal sacrifice of one who was one with God. This is what it cost to bring to men the privilege to glorify God.

 

Now another question: Was the privilege there worth the sacrifice? or was the price paid to create the privilege?  Please think carefully. What is the privilege? We have found that the privilege brought to every soul is to glorify God. What did it cost to bring that privilege to us? It cost the infinite sacrifice of the Son of God. Now did He make the sacrifice to create the privilege, or was the privilege there and worth the sacrifice.

 

I see that this is a new thought to many of you, but do not be afraid of it. It is all right. Please look at it carefully and think. That is all that is needed. I will say it over, even two or three times if necessary, for it is fully worth it.  Ever since that blessed fact came to me that the sacrifice of the Son of God is an eternal sacrifice and all for me,  the word has been upon my mind almost hourly, "I will go softly before the Lord all my days."

 

The question is, Did He create the privilege by making the sacrifice? or was the privilege there already and we had lost it and it was worth the sacrifice that He made to bring it to us again?

 

Then who can estimate the privilege that God gives us in the blessed privilege of glorifying him? No mind can comprehend it.

 

To be worth the sacrifice that was paid for it--an eternal sacrifice--O, did not David do well when he said, looking at these things, "O Lord...such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it"? and, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul"?

 

"Great is the mystery of godliness; for God was manifest in the flesh." The Son of man received up into glory,  that means ourselves. And in that He brought to us the infinite privilege of glorifying God. That was worth the price that He paid. We never could have dreamed that the privilege was so great. But God looked upon the privilege, Jesus Christ looked upon the privilege, of what it is to glorify God. And looking upon that and seeing where we had gone, it was said, It is worth the price. Christ said, "I will give the price." And "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son," and thus brought to us the privilege of glorifying God.

 

 

1895 G.C. Sermon #20  by A.T. Jones 

 

Sealed Spiritually.

Sealed.

Sealed spiritually by a spirit being.

Sealed in our foreheads.

 

Can we agree that to take a group of random people off the streets and line them up- that just by looking at these people and nothing more- we would not know all that much about them? Can we agree to that?

 

We may try to deduce certain things about them by their outward appearance and demeanor, but truthfully we could be very far off base.

 

A man dressed in an expensive suit we may assume to have an impressive job, but in truth it may be the last suit he owns and is recently destitute and homeless- yet because his expensive suit doesn't show the wear and tear we associate with homelessness we'd never guess that to be the case. The opposite could be true as well. A person in torn, filthy rags we may assume is homeless and not a very rich man who has spent the day working hard labor while wearing the most worn clothes he owns, not caring if they are torn and made filthy by the work. We make assumptions because we just CAN'T know the details without more information. I cannot know if anyone is a Christian by looking at them. Sure, I may assume a cross wear, bible carrying, person is a Christian but I could be completely wrong.

 

When we are spiritually sealed by a spirit being, an angel of God, for God- it will not be with a literal mark placed upon us. We won't receive a stamp of God on our forehead for all to see. This sealing is spiritually given. The sealing is a solidifying of our names being written in the book of life of the Lamb of God. The sealing is a permanent mark forever given to denote to all spiritual beings that we belong to God completely forever, eternally, without end. The sealing is necessary so we are not among those without the seal- subject to the wrath of God.

 

Just as doors were sealed with the blood of lambs so that death would pass over that home, the servants of God sealed with His seal will be passed over by the wrath to come for all those not sealed.

 

By the grace of God may we be spiritually sealed!

 

Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 

 

"1. The Term Seal Defined. -

A seal is defined to be an instrument of sealing; that which "is used by individuals, corporate bodies, and states, for making impressions on wax, upon instruments of writing, as an evidence of their authenticity."

The original word in this passage is defined, "A seal, i. e., a signet ring; a mark, stamp, badge; a token, a pledge."

Among the significations of the verb are the following: "To secure to any one, to make sure; to set a seal or mark upon anything in token of its being genuine or approved; to attest, to confirm, to establish, to distinguish by a mark."

By a comparison of Gen. 17:11 with Rom. 4:11, and Rev.7:3 with Eze. 9:4, in connection with the above definition, the reader will see that the words token, sign, seal, and mark are used in the Bible as SYNONYMOUS terms."  (Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith- D&R)

 

Gen 17:11  And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a TOKEN of the covenant betwixt me and you. 

 

Rom 4:11  And he received the SIGN of circumcision, a SEAL of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also

 

Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have SEALED the servants of our God in their foreheads. 

 

Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a MARK upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 

 

"The seal of God, as brought to view in our text, is to be applied to the servants of God.

 

We are not, of course, to suppose that in this case it is some literal mark to be made in the flesh, but that it is some institution or observance having special reference to God, which will serve

p 461 -- as a "mark of distinction" between the worshipers of God and those who are not in truth his servants, though they may profess to follow him.

 

2. The Use of a Seal. -

A seal is used to render valid or authentic any enactments, or laws, which a person or power may promulgate.

