“Happy were it, if puzzled and perplexed Christians would turn their eyes from the defects that are in their obedience, to the fullness and completeness of Christ’s obedience; and see themselves complete in Him, when most lame and defective in themselves.” John Flavel, (1627–1691- English Presbyterian clergyman, puritan, and author).
I WRITE the above quote as a reminder that what we have been looking at in Lessons From the Garden, reviewing Miles Stanford’s works collected in The Complete Green Letters, are nothing new. Faithful ministers of the gospel rekindle and repeat the flames of truth over time in the format of their times and hearers; and praise God, it will ever so be for the hungry and thirsty heart. (Matt 5:6)
AS I’ve been rereading our current study, I recall in my minds-eye the Faith-Rest teaching coined by a beloved minister many years ago very similar in content to what is being presented here. I recall another moment not long ago when my pastor started a study is the book of Job and I thought, “Again, Job?” Then paused, thinking with a heart smile, “Yes, again Job – a treasure trove, the deeps of which can never be reached or exhausted.” — Again, precept upon precept, line upon line.
SO now we come to Chapter 43, Spirit-applied Reckoning – recalling the Three Pillars of the previous chapter, especially the Third:
The Third Pillar
The knowledge that we are alive, and complete, in our risen Lord places us securely upon the third pillar. Now our reckoning can be fully established, as we count ourselves to be alive unto God in Christ. Now His life can be manifested in us by the growing fruit of the Spirit. This is the practical fulfillment of the very purpose of God for us: that we be conformed to the image of His Son.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa 30:15, Jas 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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Chapter 43—Spirit-applied Reckoning
“The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit … he shall teach you all things … He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you” (John 14:26; 16:14, ASV).
“The Comforter, even the Holy Spirit.” The Lord Jesus chose the perfect designation in introducing the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. Even in our sin, He comforts us. True, He convicts us of sin—and Holy Spirit conviction can be intense—but He does so in order to point us to the Blood which ever cleanses us from all sin, and to the Lord Jesus who is the propitiation for our sins, the One who ever lives to make intercession for us (I John 1:7; 2:1, 2; Heb. 7:25). The enemy condemns us when we sin, and seeks to crush us under the weight of guilt. But the Comforter does not condemn; He convicts so that we might confess and be cleansed from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
When it comes to reckoning, we need the Holy Spirit as our Comforter more than ever. We are quite surprised when we begin to realize how much suffering is involved in reckoning. We cannot reckon ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin” without experiencing the deep, inner crucifixion of the cross as it is applied to the self-life. The dual truth upon which the Spirit has us reckon is that which He makes experiential in our lives: (1) We count upon having died unto sin, and are “alway delivered unto death” as the outworking of that position of death; (2) we count upon being alive unto God in Christ, and the Spirit causes “the life also of Jesus to be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11).
All spiritual growth entails a lifelong process. We have an infinite Lord as our life, to whose image we are being conformed by the Eternal Spirit. Our dire need causes us to long for and expect immediate emancipation and newness of life as a result of our reckoning. To a degree, the Spirit complies with this expectation during our early encounter with identification. But He must bring us into the process of growth.
Consider the pattern of the Mount of Transfiguration experience. …to be continued
