God will never use means that are proud\nenough to think themselves necessary or capable. He will throw away the vessel\nthat begins to boast in itself or allows others to boast in it. Whatever is our\nstrength in the flesh is sure to become our weakness in the spirit. \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
~Scott Richardson (1923-2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FOR WHOM DID CHRIST\nDIE? – THE CHILDREN OF GOD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n John11:52<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our\ngreat, sin-atoning Substitute laid down his life and died for the children of\nGod. According to the prophecy of Caiaphas, Christ was to die, not for the\nnation of the Jews only, but to “gather together in one the\nchildren of God that were scattered abroad”<\/em> throughout the\nGentile world. Redemption and adoption belong to the same people. <\/strong>Those\nwho are predestinated to adoption by Christ are said to have redemption in him\nthrough his blood (Eph 1:5,7). This blessing of adoption, in the full enjoyment\nof it, in the resurrection, is called “the redemption of the\nbody”<\/em>. The resurrection is called the redemption of our bodies because\nredemption, in so far as the application of it is concerned, will not be\ncomplete until our very bodies are redeemed from all the consequences of Adam\u2019s\nfall (Ro 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 4:30).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our\nall glorious Redeemer died for every sinner in this world who believes on him\nas Saviour and Lord. <\/strong>The fruit of redemption is the evidence\nof redemption; and faith in Christ is both the fruit and evidence of\nredemption. The children of God are a particular number of men, who were given\nby God to his Son to redeem. They are the seed promised to him in covenant of\ngrace that he should see and enjoy, and with whom he shall be satisfied\nforever. These are the people to whom he stands in the relation of the\neverlasting Father. They are the people for whom and on whose account he became\nincarnate,<\/em> took part of the same flesh and blood. Thy are the many\nsons he shall bring to glory (Heb 2:10, 13, 14). They, and only they, are the\nchildren of God who are openly and manifestly the children of God by faith, who\nbelieve in Christ. This faith in Christ is owing to and the result of special\ngrace and distinguishing love. It is a work, operation, and blessing of grace\nconferred upon none but they who are the objects of God\u2019s election and Christ\u2019s\nredemption., and is a favour that is only conferred on some (Rom. 9:8; Gal.\n3:26; John 1:12; 1John 3:1). Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? God help\nyou to believe! If you do trust the Son of God, he died for you. Your faith in\nhim is the fruit and evidence of the fact that he redeemed you with his\nprecious blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our\ngreat and glorious Saviour died, made atonement for, and redeemed with his\nprecious blood his church which is his bride and spouse. <\/strong>The\nobjects of redemption are those people who are the church and spouse of Christ.\nIt is the church which he loved and for which he gave himself as a sacrifice\nand ransom price to redeem. It is the church he has purchased with his blood,\neven the general assembly, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written\nin heaven. That church is all the elect of God, whose names are written in the\nLamb’s book of life (Eph, 5:25; Acts 20:28). Of that church of which Christ is\nthe head and husband, he is the Redeemer. “Thy Maker is thine husband;\nand thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel!”<\/em> (Isa. 54:5). This\ncannot be said of any denomination, or of all bodies of men professing to be\nthe church of Christ. The great whore of Babylon is not the spouse of Christ.\nThose who are drunk with the intoxicating wine of Babylon (Arminian, free-will,\nworks religion) do not belong to and have no part with this church which is the\nbride of Christ. That church coming from Babel our Redeemer calls a whore. The\nchurch which is his bride, he calls a chaste virgin! Though there may be\n“threescore queens, and fourscore concubines” of Babylon\u2019s sort; yet,\nsays Christ, “my dove, my undefiled, is but one\u201d<\/em> (Song\n6:9). This is his Bride. This is his spouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don Fortner<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Newton’s Letters<\/p>\n\n\n\n Union with Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear Sir, In our natural state, we are driven and tossed about, by the\nchanging winds of opinion, and the waves of trouble, which hourly disturb and\nthreaten us upon the uncertain sea of human life. But faith, uniting us to\nChrist, fixes us upon a sure foundation, the Rock of Ages, where we stand\nimmovable, though storms and floods unite their force against us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By nature we are separated from the divine life, as branches\nbroken off, withered and fruitless. But grace, through faith, unites us to\nChrist the living Vine, from whom, as the root of all fullness, a constant\nsupply of sap and influence is derived into each of his mystical