The Pathway to Life In God # 3

The Pathway to Life In God # 3

3. Deliverance from the World
"Far be it from me to glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14)

"If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world ..." (Colossians 2:20).

It was the Cross of Christ, and Paul's place with Him upon that Cross, that severed him from the world. Like Paul, we are to account that we are now 'not living in the world', for our life abides in heaven, and interests. We have naught to do with worldly aims, ambitions, and interests. We care no more for the world's aims or its applause, its conventionalities, its thralldom of fashion, its pride of life, position or power; even the Christian world, with its pride of denomination, its "views", its praise or blame,and its glorying in men. The apostle Paul would have written again today, "Each one of you saith "I". 'I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ'. Is Christ divided"" (1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

In the Cross of Christ we have been separated from all the elements that make up 'this present evil world'. Yes, it is true we are in the world (John 17:15), but we are in it to live as Christ lived, for it is written, "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked" (1 John 2:6). "As He is, even so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).

United to the Risen Son of God, we have 'overcome the world' (1 John 5:4-5). The application in detail must be shown by the Holy Spirit to each soul He indwells, but the main secret lies in being so 'other worldly' in heart and mind, that we carry the heavenly spirit into all the duties of life.

4. Deliverance from the Bondage of the Law.
"Ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another ... Him ... raised from the dead" (Romans 7:4).

We are discharged from the claims of the law, for 'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ hath made us free. By the supply of the Spirit of Jesus day by day, the requirement of the law can now be fulfilled in us, as we "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:4).

Love (the love-life of Jesus in us) works no ill to his neighbor; 'love therefore is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10).

No theoretical 'death', no mental reckoning, will make all this true in us! Naught but a very real fellowship with the death of Christ, and a faith wrought in us by God, as He reveals to us the glorious liberty that is ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

IV. The Holy Spirit in Full Possession.
"God who knows the heart, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us ... cleansing their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:8-9).
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:27).

The searchlight of God has done its work; all is yielded to the Cross in obedient and trustful surrender. Deliverance has come, sometimes as a marked crisis, or else gently and imperceptibly.

Four things are at least clear:

1. The soul proves that sin has lost its power, and it is free from the thralldom of old habits (John 8:36).
2. It can say with an assurance that it had never had before, "I have been crucified with Christ." It knows it is "alive unto God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11).

3. The risen Lord has been revealed within (Galatians 1:15-16). and the soul walks in a new life that seems a foretaste of heaven.

4. The Spirit bears witness to the anointing (1 John 2:27), and gives liberty of utterance, and power in service. He Himself is the Anointing, and His mighty working will increase day by day, if the soul will follow on in implicit obedience to know the Lord.

The "manifestation of the Spirit" is given for profit (1 Corinthians 12:7), and is according to the faith and abandonment of the vessel. He takes possession of. To some He comes so gently that they are only conscious of deep peace and clear light, with liberty of utterance, access in prayer, illumination of the Word, and freedom from the bondage of sin. To others He comes after a seeking with an intensity of abandonment that accepts no apparent denial, and no limit. These take the kingdom by force, and to these souls He is able to manifest Himself in en-dynamiting power.

So much depends upon the vessel, its capacity, its depth of intensity, its apprehension, as well as the previous dealings of the Spirit, that no two experience can be quite similar.

In any case the soul is filled, and filled to overflowing. For months, maybe for years, as it walks in obedience to the light of God, it is used to others, so much so that it is apt to think it is at the summit of the spiritual life. Nevertheless; very much more lies on before, for the infilling of the Spirit is but the beginning of the real walk with God. It is His blessed work to lead us on from life in union with Christ to life with Christ in the bosom of the Father.

The soul, following on to know the Lord, at length finds a strange change in experience. The 'overflow' ceases, and the natural man with his personal characteristics,is again in evidence. For a time all these were hidden, but now it is to be seen that the soul lives partially in the life of nature, and partially in the life of God.

The impulsive man is more or less unrestrained in his impulsiveness, the sensitive man is over-sensitive, the reserved man is still painfully  reserved, the strong character fights for the truth that he sees, and insists that it shall be expressed in his language. The heart is right and true, but the 'natural' man is at work for God.

~Jessie Penn-Lewis~

(continued with# 4)