"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us
all things?" (Rom.
8:32).
"Wherefore
let no one glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul,
or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things
present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's;
and Christ is God's." (1
Cor. 3:21-23).
"For
we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and
glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh:
though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any
other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe
of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a
Pharisee; as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching
the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. Howbeit
what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for
Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse,
that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but
that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is
from God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming
conformed unto his death; if by any means I may attain unto the
resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained, or
am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay
hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing
I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching
forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the
goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if
in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal
unto you." (Phil.
3:3-15).
An
Inheritance to be Possessed
In reading passages like these,
we should be strangely dull and insensitive if we were not left
with the impression of much more yet to be - that there is a
great prospect for the people of God. The Bible all the way
through is a book of prospect; it records movement forward and
then failure to attain, but with the resultant sense that that
cannot be all, that must not be all, there is something very much
more to be entered into. In the first of the above passages of
Scripture we are told that there is already secured unto us a
tremendous inheritance. "He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him
freely give us all things?" In giving us
His Son, He gives us all things; they are ours. The Apostle says,
"All things are yours"; they are yours,
they belong to you. And yet we find him in this state, caught up
in this sense of tremendous prospect and possibility, of the
greatness of what is yet for the Lord's people beyond all his own
vast apprehension and attainment; giving him this sense, that,
though he had come into such wealth and such fulness, it was
nothing compared with what he knew was his in Christ, and which
was yet to become his in experience. So we have already secured
unto us a great inheritance.
We have inherited with and in
Christ; not by earning, by working - it is the inheritance of
faith in Christ Jesus and goes far, far beyond anything that we
have yet imagined. We have only sensed that there is very much
more, that it is a land of far distances. It is ours.
But there is a difference
between having an inheritance and enjoying it; having wealth
secured unto you as yours, and experiencing all that it can bring
and all that it means. "Know ye not that Ramoth-Gilead
is ours, and we are still, and take it not out of the hand of the
king of Syria?" (1 Kings 22:3). That is an Old
Testament word. The inheritance is ours, it belongs to us, but we
sit still and take it not.
So we begin at this time by
reminding ourselves that in our coming into the Lord Jesus and
receiving Him, we have been introduced into an inheritance far,
far beyond our present knowledge and experience; and it is not
only to be entered into hereafter. Do not immediately mentally
relate it to the hereafter. If our Christian lives are not
characterized by a continuous apprehension of greater fulnesses
in Christ, there is something very seriously wrong with us. The
inheritance is to be known now. Its fulness will extend beyond
all time - it must do, for life is far too short and limited for
the apprehension of the 'all things' of God's fulness, in Christ.
Nevertheless it is all ours now - for our discovering, for our
knowing, for our experiencing progressively and continuously now.
But if that is to be so, if we
are to make our inheritance an actual possession and experience,
there is a certain spirit needed. There is no doubt about it.
This part of the letter of Paul to the Philippians is just full
of the spirit necessary for this purpose.
A Spirit
of Renunciation and Devotion
Firstly, it is the spirit of
renunciation. "What things were gain to me, these have I
counted loss for Christ". Yes, those which were
gain - not bad things, not evil things to be put away, not wrong
things to be given up, not things upon which the Divine veto
rests to be let go, but good things to be renounced for the best.
That spirit has to characterize us - that we will never be
satisfied with good that is less than the best, a measure that is
less than the fulness. Renunciation - yes, of good things and
things which in their measure and in their way may have been gain
to us; renunciation of these for the best. Devotion of heart is
breathed here. Oh, how this man's heart is set upon all that has
come to him in Christ! What a heart Paul had to exploit all the
profound and unsearchable riches of Christ and to turn them to
account! Devotion of heart.
Concentration
of Purpose
And then concentration of
purpose. "This one thing I do". In all
the ways, in all the aspects, in all the phases, in all the
many-sided occupations - "that I may know him";
that I may know Him along this line, down this way, through this
avenue, through all the avenues and ways of life, I am set to
make one thing govern everything - to know Him; "for the
excellency (that does not mean only the splendour, but the
transcendence) of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord".
Concentration of purpose - "this one thing", an
undistracted life, an undivided interest, everything gathered and
focused on one thing; whatever comes must in some way be made to
serve this end - my fuller knowledge of the Lord. It is the only
way to economize in life; otherwise you have a lot of
waste things that count for nothing. Paul would look at
everything and ask, 'What has this in it of potentiality to bring
me into some further and fuller knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord?' Through sufferings - "the fellowship of his
sufferings" - through conformity to His death, but
always the cry, "that I may know him". This
is concentration of purpose.
