but will you not to-day say, "How shall He not with Him give me all things, every moment and every day of my life?" Say that in faith. "How shall G.o.d not be willing to keep me in the light of His countenance, in the full experience of Christ"s saving power? Did G.o.d make the sun to shine so brightly, and is the light so willing to pour itself into every nook and corner where it can find entrance? And will not my G.o.d, who is love, be willing all the day to shine into this heart of mine, from morning to night, from year"s end to year"s end?" G.o.d is love, and longs to give Himself to us.
Oh, come, Christians, you have hitherto lived a life in your own strength.
Will you not begin to-day? Will you not choose a life in which G.o.d shall be all, and in which you rest in Him for all? Will you not choose a life in which you shall say: "Oh, G.o.d, I ask, I expect, I trust Thee for it. I enter this day into the rest of G.o.d to let G.o.d keep me; to let G.o.d keep me every hour. I enter into the rest of G.o.d." Are you ready to say that? Be of good courage; fear not, you can trust G.o.d. He brings into rest. Listen to G.o.d"s word in the Prophets once again: "Take heed, and be quiet. Fear not, neither be faint-hearted." Joshua brought Israel into the land. G.o.d did it through Joshua; and Joshua is Jesus, your Jesus, who washed you in His blood; your Jesus, whom you have learned to know as a precious Saviour.
Trust Him to-day afresh: "O my Joshua, take me, bring me in and I will trust Thee, and in Thee the Father." You may count upon it. He will take you and the work will be done.
THE KINGDOM FIRST.
V.
_Matt 6: 33_.--_Seek ye first the kingdom of G.o.d_.
You have heard what need there is of unity in Christian life and Christian work. And where is the bond of unity between the life of the Church, the life of the individual believer and the work to be done among the heathen?
One of the expressions for that unity is: "Seek first the Kingdom of G.o.d,"
That does not mean, as many people take it, "Seek salvation; seek to get into the Kingdom, and then thank G.o.d, and rest there." Ah, no; the meaning of that word is entirely different and infinitely larger. It means: Let the Kingdom of G.o.d, in all its breadth and length, in all its Heavenly glory and power; let the Kingdom of G.o.d be the one thing you live for, and all other things will be added unto you. "Seek first the Kingdom of G.o.d." Let me just try to answer two very simple questions; the one: "Why should the Kingdom of G.o.d be first?" and the other: "How can it be?" The one, "Why should it be so?" G.o.d has created us as reasonable beings, so that the more clearly we see that according to the law of nature, according to the fitness of things, something that is set before us is proper, and an absolute necessity, we so much the more willingly accept it, and aim after it. And now, why does Christ say this: "Seek first the Kingdom of G.o.d?" If you want to understand the reason, look at G.o.d, and look at man. Look at G.o.d. Who is G.o.d? The great Being for whom alone the universe exists; in whom alone it can have its happiness. It came from Him. It can not find any rest or joy but in Him. Oh, that Christians understood and believed that G.o.d is a fountain of happiness, perfect, everlasting blessedness! What would the result be? Every Christian would say, "The more I can have of G.o.d, the happier. The more of G.o.d"s will, and the more of G.o.d"s love, and the more of G.o.d"s fellowship, the happier." How Christians, if they believed that with their whole heart, would, with the utmost ease, give up everything that would separate them from G.o.d! Why is it that we find it so hard to hold fellowship with G.o.d? A young minister once said to me, "Why is it that I have so much more interest in study than in prayer, and how can you teach me the art of fellowship with G.o.d?" My answer was: "Oh, my brother, if we have any true conception of what G.o.d is, the art of fellowship with Him will come naturally, and will be a delight." Yes, if we believed G.o.d to be only joy to the one who comes to Him, only a fountain of unlimited blessing, how we should give up all for Him! Has not joy a far stronger attraction than anything in the world? Is it not in every beauty, or in every virtue, in every pursuit, the joy that is set before us that draws? And if we believe that G.o.d is a fountain of joy, and sweetness, and power to bless, how our hearts will turn aside from everything, and say: "Oh, the beauty of my G.o.d! I rejoice in Him alone." But, alas! the Kingdom of G.o.d looks to many as a burden, and as something unnatural. It looks like a strain, and we seek some relaxation in the world, and G.o.d is not our chief joy. I come to you with a message. It is right, on account of what G.o.d is as Infinite Love, as Infinite Blessing; it is right and more, it is our highest privilege to listen to Christ"s words, and to seek G.o.d and His Kingdom first and above everything.
