Knowing Christ Through Abiding Union With Him

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks'  book Knowing God in Christ:

"Is it that we are seeking fulness of attainment, reaching out to attain to the fullest, to the whole thought of God? Oh, how many ways we have of seeking to realise that heart desire for full attainment. We pray this way and that, and for many things which we think will bring us into fulness. The Lord will answer, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.' 'Have Me and you have got everything.'

"Do we want to escape from barrenness and fruitlessness of life, to come to the place where life will have something to show for God's satisfaction; not emptiness and barrenness but fruitfulness of that kind which will give Him pleasure? How are you seeking to be fruitful, by what means? You ask the Lord in many ways about fruit-bearing, He will answer, 'I am the Vine.' You cannot bear fruit unless you are in the fruit-bearing Vine, and if you abide in Him, you will bear fruit. It is as natural and spontaneous as anything can be; it is a question of knowing abiding union with Him. It is a matter of knowing Him.

"All these things should bring to us heart rest. I have not been the least of those who have striven, and agonised, and strained, and pressed and reached out for all that the Lord would have, all that is possible. It is possible to wear yourself right out, and kill yourself in a spiritual quest, and the Lord at last says to our hearts: "If you only know Me, things will happen; it will all come to pass without any of your strain, struggle and agony. I am going to bear this fruit. I will bear it through you by way of union and fellowship. Remember that the holy, blessed secret of fellowship is just resting in Me, abiding in Me.'

"If you saw all the branches of the vine every day groaning and agonising, and writhing in order to bear their fruit, you would see something which is altogether unnatural. As a matter of fact you will see nothing of the kind. You will see them abiding there and bearing fruit. It is what we often speak of as the rest of faith.

"What is behind the rest of faith? It is not bringing yourself to a passive state, when you inwardly sink down and say, I am just going to rest. It is knowing the Lord, God in Christ; for the way in which God has joined Himself to us is in Christ, not apart, and the way in which we have been joined to God is in Christ, not apart. The answer to every need is knowing Him in this way."

Our Access to Divine Resources

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks'  book The Risen Lord and the Things Which Cannot be Shaken:

"We have seen Christ as the true spiritual fulfilment of Jacob's ladder, which was set up on the earth, and the top of which reached into heaven. Of this the Lord later said to Nathaniel: 'Hereafter thou shalt see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man'. Now if the Lord Jesus is the same, in effect, as the ladder of Jacob, then He is both in heaven and on earth. He is on earth, and He is at the same time in heaven. In Him heaven and earth are united, brought together, and whilst He is here on this earth for purposes of expression and action, He is also in heaven. The point is that His life, and all His resources, were drawn from above. He was in touch with inexhaustible resources, and resources which could never die, because they were not of this earth, and could never be subject to the touch of corruption which is characteristic of everything on this earth.

". . . So then, to gather that up in one word, it means that for our lives and for our service, our ministry, our heavenly vocation, there are, in union with Christ, resources at our disposal which are heavenly, inexhaustible, and incorruptible. This is the great secret of strength. We have seen something of what those resources are, and of how they operate; of their value for spirit, soul, and body; mind, heart, and will. Not on our own charges are we commissioned of the Lord, but He Who commissions places His own resources behind His commissioned and His commission."

The Joy of Preaching the Gospel With Members of Other Denominations

 The following wonderful observation is from Hannah Hurnard's record of her preaching tours with others in Israel as recorded in her book Wayfarer in the Land.  It agrees with my own experience when with friends from different denominations preaching the gospel.

"Perhaps nothing so unites people of varying temperament and outlook as sharing together in this work of going out to seek the lost sheep.    Differences of doctrinal belief or methods of church government simply do not come in to this work.  The aim is to preach the good news to those who do not come to the churches to hear it, and when this great urge fills the heart, the things that divide get laid aside.  

"The personal enrichment and help which has come to me as the result of such cooperation, is one of the greatest joys of the work.  And I believe that to share in direct evangelism with members of other denominations, probably helps on the ecumenical ideal more than anything else."

A Present Entering Into Rest

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks' article "The Rest and the Courage of Faith " from A Witness and A Testimony magazine, Nov-Dec 1946, Vol. 24-6:

"If you look at the context, the meaning is something into which the people of God had not entered. 'They were not able to enter in because of unbelief' (Heb. 3:19). They could not enter in. Who were they?--the people of God. It is still the people of God for whom the rest remaineth.

"Do not let us put that into the future, that is not the meaning at all; that afterward, when we get Home to glory, then we will arrive at the Sabbath day rest, we will enter into rest. It is not something for the tombstone--he or she entered into rest. It is something which remains now as a present thing for the people of God, not in death, but in life. The rest remaineth.

