Heavenly Life for Earthly Living

 

By C.E. Orr

 

Heavenly Living

 

“The Topmost Round in the Ladder of Life.” This was the subject three young ladies were discussing one afternoon. One of them thought if she could become a world-renowned painter that she would reach what she thought to be the topmost round in life’s ladder. The second aspired to become a great educator. The third thought she could be the greatest blessing to man by becoming a politician, therefore she thought of entering the world of politics. An old man who was passing by was asked by the young ladies what he thought to be the topmost round in the ladder of life. Taking a small well-worn book from his pocket, he read these words, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Col. 3:17). He explained to them that “name” meant nature or character. “Therefore whatever else you may do in life,” said the aged man, “you have not reached the true standard of life except you do those things in the nature, or character of Jesus.” The young ladies exclaimed in one breath, “It is impossible to live such a life. Only angels live in such a way.”

 

     This little book proposes to speak to you, gentle reader, about that which these young ladies thought to be impossible. To do all our deeds and speak all our words in the nature or character of Jesus is to live heavenly. These short messages are brought to you to show you that such a life can be lived on the earth, to tell you how it can be done, and also to tell you why it should be done.

 

     We are called to heavenliness of life. None have attained to the true standard of life who do not live heavenly. It is God’s ideal life for man. In his sermon on the Mount Jesus spoke these words, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 7:21). Nothing but doing the will of God entitles man to heaven, and whosoever does his will lives heavenly. In teaching his disciples how to pray, Jesus said, “After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:9-10). When the will of God is done in earth as it is in heaven, then earth becomes counterpart of heaven. Wherever you see any one doing the will of God there you will behold a heavenly life.

 

     It is thought by some Christian professors that the will of God can not be done on earth. They say we can not even know the will of God. If you will read this little book carefully and prayerfully you will learn how to know the will of God and also how to do it. There is a precious secret in knowing the will of God. It is said that the “secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.” (Psa. 25:14). And again, “His secret is with the righteous.” (Prov. 3:32). Yes, it is given to us to know the will of God and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. There is a close fellowship between Christ and his trusting child. There is a most intimate and blessed communion.

 

There is a hallowed place of prayer;

Wondrous things to me unfold.

My blessed Saviour meets me there

And whispers secrets to my soul.

 

     It is as easy to know the will of God as it is for the bird to know how to build its nest. Further on we will have more to say about this.

 

     Paul, in writing a letter to Titus, his own son after the common faith, said, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” (Tit. 2:11-12). To have these words fulfilled in our life is to live heavenly. Grace is a teacher come from God. It teaches man how to live. We have been told that grace means favor, and so it does, but that is not its primary meaning. Grace primarily meant, “that which brings joy to another.” The night in which the Saviour was born an angel announced, “I bring you good tidings of great joy.” Then immediately a multitude of the heavenly host shouted, “On earth peace, good will toward men.” The bringing of great joy to man was God’s good will to man. Grace means favor, but such favor as brings gladness to the heart of man. This grace that brings joy to the life of man teaches him of a life that corresponds with joy. Joy is found only in heavenly living. In no other plane of life will man find joy.

 

     If all who profess to be Christians would live soberly, righteously, and godly, they would win the world for Christ in a short time. A heathen said to a missionary, “We are finding you out. You are not as good as your Book. We like your Book, but you do not live like your Book reads. If you would live like your Book reads, you would conquer India for Jesus in five years.” Amid the cares of every day life, do you live like the Book reads? The Book tells us that we should live godly in this world, or in this life. To live godly is to live like God.

 

     Let me tell you a story. It is only a story of my own imagination, but it may give you a serious thought. Suppose the planet Mars is inhabited by people of like nature to us. They have moving pictures there as men have here. One theatrical man hears of the life of Jesus. He hears of it being the most wonderful life ever lived. He wishes to get that life on his films that he may play it out in his picture house. But he is told that the life of Jesus is a Spirit life, and he has no camera that will photograph a spirit. But he is also told that there is a people on the planet Earth who live the life of Jesus in the flesh and if he will send his photographer to Earth and take a picture of the daily life of these people he will have the life of Jesus. Now we wish to ask you if you are ready to sit for the picture? Suppose you can’t get your automobile started, or the bread burns, or the clothes line breaks, or the baby is cross, or someone tells a falsehood on you, are you ready to have your picture taken and write under it, “Christlike?”

 

     In speaking of the great salvation of God through his abundant mercy and love, Paul said, “And hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:6). Through the saving grace of God man is raised up to a heavenly place in Christ. In chapter 1, verse 3, Paul tells that God will bless us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Many are praying for spiritual blessings. Such blessings fall only in heavenly places. Man will have all the spiritual blessings his soul demands if he will but live in a heavenly place. Now man can live in a heavenly place for the grace of God in salvation raises him up to a heavenly place. The only kind of life people live in a heavenly place is a heavenly life. You cannot live a sinful, worldly life in a heavenly place.

 

     A holy life is a convincing proof of the reality of the Christian religion, and the truthfulness of the Bible. A God-filled life is a strong magnet drawing men into companionship with Jesus. If a holy life does not draw men to God it is because they are of such a nature as to gravitate only toward the world. There are powers in a godly life that distinguishes it from all other life. A holy life is an index finger pointing the way to God. A life free from sin speaks out the story of redeeming grace to other lives. If we carry holy principles with us in the world, the world will be hallowed by us.

