GRACE AND THE TRUTH - DAILY INSPIRATION

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On Earth But Also In Heaven!
By Pastor Paul Hume



Someone asked another person who professed faith in Jesus Christ, 'What earthly good are you for heaven's sake?' You've heard it a hundred times about being 'so heavenly minded so as to be no earthly good.' Yet, it is terribly possible on the other hand to be 'so earthly minded and no heavenly good.'

The true believer in Christ Jesus today is rather an odd person!  By that we mean that he is, in a sense, to have his head in heaven and his feet on earth! Look at Paul's line of reasoning about this in his Epistle to the Colossians.  Paul writes: 'If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourselves to decrees ....?' (Colossians 2:20). Then follow Paul on into the next chapter: 'If (since) then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on things which are upon the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. '

The point of Paul's words seem to be that true believers in Christ have died (judicially) with Christ. They have experienced a spiritual resurrection insomuch that their life is 'hid with Christ in God.'  Where is Christ? He is seated at the right hand of God. So every believer is, in a very real sense, in heaven - right now!

Another passage makes this clear: 'But God...made us alive together with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Ephesians 2:4,5,6). This seems so fantastic that it couldn't be real. But it is! We may not feel this truth very often, but we surely can believe it! By faith, resting upon the veracity of God's Word of Truth, we know we have been, as the hymn writer has stated:

'In the Beloved' Accepted am I,
Risen, ascended, and seated on high;
Saved from all sin thru' His infinite grace,
With the redeemed ones accorded a place.
'In the Beloved', God's marvelous grace
Calls me to dwell in this wonderful place;
God sees my Savior and then He sees me;
'In the Beloved', accepted and free.'

Now the truth of Philippians 3:20 becomes all the more bright: 'For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But then going back to Paul's exhortations in Colossians 3, we find him being very 'earthly' to his advice. He says, 'Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.' (3:5) He speaks about our 'earthly body,' or 'our members which are upon earth.' Physically and bodily we are very much in this world and on this earth. But spiritually we are in heaven!

This is why the Apostle goes on in Colossians 3 to explain what a heavenly life is in a hell-like world! He goes on to tell us how to live a heaven-controlled life personally, domestically and vocationally every day. Meditate upon Colossians 3:5-4:6, and even commit it to memory. And let's gear our lives each day to keep in tune with heaven - where our real Life is - so that we'll be more earthly good in this holiday season!

Grace, peace and love, Pastor Hume

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SCRIPTURE THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
I Corinthians 15:3,4
by Russell S. Miller


"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (I Cor. 15:3,4).

Well do I remember that night, many years ago now, when I first trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I recall how the minister opened the inspired Scriptures to share God's truth with a lost sinner. How kind he was to tell me of the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus. Opening the pages of holy Writ he showed me verse by verse my sinful condition before a holy God, and God's remedy for it.

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

Finally when he laid that Book open before me at St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, I knew that I must trust Christ as my Saviour:

"For I delivered unto you first at all that which I also received, how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the Scriptures, And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (I Cor. 15.3,4).

I praise God for that man, that night, when I was convinced by the Spirit of God concerning "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (II Tim. 2:10). How wonderful the peace that came into my troubled soul - "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). I found peace because the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the Scriptures opened my blind eyes to see how fully I had been identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection -- baptized into Jesus Christ Himself (Rom.6:3; 4:1; I Cor. 12:13). And because of the finished work of Christ at Calvary, there is no doubt about the eternal security of the believer in Christ today. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

Praise the Lord indeed, for this passage of Scripture has changed my life, my outlook on life, and my eternal destiny, and because the Apostle Paul's epistles are written to "saints," believers in Jesus Christ become -- "saints". Won't you trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour and experience the change that Holy Scripture will make in your life?

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The Maker Of All Made Sin For Us
by Pastor C. R. Stam


 It is thrilling to trace through the New Testament and find the word “made,” and to observe how our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Creator of all, humbled Himself, died on Calvary’s cross and arose again from the dead to save, justify and glorify sinners.

 St. Paul says of Christ: “All things were created by Him  and for Him” (Col. 1:16), and St. John adds by inspiration:  “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not  anything made that was made… The world was made by Him” (John 1:3,10).

