HOW CAN I ENJOY ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD

^[p. 88] HOW CAN I ENJOY ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD

I have been deeply interested in seeing that if “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”, I can enjoy my acceptance with God. I think many believe in Christ risen, and know that every shade of distance between God and them has been removed in the cross from the eye of God, who do not enjoy it. Like the prodigal before he was clothed, who, though assured of his father’s love, could not enjoy it because he was not fit in himself. The first voice of the Holy Ghost when He is given to you is of the love of God, how God feels about you, but if you are not in Christ, if the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has not set you free from your old condition, you cannot enjoy your acceptance. You are not enjoying the supper (see Luke 14) when you are engrossed with any natural favour. Land, oxen, or wife are natural favours — favours to the natural man, and when the favour is made an object, you are not enjoying your acceptance with God, however well you may know the perfectness of it, because you are not free from the man under the law of sin and death. The Holy Ghost who assures you of the love of God, who begins His indwelling in you by assuring your heart of the heart of God towards you, is the same Holy Ghost who in the life of Christ Jesus makes you free from your old condition. When we are drawn away by any earthly favour, when the natural man resumes his place, we are drinking of the old wine, and there is no taste for the new. I hope you will understand me. It has explained so much to me, even that if you are not in the Spirit you do not enjoy the great supper, and if you are in the Spirit you are not only assured of God’s heart, but you are also assured that you yourself are free of the old condition of sin and death. This accounts for the sad and frequent loss of liberty in saints; a very little old wine diverts from the new — you do not lose your acceptance, but you do not enjoy it when you are drawn away by any earthly favour, anything outside of the Father’s house. Your body is the Lord’s, and he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. The privilege of grace is that we should be in the enjoyment of the great supper; it is the best and greatest favour which could be given us here, and it is very sad how soon one is diverted from it by an earthly gain. It is as we enjoy the supper that we taste of heavenly things, and assuredly if we do not enjoy our acceptance we cannot be ready for the revelation of the Father’s things by the Spirit (see John 16: 14, 15), and we are not witnesses of Christ. The servant as we see in John 15 reproduces Christ as He was here. The witness describes Him in His exaltation. Do you see many witnesses? Be assured when the servants are not witnesses they are hindered by some earthly gain, something which ministers to them naturally.

I had to reiterate that everything was accomplished for us, up to the measure of the Father’s heart, and that if we were dead, we should be in it all. But God has given us the Holy Ghost that we may enjoy now what has been accomplished for us. My enjoyment is the result of the Spirit’s work in me; He attracts my heart to Christ, and then God, by discipline, removes everything that hinders or checks the leading of His Spirit, so that we who live are always delivered unto death.

The ascetic tries to do this, but God only can do it. He attracts my heart to Christ, and He severs me by His hand from that in me which hinders. So it is all His work.

Christ’s work is one great whole. It translates His own (Aaron’s house) from Egypt to Canaan at one and the same moment. From the deepest darkness of distance to the brightest nearness. We take time to learn it, and we only learn it in parts. First, sheltered by the blood from judgment; then the Red Sea; then practically the brazen serpent and the Jordan; but these parts formed one whole in Christ’s work, and He carried us from dead in sins to heavenly places. His work in its finish determines our place before God. How you could have read ————’s pamphlet and not have protested against it with indignation is a wonder to me. Surely at one time you would. May God grant that you may still come “to the help of the Lord against the mighty” (Judges 5: 23).