And then look at man again; man"s nature. What was man created for? To live in the likeness of G.o.d, and as His image. Now, if we have been created in the image and likeness of G.o.d, we can find our happiness in nothing except that in which G.o.d finds His happiness. The more like Him we are the happier. And in what does G.o.d find His happiness? In two things: Everlasting righteousness and everlasting beneficence. G.o.d is righteousness everlasting. "He is Light, and in Him is no darkness." The Kingdom, the domination, the rule of G.o.d will bring us nothing but righteousness. "Seek the Kingdom of G.o.d and His righteousness." If men but knew what sin is, and if men really longed to be free from everything like sin, what a grand message this would be! Jesus comes to lead me to G.o.d and His righteousness.
We were created to be like G.o.d, in His perfect righteousness and holiness.
What a prospect! And in His love too. The Kingdom of G.o.d means this: that there is in G.o.d a rule of universal love. He loves, and loves, and never ceases to love; and He longs to bless all who will yield to His pleadings.
G.o.d is Light, and G.o.d is Love. And now the message comes to man. Can you think of a higher n.o.bility; can you think of anything grander than to take the position that G.o.d takes, and to be one with G.o.d in His Kingdom; _i.e._, to have His Kingdom fill your heart; to have G.o.d Himself as your King and portion? Yes, my friends, let us remember that we must not just try to get here and there one and another of the blessings of the Kingdom. But the glory of the Kingdom is this: that it is the Kingdom of G.o.d where G.o.d is all in all. The French Empire, when Napoleon lived, had military glory as the ideal. Every Frenchman"s heart thrilled at the name of Napoleon as the man who had given the empire its glory. If we realized what it means,--our G.o.d takes us up into His Kingdom and puts His Kingdom into us and with the Kingdom we have G.o.d Himself, that blessed One, possessing us--surely there would be nothing that could move our hearts to enthusiasm like this. The Kingdom of G.o.d first! Blessed be His name I Look at man. I don"t speak about man"s sins, and about man"s wretchedness, and about man"s seeking everywhere for pleasure, and for rest, and for deliverance from sin, but I just say: Think what man is by creation and think what man is now by redemption; and let every heart say: "It is right. There is no blessedness or glory like that of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of G.o.d ought to be first in my whole life and being."
But now comes the important question, "How can I attain this?" Here we come to the great question that is troubling the lives of tens of thousands of Christians throughout the world. And it is strange that it is so very difficult for them to find the answer; that tens of thousands are not able to give an answer; and others, when the answer is given, can not understand it; The day the centurion found his joy in being devoted to the Roman Empire, it took charge of him with all its power and glory. Dear friends, how are we to attain to this blessed position in which the Kingdom of G.o.d shall fill our hearts with such enthusiasm that it will spontaneously be first every day? The answer is, first of all give up everything for it. You have heard of the Roman soldier who gave up his soul, his affection, his life, who gave up everything, to be a soldier; and you have often seen, in history ancient and modern, how men who were not soldiers gave up their lives in sacrifice for a king or a country. You have heard how in the South African Republic not many years ago the war of liberty was fought. After three years of oppression by the English the people said they would endure it no longer, and so they gathered together to fight for their liberty.
They knew how weak they were, as compared with the English power, but they said, "We must have our liberty." They bound themselves together to fight for it, and when that vow had been made, they went to their homes to prepare for the struggle. Such a thrill of enthusiasm pa.s.sed through that country that in many cases women, when their husbands might have been allowed to stay at home, said to them: "No, go, even though you have not been commanded." And there were mothers who, when one son was called out to the front, said: "No, take two, three." Every man and woman was ready to die. It was in very deed "Our country first, before everything." And even so, friends, must it be with you if you want this wonderful Kingdom of G.o.d to take possession of you. I pray you by the mercies of G.o.d, give up every-thing for it. You do not know at once what that may mean, but take the words and speak them out at the footstool of G.o.d: "Anything, everything, for the Kingdom of G.o.d." Persevere in that, and by the Holy Spirit your G.o.d will begin to open to you the double blessing: on the one hand, the blessedness of the Kingdom which comes to possess your heart; and on the other hand, the blessedness of being surrendered to Him, and sacrificing and giving up all for Him.
