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Knowing God in Christ

We who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort. (Philippians 3:3 NLT)

The fact is this, that what God is after is not to do things for you and for me, not to impart things to you and to me, not to show things to you and to me, but to bring us to some fresh apprehension of God in Christ. The whole matter is a divinely personal matter. It is the realization of the Person which is going to result, firstly, primarily, and for evermore, not in doing things, not in activities, not in rejoicing in truth, but in worship. Worship is the first, the continuous and the final factor in the knowledge of God in Christ, and is basic to everything else in our relation to Him. True worship only springs from a heart discovery of Himself.

Take your Bible, especially the New Testament, and especially the forty days after the resurrection (if you want that narrowed down to something that you can grasp), and see if that is not true. It was not because He did or said certain things that they worshiped, but because they discovered Him in a way in which they had never known Him before. God dealings with us are governed by this supreme aim: that He might make known to us Himself in Christ; but this comes by illumination, and that illumination is by the touch of Christ.

What god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?

Who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord? … O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. § Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; nor are there any works like Your works. § For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them. Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. § The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children.

Deut. 3:24;  Ps. 89:6,8;   Ps. 86:8;  2 Sam. 7:21,22;  1 Cor. 2:9,10;  Deut. 29:29

He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord.

I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. § I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. § I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God.

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. § My heart rejoices in the Lord … I rejoice in Your salvation.

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth.

1 Cor. 1:31;  Jer. 9:23,24;  Phil. 3:8;  Rom. 1:16;  Rom. 15:17;  Ps. 73:25;  1 Sam. 2:1;  Ps. 115:1

Another, Altogether

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matt. 17:5).

Seeing the blackness of my heart provides the perfect backdrop for the bright and shining glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my life. I am to be as well pleased with Him, and Him alone, as is my Father.

"The learning of what I am and of what I have been in Adam, is truly humbling; but it need not be distressing if I see that all those conditions which have been present with me have just been the occasion for my Father to bring to light what is in His heart concerning me. When I see this, those very conditions magnify before my soul the greatness of His salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The weakness that is in myself, and the many things which I have to deplore in my past, or perhaps even in my present, make me thankful to know that my Father has brought in another Man, and has secured in Him all his own thoughts of blessing manward.

"There is what is perfect and absolutely for God's satisfaction and delight in the Lord Jesus, and it remains unaffected by what I find in myself. Nay! every self-discovery makes His perfection more a necessity to my heart. What I learn and experience in myself makes me rejoice to believe on Another in whom every promise of God is Yea and Amen." -C.A.C.

"The secret of being like the Lord Jesus is, that we are to count ourselves dead to the old and alive in the new. We are to give up our self-efforts after likeness to Him; we are to distrust our own strength as much as we distrust our own weakness and our own sin; and instead of striving to live like the Lord Jesus, let Him live through us, as He greatly desires to do."

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).

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