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beloved-vern
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Joined: 2020/9/15
Posts: 129


 Grace - NOT I - BUT CHRIST

Grace, as well as all scriptural terms, must be seen in the context of the Cross, because in its truest definition grace is "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Grace is not Christ empowering me to live for God or to live like God, but grace is ‘not I, but Christ liveth in me.’

We are only seen to be righteous as we find that righteousness in the Person of Righteousness. This is the grace of God defined. Grace is the reality that we live by the Life of Another. We are known and accepted in the Beloved Son of God.

We say, 'Oh God, Yes I would like to be dead to that. Is that possible? How can I die again?' Well, you CAN'T die again, but you can enter into HIS death. You can claim HIS death as YOUR death. You can reckon: Romans 6:9, 10, "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." Now, based upon what HE has done: "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He doesn't hold something out there for you to do also; because if you've got to do something then it's not grace. If you do something, it's not grace. 'Well, tell me what I can do!' You can ACCEPT what He HAS DONE! You can open your heart toward what He has done, and His death will begin to work in you: not that death of judgment, but that death of grace. His death - death to sin will begin to work in you, and with the working of His death in you, His Life is released! That is the daily working: that is the daily death. That is the death we face every day in the releasing of His Life, but it is NOT the condemning death; it's not the judgmental death. It's the DEATH OF GRACE; it's the death that grace has provided! Grace has provided such a death. Grace has provided such a sacrifice. Who deserved it? Nobody! Who can die such a death? No one! Again I'll say: not the blood of an Egyptian, not the blood of an Israelite. It had to be the blood of The Lamb!
Nothing but The Lamb could die such a death - nobody!

Grace is the all-inclusive term for our Salvation. The Grace of God is revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ. Unless Christ be revealed in you, you have not seen nor do you inwardly know the Grace of God. The whole Church world this morning is singing "Amazing Grace" but they have no idea about what they are singing. Sermons are being preached on Grace: every day believers use the term "Grace", and in the overwhelming majority of the cases, they have no idea about what they are talking. They have Webster's Dictionary so they have that reference to Grace or they have a Bible Dictionary and they have that reference to Grace - "unmerited favor". Well, if we only knew how absolutely unmerited this favor is: it goes to the very core of Salvation. It goes to the very Work of the Cross. It is so unmerited that it is in fact not I, but Christ who liveth in me. The Grace of God - I want to get this stated correctly; unmerited favor leaves us thinking that it is nothing we did: nothing that we could have possibly done to merit such Salvation. Most people only understand that with reference to their sins being forgiven.

Most people think that Salvation is just their sins forgiven. No, it just begins there, and the Work of Grace just begins there. They use "unmerited favor": it is nothing we did, nothing we could have done, and all of that. Grace is not just nothing that I could have done, nothing that I did do: Grace is NOT me. Grace is not just me not doing something: Grace is not me - period! The true Work of Grace is the true Work of the Cross and it begins with my crucifixion with Christ. Galatians 2:20. Get a hold of Galatians 2:20. Live in it! Live in it until the Lord appears in every word of it, in every syllable of it - in the whole of it. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." I am crucified with Christ. I am telling you this is where the Grace of God begins.

So we have that NOT I - BUT. When that is established in your soul, something has got to be realized concerning This Christ with regard to Salvation, with regard to everything of Spiritual Life. Something has to be realized concerning This Christ. It is just this, Christ liveth IN ME. Christ liveth in me. Not I. The contrast is not just between the two objects. The contrast is that one does not, of itself, live; while the other is Life itself. Not I. Paul's statement was I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet NOT I. It is concerning living. Not I, but Christ liveth in me. That is The Resurrection . That is the translating power. That is how we come to be in the Kingdom of His Dear Son. That is the Grace of God. If Grace means unmerited favor, tell me what would describe favor more than The Living One living in me? There is the Grace of God that must be revealed,

I am going to ask you: what good does it do me or you, or creation for Him to be alive unless He is in you and me? Salvation is NOT merely a Life given: it is a Life LIVED. He is The One who lives it: CHRIST liveth in me. When we go to Paul's defining statement on Grace which is Galatians 2:20. In my opinion, that is a defining statement of Grace. The whole thing is NOT I, BUT CHRIST. But Christ who liveth in me. That is where we have to take it.