"The Kingdom of G.o.d first!" How am I to reach that blessed life? The answer is: "Give up everything for it." And then a second answer would be this: Live every day and hour of your life in the humble desire to maintain that position. There are people who hear this test, and who say it is true, and that they want to obey it. But if you were to ask them how much time they spend with G.o.d day by day, you would be surprised and grieved to hear how little time they give up to Him. And yet they wonder that the blessedness of the divine life disappears. We prove the value we attach to things by the time we devote to them. The Kingdom should be first every day, and all the day. Let the Kingdom be first every morning. Begin the day with G.o.d, and G.o.d Himself will maintain His Kingdom in your heart. Do believe that.
Rome did its utmost to maintain the authority of the man who gave himself to live for it. And G.o.d, the living G.o.d, will He not maintain His authority in your soul if you submit to Him? He will, indeed. Come to Him; only come, and give yourself up to Him in fellowship through Christ Jesus. Seek to maintain that fellowship with G.o.d all the day. Ah, friends, a man cannot have the Kingdom of G.o.d first, and at times, by way of relaxation, throw it off and seek his enjoyment in the things of this world. People have a secret idea life will become too solemn, too great a strain; it will be too difficult every moment of the day, from morning to evening, to have the Kingdom of G.o.d first. One sees at once how wrong it is to think thus. The presence of the love of G.o.d must every moment be our highest joy. Let us say: "By the help of G.o.d, it shall ever be the Kingdom of G.o.d first."
And then, my last remark, in answer to that question, "How can it be?" is this: it can be only by the power of the Holy Ghost. Let us remember that G.o.d"s Word comes to us with the language, "Be filled with the Spirit;" and if you are content with less of the Spirit than G.o.d offers, not utterly and entirely yielding to be filled with the Spirit, you do not obey the command. But listen: G.o.d has made a wonderful provision. Jesus Christ came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and proclaimed "The Kingdom is at hand." "Some," He said, "are standing here who will not see death until they see the Kingdom come in power." He said to the disciples, "The Kingdom is within you." And when did the Kingdom come--that Kingdom of G.o.d upon earth? When the Holy Ghost descended. On Ascension Day the King went and sat down upon the throne at the right hand of G.o.d, and the Kingdom of G.o.d, in Christ, the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth, was inaugurated. When the Holy Ghost came down He brought G.o.d into the heart, and Christ, and established the rule of G.o.d in power. I am afraid sometimes, that in speaking of the Holy Spirit we forget one thing. The Holy Spirit is very much spoken of in connection with power; and it is right that we should seek power. It is not so much spoken of in connection with the graces. And yet these are always more important than the gifts of power--the holiness, the humility, the meekness, the gentleness, and the lovingness; these are the true marks of the Kingdom. We speak rightly of the Holy Spirit as the only one who can breathe all this into us. But I think there is a third thing almost more important, that we forget, and that is: in the Spirit, the Father and the Son themselves come. When Christ first promised the Holy Spirit, and spoke about His approaching coming, He said: "In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that loveth me keepeth my commandments; and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him." Brother, would you have the Kingdom of G.o.d first in your life, you must have the Kingdom in your hearts. If my heart be set upon a thing I may be bound with chains, but the moment the chains are loosened I fly towards the object of my affection and desire. And just so the Kingdom must be within us, and then it is easy to say: "The Kingdom first." But to have the Kingdom within us in truth, we must have G.o.d the Father, and Christ the Son, by the Holy Ghost within us too. No Kingdom without the King.
You are called to likeness with Christ. Oh, how many Christians strive after this part and that part of the likeness of Christ, and forget the root of the whole! What is the root of all? That Christ gave Himself up utterly to G.o.d, and His Kingdom and glory. He gave His life, that G.o.d"s Kingdom might be established. Do you the same to-day and give your life to G.o.d to be every moment a living sacrifice, and the Kingdom will come with power into your heart. Give yourself up to Christ. Let Christ the King reign in your heart, and the heavenly Kingdom will come there and the Presence and the Rule of G.o.d be known in power. Oh, think of that wonderful thing that is going to happen in the great eternity. We read of it in 1st Corinthians: G.o.d has entrusted Christ with the Kingdom, but there is coming a day when Christ shall come Himself again to be subjected unto the Father, and He shall give up the Kingdom to the Father, that G.o.d may be all, and in that day Christ shall say before the universe: "This is my glory, I give back the Kingdom to the Father!" Christians, if your Christ finds His glory here on earth in dying and sacrificing Himself for the Kingdom and then in eternity again in giving the Kingdom to G.o.d, shall not you and I come to G.o.d to do the same and count anything we have as loss, that the Kingdom of G.o.d may be made manifest, and that G.o.d may be glorified.