Unceasing
Pursuit of the Goal
And then
continuation. - "I press on". 'I am not
going to be brought to a standstill, I am going on'. Now this is
exactly what the Spirit that was in Jesus Christ and that is in
us will do. The operations of the Holy Spirit, and the
providential ways of God - strange, mysterious providences -
these are all designed to keep us on the stretch. Any life that
is really under the government of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
Jesus Christ, will never be allowed to settle down, will always
be kept on the move - oh, yes, by strange means. The Lord knows
how to deal with you and me. He knows the tendencies of our
makeup, our constitution, our natures. He knows us exactly, every
one of us, and (oh that we could believe it, really believe it
always!) the way in which we are going is the way that the
infinite, inscrutable wisdom of God knows to be the only way by
which we shall come to a greater measure of the Lord. He vetoes
much in order to economize, to ensure that we shall not be
spreading ourselves too widely but be directed into the
essential channels. Yes, He deals with us because He knows us.
His providential dealings with us and the Holy Spirit's
operations in us are to keep us on the move, on the stretch, with
a holy discontent, for there is a great enemy to spiritual
fulness. Do believe this, that there is no time in the life of a
true child of God or servant of God when they retire, with their
work at an end. We ought always to be receiving so much from the
Lord that we just cannot retire and keep it all to ourselves. We
ought to be like David, who said, "I was dumb with
silence, I held my peace, even from good... My heart was hot
within me; While I was musing the fire burned; then spake I with
my tongue" (Psa. 39:2-4). No, the Spirit will keep us
on the stretch, keep us in the way of the growing revelation of
what is ours in Christ, so that we have more and more of Him, and
cannot keep it to ourselves because it is too much.
Refusal
of all Enticements
Well, I was saying
there is a great enemy. John Bunyan can help us here. His
pilgrims came to a place called the Enchanted Ground and the air
in that country was so enervating and drowsy that they wanted to
lie down and take a nap. It was all grown over with briars to
slow up their progress and weary them so that they would succumb
to the atmosphere. Mr. Feeble-mind has to be taken in hand very
strongly by Greatheart, and Mr. Despondency has to be laid hold
of by Mr. Valiant-for-Truth. In this Enchanted Ground there are
many arbours in which you can turn aside and sleep, and some say
that if you do, you may never wake up again in this life. There
is one arbour which bears the name of The Slothful's Friend; in
another two men are asleep - Mr. Heedless and Mr. Too-Bold - and
the pilgrims do their utmost to wake these two from their sleep,
but they cannot be wakened. And now note - for this is what I am
getting at; Bunyan is here so full of wonderful insight and
suggestion. 'This Enchanted Ground is one of the last refuges
that the enemy to pilgrims has; wherefore it is, as you see,
placed almost at the end of the way, and so it standeth against
us with the more advantage, for when, thinks the enemy, will
these fools be so desirous to sit down as when they are weary?
And when so like to be weary as when almost at their journey's
end? Therefore it is, I say, that the Enchanted Ground is placed
so nigh to the land Beulah and so near the end of their race.
Wherefore let pilgrims look to themselves, lest it happen to them
as it hath done to these that are fallen asleep and none can wake
them'. I say again that a spirit of energy is needed if we are to
prevail.
As they journeyed
over the Enchanted Ground, they espied a man upon his knees, and
as they drew up closely to him, he suddenly sprang from his knees
with new vigour and energy. They interrogated him and found him
to be Mr. Standfast. They asked him why he was on his knees, and,
a little abashed that they had seen him, he explained that having
come to this Enchanted Ground, he was met by Madame Bubble who
came and offered him all her enticements not to go on, inviting
him to turn aside, to take a rest, to receive premature prizes
before he reached the City; and, lest he should weaken under her
influence, he fell to prayer and so was saved, and could go on.
What need we say
more? Oh, there is the fulness. It is there, it is ours, but we
need a spirit to lay hold, to persist; this spirit - "Not
that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect."
"I count not myself yet to have apprehended (laid
hold)", "forgetting the things which are
behind... I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the
on-high calling". That spirit alone will bring us into
the experience of what is ours. It is a terrible thing to have
been heir to a very great deal and yet never to have known what
was ours. The Spirit of God would make us know. He would stir us
to great earnestness in the quest that we may know, that we may
possess the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony"
magazine, Jul-Aug 1951, Vol 29-4