The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-11-10
WINNING CHRIST
LOSING ALL REST

which classes every civilized person az
q Christian, but from the Bible stand
point, which assures us that if any
man is a Christian he Is a New Great
ure-"old things have passed away; all
things have become new"
This does not mean that a Christian
is living a reformed life merely; nor
that he has attained the condition of
absolute perfection, in which he is sim
less in thought, word and act. 1t mere
Iy means that q Christian has entered
d new life; he is a New Creature; old
ambitions, hopes, projects and aims,
however honorable and good, have
passed away in the presence Of new
ambitions, new hopes, new aims. This
Is what the Apostle had in mind when
saying "that I might win Christ"
What Winning Christ Means.
To understand our text we must first
appreciate the general outline Of the
Gospel-the Divine Plan Of Love for
human recovery from sin and death.
That Plan was first Of all declared to
Abraham-that God would eventually
bless all the families OF the earth, and
that the blessing would come through
his posterity. In thee and in thy Seed
shall all the nations Of the earth be
blessed-Galatians 3:s, 1G, %.
Later on, God revealed that Abra-
hams Seed would constitute a special
Kingdom class, which would rule all
nations for their upIift. When Israel,
by failing to keep the Law, failed to
prove itself the holy nation fit for the
Divine service, God revealed that He
would send a special Messenger Of the
Covenant; and that through Him, as
Prophet, Priest and King, the holy ma.
ton would be established; and later on
1t would be given the glory and honor,
the rule of the world.
Our Lord Jesus at His First Advent
began the work of selecting this King
dom class. First Of all, He laid the
broad foundation by dying for the sins
Of the whole world, Then from
amongst the redeemed ones He began
to select the members of the Kingdom.
And this has been the work Of this en-.
tire Gospel Age. Everything else on
earth has been secondary to this, the
Divine purpose.
Soon the selective, or elective. work
will be finished. Soon it will be deter
mined who will be Of the Kingdom
class. Gods determination will be
manifested in the fact that the over
corners will all be sharers in the First
or Chief Resurrection. to be priests
unto God and unto Christ and to reign
with Him on the earth.-Rev. 20:8.
"Abrahan's Seed, and Heirs"
All who will be of that select King
dom class will be members of the
foretold Seed of Abraham. Jesus was
Of Abrahamic stock through His mi
raculous birth; and after He had laid
down His life ~sacri6cially and was
raised from the dead by the glory Of
the Father, no more a man. but a New
Creature Of the Divine nature. He then
was Abraham'B Seed on the spirit
plane. His Church, called to be of
~ AA1ISASn %LuDBp gig W Dt AUEu~
hams Seed OF the same spirit plane.
We r not ignoring the fact that
Abraham has an earthly seed as we'll.
and that to it belong certain earthly
promises. We are merely pointing out
that the Scriptures clearly teach that
the earthly seed cannot have its share
In the work of blessing others until
first the Heavenly Seed. the Spiritual
Seed Of Abraham, shall have been per
fected in the First Resurrection. God
showed the two seeds In the state
ment to Abraham. II will multiply thy
seed as the stars Of heaven 1.-THE spirit |
ual. the church, and as the sand which
upon the seashore'' 1.-THE earthlyl.-
Genesis 22:1T.
st. Paul tells US that this Seed of
Jesus and the Church. spirit
begotten, are unItedly the Church.
Using a human body as an iIlustra-
ton. he speaks OF the anointed Jesus
as the Head. and Of each one Of the
Church as a member Of the Body OF
Christ. Thus we read. IF We be
Christ's. then are ye Abraham's Seed,
and heirs according to- the promise"
3:16, 29.) Thus we see that
st. Paul was anxious to win a mem
bership in the Body Of Christ, the
Church.
The Apostle, Of course, was a mem
Der OF the Church from the time Of his
begetting Of the Holy Spirit. But
there are two bodies of Christ, If we
may SO express the matter. One is the
probationary Body Of the present time;
the other the actual Body Of the fu-
ture. Ali fully ~consecrated believers
are members OF the probationary
Church, or Body of Christ, from the
moment they receive the begetting of
the Holy Spirit. Thenceforth they are |
to fight a good fight, to run a success |
iul race, that they may win the glori-
,us position which God has invited
10 fill.
st. Paul. after years Of Christian life
and Of growth in grace. in knowledge
and In the Spirit OF the Lord, was re-
his own course, with a view
to stimulating the Philippians, that
they also might profit by his expert
snces. He points out that he had con-
3ecrated to the Lord every talent he
possessed. Nor did he think that he
had done some great thing; for he
counted ali that he had sacrificed as
unworthy OF mention, so great was his
appreciation OF the blessing which has
come to the Gospel Church. IL ia the
a nrrk nnrna,a nnRaai naPna.. Not Ahn G1rsnat