CHRIST OUR LIFE.
VI.
_Colossians 3: 4_.--_Christ who is our life_.
One question that rises in every mind is this: "How can I live that life of perfect trust in G.o.d?" Many do not know the right answer, or the full answer. It is this: "Christ must live it in me." That is what He became man for; as a man to live a life of trust in G.o.d, and so to show to us how we ought to live. When He had done that upon earth, He went to heaven, that He might do more than show us, might give us, and live in us that life of trust. It is as we understand what the life of Christ is and how it becomes ours, that we shall be prepared to desire and to ask of Him that He would live it Himself in us. When first we have seen what the life is, then we shall understand how it is that He can actually take possession, and make us like Himself. I want especially to direct attention to that first question. I wish to set before you the life of Christ as He lived it, that we may understand what it is that He has for us and that we can expect from Him. Christ Jesus lived a life upon earth that He expects us literally to imitate. We often say that we long to be like Christ. We study the traits of His character, mark His footsteps, and pray for grace to be like Him, and yet, somehow, we succeed but very little. And why? Because we are wanting to pluck the fruit while the root is absent. If we want really to understand what the imitation of Christ means, we must go to that which const.i.tuted the very root of His life before G.o.d. It was a life of absolute dependence, absolute trust, absolute surrender, and until we are one with Him in what is the principle of His life, it is in vain to seek here or there to copy the graces of that life.
In the Gospel story we find five great points of special importance; the birth, the life on earth, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension.
In these we have what an old writer has called "the process of Jesus Christ;" the process by which He became what He is to-day--our glorified King, and our life. In all this life process we must be made like unto Him.
Look at the first. What have we to say about His birth? This: He received His _life from G.o.d_. What about His life upon earth? He lived that life in dependence _upon G.o.d_. About His death? He gave up His life _to G.o.d_. About His resurrection? He was raised from the dead _by G.o.d_. And about His ascension? He lives His life in glory _with G.o.d_.
First, He received His life from G.o.d. And why is it of consequence that we should look to that? Because Christ Jesus had in that the starling-point of His whole life. He said: "The Father sent me;" "The Father hath given the Son all things;" "The Father hath given the Son to have life in Himself."
Christ received it as His own life, just as G.o.d has His life in Himself.
And yet, all the time it was a life given and received. "Because the Father almighty has given this life unto me, the Son of man on earth, I can count upon G.o.d to maintain it and to carry me through all." And that is the first lesson we need. We need often to meditate on it, and to pray, and to think, and to wait before G.o.d, until our hearts open to the wonderful consciousness that the everlasting G.o.d has a divine life within us which can not exist but through Him. I believe G.o.d has given His life, it roots in Him. I shall feel it must be maintained by Him. We often think that G.o.d has given us a life which is now our own, a spiritual life, and that we are to take charge; and then we complain that we can not keep it right.
No wonder. We must learn to live, learn to live as Jesus did. I have a G.o.d-given treasure in this earthen vessel. I have the light of the knowledge of the glory of G.o.d in the face of Christ. I have the life of G.o.d"s Son within me given me by G.o.d Himself, and it can only be maintained by G.o.d Himself as I live in fellowship with Him. What does the Apostle Paul teach us in Romans VI.; there where he has just told us that we must reckon ourselves dead unto sin, and alive unto G.o.d in Christ Jesus? He goes on at once to say: "Therefore yield, present yourselves unto G.o.d, as those that are alive from the dead." How often a Christian hears solemn words about his being alive to G.o.d, and his having to reckon himself dead indeed to sin, and alive to G.o.d in Christ! He does not know what to do; he immediately casts about: "How can I keep it, this death and this life?"
Listen to what Paul says. The moment that you reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to G.o.d, go with that life to G.o.d Himself, and present yourself as alive from the dead, and say to G.o.d: "Lord, Thou hast given me this life.