Frequent instances of its use occur in the Scriptures. In 1 Kings 21:8, we read that Jezebel "wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal." These letters then had all the authority of King Ahab. Again, in Esther 3:12: "In the name of King Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring." So also in chapter 8:8: "The writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse." (D&R)

 

1Ki 21:8  So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. 

 

Est 3:12  Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring. 

 

Est 8:8  Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse. 

 

"3. Where a Seal is Used. -

Always in connection with some law or enactment that demands obedience, or upon documents that are to be made legal, or subject to the provisions of law. The idea of law is inseparable from a seal.

 

4. As Applied to God. -

We are not to suppose that to the enactments and laws of God binding upon men, there must be attached a literal seal, made with literal instruments; but from the definition of the term, and the purpose for which a seal is used, as shown above, we must understand a seal to be strictly that which gives validity and authenticity to enactments and laws.

 

This is found, though a literal seal may not be used, in the name or signature of the law-making power, expressed in such terms as to show what the power is, and its right to make laws and demand obedience.

 

Even with a literal seal, the name must always be used. (See the references above given.) An instance of the use of the name alone seems to occur in Dan. 6:8: "Now, 0 king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not;" that is, affix the signature of royalty, showing who it is that demands obedience, and his right to demand it.

 

In a gospel prophecy found in Isaiah 8, we read: "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." This must refer to a work of reviving in the minds of the disciples some of the claims of the law which had been overlooked,

p 462 -- or perverted from their true meaning, and this, in the prophecy, is called sealing the law, or restoring to it its seal, which had been taken from it.

 

Again, the 144,000, who in the chapter before us are said to be sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads, are again brought to view in Rev. 14:1, where they are said to have the Father's name written in their foreheads.

 

From the foregoing reasoning, facts, and declarations of Scripture, two conclusions inevitably follow: -

 

1. The seal of God is found in connection with the law of God.

2. The seal of God is that part of his law which contains his name, or descriptive title, showing who he is, the extent of his dominion, and his right to rule." (D&R)

 

Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. 

 

Seal of God. 

More on this tomorrow by the grace of God.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior now and forever!!!!!!!  Amen.

Risen With Christ To Be With Him Where He Is, Right Now.

 

    We are to begin the comparison of Heb. 2:14, 15 with Rom. 6:11-14. Read first in Hebrews:

 

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

 

That is what Christ did to deliver us. Now read in Romans:

 

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you.

 

Just as He also Himself likewise did that to deliver us, so we also ourselves likewise are to yield, in order to be delivered. And when we do so, we are delivered. He did that in order to deliver us, who all our lifetime were subject to bondage; we do that, and then we are free from the bondage and sin has no more dominion over us.

 

Thus Rom. 6:11-14 is the response of faith in the individual, to Christ's action as in Heb. 2:14, 15.

 

But the Lord did more for Him than to raise Him from the dead, and He has done more for us in Him than to raise us from the dead. He died. He was raised from the dead. We died with Him, and what then? Did we rise with Him?  Have we a resurrection with Him? Have we life from the dead in Him? We are crucified with Him. We died with Him. We are buried with Him, and He was raised from the dead. Then what of us? We are risen with Him. But God did more for Him than to raise Him from the dead. God did more with Him than to raise Him from the dead. He raised Him, and also seated Him at His own right hand in heaven. What of us? Do we stop short? No, sir. Are we not in Him? As we are in Him while He was alive on the earth, as we are in Him on the cross, as we are in Him in death, as we are in Him in the resurrection, so we are in Him in the ascension and we are in Him at the right hand of God.

 

That would follow, anyway, from what we read last night, but let us read this itself in the Scriptures and see that it is certainly so. As we have followed God's working in Him so far, shall we follow it all the way? Last night and in the lessons before, we were glad to go with Him through temptation and gain the victory. We were glad last night with Him to go to the cross and find ourselves crucified there, so that we could say in genuine faith, "I am crucified with Christ." We were glad to go into the grave with Him, into death with Him, so that it can be a genuine reckoning of faith to reckon ourselves also to be dead indeed. We are glad of all that. Let us be glad also to come forth from death with Him, in order that we may live a new life as He. And when we have come forth with Him from the dead--for "if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him" let us rise with Him as He is risen--not only from the dead, but to where He is. If God says so, if He proposes to carry us there and to carry the subject that far, shall we go? Assuredly, yes. Let us not think strange of it if He should; let us follow with Him there just as freely as we followed with Him against temptation and to the cross and into death.

 

Therefore take the second chapter of Ephesians, beginning with the fourth verse: God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.

 

Quicken is to make alive, make us alive together with Christ. Next verse: "And hath raised us up together."  Together with whom? Christ. "And made us sit together." With whom? Christ. Where? "Made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." The word "places" is supplied there in our version. It is also supplied in Eph.  1:2; 1:20.