 How wonderful it is, then, that He, the Creator of all, came to be one with us — yes, one of us! John tells us again that the Maker of all was “made flesh” (John 1:14) and Paul declares that“when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law…” (Gal. 4:4), that He“made Himself of no reputation  …and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6,7). In his letter to the Hebrews he adds that Christ was “made [for] a little [while] lower than the angels for the suffering of death” (Heb. 2:9). More than that, he declares that our Lord was “made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13) to redeem us from the curse of the law, and that God “made Him to be sin for us…” (II Cor. 5:21).

 Thus in one stroke, at Calvary , our Lord, the great Creator, bore the penalty for sin that would have sunk a world to hell, and for this“God also hath highly exalted Him” (Phil. 2:9), having “raised him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all…” (Eph. 1:20,21). “God hath made that same Jesus… both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36)so that now He has been “made higher than the heavens” (Heb.7:26).

 As a result the simplest believer in this mighty Savior is “made… accepted in the Beloved One” (Eph. 1:6) and “made [to] sit… in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). He is “made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21), “that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

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Knowing God's Will
by Steve McVey

"Pray for me to know God's will," Brent said. "I have three job offers and I'm not sure which one I'm supposed to accept. I don't want to miss God's perfect will by taking a job I'm not supposed to have," he continued. "Please pray that the right choice will become very clear to me soon."

Brent was a close friend of mine and I knew that he had a sincere desire to glorify God in the decisions he made in his life. Yet I could see that he was experiencing real anxiety over which choice to make in this matter. He had been without a job for almost three months, but now he had three offers, all coming within days of each other. The irony of the situation was that he had seemed more relaxed during the months that he had no job offers than he did when he had three. Any of the three sounded good to me, but his concern over picking the right option made him tense.

Brent needed to understand how to apply grace to the decision-making process. When grace rules a person's life, his perspective changes on everything. He begins to understand that every detail of life flows from his relationship with God. Grace means that God does it all. We simply receive from Him, cooperating with the Holy Spirit by trusting Him moment by moment. To walk in grace doesn't mean that we are passive in matters of daily living. To the contrary, it means that we act in confidence, resting in the fact that it is God who will initiate, perpetuate, and consummate His plan for our lives.

Many Believers fall short of the joy God intends for them because they fail to understand how His grace acts on our behalf to bring to pass the wonderful plan He has for us. God has an awesome plan for your life. It isn't a cookie-cutter plan, either. He designed a special agenda that was uniquely created just for you. One of the greatest joys in life is knowing that you are experiencing the very purpose for which you were created. Fulfilling the will of God is not some elusive goal that can never be reached. It is possible for Christians to enjoy the experience of knowing that we are in the very center of God's purpose.

Do you want to experience the joy of confidently knowing and doing the will of God? Then it is important to understand the difference between a legalistic approach to God's will and resting in Him through the grace walk. To a legalist the will of God is about doing. He believes that it is his responsibility to find and fulfill God's specific plan for him. He is often sincere, yet his perspective actually cheats him out of the greatest benefit associated with God's will. The greatest blessing in experiencing God's will is the joy of experiencing God Himself! Yet the legalist is so focused on making the right choice that he usually misses the intimacy God intends for him to enjoy. This Christian believes that he has a job to do for God. Because of this drive to do something, he often makes a better church member than Christian. The only problem with the things he does is that God is nowhere to be found in his activity. That is a serious problem. The starting point for understanding the will of God must be grace. Space in this article will not permit fully dealing with how grace points the way toward experiencing God's will, but consider the summaries of these key points. (A complete discussion of these truths is included in chapter seven of my book Grace Rules.)

1. The will of God is Jesus.

Before we can properly relate to the what of God's will, we must properly relate to the Who of His will. The will of God is not primarily a plan, but instead is a Person. Jesus Christ is the will of God. When one rightly relates to Him, doing the will of God becomes the natural result of our union with Him.

