Pilgrim
Portions
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Weeks
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A holy Father’s constant care Keeps watch with an unwearying eye, To see what fruits His children bear, Fruits that may suit their calling high.You say you are
in Christ … if you are in Christ, Christ is in you: then let me see
Christ and nothing else. The apostle prays
for … the Philippians … “that ye may be sincere and without offence
till the day of Christ” without a single stumble all the way along
until the coming of the Lord. The abiding in
the sense of grace, in the presence of God, is the secret of all
holiness, peace, and quietness of spirit. If I wanted to
describe a holy man, I should describe one who was always thinking of
the Father’s love and the Son’s grace, and never of self. Are you careful
to avoid everything that dishonours Christ? Whatever destroys Christ’s
character before men is really a fall, though it may not be positively
gross sin. The characters
that Christ takes in connection with these last days are these, “the
holy, the true.” Yes, that is the character He takes; that which He
desires in His own, in their walk, when He is about to come. We have to
watch over ourselves and over our brethren that it may be so. I do not believe
that when people have really got out of Romans 7 they get back into it.
One may have truly received forgiveness of sins and had joy; but self
is not known; and it is necessary to know oneself to be delivered. …
Until we are delivered, sin has dominion; when we are, Christ is our
strength. If you are
tempted, tried, look straight to Him; little by little you will become
accustomed to believe in His goodness, though it be necessary to recur
to it constantly: but the eye directed to Him makes Him known to the
heart. Looking to Him who delivers us from ourselves is what excludes
the thought of self, and sanctifies us … in a practical way. In general those
who say much about … being dead to nature do so because they are not. …
In the epistle of Romans … we get “dead to sin” … “dead to the law” …
it is also said, “if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin.”
But dead to nature is, in all that we are said to be dead to, quite
unknown to scripture in word or thought. Let us beware, in
ordinary things, of the first step that would separate us from inward
holiness, and that separation of heart to Him which gives us His
secret, light from above on all that is around; for the secret of the
Lord is with them that fear Him. We never have any
excuse for any sin of act or thought, because Christ’s grace is
sufficient for us, and God is faithful not to suffer us to be tempted
above that which we are able to bear. Proving what is
acceptable unto the Lord. … Is this our simple purpose? … In any common
act of life, our question should be, is this acceptable to the Lord? In
purchasing an article of dress, it should not be simply, will this suit
me? but is it acceptable to the Lord, does it suit Him? Pilgrim Portions - Meditations for the Day of Rest - Selected from the Writings, Hymns,
Letters, etc., of J. N. Darby SEDIN-Servicio Evangélico |
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