 

     Those who work in flower fields carry the fragrance on their clothes. There is no sweeter music in the world or in heaven than those psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs sung out of hearts filled with the love of heaven. It is not for artistic music that the world is thirsting, it is the music sung in the lives of holy men and women. Fill your soul, O saint of God, in the place of secret prayer, with the music of the celestial world and then go out and sing it into the hearts of men, Nothing will gladden the world like this. The world of men is weary with a religion that is worldly. “Away with the plays, pictures, classical music, programs, socials,” they cry, “give us a religion that has come from heaven and lifts men up to a heavenly place and to holiness of life.” The world is looking for men who walk with God.

 

     We can live heavenly here amid the duties of every day life. We can have the stamp of holiness on every word we speak and every deed we do. By living much in the presence of Christ, the bloom of Christ will tint every act of life. By the assimilation of Christ, in the hour of quiet meditation, we become molded into His image and we can then stamp that image upon the world. If we would impress the world with heaven we must bear the impress of heaven.

 

“I hear my Savior saying,

I’ll never leave thee now,

If thou wilt bear my image

Upon thy heart and brow.”

 

     God has a place for each of us. If we will find this place and fill it as he intends, our life will turn the thoughts of men from earthly to heavenly things. A Christian lady for days nursed a poor, sick, fallen girl. One day as the girl was recovering health, the lady said to her, “Do you ever have thoughts of God?” The girl, looking into her face replied, “I cannot help but have thoughts of God since I knew you.” It is a blessed privilege to so live that we can bring thoughts of God to the minds of others. I would rather cause one man to think of God than have the wealth of the wealthiest man.

A man said to his wife, “When I am tried and tempted to speak hastily and crossly, if you will keep sweet it will help me to get the victory.” It is no small thing in the eyes of heaven to keep so mild, gentle and calm in a time of domestic tempest as to bring a quietness, a calmness into the life of some tried one. There is a small marble slab, marking the grave of a child in a southern hillside cemetery, on which are engraven the words, “It is easy to live right when she was with us.” The words were the remark of one of the playmates of the deceased child, as the little body was being lowered into the grave. Is there a soul so dead that does not thrill with an emotion at the thought of being able to make it easier for another to live right? Let us invest so heavily in the stock of grace that we may be able, by our heavenly life, to help others to live heavenly. Such investment will pay well in the day of eternity.

     It is a great privilege to be in the niche God has for us in the world of life. It is a wonderful thing to have a little spot in the great vineyard of the Lord assigned to our care and keeping. Let us keep it clean. It may not be a very large spot. It may not reach many miles from our cottage door, but small though it be, let’s keep it clean and beautiful. There is a wondrous reflex action in it. We grow into the image of the work we do from the heart. If we have an ideal life before us and we work to that ideal we will have that ideal stamped in our character. As we work to brighten our corner we will grow to be brighter. We have seen the motto, “Take the world as you find it.” We would like to place another by the side of this, “But do not leave it as you found it.” A heavenly life in the world leaves its imprint upon the world.

 

            With whatsoever sort of life you touch the world, that is the stamp you will leave upon it. The old miller left some of the flour-dust, with which his clothes were covered, upon everyone he touched. If we talk with someone for a few moments and do not leave something of heaven upon them it is because we are not close enough to heaven or close enough to them, possibly both.

 

     A small dark spot on a snow-white cloth will attract more attention than all the snowy whiteness. Let us beware then to keep our lives unspotted. The finer the music, the greater the risk and the more noticeable the discord. The higher profession of religion we make, the greater the reproach of an unworthy deed. God made us for work and not for idleness. He has given us material which we are to work into the fabric of our lives, and the very material given us to rear a palace beautiful unto the Lord will become a stumbling block both for ourselves and others if we do not use it.

 

     The lives we live do not die with us. They will go on preaching long after the grass is waving over our tomb. It is a serious thought. This is an age of lightness of thought respecting eternal things. It is an age in which there is much calculated to relieve men of the feeling of responsibility of life. It is a serious thing to live. Better never to have lived at all than to fail of doing our duty in life. No tears of our after life can wash out a deed that has been done. Jesus can forgive, but the deed still lives. The son of a wealthy man was standing scratching the glass of a show-window with the diamond in his ring. “Don’t do that,” said a ragged newsboy. “I guess I will do as I please,” replied the young man. “But you can’t rub it out,” answered the boy. The deeds of life are difficult to efface.

 

     There is a heavenly way marked out for the people of God. It was marked out by the life of Jesus. The way He trod is the heavenly way. God wants us at our best. It is our privilege, as Christians, to reveal Christ to men. God calls us to holiness of life. “Be ye holy for I am holy.” “Be ye holy in all manner of living.” Holy living is heavenly living. Jesus has come to give us life (see John 10:10), “He that hath the Son, hath life.” (1 John 5:12). The life that Jesus came to give us is heavenly life. We can have it in its fullness, and when we have it we can and will live it. Just as it takes time and effort to keep in strong physical life, so it will take time and effort to keep in strong spiritual life.

 

Take time, yes, take time to ponder on the path of life that Jesus trod:

Take time, yes, take time to steep your soul in long deep thoughts of God.

 

     The following verses should be our daily testimony:

 

I am walking each day in a heavenly way

How e’er strait and narrow it be;

To me it is clear, and I love it so dear,

For Jesus is walking with me.

