March 16, 2005.
22. THE RICHES OF THE MYSTERY. In so many ways the Lord has chosen to impress upon His church that there is far more available to us, than what we have received. He is anxious to share the majesty of His eternal glory with His very own. All that He is, He desires to make known to His beloved. It is Christ in you which becomes the hope of receiving His glory. Col. 1:27 With the understanding that Christ means the anointing we rejoice in the privilege of being a vessel of the Lord. A container which He desires to fill to the very fullness of our capacity. Enlarge your capacity and receive more of Him. The amazing heart of the Lord is always astonishing. He has called us unto Himself as vessels that are to receive of His abundant mercy. Then, to top that off, He is constantly working in the life of those vessels that they might be fully prepared to receive His glory. Rom. 9:23
THE NEW WAY. The way of the Spirit. The life giving Spirit which is to be found only in the Lord Jesus causes us to serve and worship in the newness of spirit. Rom. 7:6 The new way begins with a spiritual birth. The glory and power of that new birth crates a totally new person. One who can now live a life that is in the Spirit of the Lord. John 3:6 It cannot be over emphasized that those who have truly been born of the Spirit will seek to be baptized in water. It is a definite and positive leading of that Spirit which is now progressively creating that new person within. While water baptism identifies one with the death of Christ. It is an act whereby we are to desert the old man and recognize the new in all of its glorious attributes. Too often we fail to recognize the second portion of being buried with Christ in water baptism, and that is being raised TOGETHER with Him, that we might walk in that newness of life which is His. Like as Christ. Identically the same, the same experience, the same results. The new man is identified by his complete association with Christ. Even so. As He was raised in glory and majesty, triumphant over the all frailties and faults of mankind, EVEN SO, we may now walk in newness of life. Rom. 6:4 Where are we? Where are we walking? Are we short changing ourselves? If any man. That include all, each and every member of the body of Christ. If we are in Christ, the old has died. Without quibbling, the old life style must be abandoned, the Christian must die to that former life. Having left behind the old man with all of his ungodly ways we begin to exercise the new life which is found in the Lord Jesus alone. Here, all things become new. Not just a portion but in totality. The direction of life here on this earth is drastically changed. What we once dedicated our lives to, we have now forsaken. Its pleasures are strangely removed by something far better. Attitudes are changed. Ambitions are changed. To try to combine the old life with the new is but to accomplish total failure. The two do not mix. One will dominate the other and eventually will crowd the other completely out of our lives. To try to maintain both the old and the new will only result in deterioration and loss. 2 Cor. 5:17.