". . . It is the rest of faith, not just the rest of passivity, indifference, carelessness. There is all the difference between carelessness and carefreeness. There remaineth, there is still to be had, there still obtains, there still exists, there is still preserved a rest for the people of God--for the people of God . . . Our testimony and our ministry is jeopardised; weakened, limited and discredited if we are not ourselves in rest; and this is the object of the enemy's activity in this matter--to discredit us by taking from us that very birthright of our union with Him Who is never perturbed, never anxious, never in doubt as to the issue, the One Who reigns. You see, rest is the practical outworking of our belief that He is Lord, and the very Lordship of Christ is struck at by the unrest of the people of God."

The Need For Persistent Determination

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks' article "The Battleground of the Soul" from A Witness and A Testimony magazine, Sep-Oct 1948, Vol. 26-5:

". . . Realize that from time to time there will be, by one means or another, an effort of the enemy [the devil] to change our minds, to weaken us in that course, to make other suggestions, to get us to reconsider it in the light of various issues and interests. We shall meet this offending, this stumbling, this hindering thing and have to be very ruthless with it. 

"The way the Lord dealt with Peter was, in a sense, ruthless. Really there was no weakness in His attitude over that. Discerning its true nature, He saw clearly that, if He yielded to this suggestion, then He would go neither to Jerusalem nor to the Cross. 

"It is a question of whether we have settled that such and such is the way of the will of God, and then, will this or that arising mean in the long run that we never get there, never do that will? If so, it has to be handled very ruthlessly and put out of the way and put behind us. The Cross comes to us in many connections and different terms.

"Then, if we are really going to come through to the place of spiritual power as did Peter, that ground of the enemy must continually be forsaken and refused. The enemy has to be robbed of that which will destroy us and give him power to destroy us, and we have to be very ruthless with anything that arises to give him that position and defeat God's intention where we are concerned. 

"This battle of heaven and hell, God and Satan, goes on in our souls, but there is for us this consolation, that we have a High Priest ever living to make intercession. We have a great asset in the continual intercession of the Lord Jesus for us."

The Lord Jesus Rules, Unalterable, Unchangeable

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks'  book The Centrality and Supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ:

"Believers know what it is for the enemy to try to make them accept the authority of darkness. Stand upon the truth of God. God does not change with our feelings. God does not alter with our consciousness.

"This whole life of ours is subject to variation, more swift than the variation of weather, but He rules, unalterable, unchangeable. He is 'the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.' And if He is there within, He has come to stay, and victory is in faith; believing that, standing on that, holding to that; and we must carry that through to its final and full issue, that He is Lord of all, 'Head of all principality and power.'

"Satan will sometimes try to make us believe that he is in the place of ascendancy, the place of supremacy, but since Calvary he is not, we stand there".

Doing Everything, Meeting Everything as out From Christ

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks'  book The Risen Lord and the Things Which Cannot be Shaken:

"What is abiding? Abiding in Christ, as we have often said, is the opposite of abiding in ourselves. To abide in ourselves is simply to try to do this living, and this working for the Lord, of ourselves; asking the Lord to help us to do it, instead of recognising that a life wholly pleasing to God has been lived and that faith appropriates that accomplishment in Christ. Abiding in Christ is simply doing everything, meeting everything as out from Christ. It is a sure ground. There is no need for question and reasoning: Can it be done? Can I do it? Or, I am not sure about it. It is done.

"The Lord Jesus has met everything that you or I will meet, and in all things has done what is needful. That is available to faith, and faith says, Well, in myself the thing would be absurd, and to attempt the thing would be ridiculous; as to myself it would be folly to contemplate it. But it can be done, because it is done; I can meet this demand, and I can stand up to that one; I can go through with this, and I can do that --'I can do all things ('all' is a big word) through Christ, which strengtheneth me'. It is what Christ is as our secret source of strength, of sustenance, of nourishment.

"This is a school, and we learn this lesson in a progressive way. He learned, and we learn, though in our case there is a difference to be noted. We are learning to draw upon the fulness which He consummated, working out from a fulness as we press onward to the goal. We are learning how to come back to a fulness, He moved on toward a fulness. The Cross for Him was the end, for us it is the beginning.

"We have to learn how to come back to His fulness and we learn progressively, step by step, like little children, first of all learning to walk and to talk. Like them we are confronted with things which we have never done or even attempted before, things which are all new and strange; a new world, sometimes a very terrible world. The contemplation of taking his first step to a little child is a most terrifying proposition. You and I are brought into this realm of faith, wherein the simplest thing at the beginning, the taking of a first step, is sometimes fraught with horror for us. But there are arms stretched out, and those arms now represent for us the accomplishment of what is required of us, the thing is done. The strength is there, available for the matter in hand, a strength which has been proved. Recognising those arms and trusting, taking the step, we learn to walk by Christ, to live by Christ; and the next time we shall be able to go a bit further. Each time capacity is being enlarged and we are coming to a fuller measure of maturity.

"The fulness of Christ eventually will be that all that ever Christ accomplished will be made good in us. All! Whether here or there, it will be done."

