Christ In Us

 A.T. Jones excerpt- 

'And remember that we are to be perfect with His character. 

His standard of character is to be ours. Yea, His character itself is to be ours. We are not to have one made like it; it itself is to be ours. And that alone is Christian perfection.'

Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

1 Jn 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 

1 Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1 Jn 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

Jn 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Jn 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Jn 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Jn 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Ro. 8 10,11 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 

2 Cor 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love

Us Without God.

 Us without God. The concept is something so many believe. Think about someone you love and imagine for a moment that everything you love about them is no longer a part of who they are- they are a mere shell where before they were the love of your life. It's rare but it's been documented that a person suffering from a traumatic brain injury can lose their entire memory and even if that person were married they no longer know the person they married, that person is a complete stranger to them and the amnesiac treats them as such. The person is altered in personality as well, and isn't the same as before the accident. These kinds of things are awful and take a long time, if ever, to repair. Ideally the couple would fall back in love again over time, but that's not always the case. 

Us without God. We were perfect with God before sin entered into humanity.  When sin entered we took ourselves away from that perfection of who we were. We were altered traumatically. Humanity became something far different from what it was intended to be because of sin separating us from God. Make no mistake, right away God had a plan for our restoration- in fact there was a contingency plan in place before we existed. This contingency plan was not something God ever wanted to have to put into action. How many countless worlds have been created with other creatures that have not chosen the path of sin? We don't know the answer to that, and it could very well be none, but somehow I don't think it is none. Are there other human creatures, no, I don't believe there are, but my knowledge is very limited.

God created us to be united with Him, and us without God is unacceptable to God. The way of restoration was put into action- and our ability to recognize God as being all powerful, all loving, all perfect is something we need restored in us through Jesus Christ our Lord, through the Holy Spirit. The restoration is the reuniting, not our being altered by our own actions. The reuniting is a submission towards the expectation of the promised restoration.  May God open our eyes, our hearts, our spirits to His blessed truth!

(Excerpt) 

Then that takes entirely away from you and me the whole plan and everything about it as to the doing of it. For when I cannot measure the standard, how should I attain to it, even if it were given me to do? 

Then let it be settled also that as to the doing of it, it is put utterly beyond you.

This also was said long, long ago 9 (From the Book of Job) : "I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God?

If he will contend with him, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand. . . . 

If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong; and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?" 

And when I should come to plead, what then? "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me." 

If I can measure up myself to the satisfaction of myself and pronounce the balance settled, when it is set alongside of his estimate, my own estimate is so far short that it condemns me utterly. There is in it no basis of justification.  "If I say, I am perfect, it [my own mouth] shall also prove me perverse."

"Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life." 

My own standard of perfection,  when set in the presence of His and seen in the light of His, would be so far short that I myself would despise it.  "If I wash myself with snow-water and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine own clothes shall abhor me." Job 9:1, 2, 19-21, 30, 31.

That is as near as we could come to the standard, if it were given to us to do. Then let us forever abandon all idea that perfection is anything that we are to work out. 

Perfection is that to which we are to attain, nothing but that. 

God expects it, and He has made provision for it. 

That is what we were created for. The only object of our existence is to be just that--perfect with God's perfection.

And remember that we are to be perfect with His character. 

His standard of character is to be ours. Yea, His character itself is to be ours. We are not to have one made like it; it itself is to be ours. And that alone is Christian perfection.

To be continued…

A.T. Jones 1899

Perfection

 We are to be perfect. Did you just laugh in disbelief? The sheer idea of perfection is one of something that is completely unattainable. For us on our own it is completely and utterly impossible. God doesn't want us to be perfect on our own, it is impossible without Him. He is our perfection, He has done for us all that is needed to be done so we can be His. 

(Excerpt) 

"Be ye therefore perfect." And the song, "Saved to the uttermost," which has just been sung, is sufficient ground for the "therefore"--"Be ye therefore perfect." Matt. 5:48.

You know that such is the word of God. You know that we are exhorted to "go on unto perfection." Heb. 6:1. You know that the gospel, the very preaching of the gospel which you and I preach, is to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Col. 1:28. Then it is not for us to say that perfection is not expected of us. It is expected of us. 

You must expect it of yourself. I must expect it of myself. And I must not accept anything in myself or of myself that does not meet in perfection the standard of perfection which God has set. What could possibly prevent us from attaining perfection more than to think that it is not expected? I say again, What could possibly prevent you and me from attaining unto perfection more than for us to say that it is not expected that we should be perfect?

Then, as it is settled that the Word says that you and I are to be perfect, the only thing for you and me to consider is the way. That is all. 

