Overcoming.

 "All the promises of final happiness are to the overcomer. 

To him that overcometh," says Jesus, "will I give to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne." Rev. 3:21. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things," says the Lord. Rev. 21:7. An overcomer is one who gains victories. 

The inheriting is not the overcoming; that is only the reward for overcoming. The overcoming is now. The victories to be gained are victories over the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, victories over self and selfish indulgences. The man who fights and sees the foe give way may rejoice; nobody can keep him from rejoicing, for joy comes spontaneously as the result of seeing the enemy give way. Some folks look with dread upon the thought of having to wage a continual warfare with self and worldly lusts. That is because they do not as yet know anything about the joy of victory. They have experienced only defeat. But it isn't so doleful a thing to battle constantly, when there is continual victory. 

The old veteran of a hundred battles, who has been victorious in every fight longs to be at the scene of conflict. Alexander's soldiers, who under his command never knew defeat, were always impatient to be led into the fray. Each victory increased their strength, which was born only of courage, and correspondingly diminished that of the vanquished foe. Now how may we gain continual victories in our spiritual warfare?

Listen to the beloved disciple:

I am crucified with Christ; 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 of the Son of God,

who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Gal. 2:20.

Here is the secret of strength. 

It is Christ, the Son of God, the One to whom all power in heaven and earth is given, Who does the work. 

If He lives in the heart to do the work, is it boasting to say that continual victories may be gained? Yes, it is boast; but it is boasting in the Lord, and that is allowable. 

Says the psalmist, "My soul shall make her boast in the Lord" and Paul says, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." Gal. 6:14.

The soldiers of Alexander were reckoned invincible. Why? Was it because they were naturally stronger and more courageous than all their enemies? No, but because they were led by Alexander. Their strength was in his leadership. Under another leader they would often have been defeated. When the Union army was fleeing panic- stricken before the enemy at Winchester, the presence of Sheridan turned their defeat into victory. Without him the men were a quaking mob. With him at their head they were an invincible army. If you had listened to the remarks after the battle of the soldiers who served under those and similar leaders, you would have heard the praises of their general mingled with all their rejoicing. They were strong because he was; they were inspired by the same spirit that he had.

Well, our Captain is the Lord of hosts. He has met the chiefest foe of all and has vanquished him single-handed.  Those who follow Him invariably go forth conquering and to conquer. Oh, that those who profess to be His followers would put their trust in Him and then, by the repeated victories that they would gain, they would show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.

John says that he that is born of God overcomes the world, through faith. Faith lays hold of the arm of God and His mighty power does the work. How the power of God can work in a man, accomplishing that which he could not possibly do for himself, no one can tell. It would be as easy to tell how God can give life to the dead. Says Jesus, "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." John 3:8. 

How the Spirit works in a man to subdue his passions and to make him victorious over pride, envy, and selfishness is known only to the Spirit. It is sufficient for us to know that it is done and will be done in everyone who wants that work wrought in him, above all things else, and who trusts God for the performance of it."

Php_1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ

March 25, 1889  "The just shall live by faith." Rom. 1:17.

Signs of the Times Articles - by E.J. Waggoner (Excerpt)

What God Does With Our Sins.

Live ... By Faith.

 

I've Been Bought.

 "Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine."

I want to be Yours completely.

"I lay ALL my plans at Thy feet."

All that I do I want You to be in control of, Lord. Anything I make plans to do let those plans be done as You will. My plans are Yours to control, Lord, all of them, every single plan I have.

"Use me today in Thy service."

I need to you use me as Yours, I belong to You, I am not my own, I am Yours. Take me and use me in Your service, please. Whatever You need me to do, please let it be done in me, through You, all through You and Your glory, Your power.

"Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee."

Please. Please. Please.

You have purchased me, Lord. I belong to You.

1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 

I was bought with a price.

Act 20:28  …which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Purchased with the Blood of Christ.

Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 

Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 

Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

By the Blood of Christ through the eternal Spirit offered to God.

1Pe 1:18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 

1Pe 1:19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot

Redeemed with the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST.

2Pe 2:1  But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

The LORD that bought them… bought US.  BOUGHT US.

Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation

Redeemed us to God by THY BLOOD.

We have been PURCHASED by the BLOOD of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. We have willingly given ourselves to Christ to buy with his blood. Bought! We are OWNED by Jesus! And He will take us and use us for His purposes because we KNOW this is LOVE! No use that our Savior has for us is a use without love. He will use us for His purposes and WE will know that those purposes no matter how inexplicable they may seem to us, will ultimately be for good because our Savior is LOVE. 

Bought.