 

To me He is fair, naught with Him can compare,

The truest, the noblest, the best;

His love I can feel, to me He is real,

As gently I lie on His breast.

 

Though dark be the day, light lies on my way,

My pathway of life I can see;

I walk without fear, for my Savior is near,

His great loving hand leadeth me.

 

I am kept by His power, therefore reigning each hour,

Over all the dominion of sin:

To the world I am dead, by the Spirit I’m led,

Along a heavenly way with Him.

 

Earthly things are behind, I am armed with Christ’s mind,

I am happy as I can be;

I am running the race, locked in His embrace,

“And this is like heaven to me.”

 

No thirst for life’s pleasure, nor thought for earth’s treasure,

I live for a home o’er the sea;

With Christ I am walking, with Him I am talking,

This is pleasure, and treasure to me.

 

My pathway grows brighter, my heart’s growing lighter

As hourly I’m nearing the goal:

My joys are increasing, I’m waiting releasing,

To soar to the home of my soul.

 

 

The Heavenly Birth

 

     One evening, after preaching on the subject of the heavenly life, a gentleman said to me, “I have been a member of a church for thirty years, I have had pastors capable of giving instructions in the divine life, and I have tried to live a Christian life, but have utterly failed, can you tell me the cause of my failure?” We told him that we thought we could. We asked him if a fig tree could bear olive berries? He replied, “I get your meaning. Is it possible I have been trying to live a life I did not possess?” That was his trouble, and it has been the trouble with many another. You cannot live a heavenly life if you do not possess the life. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). We have a number of different translations of the New Testament in our library, and for the words, “born again,” as given in our common version, they all read, “born from above.” To be born from above is to have a heavenly birth. Man becomes a Christian in no other way than that of being born from above. Birth means life, and since this birth is from above, the Christian’s life is of heavenly origin. This birth brings man into a heavenly state on earth, enables him to live a heavenly life, and entitles him to an eternal heaven beyond this life. There can be no more important theme in the Bible. There are many sincere people who do not understand the nature of the new birth and the life that is to follow. We hope to bring them help. There are a few questions often asked which we will try to answer.

 

     First: How can a man be born again? This was Nicodemus’ question.

     Second: Why does a man need to be born again?

     Third: What is needful for man to do that he might be born again?

     Fourth: What are the results of the heavenly birth in the life of man?

 

     To answer these questions fully would require more space than we can give, but we will give enough to start you on the way to the truth of the subject, and you can go the rest of the way.

 

     First: How can a man be born again? We do not mean to tell you in what manner the work is done. No one knows this. We know that it is done and that it is done by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. These are the agencies at work in effecting the new birth, but we do not know how they work. Peter says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Pet. 1:23). James says, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.” (Jas. 1:18).

 

     The word of God planted in the heart springs into life just as the seed planted in the ground, warmed by the sunshine, springs into life. But the seed needs moisture, heat, light, etc., that it may germinate. So the Word of God needs the germinating power of the Holy Spirit. The wire is said to be ‘dead’ when the electricity is cut off, but when the current is on it is a ‘live wire.’ Jesus says, “The words that I speak are spirit and they are life.” They are life because they are spirit. This is how man is born again. He is born again by the operation of the word and the Spirit of God in the heart.

 

     Some have thought that man becomes a Christian by a change of his purpose, or by decision of will, or by works of righteousness. Something of these may be necessary on the part of man, of which we will speak in its proper place, but these do not bring life to the soul. Being born again is a change, not of purpose only, but a change of nature also, a change from bad principles to good principles. It is not a change in action, such as to discontinue to go to the theatre, and to go to some religious service. It is not the change from bad words to good words. It is not to supplant cursing by praises to God. These are only the effects of being born again and not the work itself.

 

     Now it is true that man can leave off many bad deeds and take up the doing of good ones and yet not be a Christian. The doing of some good deeds is not necessarily heavenly living. Heavenly living comes only from heavenly life, and heavenly life comes only from being born again, and this is a change, not of action, but from death unto life. Being born again is to be resurrected from a state of death to that of life. It is to be translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Christ. It is a change whereby man becomes a new creature. He is a new creation. Old things pass away, and all things become new, and all these new things are of God. The Bible becomes a new book, Jesus becomes a new Christ, love is new, joy is new, the world is a new realm of light and beauty, it is childhood innocence, joy and gladness in a heavenly life. This can be wrought in the life of man only by the Word and Spirit of God.

 

     Second: Why does man need to be born again? Is there not some other way? Is this absolutely necessary? Would Jesus, who loved man so well as to die for him, have said, “Ye must, and except you do, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven,” if it had not been a positive necessity? Whenever anyone argues for some other way than an actual birth from heaven to become a Christian, he is pleading, it may be consciously or unconsciously; nevertheless, he is pleading for a looseness, a liberty in life that is below the standard of Bible living. Heaven is a fixed state of holiness. Man is in sin, and consequently in a state of death. He must have his sins forgiven, he must pass from death unto life, he must pass from a state or guiltiness to a state of innocence, he must pass from a state of sinfulness unto a state of holiness or he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. It is a fixed law. The reason why man must be born again is, then, because he cannot enter heaven without it.

 

     Another reason is because he can never receive the things of God. If God should take him into heaven without being made a new creature he could not receive the things of heaven. Listen, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Man is a natural man until he is born again. When he is born again he is born of the supernatural power and he becomes supernatural or spiritual. Without this heaven could not be heaven to him. He could no more be able to receive the things of heaven than a dark body is to receive light, nor more able to enjoy heaven than a deaf man to enjoy music, or the blind man to enjoy the beauty of the flower. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us [those who have been born again] by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:9-10).