Thou alone canst keep it. I bring it to Thee. I cannot understand all.
I hardly know what I have got, but I come to G.o.d to perfect what He has begun." To live like Christ, I must be conscious every moment that my life has come from G.o.d, and He alone can maintain it.
Then, secondly, how did Christ live out His life during the thirty-three years in which He walked here upon earth? He lived it in dependence on G.o.d.
You know how continually He says: "The Son can do nothing of Himself. The words that I speak, I speak not of Myself." He waited unceasingly for the teaching, and the commands, and the guidance of the Father. He prayed for power from the Father. Whatever He did, He did in the name of the Father.
He, the Son of G.o.d, felt the need of much prayer, of persevering prayer, of bringing down from heaven and maintaining the life of fellowship with G.o.d in prayer. We hear a great deal about trusting G.o.d. Most blessed! And we may say: "Ah, that is what I want," and we may forget what is the very secret of all,--that G.o.d, in Christ, must work all in us. I not only need G.o.d as an object of trust, but I must have Christ within as the power to trust; He must live His own life of trust in me. Look at it in that wonderful story of Paul, the Apostle, the beloved servant of G.o.d. He is in danger of self-confidence, and G.o.d in heaven sends that terrible trial in Asia to bring him down, lest he trust in himself and not in the living G.o.d.
G.o.d watched over his servant that he should be kept trusting. Remember that other story about the thorn in the flesh, in 2 Corinthians XII., and think what that means. He was in danger of exalting himself, and the blessed Master came to humble him, and to teach him: "I keep thee weak, that thou mayest learn to trust not in thyself, but in Me." If we are to enter into the rest of faith, and to abide there; if we are to live the life of victory in the land of Canaan, it must begin here. We must be broken down from all self-confidence and learn like Christ to depend absolutely and unceasingly upon G.o.d. There is a greater work to be done in that than we perhaps know. We must be broken down, and the habit of our souls must be unceasingly: "I am nothing; G.o.d is all. I cannot walk before G.o.d as I should for one hour, unless G.o.d keep the life He has given me." What a blessed solution G.o.d gives then to all our questions and our difficulties, when He says: "My child, Christ has gone through it all for thee. Christ hath wrought out a new nature that can trust G.o.d; and Christ the Living One in heaven will live in thee, and enable thee to live that life of trust."
That is why Paul said: "Such confidence have we toward G.o.d, through Christ." What does that mean? Does it only mean through Christ as the mediator, or intercessor? Verily, no. It means much more; through Christ living in and enabling us to trust G.o.d as He trusted Him.
Then comes, thirdly, the death of Christ. What does that teach us of Christ"s relation to the Father? It opens up to us one of the deepest and most solemn lessons of Christ life, one which the Church of Christ understands all too little. We know what the death of Christ means as an atonement, and we never can emphasize too much that blessed subst.i.tution and bloodshedding, by which redemption was won for us. But let us remember, that is only half the meaning of His death. The other half is this: just as much as Christ was my subst.i.tute, who died for me, just so much He is my head, in whom, and with whom, I die; and just as He lives for me, to intercede, He lives in me, to carry out and to perfect His life. And if I want to know what that life is which He will live in me, I must look at His death. By His death He proved that He possessed life only to hold it, and to spend it, for G.o.d. To the very uttermost; without the shadow of a moment"s exception, He lived for G.o.d,--every moment, everywhere, He held life only for His G.o.d. And so, if one wants to live a life of perfect trust, there must be the perfect surrender of his life, and his will, even unto the very death. He must be willing to go all lengths with Jesus, even to Calvary. When a boy twelve years of age Jesus said: "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father"s business?" and again when He came to Jordan to be baptized: "It becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." So on through all His life, He ever said: "It is my meat and drink to do the will of my Father. I come not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me."
"Lo, I am come to do Thy will, O G.o.d." And in the agony of Gethsemane, His words were: "Not my will, but Thine, be done."
Some one says: "I do indeed desire to live the life of perfect trust; I desire to let Christ live it in me; I am longing to come to such an apprehension of Christ as shall give me the certainty that Christ will forever abide in me; I want to come to the full a.s.surance that Christ, my Joshua, will keep me in the land of victory." What is needful for that? My answer is: "Take care that you do not take a false Christ, an imaginary Christ, a half Christ." And what is the full Christ? The full Christ is the man who said, "I give up everything to the death that G.o.d may be glorified.