Let it be settled by you and by me that perfection, nothing short of perfection as God has set it, is to be expected of you and me, and that you and I will not accept anything in ourselves, in what we have done, nor anything about us, that is a hair's breadth short of perfection as God has set it--let this be settled by each one and settled forever--then inquire only the way, and the thing will be accomplished.

What is the standard, then? What is the standard which God has set? "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." 

The perfection of God is the only standard. And you and I must set ourselves right there and stand face to face with ourselves, always demanding of ourselves that there shall be perfection such as God's is in us and that we will not look with a particle of allowance upon, we will not apologize for nor excuse, anything in ourselves that is in any conceivable degree short of that perfection.

It is plain enough that we cannot be perfect in greatness as God is nor in omnipotence as He is nor in omniscience as He is. 

God is character, and it is perfection of character as His is that He has set for you and me to which we shall attain, which alone we are to expect and which alone we are to accept in ourselves. 

Then when it is God's own perfection which you and I must have and which alone we will accept of ourselves and we hold ourselves to that standard always, you can see at once that that will be for you and me only to hold ourselves constantly in the presence of the judgment of God. 

There is where every one of us expects to stand, whether we are righteous or wicked. Why not stand there, then, and be done with it? It is settled that you and I are to stand at the judgement seat of Christ and there every one of us shall be measured by that standard. God "hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained;  whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Acts 17:31.

The resurrection of Christ is God's pledge to the world that every man shall stand before the judgement seat of Christ. That is settled. You and I expect it; we preach it; we believe it. Then why not put ourselves there and stand steadily there? Why wait? Those who wait and continue to wait will not be able to stand there. The ungodly cannot stand in this judgment, but those who put themselves before the judgment seat of God, facing the standard of judgment and hold themselves there constantly in thought, word, and deed are ready for the judgment any moment. Ready for it? They have it; they are there; they are passing it; they are inviting the judgment, and all that the judgment brings; they stand there expecting to be passed upon, and only He who does this is safe. The very blessing that comes in that thing is all the reward that any person needs for putting himself just now before the judgment seat. And standing there what has he to fear? Nothing. And when all fear is cast out, what is it that does it? Perfect love. But perfect love can come only by our meeting that perfect standard of the judgment, in the judgment, and can be kept only by standing there.

That being settled, let us inquire the way--the way, that is all. 

It is settled, then, that mine is not the standard.  Think of it! "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." His perfection is the only standard. Then whose measurement of the standard, whose estimate of the standard, is the proper one? Not mine. I cannot measure God's perfection. You remember the verse--perhaps it occurs to you this moment: "I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad." Ps. 119:96.

No finite mind can measure God's perfection. Then it is settled, so far, that we are to be perfect; our perfection is to be as His perfection is and according to His own estimate of His own perfection. 

Then that takes entirely away from you and me the whole plan and everything about it as to the doing of it. For when I cannot measure the standard, how should I attain to it, even if it were given me to do? Then let it be settled also that as to the doing of it, it is put utterly beyond you.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A.T. Jones Excerpt July 18, 1899

The Simplicity That is In Christ.

 Satan is a beguiler. Do you know what a beguiler is?  A deceiver, a cheat, a trickster.  Satan beguiled Eve and we can all be beguiled by him.

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Our minds can be corrupted by Satan's beguiling.  If you read that verse above closely, it tells you that our minds have the possibility of being deceived by Satan from the simplicity that is in Christ.

There is a simplicity found in Christ that Satan has covered thickly in layer upon layer of deceit. 

Recently God has guided me to study Righteousness By Faith- and it's been such an amazing journey and continues to be so. I see the guidance of the Lord in this because not only has the study guidance been revealed in one source of reading material but in at least four sources when I haven't expected them to be there. I started a study and then, as I do, I take breaks studying other things as well, I don't just stay on one topic but various ones. Well, true to that form, I jumped over to another reading subject and lo and behold in material that I thought would have nothing, to do with righteousness by faith, there it is! Now, get this! The first material was from the 1800's, the next (what I thought would be unrelated) was from the 1500's, then still another source from the 1900's it turned up and yet again in the 2000's as well. The Lord is opening my spiritual eyes to the importance of this message that Satan wants to destroy. Satan wants to wipe out entirely- the simplicity that is in Christ. He's done his job so incredibly well he's able to deceive almost everyone, the word of God says so!

Mat_24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

So many false Christ's, so many false prophets have existed and their deception is near to perfected.  

Righteousness By Faith- this message is so important because righteousness ANY other way is pure and utter deception! Lies! 

God's word alone brings faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Not my words there, but God's! Rom. 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We need to have the Word of God in our lives to have faith. We need to breathe the word of God in constantly! Faith is our shield!  Eph_6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked

How many fiery darts of Satan are quenched by the shield of faith? ALL!