 

     Men are traveling all over the world to see and enjoy wondrous scenes of the material world. They are utterly unable to conceive of the beauties, the glories, the wonders, God has for those who have been born again except they have this experience. The heavenly birth brings man into a world of beauty, of light, of grandeur, of wonder, that fills him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Praise the Lord. The Spirit of God brings up the deep and wondrous things of God and reveals them unto the spiritual. There can be no thirsting for such scenes as are displayed in the theatre when man once gets a vision of the unfading glories in the kingdom of heaven through the new birth. There are other reasons why man should be born again, but we must pass on.

 

     Third: What is needful for man to do that he might be born again? Some will tell us that all has been done, that there is nothing for man to do. This is a serious mistake. There is something for man to do. He must believe on Jesus Christ. The Philippian jailor asked what he should do to be saved. He was not told there was nothing for him to do. He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” (1 John 5:1). A census officer called upon a Christian with a form to be filled up, the latter gave him the family Bible in which were recorded the names of the various members of the family. After looking down the list of names, the officer said, “I do not understand this; here is the name of Samuel T. who was born in 1890, and in 1920 was born again. I do not know how to make this entry.” Reader, could you have explained the point from a personal experience?

 

     The believing that is spoken of in our last quoted text is more than intellectual belief. It is to believe with the heart. Now, it is true that none can believe from the heart that Jesus is the Christ except they forsake all for Christ. “Except a man forsake all that he hath he cannot be my disciple,” said Jesus. Do not attempt to believe on Jesus except you have forsaken all to follow Him. He must have all your heart. A dying king said to his dutiful servant, “Go tell the dead, I come.” The servant understanding he could not go tell the dead the king was coming except he die, therefore he fell upon his sword and died. We cannot go tell the dead in sin that Jesus has come to give life except we die to all that is in sin.

 

     To enter into heavenly life man must receive Jesus. This he can and must do. “He came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13). The caterpillar, as it lies in the cocoon, seems to be in a state of death, yet it is capable, under proper conditions to receive something outside of itself, and receiving this, is converted into a butterfly. The soul of man, dead in sin, is capable under proper conditions to receive Jesus Christ, and as it receives him, it is born of God.

 

     Fourth: The results in life of man having been born again? He has victory over the world. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” (1 John 5:4). It is not that we go out of the world, it is not that we cannot be citizens of the world, it is not that we cannot do business with the world, but that we have overcome the world. Those born of God live above the world. When the world of mankind speaks evil of you, neglects you, persecutes you, insults you, misrepresents you, despises you, you have victory. You have victory over the charms and allurements of the world. They have no power over you. They do not have your love; they do not engage your mind. The loss of all things earthly, the most adverse circumstances of life, cannot disturb you. Things to eat, things to wear, nor any earthly thing causes you any anxiety. You have victory over the world. This world is not your lord and master. You do not have to bow down to this world for anything. You are a child of God. Your heavenly Father careth for you. God will see that this world serves you in all that you need while you are here in it. You are not to trouble your mind a moment about any earthly thing. This is VICTORY.

 

     Man born of God has victory over the flesh. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1). “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:5). Victory over the flesh–this is one of the highest points in the Christian life. We have a beautiful and forceful example of it in the life of Jesus when he refused to turn stones to bread. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.” (Gal. 5:24). “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

 

     One said he did not understand what it meant to live after the flesh and to mortify the deeds of the body. He was advised to search and seek for an understanding, for it is a most serious matter. If a man’s physical life depended upon his knowing and doing a certain thing, he would put forth much effort to know and do that thing. Did you ever read your Bible carefully and prayerfully that you might have a clear and concise, connected view of its hallowed teaching with respect to not living after the flesh? To have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you must walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. See Romans 8:9.

 

     We will take the liberty of quoting from a very old book published in London, England. “Through these lips and eyes, and so on, we are continually exercising an influence on all with whom we come in contact. Now, the question is, what is the nature of that influence? Dear friends, if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, it will be a revelation of Christ. Our lives will be a constant epiphany. In these bodies we should carry about the marks of the Lord Jesus. The tone of our voice, the line of our conduct, the look in our eyes, everything about us will speak of Christ. I do not think it a light thing, dear friend, that so many who name the name of Christ adopt a light, rattling, worldly manner, to emulate the manners of the world. These bodies of ours are the veils which conceal the things unseen, the things of the spiritual world, from our present sensible, experience. Strip off these bodies and in a moment we are landed in the presence of invisible realities. If it were not for the veil which now for a time overshadows us, it would be impossible for us to fulfill the work of our probation. At the same time, however, it will be the great effort of the foe of God and man to employ this bodily organism as a means of deadening our spiritual sensibilities.”

 

     It is this last sentence that we especially desire you to give serious thought. Indulgence of the flesh dulls the sensibilities of the soul. There are only comparatively few saints that can come into the presence of God and talk heart to heart with Him, that can feel His presence, that can see the realities of the unseen world, that have any particular realization of Christ through the spiritual senses. It is all because they live too much after the flesh. Many have to acknowledge that their private devotions are not satisfactory. They do not talk to God face to face as they believe is their privilege. It is because the veil of flesh is too thick. They are in too direct communication with the world. They mind earthly things too much. Their life is a feasting rather than a fasting. Their life is a self-indulgence rather than a self-sacrifice.