Excerpt 

'This is consecration. And thus it is a daily, an hourly, a constant recognition, in gratitude and thankfulness, that we are His own. So each day, "consecrate yourself to God in the morning. Make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.' 

This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate." Say, "I am the purchased possession of Jesus Christ, and every hour I must consecrate myself to His service." "Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ." This is consecration. And it is not a burden, but a living, everlasting joy.'

Purchased Possession.

 Present Truth Articles - Consecration-  by A.T. Jones

Consecration is simply the constant recognition of the fact that we are the Lord's and not our own. He who learns  that this is a fact and lives in the constant living presence and recognition of it as the great fact--he is  consecrated, and this is consecration.

Nor is this a hard thing to do in itself. People make it hard for themselves by thinking it to be something that it is not, and trying to accomplish it in a way that is not the Lord's way, and even then they miss it. And, in truth, going about it in another than the Lord's way, they cannot possibly do anything else than miss it.

Is it a fact, then, that we are the Lord's?--Of course it is; for it is written: "Ye are bought with a price."1Corinthians 6:20. And the price is, "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1Peter 1:19. For He "gave Himself for us." Titus 2:14 This "price" was paid for every soul that is on earth, and for everyone who ever was or ever shall be on earth; for "He died for all." Having died for all; having paid the wondrous price for all; having given Himself for all, it is certainly a fact that all are His. Therefore it is written: "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1Corinthians 6:19-20

He not only gave Himself for us, but for all there is of us--yes, even for our sins. For again it is written that He "gave Himself for our sins." Galatians 1:4. And He did it "that He might deliver us from this present evil world;" that He might "purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;" that He might present us "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24)--in one word, "that He might bring us to God." 1Peter 3:18

He so loved us that He wants to save us. But He cannot save us in our sins. He will save us from our sins.

And as our whole self is sin and sin only, in order to get us, in order to buy us, He had to buy our sins also. So in giving Himself for us, He gave Himself for our sins too. And as we are His, because He bought us with that great price, so also our sins are His, for He bought them with the same great price.

Then will you let Him have the sins which He has bought? or will you hold on to these yourself? Will you let Him have what is His own? Will you let Him do what He will with His own? And what will He do with these sins? Oh, He will forgive them! 1John 1:9. He will make them as white as snow. Isaiah 1:18. He will put them away. Hebrews 9:26. He will cast them into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19. He will remove them from us as far as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12. He will cast them all behind His back. Isaiah 38:17. And when they are all cast behind His back, He and His own throne will stand between us and them, as the pledge that we are free from them; and the rainbow round about the throne will be the sign--the token--of the everlasting covenant that our sins and iniquities will be remembered no more. Hebrews 8:12

Thus in giving Himself for our sins, He gave Himself to us. In giving Himself for us, He gave Himself to us. So when we let Him have our sins, we get Him instead. When we let Him have ourselves, we get Himself instead. Would you rather have Him than your sins? Then let Him have them. Make the blessed exchange today.

 Would you rather have His way than your way? Would you rather have His life than your life? Would you rather have His disposition than your disposition? Would you rather have His character than your character? Would you rather have Him than yourself? "To be sure I would," you say. Then, oh! let Him have you now; make the blessed surrender and exchange now and for evermore.

 This is consecration. And thus it is a daily, an hourly, a constant recognition, in gratitude and thankfulness, that we are His own. So each day, "consecrate yourself to God in the morning. Make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.' This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate." Say, "I am the purchased possession of Jesus Christ, and every hour I must consecrate myself to His service." "Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ." This is consecration. And it is not a burden, but a living, everlasting joy.

Therefore, "reckon ye also ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. . . . 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." "Sin shall not have dominion over you"--is that promise worth anything to you? It is worth all that God is worth to the one who reckons himself to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ; and who yields himself unto God, and his members unto God as instruments for God to use. To this one God has declared, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." 

Thank the Lord for this blessed promise of freedom from sin and all the power of sin. And this promise He will make a fact in the life and experience of every one who reckons thus and yields to God. You furnish the reckoning, He will furnish the fact. You yield to Him, and He will use you. You yield to Him your members, and He will use them only as instruments of righteousness. And so, "sin shall not have dominion over you," for God is

stronger than sin.

Consecration.

 

Members of the Body.

 Present Truth Articles - Members of One Another - By A.T. Jones

(Excerpt)

We have often noticed those Scriptures which set forth the church as the body of Christ, and the members of the  church as members of the body of Christ, and therefore members one of another, as they by "joints and bonds"  are "knit together in love." As the members of the church are members of the body of Christ, and also members one of another, how can it be but that there shall be unity in the church. If I am a member of the body of Christ, and you are a member of the body of Christ, then if we have any respect for Christ how can it be that we shall have any disrespect for one another? If we love Christ how can we have anything but love for one another? But more than this, we are also members one of another, and as "no man has ever yet hated his own flesh," how then can it ever be that we should not love one another.