 

In the Greek it is epouraniois, and in the verbal translation is rendered "the heavenlies." God has given us life together with Him: God has raised us up together and made us sit together with Him, wherever He sits. Where then does He sit? "He was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Heb. 1:3.  God "has raised us up together with him; and made us sit together with him," where He sits.

 

Now the German makes it plainer than our Authorized Version and plainer than this translation of the Greek even:

Da wir tot waren in den Sunden, hat er uns saint Christo [that word saint means along with. And that is the Greek word literally. The Greek means "along with" "together" and "at the same time," and so the German words give it]--hat er uns saint Christo lebendig gemacht [made alive us along with Him]...und hat uns saint ihm auferwecket  [along with Him waked up, and not simply waked up like a man that is asleep and gets his eyes open but still lies there but waked up in such a way that he gets up. So that we with Him are given life from the dead and he has waked us up in such a way that we get up and rise with Him.] und saint ihm in das himmlische Wesen gesetzt, in Christo Jesu.

 

I have drawn out the definition of that word Wesen in full here and it signifies essence, existence, being, manner of being, nature, character, disposition, air, demeanor, conduct; means of existence, property, estate, economy;  existing arrangement, system, concern.

 

So He has made us sit with Christ in heaven; in the heavenly existence; in the heavenly essence; made us sit together with Him in the heavenly being; in the heavenly manner of being; in the heavenly nature; in the heavenly character; in the heavenly disposition; in the heavenly air; in the heavenly demeanor; in the heavenly conduct; He has made us sit together with Him in the heavenly means of existence--for "our life is hid with Christ in God," our means of existence is in heaven--"Give us this day our daily bread"--the heavenly means of existence, heavenly property, estate, economy, existing arrangement, the existing order of things. We belong to heaven, to the heavenly system altogether.

That is where God has put us in Christ. So then, as we, along with Him, in the heavenly existence, essence, air,  disposition, and all, are made to sit in Christ Jesus, shall we sit there in Him?

 

In other words, shall we rise? What is the word? Arise, shine. Arise first and then shine. We cannot shine until we rise. But what will this truth do for us? Will it not raise us? How high? Do you not see that it takes us out of this world and puts us along with Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom? Is it not plain then that Jesus Christ has brought heaven to earth to Him who believes? Therefore it is written, He "hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." The kingdom of heaven is likened unto this so and so; the kingdom of heaven is like unto so and so; the kingdom of heaven is like unto so and so; the kingdom of heaven is nigh at hand. Well, what is that kingdom of heaven? He translates us into it--has translated us into it. Shall we reside there and enjoy its blessed atmosphere and enjoy the disposition, the air, all the system and manner of existence that belong there and belong to us there?

 

Now we cannot raise ourselves even to this height; we are to submit to the truth and it will raise us. Look at it again. In the first chapter of Ephesians, beginning with the fifteenth verse:

 

Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers [and this is the prayer]; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.

 

To how many? To whom? For how many is this prayer written? Will you take the prayer, then, yourself this evening? and accept the thing that is prayed for on your behalf? Whose word is it, anyway? Is it merely a prayer of a man? Is it not the word of God? Then is not the word of Jesus Christ by His Spirit expressing His will and His wish concerning us as to what we shall have? Let us accept it, then. It is His will. Read on:

 

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward [toward us] who believe.

 

He wants us to know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. And the Greek word there is the word from which comes our word "dynamite."

 

The exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,  which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly [existence, in heaven].

 

The German is, "Seated at his right in heaven."

 

Now that power of God raised up Jesus Christ and set Him at His right in heaven. Every soul of us will say that,  but He wants you and me to know the working of that power in ourselves which raised up Christ and seated Him there. When we know the working of that power in us that raised up Christ and seated Him there, what will it do for us? It will raise us up and seat us there.

The second chapter of Colossians tells the same story, beginning with the twelfth verse:

 

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened [made alive] together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

 

Now the first verse of the third chapter:

 

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

 

Then every one that is risen is to seek the things that are above.

 

Whereabouts above? How high above? As high above as the place where Christ sits. But how can I seek the things where Christ sits unless I am near enough there to look around and seek those things and put my mind upon them? It is all in that.

 

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God....for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

 

Shall we take that precisely as the Lord gives it, without any querying? I know it is wonderful; I know that to a good many it seems too good to be true, but there is nothing God does that is too good to be true, because God does it. If it were said of anybody else, it would be too good to be true, because they could not do it, but when God says anything, it is not too good to be true; it is good enough to be true, because He does it.

 

Therefore,  brethren, let us rise, and that will separate us from the world; that will put us in the place where long ago the prophet was told to look a little higher, to see those who were in the right way. But, O, shall we not drop everything and die with Him and take the death that we have in Him and let that death that has been wrought in Him work in us? And then that life which has been wrought in Him, that power which has been wrought in Him,  will do for us what it did for Him. That will take us out of Babylon; there will be none of Babylon's material about us at all. We will be so far from Babylon and all the Babylonish garments, that we will be seated at the right hand of God, clothed in heavenly apparel; and that is the only clothing that becomes the people now, for we are soon to enter in to the wedding supper, and the fine linen with which the bride and guests are clothed is the righteousness of the saints. But He supplies it all. We have it all in Him.