 

     Recently I was invited to listen over the radio to a sermon that was being preached. I tried to tune in for the sermon, but I could not get out of tune with another station where they were broadcasting something about a prize fight. I could hear in one sentence something about the Lord Jesus, but the next sentence was about the boxing match. I could get nothing satisfactory out of the sermon because I could not get out of tune with the boxing match. Some people have this trouble in their spiritual life. They do not get into satisfactory communication with heaven, and it is because their connection with the world is not wholly cut off.

 

     Another result of having been born into heavenly life is victory over the devil. “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not: but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” (1 John 5:18). The Christian’s privilege is to triumph over Satan at all times. When the seventy that Jesus sent out to preach returned, they were rejoicing because the devils were subject to them. Jesus told them he would give them power to tread on scorpions and serpents and give them power over all the power of the enemy. “But rejoice not in this,” he said, but “rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” See Luke 10:20. When your name is written in heaven you are invested with power and victory over Satan. When your name is written in heaven you are related to heaven and all heaven has power over the devil. Satan sways his power only over those who are in sin. Every soul that comes to Jesus is liberated from Satan and given power over him.

 

     Still another result in the lives of those who have been regenerated is that they have victory over sin. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” (1 John 3:9). “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” (1 John 5:18). There is no sin in a heavenly life. Adam was driven out of Eden when he sinned. Those who are born of God live heavenly, consequently live sinless lives. They walk with God. They live in obedience to the Word of God. They have been delivered out of the hand of the enemy, therefore they serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness all their life long. See Luke 1:74-75.

 

 

The Price Paid for Heavenly Living

 

     Man is under gravest obligation to live a heavenly life because of the price paid in order that he might live it. When a mother makes a great sacrifice to save her daughter from the ways of sin, it lays a great responsibility upon her. The apostle tells us that we are “bought with a price, therefore,”–the word “therefore” means for this reason, or since this is a fact, we are under certain obligations. “Therefore,” says he, “glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20). Since we are bought with a price–a great price, we are under obligation to live to the glory of God, for it was to this end that we were purchased.

 

     Man usually feels under greater obligation to take care of valuable property that belongs to another than he does if it belongs to himself. And the greater the price paid, the greater the sense of responsibility. If a man would but fully realize that he belongs exclusively to God, this would move him to greater carefulness in life. Also it will bring to him a feeling of security, knowing that God will care for his own. A colored brother was heard to pray one time, when in a strong temptation: “Now help, Massa, for your property is in danger.” It is blessed to realize in the hour of temptation that we are the Lord’s and to realize how dear we are to Him. Surely we will feel secure in His keeping.

 

     Mrs. Hannah Whitehall Smith tells a story that well illustrates the responsibility of ownership. She says that while traveling in the south she met a lady who told her that she had occasion one time to give her slave a piece of work to do which required him to stand outside the window on a plank, that was held steadily by some one sitting on the end on the inside. The man was a little afraid, but said, “Missus, if you will set on the end of the plank yourself, then I’ll do the work.” I replied, “Won’t it do if your wife will sit on the plank? Mandy will not let it fall.” “No, Missus,” he answered, “I won’t trust Mandy. She is only my wife, and she may forget and get up, but you are my Missus, and I belong to you and of course you will keep me safe.” God never sends us out on any duty without the promise of keeping us while doing that duty. God’s promise is the plank. This plank rests on his faithfulness. We need not fear to walk out upon it, knowing God is on the other end and will bear us up.

 

     One Scripture text above others impresses me with the fact of our valuableness, and dearness to God. It is John 10:29, “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all.” Now from this text you have always, no doubt, thought that Jesus was speaking of the greatness of the Father. That is the thought given us by the common version. But other translations give us a different thought which is the true thought in the mind of Jesus. The marginal reading of the revised version is, “That which my Father hath given unto me is greater than all.” The 20th Cent. reads, “What my Father has entrusted to me is more than all else.” Rotheram says, “As for my Father, what He has given me is a greater thing than all.” Weymouth translates it, “What my Father has given to me is more precious than all beside.” These versions give us the thought of Christ. Those whom the Father had given him were more precious, were dearer to him than all else. In his prayer to the Father he gives us an intimation of how dear those whom the Father had given Him were to Him. “I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me.” We can see here something of the joy of his soul as he speaks of those whom the Father had given him.

     Dear reader, are you one of them? Have you been given by the Father to Jesus? Just as the father gives his daughter to be the bride of the bridegroom, has the Father given you to be the bride of Christ? Are you wedded to him? Then do your whole duty by walking worthy of such a Lover. Again in this prayer he said, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those whom thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition,” meaning Judas. Of course he weeps over the one that was lost. He has had to weep many times because of some one being lost from the fold. It may be that some one who reads these lines was once safe within the fold, but has strayed away. If so, can you behold the Savior weeping for you? “His great loving heart beats in pity for thee.” Return, oh, return to Him now.

 

     I can see a little company in some inner circle, separated from the world, with Jesus in their midst. They are his portion. The Father hath given them unto him and he hath kept them. They are more to him than all else besides. I can now feel something of the love he has for them. While he was with them in the world he kept them in the Father’s name, but he says, “Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee.” While he was with that little inner circle in the world he kept them, but now he has gone and there is still a little company all his own left in the world. How are they going to be kept? Hear him, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me.” (John 17:11). He is at the right hand of the Father today, just now, praying for that little company of consecrated ones whom the Father hath given to him and who are most precious unto him.