branches,\nenabling them to bring forth fruit unto God, and to persevere and abound\ntherein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By nature we are hateful and abominable in the sight of a holy\nGod, and full of enmity and hatred towards each other. By faith, uniting us to\nChrist, we have fellowship with the Father and the Son, and joint communion\namong ourselves; even as the members of the same body have each of them union, communion,\nand sympathy, with the head, and with their fellow-members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our natural estate, we were cast out naked and destitute,\nwithout pity, and without help, Ezek. 16:1-63; but faith, uniting us to Christ,\ninterests us in his righteousness, his riches, and his honours. Our Redeemer is\nour husband; our debts are paid, our settlements secured, and our names\nchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus the Lord Jesus, in declaring himself the foundation, root,\nhead, and husband, of his people, takes in all the ideas we can frame of an\nintimate, vital, and inseparable union. Yet all these fall short of truth; and\nhe has given us one further similitude, of which we can by no means form a just\nconception until we shall be brought to see him as he is in his kingdom. John\n27:21: “That they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you;\nthat they also may be one in us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well may we say, What has God wrought! How inviolable is the\nsecurity, how inestimable the privilege, how inexpressible the happiness, of a\nbeliever! How greatly is he indebted to grace! He was once afar off, but he is\nbrought near to God by the blood of Christ: he was once a child of wrath, but\nis now an heir of everlasting life. How strong then are his obligations to walk\nworthy of God, who has called him to his kingdom and glory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit\nof itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in\nme.” John 15:4<\/strong> The union of the believer with Jesus, and the consequent\nfruitfulness, is a glorious truth: the Holy Spirit, in His word, has laid great\nstress upon it. It is spoken of as a being in Christ\u2014”Every branch in\nme.” “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” “So\nwe, being many, are one body in Christ.” “Those who are fallen asleep\nin Christ.” But in what sense are we to understand this being “in\nChrist”? To be in Christ truly, spiritually, vitally, is to be in that\neternal covenant of grace made with Christ, as the Surety and Mediator of His\npeople; one of the number spoken of as the Lord’s “peculiar\ntreasure;”\u2014”For the Lord has chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel\nfor His peculiar treasure;” and concerning whom the Holy Spirit declares\nthat they are elected in Christ\u2014”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord\nJesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly\nthings in Christ: according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of\nthe world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”\nTo be in Christ truly, is to stand accepted in His righteousness, to be\njustified by Him freely from all things; it is to be brought to the knowledge\nof our own vileness, insufficiency, and guilt; to be made to cast aside all\nself-dependence, that is, all works of human merit, and to come as the thief on\nthe cross came, without any allowed confidence in anything of self, but as a\npoor, helpless, ruined, condemned sinner, all whose hope of pardon and\nacceptance is through the free mercy of God in Christ Jesus. To be in Christ is\nto be the subject of a living, holy, influential principle of faith; it is to\nbe brought into the blessed state thus described by the apostle as his\nown\u2014”I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but\nChrist lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the\nfaith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” To be in\nChrist is to be one with Him; it is to be a member of His mystical body, of\nwhich He is the spiritual Head: and the Head and members are one. It is to have\nChrist dwelling in the heart\u2014”Christ in you the hope of glory.” Yes,\nit is to dwell in the heart of Christ; it is to rest there in the very pavilion\nof His love, to abide there every moment, to be sheltered there from all evil,\nand to be soothed there under all sorrow. Oh blessed state of being in Christ!\nWho would not experience it? Who would not enjoy it? “There is therefore\nnow no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the\nflesh, but after the Spirit.” John\n17:23<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI in\nthem, and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one;<\/em> and that\nthe world may know that thou hast sent me<\/em>.\u201d \u2014 All the fulness of God\ndwelling in Christ and heaped upon chosen, redeemed sinners in Christ is\ndesigned for three great purposes which he shall accomplish as our God-man\nMediator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our\nPerfection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jehovah\u2019s\nobject is our perfection, our completion, our wholeness, our total salvation in\nChrist. Because God was in Christ, all his people were made perfect in\njustification when that man who is God died as our Substitute at Calvary.