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The Reality Of The Eternal

I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:12 ESV)

Those of us who have tasted of this world's springs have recognized the kinship between what is there and what is in religion so far as that soul-nature is concerned. It is only a matter of difference of realm, not of nature. What the music and drama of the world produce in one way the soul-stirring, rousing, craving: the pathos, tears, contempt, hatred, anger, melancholy, pleasure, etc. are all the same, only under different auspices and in a different setting, and the fact is that it passes and we are really no further on. A little better music, a change of preacher, a less familiar place, a few more thrills, will perhaps stimulate our souls, but where are we, after all? How Satan must laugh behind his mask! Oh, for reality, the reality of the eternal! Oh, that men might see that, while a highly cultured soul with a keen sense of the beautiful and sublime is immeasurably preferable to a sordid one so far as this world is concerned, it is not necessarily a criterion that such has a personal living knowledge of God of God as a Person and has really been born anew!

When we pray for "Revival" let us be careful as to what we are after and as to what means we use to promote it, or carry it on.... The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that the secret of everything in his life and service was the fact that he received his gospel "by revelation." We may even know the Bible most perfectly as a book, and yet be spiritually dead and ineffective. When the Scriptures say so much about the knowledge of God and of the truth as the basis of eternal life, resulting in being set free, doing exploits, etc., they also affirm that man cannot by searching find out God, and they make it abundantly clear that it is knowledge in the spirit, not in the natural mind. Thus, a rich knowledge of the Scriptures, an accurate technical grasp of Christian doctrine, a doing of Christian work by all the resources of men's natural wisdom or ability, a clever manipulation and interesting presentation of Bible content and themes, may get not one whit beyond the natural life of men, and still remain within the realm of spiritual death. Men cannot be argued, reasoned, fascinated, interested, "emotioned," willed, enthused, impassioned, into the kingdom of the heavens; they can only be born; and that is by spiritual quickening.

O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me!

Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God. § Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. § You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm.

Christ … suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth;” who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.

Isa. 38:14;  Ps. 123:1,2;   Ps. 61:1;  Ps. 61:2;  Ps. 61:3;  Ps. 61:4;  Isa. 25:4;  1 Peter 2:21,22;   1 Peter 2:23

Fight the good fight of faith.

We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. § Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. § Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. God is my strength and power … He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. § Our sufficiency is from God.

The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. § Behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

The time would fail me to tell of [those] … who through faith subdued kingdoms … out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

1 Tim. 6:12;  2 Cor. 7:5;  2 Kings 6:16;  Eph. 6:10;  1 Sam. 17:45;  2 Sam. 22:33,35;  2 Cor. 3:5;  Ps. 34:7;  2 Kings 6:17;  Heb. 11:32,33;  Heb. 11:34

Substitute - Representative

Crucified with Him" (Rom. 6:6).

Often when a believer finally sees his identification with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection, as set forth in Romans Six, he will then seek to experience it by self-effort. The net result: Romans Seven!

"As our Substitute He went to the Cross alone, without us, to pay the penalty of our sins; as our Representative He took us with Him to the Cross, and there, in the sight of God, we all died together with the Lord Jesus. We may be forgiven because He died in our stead; we may be delivered because we died with Him.

"God's way of deliverance for us, a race of hopeless incurables, is to put us away in the Cross of His Son, and then to make a new beginning by re-creating us in union with Him, the Risen, Living One. It is the Holy Spirit who will make these great facts real and true in our experience as we depend upon Him; and so the plague of our hearts will be stayed, and we shall go on to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ." -J.C.M.

"The Holy Spirit so unites us to Christ that Christian experience becomes a reproduction in us of the essential facts of Christ's fourfold revelation He died unto sin: with Him we died (Col. 2:20). He arose: with Him we are risen (Col. 3:1). He is in heaven: our life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). He will appear again: with Him we shall appear in glory (Col. 3:4)." -N.B.H.

"Risen with Christ" (Col. 3:1).

God My Provider (Study In God - All I Need-20)

The Best Way