 

Let us look at this in another way. I am not particular to get away from this thought tonight, and it is good enough to dwell upon all the time we shall have this evening. Let us look at it from another side now. We have studied for several lessons the fact that He in human nature was ourselves, and He in us and we in Him met temptation and the power of Satan and conquered it all in this world, because God was with Him. God was dealing with Him. God was holding Him and keeping Him. He surrendered all and God kept Him. In Him we surrender all, and God keeps us. And the Lord's dealings with Him are the Lord's dealings with us, and that led to crucifixion; that is true--the crucifixion of His righteous, divine self, and in that it leads us to the crucifixion of our evil self, which separates from God. In Him is destroyed the enmity. So God went with Him and went with Him in human nature, all the way through this world, but God did not get done with His human nature in this world.

 

The Father was not done dealing with Christ in His human nature nor done dealing with human nature in Christ,  when the Son had been nailed to the cross. He had something more to do with human nature than to take it only to the cross. He took it even unto death, but He did not stop there with human nature. He took it to the cross and into death, but He did not stop there. He did not leave it there. He brought forth human nature from the tomb,  immortalized. He did all this, but He was not yet done with human nature, for He took that human nature which had been raised from the dead, immortalized, and He raised it up and set it at His own right hand, glorified with the fullness of the brightness of the glory of God--in heaven itself. So that God's mind concerning human nature,  concerning you and me, is never met, never fulfilled, until He finds us at His own right hand, glorified.

 

There is revivifying power in that blessed truth. In Jesus Christ, the Father has set before the universe the thought of His mind concerning mankind. O, how much, how far, a man misses every purpose, every idea, of his existence, who is content with anything less than that which God has prepared for him!

 

Brethren, do you not see that we have been content to stay too low down? that we have been content to have our minds too far from what God has for us? That is a fact. But now, as He comes and calls us into this, let us go where He will lead us. It is faith that does it; it is not presumption; it is the only right thing to do. Every one that does not do it will be left so far behind that he will perish in a little while. Here the heavenly Shepherd is leading us. He is leading us into green pastures and by the still waters--and by those still waters, too, that flow from the throne of God, the waters of life itself. Let us drink deep and live.

 

Now we can look at that yet farther. I will say again that the Lord, in order to show mankind what He has prepared for us, what His purpose is concerning each man, has set before us an example, so that everyone in the world can see God's purpose concerning himself and can see it fully worked out. God's purpose concerning us in this world is to keep us from sinning in spite of all the power of sin and Satan. His purpose concerning Himself and us in this world is that God shall be manifested in sinful flesh. That is, in His power He Himself shall be manifested instead of ourselves. It is, therefore, that our wicked self shall be crucified, shall be dead and buried,  and that we shall be raised from that deadness in sin and uncircumcision of the flesh to newness of life in Jesus Christ and in God and seated at His right hand, glorified. That is the Lord's purpose concerning you and me.  Now let us read it: Rom. 8:28:

 

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.

 

How do we know it? He not only says so but He has worked it out before our eyes; He has given a living demonstration of it. So He carries us right through that now. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." What purpose? Why, His eternal purpose concerning all creatures, concerning man with the rest, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.  That purpose from eternity is purposed in Jesus Christ, and when we are in Jesus Christ that purpose embraces us. When we yield to Christ, sinking ourselves in Him, we become a part of that eternal purpose, and then just as certainly as God's purpose is to succeed, we shall be all right, for we are a part of His purpose.

 

Then just as certainly as Satan can do nothing against God's purpose, so certainly He can do nothing against us, for we are in that purpose. Just as certainly, then, as all that Satan does, and all that the enemies of God's truth can do,  working against God and His divine purpose, and at last all these things against us--so certainly as all this cannot defeat or cripple that eternal purpose, so certainly it cannot defeat or cripple us, because in Christ we are a fixture in that purpose. O, it is all in Him, and God has created us anew in Him.

 

Read on then. God tells us how we know that all things work together for good to those who are called according to God's purpose. "For"--what does that mean? It means the same here as "because"; that is, we know this because God has done something here to demonstrate it so that we can know it. What is this then by which we know it? We know it because "whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." What is God's predestination, then? What is the design that He has fixed beforehand, that He has prepared beforehand for every man in the world? For He has foreknown all; He has called all. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Isa. 45:22.

 

What is the destiny that He has prepared beforehand for every one? O, it is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son. Where? While we are in this world, conformed to the image of His Son, as His Son was in this world. But He did not get done with His Son in this world; He took Him from this world. Then as certainly as His eternal purpose carried Christ beyond this world, that predestined purpose is concerning us beyond this world,  and carries us beyond this world. And as certainly as His predestined purpose is that we shall be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in this world, as He was in this world, so certain it is that we shall be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in that other world, as He is in that other world.