Many Christians behave like deists. A deist basically believes that God created the world, fueled it up like a car, and then stepped back to watch it run its course. Deism recognizes very little personal interaction between God and His world. Its perspective implies that God has empowered the car (earth) to run, and now it's up to man where he drives it. Of course, most Christians would contest such a view. We believe that God is very much involved in the detailed events of this world. Yet many Christians act like a deist when it comes to God's will. They look for God to show them His will so that they can then go out and do it.

2. We are to seek Him, not a plan.

The propensity toward seeking the right path presents a subtle danger. It places the responsibility on us to figure out God's will. Where grace rules, man is the recipient of good things and God is the Giver. So under grace, it isn't the Christian's duty to find God's will, but rather God will reveal His will to the one who rests in Him. A person ruled by law will pursue God's will with sincerity and yet never be confident that he has discovered it. One who enjoys intimacy with Jesus will know it without struggling to find it.

3. We can't miss God's will when we are abiding in Christ.

If Satan can't paralyze us with fear about moving forward in God's will, he will try to make us think that we have missed it. Maybe you have made choices only to later wonder what went wrong. You prayed about the choices. You evaluated them and then made your decision. Then things turned sour. Does this mean you missed God's will? No. Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a man are established by the LORD." God did direct your steps.

When events don't unfold in the way you want or expect, it simply means one thing: God has a different plan. You aren't out of His will, but are discovering that His will is producing results you didn't expect. Never second-guess God's will after you have acted in faith.

4. When we are abiding in Christ, we can pick a spot and run!

Imagine yourself standing in the center of a large field with an unobstructed view of the horizon in every direction. To the west you can see the ocean. To the east you see a beautiful mountain range. To the north is a lush wooded forest. Looking south, you see a beautiful lake shaded by overhanging trees. As you look, you see many small points on the horizon. Those points represent your choices in life. You can go to any one of them; many look interesting, others don't. Which point should you choose? If you are trusting Christ within you, the answer is easy. You can choose any place you desire. Of course, it's important that you are enjoying an intimate union with Jesus at the time you make your choice. In other words, don't act independently of Him. Trust Him to guide your thoughts, and then make your decision!

Have you selected the point on the horizon to which you want to go? Then run! Run there as fast as you can. Run with excitement and joyful anticipation. When you reach the spot you have selected, do you know what you will find? Jesus will be standing there. You'll see His arms outstretched toward you, and He will be laughing with joy. "Come on!" He will say. "Run! Run! I've been waiting for you to get here! This is exactly where I wanted you to be!" "Lord!" you exclaim. "I'm so glad You're here! No matter what this place holds for me, I know the Father's purpose will be done because You drew me here and will be with me at every moment. "When grace rules your life, you'll experience the joy that comes from knowing and doing God's will. You don't have to be afraid. Trust Jesus and go forward in faith. As you abide in Him, He will keep you in His will at every moment. He is God's will, and you are in Him. Don't worry or struggle. Relax and simply rest in Him because grace rules!

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HIGHLY PLACED
By Miles Stanford


"O our God ... we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee" (II Chron. 20:12).

Many believers have gone only as far as justification can take them --- spiritual birth, and a bit beyond. There they stagnate, in dire need of the fresh streams of living water that come from seeing their position in Christ. "God ... hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). "Always begin with your position, where you are; and then think of your condition, what you are." - R.P.

"Christians are at their wits' end. Many have given up the fight. They still go to church; but secretly they feel that victory is out of the question. They have no weapons for such an hour. Frankly, they have capitulated to the prince of this world, for all their efforts to rout the foe have failed.

"But victory is the believer's right, as truly his as the air he breathes. However, he must understand the conditions. He must see himself enthroned with Christ. He must see himself according to God's own Holy Word, as crucified with the Lord Jesus, dead, buried, raised and made to sit in heavenly places with his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Without this he will go down in ignominious defeat in spite of all his strivings and his prayers. With this position he is more than conqueror through Him who loved him and gave Himself for him."--- F.J.H.

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4).

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DEAD WORKS
by C. R. Stam



Twice in Paul's epistles he refers to "dead works". In Hebrews 6:1 he writes about "repentance from dead works", while in Hebrews 9:14 he declares that the blood of Christ avails to "purge the conscience from dead works to serve the living God".