How important is quenching ALL the fiery darts of Satan?  Those fiery darts are FILLED with deception. We can't just assume the darts are the woes we suffer on a daily basis. The subtle attacks with those darts are vicious, so vicious because they are virtually undetectable. Have you ever been bitten by some unknown insect not knowing you were bitten right away but only later on as you see the mark it left behind, and possibly felt the pain and itch? I know I have quite a few times over my life. I was bitten, I didn't see what bit me and I didn't even feel it right away, but I was, I know I was without a doubt. Satan's darts are like that, and we need ALL those darts quenched by the shield of faith. 

Without faith we cannot please God, it's impossible! 

Heb_11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

The subject of the righteousness by faith is intensive and needed.  In the 1500's the one known to be a driving force for this was Martin Luther. His 95 theses nailed to the church door are  famous. The gist of them were about the fact there is NO other way to be right with God than through faith- no other way. You cannot buy forgiveness of sins, God alone freely can forgive sins. We can say we forgive others, but we cannot do God's part in giving forgiveness. There isn't a single work that produces salvation. Yet people time and time again have set up rules and regulations under the guise of -- if you keep them you are saved. 

Righteousness by faith, the righteousness that belongs to Christ alone. Christ's righteousness He offers to us, never stopping it from being His righteousness. He's not transforming us into being able to produce our own righteousness, it is HIS righteousness always! 

Eze_33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Rom_10:3  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Php_3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith

Satan is a beguiler, a great deceiver, we need to go to the word of God for truth, for protection, for the shield that will protect us.

Eve was beguiled and this has been a curse of human kind since- being beguiled. 

Gen 3:13  And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Satan is a liar, and the lies he tells are smooth as silk and so easy on the ears, and comforting in our minds. He is a great seducer of mankind and he knows his art well. 

If we can't understand God's word it could be because we are blinded by Satan. He doesn't want us understanding God's word, he doesn't want our faith to grow stronger. We need a total surrender to God, not a make-believe surrender but a full and complete surrender to our Savior.

Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 

Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

Joh 8:45  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 

We are surrounded by deceivers on every side, minions of Satan, but God is stronger, more powerful, and His angels greater number than Satan's!

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 

Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 

Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

This day is coming! This day is fast approaching! May we be safe in the arms of our Lord and Savior now and for all time! 

Sin Recognition.

 Satan doesn't want us to recognize the sin that runs rampant in ourselves. Satan wants us to make excuses for our failings should we happen to notice them after he tries so hard to keep them hidden. Satan shrouds our sins in covers of being only human, and as long as we are inclined to listen to Satan and make excuses for sins from the tiniest sin to the largest, we are in trouble. Our selfishness, Satan will call 'our right to indulge'. Our covetousness, is simply 'understandable desires all have'. We deserve to treat ourselves, we've earned our longing to partake. Satan loves for us to lose our sense of sin in its most simple forms, relabeling them for broader acceptance. When we recognize the true ugliness of our most basic self, it appalls us. The glimpse into the horrors of sin that has become a way of life for us, so naturally occurring, is something Satan wants to keep us from. However, sometimes Satan will flood us with our wretchedness in an attempt to get us to abandon Christ Jesus our Savior because we believe we are TOO wretched, too sinful, too horrible, too vile, too corrupt to ever truly belong to Christ. Satan wants us to despair and give up. Such trickery will meet us at every turn. Give up! Despair! No, you're fine, you are only human. Don't worry about your sinfulness. Caught in a web of the stickiest silk is it any wonder we find ourselves alternately flailing about between euphoria and despondency as we struggle to simply belong to Christ? We will forever need forgiveness for every single sin we succumb to. We will forever need to be shown ALL of our sins, no matter how intensely vile they make us feel about ourselves. We must cling to CHRIST for salvation all day long, not just on occasion. There is no good in us, all the good resides in CHRIST. It is only HIM in us that enables anything resembling good coming from us. And what is good? It is truth unfeigned the love of God. 

(Excerpt) 

There is a serious and very bothersome mistake which is made by many persons.

That mistake is made in thinking that when they are converted their old sinful flesh is blotted out.

In other words, they make the mistake of thinking that they are to be delivered from the flesh by having it taken away from them altogether.

Then when they find that this is not so, when they find that the same old flesh, with its inclinations, its besetments, and its enticements is still there, they are not prepared for it and so become discouraged and are ready to think that they never were converted at all.

And yet, if they would think a little, they ought to be able to see that that is all a mistake. Did you not have exactly the same body after you were converted that you had before? Was not that body composed of exactly the same material--the same flesh and bones and blood--after you were converted as that of which it was composed before? To these questions everybody will promptly say Yes. And plainly that is the truth.