I have not a thought; I have not a wish; I would not live a moment except for the glory of G.o.d." You say at once, "What Christian can ever attain that?" Do not ask that question, but ask, "Has Christ attained it and does Christ promise to live in me?" Accept Him in His fullness and leave Him to teach you how far He can bring you and what He can work in you. Make no conditions or stipulations about failure, but cast yourself upon, abandon yourself to this Christ who lived that life of utter surrender to G.o.d that He might prepare a new nature which He could impart to you and in which He might make you like Himself. Then you will be in the path by which He can lead you on to blessed experience and possession of what He can do for you.
Christ Jesus came into the world with a commandment from the Father that He should lay down His life, and He lived with that one thought in His bosom His whole life long. And the one thought that ought to be in the heart of every believer is this: "I am in the death with Christ; absolutely, unchangeably given up to wait upon G.o.d, that G.o.d may work out His purpose and glory in me from moment to moment." Few attain the victory and the enjoyment and the full experience at once. But this you can do: Take the right att.i.tude and as you look to Jesus and what He was, say: "Father, Thou hast made me a partaker of the divine nature, a partaker of Christ. It is in the life of Christ given up to Thee to the death, in His power and indwelling, in His likeness, that I desire to live out my life before Thee." Death is a solemn thing, an awful thing. In the Garden it cost Christ great agony to die that death; and no wonder it is not easy to us.
But we willingly consent when we have learned the secret; in death alone the life of G.o.d will come; in death there is blessedness unspeakable. It was this made Paul so willing to bear the sentence of death in himself; he knew the G.o.d who quickeneth the dead. The sentence of death is on everything that is of nature. But are we willing to accept it, do we cherish it? and are we not rather trying to escape the sentence or to forget it? We do not believe fully that the sentence of death is on us.
Whatever is of nature must die. Ask G.o.d to make you willing to believe with your heart that to die with Christ is the only way to live in Him. You ask, "But must it then be dying every day?" Yes, beloved; Jesus lived every day in the prospect of the cross, and we, in the power of His victorious life, being made conformable to His death, must rejoice every day in going down with Him into death. Take an ill.u.s.tration. Take an oak of some hundred years" growth. How was that oak born? In a grave. The acorn was planted in the ground, a grave was made for it that the acorn might die. It died and disappeared; it cast roots downward, and it cast shoots upward, and now that tree has been standing a hundred years. Where is it standing? In its grave; all the time in the very grave where the acorn died; it has stood there stretching its roots deeper and deeper into that earth in which its grave was made, and yet, all the time, though it stood in the very grave where it had died, it has been growing higher, and stronger, and broader, and more beautiful. And all the fruit it ever bore, and all the foliage that adorned it year by year, it owed to that grave in which its roots are cast and kept. Even so Christ owes everything to His death and His grave.
And we, too, owe everything to that grave of Jesus. Oh! let us live every day rooted in the death of Jesus. Be not afraid, but say: "To my own will I will die; to human wisdom, and human strength, and to the world I will die; for it is in the grave of my Lord that His life has its beginning, and its strength and its glory."
This brings us to our next thought. First, Christ received life from the Father; second, Christ lived it in dependence on the Father; third, Christ gave it up in death to the Father; and now, fourth, Christ received it again raised by the Father, by the power of the glory of the Father. Oh, the deep meaning of the resurrection of Christ! What did Christ do when He died? He went down into the darkness and absolute helplessness of death. He gave up a life that was without sin; a life that was G.o.d-given; a life that was beautiful and precious; and He said, "I will give it into the hands of my Father if He asks it;" and He did it; and He was there in the grave waiting on G.o.d to do His will; and because He honored G.o.d to the uttermost in His helplessness, G.o.d lifted Him up to the very uttermost of glory and power. Christ lost nothing by giving up His life in death to the Father.
And so, if you want the glory and the life of G.o.d to come upon you, it is in the grave of utter helplessness that that life of glory will be born.
Jesus was raised from the dead, and that resurrection power, by the grace of G.o.d, can and will work in us. Let no one expect to live a right life until he lives a full resurrection life in the power of Jesus. Let me state in a different way what this resurrection means.