 

     He knows his own. He has placed a few marks upon them. In my boyhood days I have seen my father marking his sheep that he might know them. Jesus knows his own by the marks they bear. Here are a few of his marks. “I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14). If you are one of those separated ones, the world hates you. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:18-19).

 

     Is there a gulf fixed between you and the world? The great gulf that was fixed between the rich man in hell and Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom was not created after death, but existed while Lazarus lay at the rich man’s gate. If there is not a great gulf fixed between you and the world in this life, there will be none in the world to come. Doubtless there are many who walked apart from the world at one time who are now going arm in arm with the world. Being hated by the world is one of the certain marks of being of that inner circle of Christ’s beloved ones.

 

     Then there is another mark. “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.” (John 6:37). These words may have a much deeper meaning than we may at first think. No one comes to Jesus that does not forsake all else besides. Here we learn that it is only those who have forsaken all and come to Jesus who are given to Jesus by the Father. Those who come to Jesus no longer look upon themselves or anything they may possess as being their own. The one chief cause of so many powerless lives is because of lack of supreme devotion, and an entire consecration to God. We have heard people sing:

 

“Take my feet and let them be

Swift and beautiful for thee.”

 

and then walk in ways of their own. Do you not think that the feet of many would point differently than they do if they were wholly directed by the Lord? They would carry them to the bedside of the sick, to the prison cell, to the house of sorrow, to the place of prayer, instead of to the places where the flesh finds indulgence. If feet were “swift and beautiful” for the Lord, no doubt there would be more empty arm chairs and vacant pleasant firesides on prayer-meeting evenings, and more empty beds on early Sunday mornings.

 

“Take my lips and let them be

Filled with messages for thee.”

 

     This is really true in the life of those who have come to Jesus and are all His own. In such a case there are no whisperings, talebearings, backbitings, jestings, light, frivolous, shallow expressions.

 

“Take my hands and let them move

At the impulse of thy love.”

 

     This is a true and beautiful conception. The soul of man can become so consonant with heaven as to receive the impulses of God’s love. The migrating fowl receives an impulse of a genial southern clime. In obedience to the impulse, it spreads its wings and flies away. The soul of man receives an impulse of God’s love. In loving obedience to this impulse, man moves about in the accomplishment of God’s perfect will. We wonder if all who sing these words are really moved by heavenly impulses. To be thus moved is the secret of heavenly living. They whose souls have been so perfectly pitched to the key of God’s will that they can receive the most delicate impulses, and obey them, live the most heavenly life. This is a mark of being one of that little company that is so precious to Christ. They are unknown, rejected, despised by the world, but they have come to Jesus and by the power of re-creation have been brought into such an affinity with Him as to be able to taste of the delicious delicacies of heaven and enjoy all the blessedness of a spiritual union with Christ. What care they for earth’s sweets! They have meat to eat the world knows not of.

 

     There is yet one other mark we will mention. “My sheep hear by voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27). He does not say, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me,” but he inserts the clause, “I know them.” This is the secret of their following Him. He does not say, “My sheep hear my voice and they know me and follow me.” They follow him when he calls because he knows them. There are many, he says, who call him Lord and who may do some very great things, but he never knew them, they are not following him. See Matt. 7:22-23. “To know,” means to be united with, as branch is with vine, to have fellowship with, to have life flowing into life, it is love reciprocating love, it is heart beating with heart. Those whom Jesus knows, obey his call, not of compulsion, not for the green pastures, not for any personal advantage, not for fear of hell, but because of an inward attracting force, a constraining power, the controlling influence of Christ’s life and love. Paul said, “His love constraineth me.” He felt the impulse of that love so strongly that it moved him to action. He obeyed that mighty impulse though it led him into great suffering in the flesh. This is true of God’s sheep. They do not follow for fleshly gratification, or personal advantage, the praise of men, or for filthy lucre, but they obey that impulse as readily when it leads through the shadow as when it leads through the sunshine.

 

     The voice of Jesus acts upon the heart of a true Christian similar to the action of the sun’s rays upon vegetation in the springtime of the year. The rays of the sun call to the flowers and grasses and they spring up at their call. God, in creation of the plant, placed something in its nature that caused it to move when receiving the impulses of the sun’s rays. This is a parable. It is a type of the relationship between the normal Christian’s soul and Christ.

    

     The Christian obeys the voice of Jesus out of a law of love. Love is the fulfilling of the law. There is a law between the plant and the sun. Something, we may call it instinct, causes it to obey that law. There is a law between the Christian soul and Christ. There is something in that soul that moves it to obey the law. It is love. Thus love is the fulfilling of the law. There is something in the plant that begins to stir and beat. It is an impulse given by the warm rays of the sun. In the Christian heart there is something beating. It is the impulse given by the love of Jesus. Some one may say that we are to obey Christ from choice, from the power of the will. This is true, but where is the will that will move toward Christ except it is given impulses by the love of Christ? Love is the stimulant of the will. We love Christ because he first loved us. The sinner must see and feel the impulses of God’s love before he will ever will to come unto him. This is why no one can “come to Christ except the Father draw him.”