And now there are further questions: Was not that flesh also of exactly the same quality as before? Was it not still human flesh, natural flesh, as certainly as it was before? To this also everybody will say Yes.

Then also a still further question: It being the same flesh and of the same quality--it still being human flesh,  natural flesh--is it not also still just as certainly sinful flesh as it was before?

Just here is where creeps in the mistake of these many persons. To this last question they are inclined to think that the answer should be "No," when it must be only a decided "Yes." And this decided "Yes" must be maintained so long as we continue in this natural body.

And when it is decided and constantly maintained that the flesh of the converted person is still sinful flesh and only sinful flesh, he is so thoroughly convinced that in his flesh dwells no good thing that he will never allow a shadow of confidence in the flesh. And this being so, his sole dependence is upon something other than the flesh, even upon the Holy Spirit of God. 

His source of strength and hope is altogether exclusive of the flesh,  even in Jesus Christ only. 

And being everlastingly watchful, suspicious, and thoroughly distrustful of the flesh,  he never can expect any good thing from that source, and so is prepared by the power of God to beat back and crush down without mercy every impulse or suggestion that may arise from it, and so does not fail, does not become discouraged, but goes on from victory to victory and from strength to strength.

Conversion, then, you see, does not put new flesh upon the old spirit but a new Spirit within the old flesh. 

It does not propose to bring new flesh to the old mind, but a new mind to the old flesh. 

Deliverance and victory are not gained by having the human nature taken away, but by receiving the divine nature to subdue and have dominion over the human--not by the taking away of the sinful flesh, but by the sending in of the sinless Spirit to conquer and condemn sin in the flesh.

The Scripture does not say, Let this flesh be upon you which was also upon Christ, but it does say, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. 2:5.

The Scripture does not say, Be ye transformed by the renewing of your flesh, but it does say, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Rom. 12:2. 

We shall be translated by the renewing of our flesh, but we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

The Lord Jesus took the same flesh and blood, the same human nature, that we have, flesh just like our sinful flesh, and because of sin, and by the power of the Spirit of God through the divine mind that was in Him,  "condemned sin in the flesh." Rom. 8:3. And therein is our deliverance (Rom. 7:25); therein is our victory. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "A new heart will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you."

Do not be discouraged at sight of sinfulness in the flesh. It is only the light of the Spirit of God, and by the discernment of the mind of Christ, that you can see so much sinfulness in your flesh, and the more sinfulness you see in your flesh, the more of the Spirit of God you certainly have. This is a sure test. Then when you see sinfulness abundant in you, thank the Lord that you have so much of the Spirit of God that you can see so much of the sinfulness and know of a surety that when sinfulness abounds, grace much more abounds in order that "as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

April 18, 1899 A.T. Jones (EXCERPT)

Faith Works

 

 (Excerpt)

"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Gal. 5:16.

What a blessed promise! And as sure as it is blessed, to everyone who believes.

Think of the lust of the flesh. How all-pervading it is! How stern are its dictates! How oppressive its rule! How dismal is the slavery that it lays upon man!

Everybody has experienced it--longing to do the good that he would, yet doing only the evil that he hated;  having ever a will to do better, but how to perform it, finding not; delighting in the law of God after the inward man, yet finding in his members another law, warring against the law of his mind and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members; and at last, crying out, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:14-24.

Thank the Lord, there is deliverance.'[;; It is found in Christ Jesus and in the Spirit of our God. Rom. 7:25; 8:1,2. And the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus having made you free from the law of sin and death, then "walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." There is not only deliverance from the bondage of corruption;  there is also the glorious liberty of the children of God for every soul who receives the Spirit and walks in the Spirit.

"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."

See the list of the workings of the lust of the flesh: "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,  witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,  revelings, and such like." None of these shall you fulfill, over all these things you have the victory, when you walk in the Spirit. It is the faithful word of God.

Is not that a most desirable prospect? Is not such a thing as that worth having? And when it is had for the asking and the taking, then is it not worth asking for and taking?

Accept the deliverance that Christ has wrought out for you. Stand, and stand fast, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

"Ask, and it shall be given you." "For everyone that asketh receiveth." "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." "Be filled with the Spirit," yea, "Walk in the" "Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

March 14, 1899 (Excerpt A.T. Jones)

'Constantly we sense a need, unless we are immersed in Laodiceanism - being in need of nothing.'

'Paul describes his experience of how a "renewed mind will view life. He would be found in Christ having the "righteousness which is of God by faith" that he "might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Did he claim perfection? No. "I have not attained, or am already perfect," but "this one thing I do... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." '

From <http://www.adventistlaymen.com/WWN%20Text%20Versions/wwn8(98).htm>