GRACE IS A NEW STATE OF BEING. And I want to emphasize something here with regard to the New Creation that we have come to be in Christ: the New Creation we have come to be in Him. He is the center of that New Creation. He is not just the source of it: He is the center of it. We say these things so often. We say He's the source, we say He is the substance. Do we understand… have we begun to understand that our Salvation, the Grace of God: have we come to understand that it is the Person of Christ Himself, and that Salvation is our relationship with that Person? You who are married: do you understand, at least in a natural way, that marriage is a relationship with this person. Do you understand that? In the natural there are many who do not. It is not just cohabitation. It is a relationship with a person. Well, our Salvation, the Grace of God, is the ultimate marriage. It is the only marriage wherein the bride and the groom, the husband and the wife are actually one Spirit: are actually one Body, or are in actuality One Son! Salvation is our union with Christ. We can be consciously aware of that, because we are a living acknowledgment of that Mystery 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. That is our acknowledgment in everything, at all times, in every place. That is our calling. That is the vocation unto which we are called (Ephesians 4:1). That is our vocation unto which we are called. To Live as one with Him.

The flesh (that is, studying the Bible by mental understanding) profits nothing. Jesus in Person in us is the only thing that is life.

Don’t try to answer everybody’s question, because they are not answerable. From the standpoint of The Truth there is no answer to them! They are totally irrelevant in the light of The Truth. And getting our own questions answered is the worse thing, because then we become satisfied with the answer, and we suppose that’s some kind of spiritual knowledge. But it isn’t, and most of the time it’s just appeasing our natural mind. It’s leaving US in control. We say “I understand it now”, and I’m in control. And we’re in our so-called "comfort zone". We’re comfortable because I’m in control. But in the seeing of Christ I’m NEVER in control! And I’m always having to admit this is not me figuring it out. This is seeing it IN HIM, and most of the time not even being able to verbalize it!

So it is possible for us to believe in the facts of the Gospel without seeing the LORD HIMSELF and then we are not transformed by His Life because we have NOT SEEN HIM.

 2023/1/11 10:00Profile
beloved-vern
Member



Joined: 2020/9/15
Posts: 129


 Re: Grace - NOT I - BUT CHRIST

“Have you not learned the lesson of despair yet? Is it necessary for the Holy Spirit to make you despair again? Why not have one good despair and get it all over? Why despair every few days? Only because you are still hunting around for something, somewhere, some rag of goodness in yourself that you can present to God that will please Him, satisfy Him, and answer to His requirements. You will never find it. Settle it today.”

I wonder how much of our pain and how many of our inward trials are the result of failing to learn this fundamental lesson. I wonder how much of our self condemnation, self-hatred, insecurity, fear of failure, etc. stems from still “hunting around” for something, anything, that we can show for ourselves, for our lives, for our ministries, for what we can produce, for what we can do with our gifting, for what we can build for God. Are we still trying to bring to the Lord the offering of Cain (the fruit of his own labors, the fruit of the earth) when all He seeks is Abel’s slain lamb?

You see, until we despair of living in the flesh for God, He will keep sending us back to learn the all-important lesson of despair. The Law must have its ministry in us. “A ministry of condemnation. A ministry of death”. But do you see that it is the kindest thing that a loving Father could do? Can you see that until we learn the lesson of the Law, it is impossible for us to experience the rest, the life, the purpose for which He has created us.

The lesson of the Law drives us to Christ. It is, as Paul says “a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ”. (Galatians 3:24)

 2023/1/12 19:11Profile





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