 

God's eternal purpose prepared beforehand for every one of us, for you, for me, is that we shall be like Jesus Christ as He is, glorified, and at the right hand of God tonight. In Christ He has demonstrated this. In Christ, from birth to the heavenly throne, He has shown that that is His purpose concerning every man. Thus He has demonstrated before the universe that such is His great purpose for human beings.

 

God's ideal of a man is not as man stands in this world. Take the finest figure of a man who ever stood in this world--the tallest, the most symmetrical, the best educated, the finest in every respect, the fullest, completest man in himself--is that God's ideal of man? No. you remember that we found back in one of our lessons that God's ideal of a man is God and the man joined in that new man that is made in Christ Jesus by the destruction of the enmity. That new man that is made of the union of God and man is God's ideal man.

 

But yet take that man as he stands in this world, in the perfect symmetry of human perfection, and unite God with him so that only God is manifested in him, that is not yet God's full ideal of a man, for the man is still in this world.  The ideal of God concerning that man is never met until that man stands at God's right hand in heaven glorified.  O, He has prepared great things for us, and I propose to enjoy them! Yes, sir, I propose to open up and let the wondrous power work and enjoy it as I go.

 

Read on therefore. "Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son,  that he might be the first-born among many brethren." O, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." "He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one." "Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called:  and whom he called [those in whom that call meets its purpose and in whom the call is effective. He calls every soul, that is true on His part, but the call does not meet its purpose; only those who respond and meet the purpose of that call, in whom the call takes hold], them he also justified: and whom he justified [mark, not those who justify themselves, those whom he justified], them he also glorified."

 

Then do you not see that God's purpose concerning man is not fulfilled until man is glorified? Therefore Jesus came into the world as we do. He took our human nature as we do, by birth. He went through this world in human nature--God dealing with human nature. He went to the cross and died--God dealing with human nature on the cross and in the grave and God raising Him and setting Him at the right hand of God, glorified--that is His eternal purpose. That is God's eternal predestination. That is the plan He has arranged and fixed for you. Will you let Him carry out the plan? We cannot do it. He must. But He has shown His ability to do it. He has proven that. Nobody can dispute that. He has proven His ability to take us and fulfill His purpose concerning human nature, concerning sinful flesh as it is in this world. And I am glad of it.

 

But see here: "Whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified,"--What did He do next? He glorified them. Now a question: those whom He justifies He glorifies; He cannot glorify them until He has justified them. What means, then, this special message of justification that God has been sending these years to the church and to the world? It means that God is preparing to glorify His people. But we are glorified only at the coming of the Lord; therefore, this special message of justification which God has been sending us is to prepare us for glorification at the coming of the Lord. In this, God is giving to us the strongest sign that it is possible for Him to give, that the next thing is the coming of the Lord.

 

He will prepare us. We cannot prepare ourselves. We tried a long while to justify ourselves, to make ourselves just right, and thus get ready for the coming of the Lord. We have tried to do so well that we could approve ourselves and be satisfied and say, "Now I can meet the Lord." But we never were satisfied. No. It is not done that way. Whom He justified, them He glorified. Now since God justifies, it is His own work, and when He is ready for us to meet the Lord, it will be all right, because it is He Himself who prepares us to meet the Lord.  Therefore, we trust in Him, we yield to Him, and take His justification and, depending only on that, we shall be ready to meet the Lord Jesus whenever God chooses to send Him.

 

Thus He is preparing now to glorify us. Again I say, It is a fact that we have been content to live too far below the wondrous privileges that God has prepared for us. Let the precious truth raise us to where He wants us.

 

No master workman looks at a piece of work He is doing, as it is half finished, and criticizes that and begins to find fault with that. There may be faults about it, but it is not finished yet. And while He works on it to take away all the faults still He looks at it as it is in His finished purpose, in His own original plan, in His own mind.

It would be an awful thing if the wondrous Master Workman of all were to look at us as we are half finished and say, That is good for nothing. No, He doesn't do that. He looks at us as we are in His eternal purpose in Christ,  and goes on with His wondrous work. You and I may look at it and say, "I don't see how the Lord is ever going to make a Christian out of me and make me fit for heaven or anything else." That may be so as we see it. And if He looked at us as we look at ourselves and if He were as poor a workman as we, that would be all there could be of it; we could never be of any worth. But He is not such a workman as we and therefore He does not look at us as we see ourselves. No. He looks at us as we are in His finished purpose. Although we may appear all rough,  marred, and scarred now, as we are here and in ourselves, He sees us as we are yonder in Christ.