Mark well, these references are not to wicked works but to dead works. These "dead works" are the so-called "good works" (whether moral or ceremonial) which men did — and still do — to make themselves acceptable to God. They are "dead" because they are not the product of regeneration or spiritual life, but the mere attempt on the part of unregenerate sinners to justify themselves before God.

Paul himself, once zealously religious, but wholly unsaved, had to repudiate his "dead works" and count them "loss" to find salvation in Christ, through whom alone he could produce good works which God could accept. (See Philippians 3:4-9).

This is why he later declared by divine inspiration: "For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works..." (Eph. 2:8-10).

"Dead works" are not only unacceptable to God, but an evil substitute for the faith He desires, "for without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6). But "he that believeth on the Son of God hath life" and this life is bound to bear fruit — the good works with which God is truly pleased.

The difference between the "good works" of the unregenerate man and the "good works" of a true believer, then, is that the former are "dead works" while the latter are the precious fruit of life possessed.

No man can please God while he denies the truth of His Word or rejects His Son, so graciously given to die on the cross as our Saviour. To try to win His favor by "good works" while rejecting Christ is like sending a gift to a man whose beloved son you spurn and despise.

"The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:35,36).

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The Reign Of Grace
by Pastor C. R. Stam



 It is amazing that God should still send forth the good news of His grace in a world where His Word and will are increasingly despised.

 The growing wickedness of “this present evil age,” of course, only emphasizes the true character of grace, for grace is the mercy and love of God toward those who do not deserve it (See Eph. 2:2-6).

 It is interesting to observe that while the four “Gospels” and the Acts take up twice as much space in our Bibles as the Epistles of St. Paul, yet the word “grace,” in the original, appears only 27 times in the “Gospels” and the Acts, while it occurs 107 times in the Pauline epistles: a ratio of 27 to 214 in favor of the Pauline epistles! Furthermore, only a very few times in the “Gospels” and the Acts is the doctrine of grace referred to, while in the Epistles of Paul almost every reference has to do with the doctrine of God’s love and favor to undeserving sinners.

 True, “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,” but it was not manifested at His birth, or even during His earthly life, for He lived and died under the Law (Gal. 4:4,5). As “the law was given by Moses,” not at his birth, nor when a prince in Pharaoh’s court,nor yet when he served with his father-in-law in the desert, nor even when he returned to deliver Israel from Egypt, but years later at Sinai, so “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,” not at His birth, nor during His earthly ministry, nor even during His resurrection appearances, but after His ascension to heaven, when He committed the dispensing of it to Paul (Eph. 3: 1-4).

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WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
by Russell S. Miller


Thank you for that "good" question.

God's plan of salvation today is not difficult to understand. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). There is no one exempt from sin. We are ALL guilty of breaking the Laws of God. We are sinners by nature and by choice, because we also choose to sin.

"The wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23). There is a penalty for sin. You go to work every day and at the end of the week you receive your wages. "The wages of sin is death..."

"...But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Eternal life is a gift. You cannot buy it, or earn it, or deserve it. It can only be received as a free gift because Christ paid the penalty of sin with His own blood. The love of God, therefore, has provided a way back to God in the person of Jesus Christ our Lord.

"...CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS...was buried, and rose again the third day..." (I Corinthians 15:3,4).

He died for our sins because there is no other way in which man could be redeemed.

He was buried that our old Adamic nature "might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6:6).

He arose from the dead to prove that our debt of sin, and its penalty, has been FULLY paid (Romans 4:25).

"Therefore being justified BY FAITH, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

Does it get any better than this? Yes, indeed it does, for we read in Ephesians 2:7:

"THAT IN THE AGES TO COME HE MIGHT SHEW THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARD US THROUGH CHRIST JESUS".

God is very patient, kind, and loving, and long suffering, but He will not be mocked of men. Consequently there is a "Hell" and "the Lake of Fire" awaiting all who reject this gift of salvation in the person of His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is clearly taught in Revelation 20:11-15.

When the Philippian jailor asked, "What must I do to be saved?", the Apostle Paul answered: "BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED..." (Acts 16:30,31).

