The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-09

ror Or grace, has granted unto them all
ness" How this harmonizes with PaSis
words: blessed be the God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heaven
ly places In Christ (Eph. |. -.
But having provided for us these bless.
ings, he deals with us as intelligent beings,
capable OF reflection of perception and
trust; therefore. the Apostle proceeds to
show that these blessings are to be OBJ
tanned through knowledge Of God as
He reveals Himself in His word and Is in
creasingly appropriated by faith.
But think not that it is mere cold ap-
prehension Of facts about God to which
gain through the medium of the word. 1t
Is knowledge OF God through the word
TO be sure. but 1t is that heart knowledge
which is to he obtained BY trustingly TAX
Ing into our souls that living word, which
as the seed Of the kingdom. is able in some
mysterious way to make us ''partakers
of the divine nature
While Jesus was yet upon the earth He
said TO some of His professed disciples: "If
ye continue In my word, then are ye my
disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free" John.
viii. 32-3S). Continue in His word" Can
q believer long subject himself to the pre-
cious words and promises of the Gospel
of Christ, which so sweetly reveal God
TO the soul without feeling their quicken
Ing, emancipatlng power? What are these
known to US the manifold grace of God?'
The very Gospel itself Is called "'rhe Cos.
pei of the grace Of God" ETC.. hearing and
believing 1t. We are planted In grace into
soil that appropriating its elements day
by day We may grow.
DWELL BY FAITH.
Just here let me invite your thoughts
to ANOTHER passage. which forms part of
church. Thus he asks: THAT Christ may
dwell in your heart by faith, that ye be-
Ing rooted and grounded In love mot be-
loved. rooted and grounded in their own
CHRISTIAN ENpEAVORERS-2
desire that they might be rooted In Gods
love for them. In Col, II. 6, Z. We are cX-
horted "As ye have therefore received
rooted and built up in Him" ii. then. We
are rooted In Christ, We are rooted in love.
for God Is in Christ and God is love. But
II We are rooted in love-" the rootlets of
our our, natures in search Of food must lay
Therefore, We do not wonder at the con-
clusion Of the Apostles prayer) that ye
being rooted and grounded In love may
be able to comprehend with all saints
and height. and to know the love Of
Christ that passeth knowledge that We
might be filled with all the fullness Of
God" (Eph. Ill. l7-ls) Mark the latter
know the love Of Christ" Oh, the pro
found meaning Of that word know. Do
YOU not see that in its deepest slgnifica-
tlon 1t means to be 'one withT' The
prayer. therefore, is that We may be so
all the fullness Of God. Such knowl-
edge as this. IL our privilege and right; Is
open to the grasp and enjoyment Of faith.
through the word Of Gods grace; and
such knowledge strengthens and establish
claims 1t. Failure to apprehend 1t, is the
prolific source of the unsatisfied and pow
erless lives which We so often see around
us. do not deny that Christ does dwell
In their hearts--else they would not be His
but yet they have not known or realized
that they are rooted and grounded" in
the infinite and unchanging love Of Christ.
and so have felt alone ana at the mercy OF
every wind of passion, reluctancy and
doubt which tosses them too and fro.
OUR STANDARD.
Beloved. out on yonder ocean ever and
winged ships have seen looming up in the
distance a stately mass moving silently
and grandly before them. 1t was an Ice
berg. On the bosom Of the heaving sea
heaving billows. caused it to toss and roll.
and Its towering spars to nod and creak
and complain Yet while yonder iceberg
with Its cathedral spires rode on the
bosom of the same restless sea. whose
waves broke in yeustly foam on its icy
sides. still it moved on calmly. smoothly
and grandly because, down, down through
Emerald depths It sent its foundations
into where eternal calm abides. and being
held In the grasp of that which was
stable and firm. it silently and unmoved
BY the surface of the restless sea. pursued
Its onward way. So We must needs do II
we would be firm in the Lord: knowing
our standing In Him, send the foundations
M ha hoe ~
Of His love and find our strength and sup
port in what Is there.
But this brings us to the second part CT
our topic this evening. viz: Our stand
ard"
This is very intimately connected with
what has gone before. BY this phrase.
mean THAT which Is regarded as q type
or model. and hence that which is Of the
highest excellence"
have been speaking this evening of our
standing and completeness in Christ. But
do not think that would have you for one
moment neglect the outward life. n it
is true that our standing" is in Christ,
who Is made unto us wisdom. righteous
ness. sanctification and redemption" 1t
is also true that the moment we enter
Christ Our Standing becomes "Our
Standard" and all the graces and perfec-
tlons which belong to His humanity. are
set before us as models after the pattern
Of which We are to regulate our lives, not
TO save our souls, but to serve and glorify
Him.
Surely this was the meaning of the be-
loved John when he cried: He that saith
that he abideth In Him ought himself also
to walk, even as He walked" Il John, II. g..
Why? Because in Him all the gracious
furnishings of the Divine Nature which
made His walk what ii was, are to be
found by MS that our walk may be like
His.
AS SONS OF GOD.
Thus in our walk as sons Of God. Christ.
the great Archetypal Son, becomes our
Standard OF righteousness into the mold
of whose life we are to pour the way of
our lives, that they may correspond with
at. for We are Joined to Him that we may
show forth His glory to the world.
This was HIS mission on earth with ref,
power and, above all. His divine Father
hood. and when He had done this. He said:
~ have gloriiied Thee on earth" So.
fled in them He simply meant hat in
their lives they made manifest to the
world that which peculiarly distinguished
Him as Lord. This. then. is our work. by
in His Footsteps, to glorify Him by making
known His power to strike from our ma
lures the shackles of sin. and give us en-
trance into the liberty Of holiness and
love.
But Just here we take another step in
advance. As the very embodiment Of love
Christ, the soil In which We are planted
that We may grow-see how even here He
becomes "Our Standard"
"And walk in love, as Christ also hath
loved us and given Himself for us an Of
fering and sacrifice unto God for sweet
smelling SAVIOR" tEph., v, %.
What Is here, but the very manifest and
practical work of giving ourselves in help
e,,1, ND fnr ha 90 fNfh
and this In more than one way. God was
In Christ giving man a pattern Of a Cody
..'~"'' -. -"-""'~ "''hot tho HOLY Ghost
says in the concluding verse Of the pre-