 

He is the Workman. And as we have confidence in Him, we will let Him carry on the work, and as He carries it on,  we will look at it as He sees it. Has He not given us an example of His workmanship? God has set before us in Christ His complete workmanship in sinful flesh. In Christ He has completed it and set it there at His right hand.  Now He says to us, "Look at that. That is what I am able to do with sinful flesh. Now you put your confidence in me and let me work and you watch and see what I am going to do. You trust my workmanship. Let me attend to the work and you trust me, and I will carry on the work." It is the Lord doing it all. It is not our task at all.

 

Now you can go outside of this Tabernacle and look up at that window (referring to the window at the back of the pulpit), and it looks like only a mess of melted glass thrown together, black and unsightly. But come inside and look from within, and you will see it as a beautiful piece of workmanship, and written there in clear texts:  "Justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"; the law of God written out in full and the words, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."

 

Likewise you and I can look at ourselves as we too often do from the outside and all looks awry, dark, and ungainly, and appears as though it were only a tangled mass. God looks at it from the inside, as it is in Jesus.  And when we are in Jesus and look through the light that God has given us, when we look from the inside as we are in Jesus Christ we shall also see, written in clear texts by the Spirit of God, "Justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." We shall see the whole law of God written in the heart and shining in the life and the words, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." All this we shall see in the light of God as that light is reflected and shines in Jesus Christ.

 

Now I want you to know that this is certainly so. Way back in the Bulletin, bottom of page 182, we have this sentence, "I would that every soul who sees the evidences of the truth"--Do you see them, brethren? Are there not evidences enough here to save us? "I would that every soul who sees the evidences of the truth would accept Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour." Do you take Him now as your personal Saviour in the fullness in which He has revealed Himself where He is and ourselves in Him where He is?

 

Do you? Then read this:

 

Those who thus accept Christ are looked upon by God not as they are in Adam, but as they are in Jesus Christ,  as the sons and daughters of God.

 

He looks at us as we are in Christ, for in Him He has perfected His plan concerning us.

 

Are you glad of it?

Let us take it in, brethren.

O! it does my soul good day by day as the Lord opens up these things!

It is just as good to me, as I long for it to be to you, so let us receive it in the fullness of that self-abandoned faith that Jesus Christ has brought to us.

Let us take it and thank God for it day by day.

Let the power of it work in us, raise us from the dead, and set us at God's right hand in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ, where He sits.

Why should we not have a praise meeting for what God has done for us? It is Sabbath. Could we not enjoy it? What do you want to say?

 

1895 G.C. Sermon #19  by A.T. Jones 

Sick of Sin.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 

 

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 

 

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh

 

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 

 

(Excerpt)

 

But there is more of the verse. Rom. 6:6 still: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin." Good! In Him we have the victory, victory from the service of sin. There is victory over the service of sin, in this knowing that we are crucified with Him.

 

Now I say that this blessed fact which we find in Him lifts us right to that place; yea, and the fact holds us in the place. That is so. There is a power in it. That is a fact. We will have occasion to see it more fully presently.

 

When He was crucified, what followed? When He was nailed to the cross, what came next? He died. Now read in this same chapter, eighth verse: "Now if we be dead with Christ"--well, what else can there be? As certainly as I am crucified with Him, I shall be dead with Him. Being crucified with Him, we shall be dead with Him.

 

Dead with Him? Do we know that? Look back at the fourth verse.

 

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

 

When He had been crucified and had died,  what followed? He was buried--the burial of the dead. And what of us? Now, "therefore, we are buried with him."  Buried with Him! Were we crucified with Him? Did we die with Him? Have the Father and Christ wrought out in human nature the death of sinful self? Yes. Whose? Mine.

 

Then do you not see that all this is a gift of faith that is to be taken with everything else that God gives of faith?  The death of the old man is in Christ, and in Him we have it and thank God for it. With Him the old man was crucified. With Him the old man died, and when He was buried, the old man was buried. My human, old, sinful self was crucified, died and was buried with Him. And with Him it is buried yet when I am in Him. Out of Him I have it not, of course. Every one that is outside of Him has none of this. In Him it is--in Him. And we receive it all by faith in Him.

 

We are simply studying now the fact that we have in him, the facts which are given to us in Him and which are to be taken by faith. These are facts of faith.

 

We thank the Lord that all this is literal fact--that our old man is crucified, dead, and buried with Him and that in Him we have that gift. In Him we have the gift and the fact of the death of the old man--the death of the human,  sinful nature and the burial of it. And when that old thing is crucified and dead and buried, then the next verse--the seventh: "He that is dead is freed from sin."

 

So then, knowing "that our old man is crucified with him" that henceforth we should not serve sin, we are free from the service of sin.

 

Brethren I am satisfied it is just as much our place day by day now to thank God for freedom from the service of sin as it is to breathe. I say it over. I say it is just as much our place, our privilege and our right to claim in Christ--in Him only and as we believe in Him--and to thank God for freedom from the service of sin as it is to breathe the breath that we breathe as we get up in the morning.