This is the one really important issue of life, and there is no time like the present, to make that decision to trust Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour and Lord.

If you cannot say, "I know I am saved and I'm going to Heaven", then I exhort you to trust Christ as your Saviour, right now, and God will bless you with all the bounty of Heaven, and more.

"BUT GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US" (Romans 5:8.).

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LAW - GRACE - KINGDOM
By Miles Stanford




"Study to show thyself approved unto God. a workman that needeth not to be ashamed" (2 Tim. 2:15a).

Divide rightly, or be conquered!

"There is an entirely baseless sentiment abroad which assumes that every teaching of the Lord Jesus must be binding upon the believer during this age simply because He said it. The fact is forgotten that He, while living under, keeping, and applying the Law of Moses, also taught the principles of His future earthly kingdom, and, at the end of His ministry and in relation to His Cross, He also anticipated the teachings of grace. If this three-fold division of His teachings is not recognized and maintained, there can be nothing but confusion of mind and consequent contradiction of truth." -L.S.C.

"Because the thing is in the Bible does not warrant the conclusion that it is God's will for the Christian. We must seek rightly to divide the Word of truth. What was formerly right for the Jews is for us nothing but the elements of the world. These forms pointed to a reality that is now come; the Body is of Christ. The blessed position of a Christian is, that he has died even to the best things of the world, religious and otherwise, and he is alive to the highest things in the presence of the Father; for the Lord Jesus Christ is his life, in whom he is hidden (Col. 3:3)." -W.K.

"The Gospels are complex almost beyond any other portion of Scripture, since they are a composite of the teachings of the law, of grace, and of the coming kingdom." -L.S.C.

"We realize our privileges and possessions in the Lord Jesus by faith; we enjoy them by the Spirit." "Rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15b)

"Thou. therefore. endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. 2:3).

What if there were conscientious objectors in the Lord's army? Actually, our Lord does not have any non-combatant soldiers whatsoever in His service, since the battle line extends from the front all the way to the rear; to say nothing of the fact that we are all camped in enemy territory.

"Luther, speaking to the young preachers of his day, said: 'I did not learn to preach Christ all at once. The devil has been my best professor of exegetical and experiential theology. Before that great schoolmaster took me in hand, I was an unweaned child, not a grown man. It was my combats with sin and with Satan that made me a true minister of the New Testament. It is always a great grace to me, and to my people, for me to be able to say to them: "I know this text is true! I know it for certain to be true!" Without incessant combat, and pain, and sweat, and blood, no ignorant stripling of a student ever yet became an effective preacher.'"

"Every bit of truth we receive, if we receive it in faith, will take us into conflict and will be established through conflict. It will be worthless until there has been this process. Take any position the Lord calls you to take, and, if you are taking it with Him, you are going through things in it, and there will be an element added by reason of the pressure. You have taken a position, yes; but you have not really received as yet, the true value of it has not yet been established. You have not come into the real significance of the truth until there has been some sore conflict in relation to it." - T.A-S.

"I bear willing witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord's workshop. When my schoolroom is darkened, I see most."---C.H.S.

"We also exult in our sufferings, knowing as we do, that suffering produces fortitude; fortitude, ripeness of character" (Rom. 5:3, Wey.).

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POWER PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS
by C.R. Stam


To Paul was committed the greatest revelation of all time. He was divinely commissioned to proclaim the glorious all-sufficiency of Christ's redemptive work, God's offer of salvation by free grace to all who trust in Christ and their heavenly position, blessings and prospect.

Lest he should become puffed up by the glory of these great truths, God gave him what he calls "a thorn in the flesh", an aggravating physical infirmity of some sort. "For this thing," he says, "I besought the Lord thrice [three times], that it might depart from me" (II Cor. 12:8.). But the Lord knew better than Paul what was best for him:

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (Ver. 9).

How right God was! Every Christian knows that with brimming health and "good fortune" comes the tendency to forget our need of Him, while infirmity causes us to lean harder and to pray more and this is where our spiritual power lies. Every believer should acknowledge this and say with Paul:

"Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities...for when I am weak, then am I strong" (II Cor. 12:9,10).