God's Work, Done God's Way, Will Never Lack God's Supply

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks'  book The Risen Lord and the Things Which Cannot be Shaken:

"It is one thing to have a conception or apprehension of the purpose of God, and to be given up to it, but it is an extra thing to know how God would realise His purpose. It is still another thing to know the means He would employ.

"There are many who have a true conception of what God's purpose is, but the means which they employ are not God's means, the way in which they go to work is not His way, and therefore they find that the Lord does not support them. They may be in a true direction, but being out of fellowship with the method or means they are compelled to take responsibility for the work themselves, and to find the resources. Thus they find themselves oftimes exhausted, brought to a standstill, and having to resort to all kinds of methods and means to raise the resource to carry on God's work, because they are not in the real enjoyment of His Own support. The work of God becomes a burden upon their shoulders, and the Lord cannot order it otherwise because there is not the fullest fellowship and sympathy between them and His ways, His methods, His means, His times, and the details of His purpose.

"Now, in the case of the Lord Jesus it was quite the contrary. In the details He was in secret fellowship with the Father. With Him this represented a detailed obedience unto one comprehensive purpose. The only explanation needed by Him in any given matter was simply that of knowing that the Father willed it, and without any further word He did it. That was the basis of His relationship.

"Never do we trace in Him a sign of waiting to question why a thing should be done in a certain way, or at a certain time and not another, or why certain means should be employed and not others. It was enough that the Father willed it. The explanation came in the justification and vindication that followed. The doing of the will of God was a matter of that obedience which never moves out from self but always out from the Father. As that held good in His case the spiritual resources of sustenance, maintenance, strength, and energy were supplied."

Cease Straining and Rest Back in God

 The following is from T. Austin-Sparks'  book Knowing God in Christ:

"Are you labouring for spiritual growth? How we have striven and strained to increase our spiritual measure and our spiritual stature. What a burden we have taken upon us in relation to the maintenance of our own spiritual life! We have almost assumed the whole responsibility for our spiritual life, and made it as though it depended upon our labours in prayer, our labours in the Word of God, our labours in the Lord's service, our effort, our stress.

"No one will think that we have made little of prayer or the Word. No one will think that we have said you must have no care whatever for your spiritual life, but there is such a difference between assuming responsibility for ourselves and recognising that God has assumed that responsibility. And because God has assumed the responsibility we should cooperate with God.

"There is all the difference between trying to work for our justification, and working because we are justified; between trying to work for our perfection, and working because our perfection is secured in Christ. The difference is not merely technical, it is practical, and of immense value.

"Sometimes it is necessary for the Lord to say to us: 'Look here, you are making far too much of your own praying, far too much of your own business in the Scriptures, you are unconsciously coming to think that everything depends upon how much and how fervently you pray. And then you go out and talk to other people about your prayer life as a kind of setting up against their own. You do not mean it, but the implication is that this is what accounts for your growth, and it is going to count for other people's growth. That must not be a cause but a result.

"'The cause, the secret, the spring of everything is Myself, and sometimes you will just have to cease straining, and rest back in Me, in loving trust. Learn to do that a little more, and then you will pray better, and I shall be able to do something more!'"

Be Natural in Preaching the Gospel

 Catherine Booth was co-founder of the Salvation Army.  The following is from her book titled Godliness:

"If I were asked to put into one word what I consider the greatest obstacle to the success of Divine Truth, even when uttered by sincere and real people, I should say, stiffness. It seems as if people, the moment they come to religion, assume a different tone, a different look, and manner--short, become unnatural.

". . . Determine that you will overcome this sanctimoniousness, which is the curse of a great deal of the religion of this day. We want SANCTIFIED HUMANITY, not sanctimoniousness. You want to talk to your friends in the same way about religion, as you talk about earthly things.

"If a friend is in difficulties, and he comes to you, you do not begin talking in a circumlocutory manner about the general principles on which men can secure prosperity, and the sad mistakes of those who have not secured it; you come straight to the point, and, if you feel for him, you take him by the button-hole, or put your hand in his, and say, 'My dear fellow, I am very sorry for you; is there any way in which I can help you?'

"If you have a friend afflicted with a fatal malady, and you see it, and he does not, you don't begin to descant on the power of disease and the way people may secure health, but you say, 'My dear fellow, I am afraid this hacking cough is more serious than you think, and that flush on your cheek is a bad sign. I am afraid you are ill--let me counsel you to seek advice.'

"That is the way people talk about earthly things. Now, do exactly so about spiritual things. If your friend is a spiritual bankrupt, tell him so. Tell him where he is going, and that the reckoning day is coming, and that he will be in God's prison-house very soon, and that, if the creditor once gets hold of him, and shuts him up, he will never get out till he has paid the uttermost farthing. If your friend has a spiritual disease, tell him so, and deal just as straight and earnestly with him as you would about his body. Tell him you are praying for him, and the very concern that he reads in your eyes, will wake him up, and he will begin to think it is time he was concerned about himself. Try to attain this simple, easy, natural way of appealing to people about their souls. I believe if all real Christians would attain this, and act upon it, this country would be shaken from end to end!"