 

How can I ever have the blessing and the benefit there is in that thing if I do not take the thing? If I am always hesitating and afraid that I am not free from the service of sin, how long will it take to get me free from the service of sin? That very hesitating, that very fear, is from doubt, is from unbelief, and is sin in itself. But in Him, when God has wrought out for us indeed freedom from the service of sin, we have the right to thank God for it and as certainly as we claim it and thank Him for it, we shall enjoy it. "He that is dead is freed from sin" (margin, "is justified from sin"). and it is in Him, and we have it as we are in Him by faith.

 

Let us therefore read the first verse of the sixth of Romans:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein.

 

Can a man live on what he died of? No. Then when the man has died of sin, can he live in sin? can he live with sin? A man dies of delirium tremens or typhoid fever. Can he live on delirium tremens or typhoid fever, even if by a possibility he should be brought to live long enough to realize that he was there? The very thought of it would be death to him, because it killed him once. So it is with the man who dies of sin. The very appearance of it, the very bringing of it before him after that is death to him. If he has consciousness enough and life enough to realize that it is there, he will die of it again. He cannot live on what he died of.

 

But the great trouble with many people is that they do not get sick enough of sin to die. That is the difficulty.  They get sick perhaps of some particular sin and they want to stop that and "want to die" to that and they think they have left that off. Then they get sick of some other particular sin that they think is not becoming to them--they cannot have the favor and the estimation of the people with that particular sin so manifest and they try to leave that off. But they do not get sick of sin--sin in itself, sin in the conception, sin in the abstract,  whether it be in one particular way or another particular way. They do not get sick enough of sin itself to die to sin. When the man gets sick enough--not of sins but of sin, the very suggestion of sin, and the thought of sin--why you cannot get him to live in it any more. He cannot live in it; it killed him once. And he cannot live in what he died of.

 

We have constantly the opportunity to sin. Opportunities to sin are ever presented to us. Opportunities to sin and to live in it are presented day by day. But it stands written: "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." "I die daily." As certainly as I have died to sin, the suggestion of sin is death to me. It is death to me in Him.

 

Therefore, this is put in the form of a surprised, astonished question, "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" Baptism means baptism into His death.

 

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

 

Turn to Colossians. There was the word you remember that we had in Brother Durland's lesson one day. Col.  2:20:

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world [the elements of the world, worldliness, and this thing that leads to the world--the enmity], why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to the world?

 

That is simply speaking of our deliverance from the service of sin. It is simply saying, in other words, what is said in Rom. 6:6, "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Why, as though living outside of Him are we still doing those same things? No, sir. Rom.  6:14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you." The man who is delivered from the domination of sin is delivered from the service of sin. In Jesus Christ it is a fact, too. So read on from Romans 6:6-14.

 

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 

Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin. 

Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 

Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 

Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 

Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

 

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

 

Is He alive? Yes. Thank the Lord! Who died? Jesus died, and we are dead with Him. And He is alive, and we who believe in Him are alive with Him. That, however, will come more fully afterward.

Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Let us hold to this. Let us thank God this moment and henceforward, day by day, with every thought, "I am crucified with Him." As certainly as He is crucified, I am crucified; as certainly as He is dead, I am dead with Him;  as certainly as He is buried, I was buried with Him; as certainly as He is risen, I am risen with Him, and henceforth I shall not serve sin. In Him we are free from the dominion of sin and from the service of sin. Thank the Lord for His unspeakable gift!'

 

1895 G.C. Sermon #18  by A.T. Jones 

I Am Crucified With Christ.

(Excerpt)

 

'Indeed, the word to us all the time is, "Arise, shine." But we cannot raise ourselves; it is the truth and the power of God that is to raise us. But is not here the direct truth that will raise a man? Yes, sir; it will raise Him from the dead, as we shall find before we get done with this. But this thought was necessary to be followed through, that we may see how complete the victory is and how certain we are of it as surely as we surrender to Christ and accept that mind that was in Him. And thus always bear in mind that the battle is fought against sin in the realm of the thoughts and that the Victor, the Warrior, that has fought the battle there and won the victory there in every conceivable kind of contest--that same blessed One comes and sets up His throne at the citadel of the very imagination of the thought, the very root of the thought of the heart of the believing sinner.

 

He sets up His throne there and plants the principles of His law there and reigns there.

 

Thus it is that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so now in this way might grace reign. Did sin reign? Certainly. Did it reign with power? Assuredly. It reigned. It ruled. Well, as that has reigned, even so grace shall reign. Is grace, then, to reign as certainly, as powerfully in fact, as ever sin did? Much more, much more fully, much more abundantly, much more gloriously.  Just as certainly as ever sin did reign in us, so certainly when we are in Jesus Christ the grace of God is to reign much more abundantly, "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

 

That being so, we can go on in victory unto perfection.