Infirmities of the flesh are common even to God's choicest saints. What satisfaction there is, then, in just believing God's Word: "My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness".

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ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN
By Ike T. Sidebottom


The Holy Spirit of God spoke through the patriarch Job, saying, "How should man be just with God?" 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. For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that should lay His hand on us both." (Job 9: 1,30-33)

It is evident that Job was clearly shown the deep and unabridged chasm between himself, the sinner, and God, the righteous One. Consequently, His cry for a "daysman" to stand betwixt him and God. Laying one hand upon God and the other hand upon Job, thereby bridging the chasm between them.

The "daysman," or mediator, has been supplied in the person of "the man Christ Jesus." The appointed preacher, and apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, was moved upon to reveal the fact that it is the desire of "God our Saviour" that all men be "saved," and "come unto the knowledge of the truth." Coupled with this unprecedented longing in the heart of God our Saviour, He has also set forth the essential facts that He is the "one God," Who became the "one mediator" between God and men, "the man Christ Jesus" ( I Timothy 2:1-7).

With God's Word as our authority, we may be absolutely positive in our teaching that "the man Christ Jesus" is not a mere man. He is man, but He is also God. He is the one, and only, God-man. Therefore He is the one and only mediator between God and men. These things are attested in "all Scripture."

A mere man could never be rightly spoken of as being "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Yet, we find that God has spoken through the Psalmist David, saying, "0 my God ... Thy years are throughout all generations. Of old, hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure: yea all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end" (Psalms 102:24-27). It is also written in Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not."

The writer to the Hebrews certified these same truths, saying, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Thus we see that both the Old Testament and New Testament writers have joined together in testimony that the man Christ Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting and that He is unchangeable. Therefore the "one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" is none other than perfect  God and perfect man. Therefore He is the go-between, and is capable of putting one hand in the hand of the fallen sinner and the other hand in the hand of the righteous God. This makes it possible for the believing sinner to be linked up with God through the tie which can never be broken.

Let us rejoice and give thanks for our fellowship with God through Jesus Christ His Son, our Saviour.

[nChrist]

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COLOSSIANS CHAPTER 1:22.
By Charles Schiedler


"but now you were reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable in his presence,"

The Greek phrase translated "but now" (nuni de) consists of the conjunction "De" with the adverb "nuni " and may be rendered but in the now or present time. Having discussed the Colossians' former, estranged and hostile relation to God in the previous verse, Paul shifts gears by use of this phrase to show their present standing with God. Paul's use of "nuni de" here and in comparable passages clearly denotes a change in God's reconciliatory program from His exclusive, legal relation to Israel to that which is centered in the shed Blood of Jesus Christ for both Jews and Gentiles in this present Church age (Rom. 3:21; Eph. 2:13).

The word translated "you were reconciled" comes from three words, which literally in reverse order mean to change down from. Good English equivalents are first, to reconcile, and second, to restore to favor. This word is used three times in the New Testament, all by Paul, conclusively indicating the Divine action used to change a sinner from an enemy relation to God unto being acceptable to Him (Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20).

Since the manuscript evidence available to us in relation to the form of this word here is divided, we will discuss the significance of both feasible forms presented. The first form means that this reconciliation was completed (aorist tense) by an outside agent (passive voice) upon the subject, "you" (second person plural). The second form means that "he" (God or Jesus Christ, third person singular) actively completed (active voice and aorist tense) the work of reconciliation upon the recipients, "you" as found in verse 21. Whichever way we go, the meaning is the same; it took a sovereign act of Deity to reconcile dead-in-sin enemies to God (cf. Eph. 2:4-5).

Paul says that they were reconciled "in the body of his flesh through death." The phrase translated "in the body" is in the locative case indicating the place where this reconciliation occurred, i.e., in the physical body of Jesus Christ (Matt. 27:58-59; Heb. 10:10). The word for "flesh" is in the genitive case and as such means that Jesus' body belongs to flesh as He was identified with the human race by actually taking upon Himself a flesh and blood body (Rom. 1:3; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 2:14). Also, the pronoun is in the genitive case indicating that the body of flesh belongs to Him, hence, we have translated it "the body of his flesh." As the Apostle Paul painstakingly uses this language, his intent is unmistakable; Jesus Christ, although God, became a man, taking on a human flesh and blood body that was capable of bearing the sin of the world (Phil. 2:6-7; 1 Peter 2:24).