This is the very test of our love for Christ: "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that  loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 1 John 4:20. No man can appreciate the love of Christ while he is cross and spiteful and cruel to his brother, for whom Christ died. 

Church members cannot expect to honor Christ while they dishonor one another. In dishonoring one another they do dishonor Christ, because "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." But when each

one sees in his brother one for whom the Saviour died, and one who is a member of the body of Christ, then each one will treat his brother tenderly, lovingly, as the Saviour is tender and loving. When each one sees in his

brother a soul so precious as that Christ died for him, he is not going to treat him slightingly, nor needlessly cause him pain. To cause a brother pain cannot be without causing Christ pain, for we are members of His body,

and He is the Head of the body, and it is the head always which is really conscious of any pain in the body. The Scripture would have us realize the closeness, the intricacy, of the relationship between Christ and the church,

and between the members one with another in the church.

Paul sets this forth as follows:--

"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,

whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And

if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; it is therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath

God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him.

And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary; and those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely

parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need; but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked; that there should be no schism in the

body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ,

and members in particular." 1 Cor. 12:12-27.

In this it is shown that in the church--the body--of Christ, the members make up the body, as in the human body the eyes, the hands, the feet, etc., form the body. As in the human body the different members are joined one to another, each in its proper place, to form the perfect body, so also is the body of Christ. And God hath "set the members every one in the body as it hath pleased Him." And as in the human body one dislocated member disconcerts and deforms the whole body, so also is it in the body of Christ. As in the human body, each member can properly fulfill its function only by working in the place in which it belongs, so also is it in the body of Christ.

For each member to know his place, and keep it, in the church, is just as essential to the efficient working of the church as that each member of the human body shall properly be set in its proper place, in order to the easy,

comfortable working of the human body. But "all members have not the same office:" all cannot be hands, all cannot be eyes, all cannot be feet.

Let the eye and the hand change places, and the good of both would be destroyed, and each would be an evil to  the whole body. Let the hands and the feet change places, and the efficiency of all would be destroyed. But with

all the members--eyes, hands, and feet--in their proper places, each can be efficient in its own place, and all working together can do that which the hand finds to do. The eye sees that which is to be done, the feet carry us

within reach, and the hands perform the task, and each is essential to the working of the other. Except they all work together no task can be efficiently executed. "The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor, again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary." To no part of the body can any other part of the body say, "I have no need of

you."

Thus it is with the human body, as everybody knows; and thus it is with the body of Christ--the church--as everybody ought to know. Each member of the church, in his place, is necessary to every other member of the church. Yea, even "those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary," and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we should bestow more abundant honor.

Christ has honored them with a place in the church, shall we despise them? "The members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored,

all the members rejoice with it." Or as it is said in another place: "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." Heb. 13:3. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." And, oh, that everyone who is a member of the church would realize how sacred is the relationship into which he has entered! Then, indeed, would the disciples of Christ be one, and the world would believe that God sent Him.

For the edifying--the building up--of the church, the Lord has placed certain gifts in the church. "When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." "And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Eph. 4:8, 11-13. In another place it is written of these gifts, "God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily

prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, government, diversities of tongues." 1 Cor. 12:28. Thus we see that the gift of teaching the Word of God is only third in importance of the gifts of the

Spirit of God to members of the church. It is second only to the gift of prophecy, and is before miracles, or gifts of healings, or diversities of tongues.

Paul expressed the matter thus: "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all; yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand

words in an unknown tongue." 1 Cor. 14:18, 19.

But though all could speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if they have not charity--the love of God--they are but as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though all had the gift of prophecy, and the gift of wisdom to the understanding of all mysteries and all knowledge; and though all had faith that could remove mountains, if they have not charity they are nothing. And though all were so benevolent as that they would bestow all their goods

to feed the poor; and though they were all so perfectly assured of what they believe that they would die at the stake as witnesses to it, if they have not charity it will profit nothing. Charity is love. It is the love of God shed

abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. It is that love which keeps the commandments of God, "for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments;" and "love is the fulfilling of the law." Therefore, though all have all these wondrous powers, and have not the keeping of the commandments of God, they are nothing. "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." 

But if there be in the church the love of God, keeping the commandments of God, then all these gifts, working together with charity, build up the body of Christ, make increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love, and increase it with the increase of God. 

How long shall it be ere the church of the living God comes up to the fullness of its high privilege?