 

     Just at this writing a lady came into my study. She told me she had but recently read an illustrative story. It was the story of a pair of robins who willfully refused to obey the impulse of the Southland. “The journey was too long, there was danger of the fowler’s gun, we may find nothing to meet our needs on the way.” Thus they reasoned. They sought to invent a tiny stove which they could place in their nest to keep them warm, then all the wearisomeness and dangers of the long journey to the south and back would be spared them. How fittingly this represents man. The way to the bosom of God–the Southland of the soul–is too strait and narrow. There are too many hardships to undergo, too much suffering to be borne. There is the practice of too much self-denial, there is too little of the smiles and applause of the world. We will invent ways and methods of our own. We will create an easier way to the sunlit lands of peace and heaven than that way by the cross of Jesus.

 

     That little company that the Father, God, gave to Jesus is that little company that has come to Him by the way of the cross. It is the cross that fits man for the bosom of the Father, for the companionship of the Son. On the cross where Jesus died we behold the manifestation of the love of God. We can receive the impulses of that love only by the way of the cross. It is the cross that brings us in tune with heaven. The Christian glories in the cross. It is by the cross he is separated from the world with all its attending wretchedness, fretfulness, anxieties, discontentments, and disappointments. It is by the cross he is brought into communication with heaven, with all its joys and blessedness. He feels the impulses of the great Southland and some day the prison doors of the body will open and he will fly away. Heaven has come to his soul now. Some day he will go to heaven. If you want to get Los Angeles, tune in on WXYZ. If you want to get heaven, tune in on the CROSS.

 

     You can have your Christian instincts deepened at the cross. You do not need to seek a monastery, or make long pilgrimages to the Holy Land, or take a long course in college to get inborn within your soul intuitions of heaven. Make your pilgrimage to the cross of Christ. If you desire a greater knowledge of the glory world, to get a clearer vision of the face of Jesus, to hear more distinctively messages from heaven, to feel more perceptively the warm, soft exhilarating breezes from the Southland, hold one hour’s converse with the Son of God at the cross. It is there that your life will become impregnated with the sweet, joyous fragrance of the heavenly graces, and your soul so transfigured by the beauty of holiness, that saintliness will beam out through every feature, and as you go out among men attending to the duties of life, heavenliness will be stamped on every act. The price paid for your heavenly living was at the cross. It is only at the cross that the price–the lifeblood of Jesus–can be appropriated by the soul and man become the ownership of Christ and thereby enabled to glorify God in his body and spirit which are God’s.

 

I am thinking of heaven tonight,

Of a mansion prepared there for me

Where Jesus, my Savior now dwells,

And where I, some glad day, shall be.

 

I’m thinking of Christ on the cross,

Of the blood that now makes me whole;

The death of the Crucified One

Was the wonderful price for my soul.

 

I’ll love him all the days of my life,

His praise I will ever proclaim;

I will serve him through calm and strife

And live to honor his name.

 

 

Heavenly Harmony

 

     To live heavenly there must be harmony with heaven. Enoch walked with God because he was in harmony with God. Two cannot walk together except there be agreement. Except we get into harmony with heaven here on earth we will never get to heaven. Man will go to that place of eternity which he has walked in agreement with while here on earth. Every man is choosing his life’s walk each day. He can walk in righteousness or he can walk in sin. He can walk in the way that leads to heaven or the way that leads to hell. Man, in choosing his life’s walk each day, is choosing his eternal destiny.

 

     In the beginning God made the world that it blended perfectly with heaven. There was no discord between heaven and earth. Discord means death. Harmony with heaven is life, life eternal. For there to be a discord between the soul and God is for that soul to be fretful, uneasy, restless. The fish that is out of harmony with the sea is restless. The bird that is out of harmony with the air is restless. The soul that is out of harmony with Christ is restless. The ocean says to the fish, “Come back into harmony with me and you shall find rest.” The air says to the restless bird, “Come back into harmony with me and you shall find rest.” Jesus says to the weary, restless, discontented traveler along life’s way, “Come to me and you shall find rest unto your soul.” There is sweet soul rest in Jesus.

 

“My soul in trouble roamed

Upon a weary plain,

And ever restless longed

A perfect bliss to gain.

 

“All in this world is dross;

Its pleasures soon decay;

Its honors prove a snare;

Its treasures fly away.

 

“I bore within my breast

A deep and painful void,

I wanted inward rest,

And peace that would abide.

“I have found it, Lord, in thee,

An everlasting store

Of comfort, joy, and bliss to me,

How can I wish for more?”

 

     There was a day when there was no discord between earth and heaven. God came and talked with man as he walked with him in the garden. Angels passed back and forth. But because of sin coming into the world this harmonious union of man with God and heaven was interrupted. Man’s heart no longer beat in unison with the heart of God. Jesus came to harmonize the soul of man with God. That chord that was broken and lost out of man’s soul because of disobedience is found and taken up by Christ and again connected, so that in Him man is again brought into communion with heaven.

 

     We see a lonely widow in her cabin home wrestling with God in prayer. A great burden for a world lost in sin lay upon her soul. Why did she have this burden? It was because her soul blended with heaven. She was so in contact with God that she could feel what he felt. The burden of his heart for a lost world had rolled upon her own heart. Do you have the burden for souls lost in sin that you should have? Do you oftentimes feel that you must see souls saved or you cannot live? Do you have such a burden for souls that it moves you to deep, earnest, agonizing prayer? Alas, how many professors of the Christian religion are going on in their merriment, their frivolity, their gaiety, when they should be carrying the weight of a lost world on their hearts.