Christ had a perfect life, given by G.o.d. The Father said: "Will you give up that life to me? Will you part with it at my command?" And He parted with it, but G.o.d gave it back to Him in a second life ten thousand times more glorious than that earthly life. So G.o.d will do to every one of us who willingly consents to part with his life. Have you ever understood it?
Jesus was born twice. The first time He was born in Bethlehem. That was a birth into a life of weakness. But the second time, He was born from the grave; He is the "first-born from the dead." Because He gave up the life that He had by His first birth, G.o.d gave him the life of the second birth, in the glory of heaven and the throne of G.o.d. Christians, that is exactly what we need to do. A man may be an earnest Christian; a man may be a successful worker; he may be a Christian that has had a measure of growth and advance; but if he has not entered this fullness of blessing, then he needs to come to a second and deeper experience of G.o.d"s saving power; he needs, just as G.o.d brought him out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, to come to a point where G.o.d brings him through Jordan into Canaan. Beloved, we have been baptized into the death of Christ. It is as we say: "I have had a very blessed life, and I have had many blessed experiences, and G.o.d has done many things for me; but I am conscious there is something wrong still; I am conscious that this life of rest and victory is not really mine."
Before Christ got His life of rest and victory on the throne, He had to die and give up all. Do you it, too, and you shall with Him share His victory and glory. It is as we follow Jesus in His death, that His resurrection, power and joy will be ours.
And then comes our last point. The fifth step in His wondrous path was: He was lifted up to be forever with the Father. Because He humbled Himself, therefore G.o.d highly exalted Him. Wherein cometh the beauty and the blessedness of that exaltation of Jesus? For Himself perfect fellowship with the Father; for others partic.i.p.ation in the power of G.o.d"s omnipotence. Yes, that was the fruit of His death. Scripture promises not only that G.o.d will, in the resurrection life, give us joy, and peace that pa.s.seth all understanding, victory over sin, and rest in G.o.d, but He will baptize us with the Holy Ghost; or, in other words, will fill us with the Holy Ghost. Jesus was lifted to the throne of heaven, that He might there receive from the Father the Spirit in His new, divine manifestation, to be poured out in His fullness. And as we come to the resurrection life, the life in the faith of Him who is one with us, and sits upon the throne--as we come to that, we too may be partakers of the fellowship with Christ Jesus as He ever dwells in G.o.d"s presence, and the Holy Spirit will fill us, to work in us, and out of us in a way that we have never yet known.
Jesus got this divine life by depending absolutely upon the Father all His life long, depending upon Him even down into death. Jesus got that life in the full glory of the Spirit to be poured out, by giving Himself up in obedience and surrender to G.o.d alone, and leaving G.o.d even in the grave to work out His mighty power; and that very Christ will live out His life in you and me. Oh, the mystery! Oh, the glory! And oh, the Divine certainty.
Jesus Christ means to live out that life in you and me. What think you, ought we not to humble ourselves before G.o.d? Have we been Christians so many years, and realized so little what we are? I am a vessel set apart, cleansed, emptied, consecrated; just standing, waiting every moment for G.o.d, in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, to work out in me as much of the holiness and the life of His Son as pleases Him. And until the Church of Christ comes to go down into the grave of humiliation, and confession, and shame; until the Church of Christ comes to lay itself in the very dust before G.o.d, and to wait upon G.o.d to do something new, and something wonderful, something supernatural, in lifting it up, it will remain feeble in all its efforts to overcome the world. Within the Church what lukewarmness, what worldliness, what disobedience, what sin! How can we ever fight this battle, or meet these difficulties? The answer is: Christ, the risen One, the crowned One, the almighty One, must come, and live in the individual members. But we can not expect this except as we die with Him. I referred to the tree grown so high and beautiful, with its roots every day for a hundred years in the grave in which the acorn died.
Children of G.o.d, we must go down deeper into the grave of Jesus. We must cultivate the sense of impotence, and dependence, and nothingness, until our souls walk before G.o.d every day in a deep and holy trembling. G.o.d keep us from being anything. G.o.d teach us to wait on Him, that He may work in us all He wrought in His Son, till Christ Jesus may live out His life in us!
For this may G.o.d help us!
CHRIST"S HUMILITY OUR SALVATION.
VII.
_Philippians 2: 5-8_.--"_Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross_."