 

From that height--for it is proper to call it a height--to which this truth raises us, we can go on enjoying, reading with gratitude, what we have in Him and receiving it in the fullness of the soul. But unless we have the Lord to take us to that height and seat us there and put us where He has possession of the citadel so that we are certain where He is and in that where we are, all these other things are vague, indefinite, and seem to be beyond us--sometimes almost within our reach and we long to get where we can really have hold on them and know the reality of them, but yet they are always just a little beyond our reach and we are unsatisfied.

 

But when we surrender fully, completely, absolutely, with no reservation, letting the whole world and all there is of it, go, then we receive that divine mind of His by the Spirit of God that gives to Him possession of that citadel, that lifts us to that height where all these other things are not simply within reach--O, no, they are in the heart and are a rejoicing in the life! We then in Him have them in possession and we know it and the joy of it is just what Peter said, "unspeakable and full of glory."

 

So then as the Lord has lifted us to this height and will hold us there, now let us go ahead and read and receive,  as we read, what we have in Him. Begin with Romans 6:6.

 

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 

 

That is the scripture that comes most directly in connection with this particular thought that we have studied so far this evening. "Knowing this."--Knowing what? "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him." Good! In Jesus Christ, in His flesh, was not human nature, sinful flesh, crucified? Whose? Who was He? He was man; He was ourselves.

 

Then whose sinful flesh,  whose human nature, was crucified on the cross of Jesus Christ?--Mine.

 

Therefore, as certainly as I have that blessed truth settled in my heart and mind, that Jesus Christ was man, human nature, sinful nature, and that He was myself in the flesh--as certainly as I have that, it follows just as certainly as that He was crucified on the cross, so was I.

 

My human nature, myself there, was crucified there. Therefore I can say with absolute truth and the certainty and confidence of faith, "I am crucified with Christ." It is so.

 

We hear people so many times say, "I want self to be crucified." Well, we turn and read the text to them,  "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified." And they respond: "Well, I wish it were so." Turn to the next text and read, "I am crucified with Christ." It says I am. Who is? Are you? Still they answer, I don't see that I am. I wish it were so, but I cannot see how I am crucified and I cannot see how reading that there and saying that that is so will make it so." But the word of God says so and it is so because it says so and it would be true and everlastingly effectual if that were all there is to it. But in this case it is so because it is so. God does not speak that word to make it so in us; He speaks that word because it is so in us, in Christ.

 

In the first chapter of Hebrews you remember we had an illustration of this. God did not call Christ God to make Him God. No. He called Him God because He was God. If He had not been that, then for God to speak to Him the word of "God," and lay it upon Him, would have caused Him to be that, because that is the power of the word of God. But that is not it. That would be so if that were all there were to it, but it is so also in another way. He was God and when God called Him God, He did so because that is what He was. So in that double sense it is everlastingly so. It is so by "two immutable things."

 

Now it is the same way here. Our old man is crucified, yet when God sets forth His word that it is so, we accepting that word and surrendering to it, it is so to each one who accepts it because the word has the divine power in it to cause it to be so. And by that means it would be everlastingly so, even if that were all there is to it.  But that is not all there is to it, because in Jesus Christ human nature has been crucified on the cross, actually,  literally, and that is my human nature, that is myself in Him that was crucified there. And therefore God sets down the record of everyone who is in Christ, "He is crucified."

 

So that by the two immutable things, by the double fact, it is so. Therefore, we can say with perfect freedom, it is no boasting, it is not presumption in any sense; it is simply the confession of faith in Jesus Christ, "I am crucified with Christ." Is not He crucified? Then as certainly as I am with Him, am I not crucified with Him? the word of God says so. "Our old man is crucified with Him?" Very good. Let us thank the Lord that that is so.

 

What is the use, then, of our trying, longing, to get ourselves crucified, so that we can believe that we are accepted of God? Why, it is done, thank the Lord! In Him it is done. As certainly as the soul by faith sinks self in Jesus Christ and by that divine power which He has brought to us to do it, so certainly it is done as a divine fact.  And it is only the genuine expression of faith to tell, to acknowledge, that divine fact that "I am crucified with Christ."

 

Jesus sunk His divine self in our human nature and altogether was crucified. When we sink ourselves in Him, it is so still, because in Him only is it done. It is all in Him. We call attention to the thought we had in the lesson a few evenings ago, that it is not in Him in the sense of His being a receptacle to which we can go and take it out and apply it to ourselves. No. But it is in Him in the sense that it is all there and when we are in Him,  when we go into the receptacle, when we sink into Him, we have it all in Him as we are in Him.

 

Therefore, now let every soul of us say by the faith of Jesus Christ, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him." "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." He is alive again.  And because He lives, we live also. "Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith"--in the Son of God? "the faith of the Son of God,"--that divine faith which He brought to human nature and which He gives to you and to me. We "live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20. O, He loved Me! When He gave Himself in all His glory and all His wondrous worth for me, who was nothing, is it much that I should give myself to Him?'

 

To be continued…

 

1895 G.C. Sermon #18  by A.T. Jones