The purpose for this body was that "through death" or through the agency of physical death He might lay the basis for the reconciliation of men with God. The fact that Jesus Christ became a man, suffered a physical death bearing our sins, and was raised from the dead as a life-giving basis upon which God reconciles men to Himself is central to the Pauline Epistles, God's purpose in this Church age (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Heb. 2:9, 14).

Furthermore, the phrase the body of flesh is used one other time by Paul in Colossians 2:11, where he speaks of the circumcision-separation of "the body of flesh" from believers, i.e., the putting off of the body of sin, the old man (Rom. 6:6). Therefore, by using the same phrase in relation to our Lord, Paul may be referring to His flesh and blood body permeated with our sin, which He assumed in His body on the cross. It is certainly necessary to hold to the fact that when Jesus Christ died, His body was laden down with the sin of the world so He could be the sin substitute for all who are identified with Him and the basis of their reconciliation with God (Rom. 6:3-6; Col. 2:11-13).

The Greek word translated "to present" comes from the two words and literally meaning to stand beside and could also be rendered to stand or place by in similar contexts (2 Cor.11 :2; 2 Tim. 2:15). The fact that it is an infinitive indicates the reason for the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ was to present holy, blameless, and irreproachable men before God, in the sight of God, hence, "in his presence" Eph. 1:4; Jude 24).

The words translated "you," "holy," "blameless," and "irreproachable" at the end of this verse are all accusative, plural nouns, and in this relation are descriptive of one another. The first word describing the character of how these Colossian believers were presented to God is "holy," sanctified, and ones set apart (as a noun) for God's service (Rom. 12:1; 1 Cor. 7:34). Second, they were presented "blameless," without blame, and ones void of fault (as a noun) before God (Eph. 5: 27; Phil. 2:15). Third, they were stood in the presence of God "irreproachable," unindictable, and ones unable to be called into question (as a noun; 1 Cor. 1:8; Titus 1:6-7). Believers are acceptable to God and worthy to stand in His presence because they have been considered holy, blameless, and irreproachable since they were identified with the one who truly bears these qualities, Jesus Christ (l Cor. 1:30; 1 Peter 1:19).

[nChrist]

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BLESSED LAMENESS
By Miles Stanford




"My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in (your) weakness" (2 Cor. 12.:9).


Our greatest liability: self-confidence. Our greatest asset: Christ- confidence. It usually takes years to discover one's misplaced confidence. The flesh will fail us every time, and under all conditions. The Lord Jesus never fails us under any conditions.

"When the Lord Jesus was on the Cross there were no mighty deeds to be seen, yet Calvary did more for the world than all the great deeds in Galilee. We think too much of the greatness, and too little of the death-fellowship with our Lord. The 'mighty deeds' may mean the 'greater works,' but death-fellowship means 'much fruit.' You might toil all your life, and only do so much, even with the wonderful deeds; but if you are willing to die with Him there will be effortless multiplication. There is no limit to the fruit that comes out of death."

"An increasing number of the Lord's people are seeking to enjoy the power of the Lord Jesus' life by accepting the fact of their union in His death as expressed by Paul, 'That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death" (Phil. 3:10). We died with Him, but most of us are not being conformed to His death and hence are not like Him in life." -L.L.L.

"There is no escape from the Cross, if believers would know the 'power of His resurrection.' This crafty, defiant, defensive 'I' must be held in the place of death by the Spirit if there is to be true fruitfulness. In the measure that one dies to the old, in the same measure does one experience life in the New."

"Then shall the lame man leap as an hart .. .for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert" (Isa. 35:6).

[nChrist]

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HUMILITY
By Pastor  L Peterson



The times that we are experiencing are the most trying and difficult that any generation has known. If it were not for the sound under girding of the Word of God, many of us would be swept into the abyss of unbelief. You know as well as I do that most of the time we resort to 'our own understanding' rather than follow the admonition of the Lord to 'lean NOT unto thine own understanding.' We live in such extremes and with such a high or rapid race that we know nothing of that which Dr. Andrew Murray calls 'a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door, and knee l to Father in secret and am at peace, etc.' If we were more at home with the Lord we would need less human supplements in this day.

