Another email to my friend in Uganda
Dear Daniel,
I'm sorry for not writing right back after your previous email. I guess I got busy with other things. Sorry.
I'm glad to hear you are preaching and being asked to preach again. That's a wonderful sign of good things to come. If the Lord be for us, who can be against us? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
Again, you can identify with what Paul said, "But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me." (Gal. 1:23,24). Its coming, dear brother. Its coming. Be patient and wait for it. "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." (Hab. 2:3,4).
To really understand Righteousness by Faith we need to see the hand of God working in our behalf. Then our understanding will be opened to the depths of the Divine philosophy for our salvation. Otherwise, our understanding of Righteousness by Faith remains shallow and legalistic and easily derailed into error by the archdeceiver. Experiential knowledge has always been the requirement by God. Intellectual knowledge has always been subject to deception.
Study out the letter of the truth. Of course that must be the first step. But this is where most people stop. The deeper understanding, the saving understanding, which will bring revival for us and for those we meet, doesn't come until God puts it in us through our battling and wrestling and in the end coming out victorious. Then we receive the crown and helmet of salvation, the blessing which Jacob received, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." And we might even limp too.
"Limping with Jacob," that sounds like a good sermon! Maybe even "Scarred with Jesus." "Suffering together with God." "Yoked together with Christ and His cross." "Crucified together."
The man who truly understood Righteousness by Faith, Paul, also could say, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Phil 3:10,11). "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." (Gal. 6:17).
Talk and discussion is cheap, so don't let it stop there. And don't let the people let it stop there. The true Full Gospel puts the precepts into action in order to really understand them. "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2Pet. 1:8). "I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." (Ps. 119:99,100). "But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." (1Jn. 2:27).
The true presentation of the word of God will be done so as to prick the conscience. If the word is handled properly, it will produce an awakening, either in rejoicing for the light, or in anger rejecting the light and the lightbearer. We should always do like Jesus. He never failed to speak the truth but He did it always in love. Mercifully, gently, patiently, He pressed the truth forward. We can come together to share with each other what we've learned. It may and can or maybe even should look and sound like a sword fight! Paul could be fiesty. Christ could be quite pointed! Even to His own disciples! He made them good soldiers, able to cope with difficulty. But they always knew He would be there for them. What Jesus taught Solomon He demonstrated for us all, "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and...men depart from evil." (Prov. 16:6). That heaven inspired combination--mercy and truth. Truth and mercy always together--never one without the other.
Well, Daniel, I hope this helps in your roundtable on Righteousness by Faith. Let it never become a theory because of the way we preach it or teach it. And make sure Jesus is at the center of all the discussion.
Your brother,
David
I'm sorry for not writing right back after your previous email. I guess I got busy with other things. Sorry.
I'm glad to hear you are preaching and being asked to preach again. That's a wonderful sign of good things to come. If the Lord be for us, who can be against us? Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
Again, you can identify with what Paul said, "But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me." (Gal. 1:23,24). Its coming, dear brother. Its coming. Be patient and wait for it. "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith." (Hab. 2:3,4).
To really understand Righteousness by Faith we need to see the hand of God working in our behalf. Then our understanding will be opened to the depths of the Divine philosophy for our salvation. Otherwise, our understanding of Righteousness by Faith remains shallow and legalistic and easily derailed into error by the archdeceiver. Experiential knowledge has always been the requirement by God. Intellectual knowledge has always been subject to deception.
Study out the letter of the truth. Of course that must be the first step. But this is where most people stop. The deeper understanding, the saving understanding, which will bring revival for us and for those we meet, doesn't come until God puts it in us through our battling and wrestling and in the end coming out victorious. Then we receive the crown and helmet of salvation, the blessing which Jacob received, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." And we might even limp too.
"Limping with Jacob," that sounds like a good sermon! Maybe even "Scarred with Jesus." "Suffering together with God." "Yoked together with Christ and His cross." "Crucified together."
The man who truly understood Righteousness by Faith, Paul, also could say, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Phil 3:10,11). "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." (Gal. 6:17).
Talk and discussion is cheap, so don't let it stop there. And don't let the people let it stop there. The true Full Gospel puts the precepts into action in order to really understand them. "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2Pet. 1:8). "I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." (Ps. 119:99,100). "But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." (1Jn. 2:27).
The true presentation of the word of God will be done so as to prick the conscience. If the word is handled properly, it will produce an awakening, either in rejoicing for the light, or in anger rejecting the light and the lightbearer. We should always do like Jesus. He never failed to speak the truth but He did it always in love. Mercifully, gently, patiently, He pressed the truth forward. We can come together to share with each other what we've learned. It may and can or maybe even should look and sound like a sword fight! Paul could be fiesty. Christ could be quite pointed! Even to His own disciples! He made them good soldiers, able to cope with difficulty. But they always knew He would be there for them. What Jesus taught Solomon He demonstrated for us all, "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and...men depart from evil." (Prov. 16:6). That heaven inspired combination--mercy and truth. Truth and mercy always together--never one without the other.
Well, Daniel, I hope this helps in your roundtable on Righteousness by Faith. Let it never become a theory because of the way we preach it or teach it. And make sure Jesus is at the center of all the discussion.
Your brother,
David
posted by David | 6:44 AM
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