\nBecause this Christ, in whom all the fulness of God dwells, dwells in us, we\nare made perfect in sanctification. He has made us holy and righteous, \u201cmeet\nto be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nBecause Christ is both in the Father and in us, because he is in glory, because\nhe is within the veil, because his blood speaks there for us, we shall soon\ndrop this robe of flesh and be made perfect in glory! Then we shall be perfect\nin knowledge, in holiness, in peace, joy, and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nBecause this great, glorious, gracious, omnipotent Christ is in us, and all\nGod\u2019s elect are in him, the number of the saved in glory shall be perfect,\ncomplete. Not one shall be missing. And we shall be perfectly one. Still, there\nis more. \u2014 We are one as the Church of God, one Body, one Bride, one Family.\nYet our perfection in one is much greater than any of those metaphors can\nrepresent. \u2014 We who are God\u2019s are one with Christ himself. That is our\nperfection! That is our salvation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n That the\nWorld May Know<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI in\nthem, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;<\/em> and that\nthe world may know that thou hast sent me<\/em>.\u201d \u2014 Our Savior here asks a second\nthing as our great High Priest. He asks not only that all his elect be made\nperfect in him, but also that the entire world may know, by our salvation, our\nperfect salvation in union with him, that he is the Sent One of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nsometimes sing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverybody\nought to know,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everybody\nought to know,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everybody\nought to know, who Jesus is!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When our\nGod has finished all that he has purposed to do, everybody will know who the\nLord Jesus Christ is!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHast\nLoved Them\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI in\nthem, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;<\/em> and\nthat the world may know that thou hast sent me<\/em>.\u201d And here is the third\nthing our Savior asks of God in John 17:23 \u2014 \u201cAnd hast loved them, as thou\nhast loved me.<\/em>\u201d \u2014 Imagine that! What an astounding word this is from\nGod and Savior! \u2014 \u201cThou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.<\/em>\u201d And\nwhen God gets done, every creature in heaven, earth, and hell shall know that\nGod loves us, even as he loves his darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\nFortner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" God will never use means that are proud enough to think themselves necessary or capable. He will throw away the vessel that begins to boast in itself or allows others to boast in it. Whatever is our strength in the flesh is sure to become our weakness in the spirit. 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\nThe union of a believer with Christ is so intimate, so\nunalterable, so rich in privilege, so powerful in influence, that it cannot be\nfully represented by any description or similitude taken from earthly things.\nThe mind, like the sight, is incapable of apprehending a great object, without\nviewing it on different sides. To help our weakness, the nature of this union\nis illustrated, in the Scripture, by four comparisons, each throwing additional\nlight on the subject, yet all falling short of the thing signified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\nOctavious Winslow<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
\nThese are the living branches, united to the true vine, which\nbear fruit. From their union to the living vine their fruit comes\u2014”From me\nis your fruit found.” “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,\nexcept it abide in the vine, no more can you, except you abide in me.” And\noh, what precious fruit does such a living branch bear! The broken heart\u2014the\ncontrite spirit\u2014the mourning over sin\u2014the low, abasing, humbling views of\nself\u2014the venturing by faith on a full, mighty, willing Savior\u2014the going out of\nself, and resting in His all-atoning work and all-satisfying righteousness.\nThis is followed by a progressive advance in all holiness and godliness, the\nfruits of faith which are by Jesus Christ abounding in the life, and proving\nthe reality of the wondrous change\u2014the close walk with God\u2014the submission of\nthe will in all things to His\u2014the conformity of the life to the example of\nJesus\u2014the “power of His resurrection” felt\u2014the “fellowship of\nHis sufferings,” known\u2014and “conformity to His death,” marking\nthe entire man.
\n
\nThese are some of the fruits of a truly regenerate soul. The\nHoly Spirit testifies, that the “fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,\nand righteousness, and truth;” and still more minutely, as consisting of\n“love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,\ntemperance.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n