The following by Andrew Murray has proved a real blessing to me. I am sure it will bless your heart. May I suggest that you practice such a rest in the Lord:

'Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to have no trouble; never to be fretted or vexed or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around and above is trouble. It is the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ's redemptive work on Calvary's Cross manifest in those of His own who are definitely subjected to the Holy Spirit.'

Is not this a true picture of a real Christian? Let us all examine ourselves in light of this definition.

Amen and love,

[nChrist]

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What Do You Know?
by Dr. Bill Gillham

You've heard it said, "What you don't know won't hurt you." Wrong! In Christianity, what you don't know will destroy you! On the other hand, what you know and Who you know—Jesus—will grant you the peace that passes human understanding.

You know…

Who You Are: God is Spirit and He created you in His image; therefore, you are a spirit critter who lives temporarily in an earthsuit. You are not a physical critter with a spirit. The essence of your identity is spiritual, not physical.

Who God is: God is Love. He created you to need love so that you would need Him. But, not knowing God, you set out to get your love-need supplied through only people, and naively ignored the only Source that can fully satisfy our need to be loved.

Who You Were: God's job description is "He runs things;" He's in control. At birth, however, you immediately homesteaded everything you wanted to control, staked a claim, drew an imaginary circle around it, established your fences, held an election, stuffed the ballot box and declared yourself god of your "turf." You crowned yourself lord of the ring. You took control, and that put you in competition with God. Ultimately, you built your self-image upon your ability—or inability—to effectively play lord of the ring.

God Started All Over With You: When you said, "Yes," and allowed Jesus to save you from yourself, many wonderful things happened instantly. And you didn't do a thing to make them happen—Jesus accomplished them for you. All your sins were laid on Jesus when He was crucified. The old you (lord of the ring) was crucified in Christ (Rom. 6:6). He not only took your sins to the cross, He took you to the cross.

Why You Sin: As a saint (holy one), you long to obey God. But because you programmed your brain with thoroughfares (software) that God calls "flesh," this makes you vulnerable to sin. A power called "sin" dwells in your as yet unredeemed body (Rom. 7:21-23). The law of, power of, sin is an agent of Satan that seeks to control your behavior by using the thoroughfares of the flesh to trigger thoughts into your mind with first person singular pronouns (I, me, my, etc.) Victory over this power is experienced as you act out ("life" out) reality; that is, as you "act dead" to sin's thoughts and "act alive" to the truth that Jesus is overcoming your circumstances through you. This is God's command to us (Rom. 6:12-13).

The Conformation Process: You know that to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," you must develop a lifestyle of "setting your mind on [these] things above," that you are resting in Christ in heaven while Jesus meets your circumstances through you on earth. You do this by faith, not by feel, because feelings will often deceive you. This technique makes it much easier to recognize sin's thoughts when they penetrate your awareness. You think, Nope, that's not my thought; I'm dead to that, and you press on. Through this process, you are "transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Who Your Life is: One life came out of the grave 2,000 years ago as Christ began a whole new spirit-race: Eternal Life, Christ, Resurrection Life. Jesus is the Vine, you are a branch. You know that God's will is that you allow Christ (Vine) to express His Life through you (branch). In this way you can gain God's approval ("Well done, good and faithful servant.")

Your True Identity: You are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:16-17). You know the criteria you once embraced as the means for determining your identity are false, a ruse. Physical appearance, intellect, race, educational achievement, alumnus of (fill in the blank), personal worth, and things of this type are used to generate and maintain acceptance from others and to bestow or withhold self-acceptance. But you no longer have to strive for acceptance from others or yourself. Jesus has set you free to rest in God's unconditional acceptance through Christ.

By God's grace, you and I know these things and can be used by God to help lead other Christians into appropriating their true identity in Christ. In so doing, we can celebrate together knowing Christ, His life in us, and the matchless grace of our Heavenly Father. So, sic 'em, Tiger!