 

 

Heavenly Mindedness

 

     Spiritual-mindedness is equal with heavenly mindedness. To have a spiritual mind is to have a heavenly mind. “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6). The writer of the Philippian letter said, “Let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5). Jesus was heavenly minded. He minded not fleshly things. While on earth he lived more in heaven, in thought, than he did on earth. This is true of all who live heavenly or who possess the mind of Christ.

 

     Jesus had a correct view of human life. He knew how to meet all of life’s problems. He had the knowledge and the power to solve all of life’s difficulties. We are to yoke up with him and meet life with him. Yoked with Jesus is the only triumphant way of meeting and bearing the burdens of life. When we have Christ’s mind, we can know Christ’s ways and can turn things of life to our use as he did. He knew how to make use of everything in life to aid him on in his life’s work. So we, armed with the mind of Jesus, hold the secret of using everything that comes to us in such a manner as to help us on in the heavenly way. We hold the secret of having affliction to work out for us an exceeding, eternal weight of glory.

 

     When having the mind of Jesus, we learn that difficulties, hardships, obstacles, afflictions, and persecutions are to be woven into the fiber of our character and make us more like him. When we meet the scoffings, the buffetings, the threatenings as He met them, we grow into His beautiful likeness. The purpose of God in allowing afflictions to come upon his children is to make them more heavenly. The divine nature is developed in us under the chastening rod. When we have the mind of Jesus and it is fully operating in us, everything in life takes its proper place. We see things as they are and for the purposes they were intended. We walk above earthly things. We are in bondage to nothing on earth, not even to death. The grave has lost its victory. We stand a conqueror over all the world. We are reigning in this life. The world lies subject at our feet. We triumph in the same way that Jesus triumphed. In Col. 2:15 are these wonderful words, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphed over them in it.” “It” here means the cross. They who nailed him to the cross thought they were triumphing over Jesus, but they were only nailing an end to the old law system and working for him the very thing he came to earth for. He made a show of the persecuting powers openly by making them his conquests. They did for him that which heaven planned from the foundation of the world, and made him the Savior of the world. By this he worked out the glorious plan of salvation, and through this he will enjoy the fellowship and companionship of the redeemed throughout all eternity. When men, even though it be by persecuting us, help us to the very position we desire, we triumph over them in the thing they have done.

 

     “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” There is a great depth of meaning in these words. It is a great thing to have them true in us. To have the mind of Christ relates us to him and heaven in a very close tie. The more we are in the same mind with our fellow man, the closer the bond of union between us. All who have the mind of Jesus are likeminded with each other. When we have his mind the bond of union between him and us is closer than any blood relation. The marriage relation is closer than blood relation, therefore a man is to leave his blood relation and cleave to his wife. When we are married to Christ in the Spirit, we are enjoying the closest possible union with him.

 

     We get a glimpse into the mind of Christ in his prayer life. His life was a busy one, ministering to the needs of man, but he found time to be alone with the Father. He would leave the crowded plain for the mountainside and there he would spend a time, sometimes all night in communion with God. Beware, O child of God, lest the busy cares of life take you too much away from the secret place of prayer. If you would get on well in the heavenly life you must have some time each day for holy thought and converse with Christ. You must not only seek the place of prayer, but also pray in the Spirit. When we pray in the Spirit there will be visions of God, tastes of God, joys of the Lord, and a growing into the likeness of God. Alas, how many cold, formal, lifeless, joyless prayers!

 

     When we have the mind of Jesus, doing the will of God is the dominating idea of our life. Self-denial, and sacrifice will have a large place in our life. What changes do you think would come into the world’s life if all professing Christians were wholly operated by the mind of Jesus? Would there be any change in your thought, your speech, your acts, your habits, if your life were actively influenced by the mind of Jesus? “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ.”

 

The Heavenly Workman

     “Commit thy way unto the Lord: trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” (Psa. 37:5). Martin Luther tells the story of a severe contest   between the Duke of Saxony and a certain bishop. The Duke of Saxony prepared to go to war with the bishop. But before he ventured on war he thought to send a spy into the bishop’s home to learn what the bishop thought about war with the duke. The spy obtained admittance into the presence of the bishop. He asked the bishop what he would do in case the duke brought war against him. The bishop answered “I will feed my flock, I will visit the sick, I will go about doing the will of God and leave the matter of war with Him for He fighteth my battles for me.” The spy returned to the duke and reported what the bishop said. “Then,” said the duke, “let him take up arms against him who will, but I will not.” If we will commit our way to God he will bring the right thing to pass. The spider casts out her slender thread to the breeze hoping it will find a place some where to fasten. Commit your way to God; trust in him, and he will bring to pass that which is best for you.

 

     This text of scripture has a beautiful rendering by Young. “Roll upon Jehovah, thy way: trust upon him: and he worketh.” When we commit our way to God then he will go to work in our behalf. He can never work things out for good to those who do not commit all things unto him. God will do for us that which we are unable to do, if we will give the work to him. Alas, how many toiling, struggling, weary ones, who might have rest from their toil if they would cast their burden on the Lord. You say you are meeting with so many perplexing things and difficulties you do not see how you are ever going to work them out. Do not work them out. They will wear you out while you are trying to work them out. Roll them upon Jehovah, and he will work them out for you.

 

Learning How to Sing