PARTNERSHIP WITH CHRIST

By on Jun 8, 2014 in Devotions

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God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. ( 1 Corinthians 1:9)

PAUL is here arguing for the safety, the perseverance and the ultimate perfection of the saints to whom he is writing. He thanks God for what He has done for them and is assured that He will do yet more—that He will certainly confirm them unto the end—that they may be blameless in the day of Jesus Christ. The Apostle bases his argument upon this Truth of God—”God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” And, Brothers and Sisters, this is good argument—to reason as to the future from the present and the past!

What God has done is a prophecy of what He will do, for God is unchangeable. He never takes up a purpose for a while and then drops it, but He carries it out to the end. He never speaks a word and then reverses it. “Has He said, and shall He not do it?” He never performs an action which is intended to produce a certain result without following it up until the result aimed at is fully accomplished. If you and I were dealing with a changeable God, it would indeed be bad for us, but He has said, “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Thus, from the Immutability of God, we argue that if He has begun to bless us, He will continue to bless us—and if He has commenced a work of Grace in our souls, He will certainly carry it on till it is absolutely complete!

We argue thus, partly from our own experience, because everything that is gracious within us has been, up to now, God’s work. What have you and I done towards our own salvation? Put together all that we may even think we have done and what does it come to? “Without Me,” said Christ to His disciples, “you can do nothing.” And, truly, without Him we have done nothing. Therefore, all that has been done in us is to be ascribed to His working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. When the Lord has begun any work of Grace in us, do we not find that He has carried it on? Has He ever forsaken us? Has He, up to now, turned from His purpose? In the day of trouble, has He deserted us? When He has sent us upon a warfare, has He left us to fall through our own weakness? It has not been so, up to now, and we may sing, “His mercy endures forever.” He has been a faithful God until now and it is, therefore, right for us to conclude that He will always be the same—

“Determined to save, He watched over my path When, Satan’s blind slave, I sported with death. And can He have taught me to trust in His name, And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?… Do you see that man who once was in the habit of going in and out of the tavern? His speech, in those evil days, was foul, filthy, abominable. His poor wife was bruised and battered by his cruelty. His children were starved and shoeless. He is now with us in this House of Prayer and he is a member of Christ’s mystical body! If I were to ask him to stand up and tell us about the great change that has been worked in him, we would all rejoice to hear him testify that the Lord has forgiven him, washed him, cleansed him and renewed his heart! Did that man, in his unregenerate state, ever think that the life of Christ would be in him quickening his mortal body and changing his whole nature? Such a thought never occurred to him! Is he not a wonder of Grace?

Why, I do verily believe that if the devil were to be converted and become a holy angel, again, it would not be more amazing than the conversion of some who are now present! The Lord has done strange things, marvelous things for them, and our hearts are glad as we think of what He has done. With His mighty arm, He reaches even to the ends of the earth those who have gone far in sin—and He brings them to His heart, to His House, to His Throne and into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, the wonders of God’s Grace! Let us bless and praise Him now and forever! Then, dear Friends, there is also this wonderful fact, that we are so called into the society of Christ that if we live as we ought to live, the Lord Jesus Christ is the most familiar acquaintance we have in all the world.

The most loving husband often has to go out to business during the day and he can only get back to his spouse in the evening. But the Bridegroom of our souls is with us all day long! Whether we are at home or out in the world, He is still with us. You have a dear friend, somewhere, and you love to be in his company. But you cannot always be with him, so you sometimes have the sorrow of parting with him. But your best Friend is never far away from you, day or night. “When I wake,” says David, “I am still with You.” Perhaps, one of these days, we may have to go out to the utmost ends of the earth, but our Friend will be with us in the vessel as we cross the sea. He will be with us when we land on the distant shore. He will be with us everywhere and at all times. He is the “Friend that sticks closer than a brother,” whose company need never be lost. He never gets tired of His beloved ones! His delights are with the sons of men.

If we would but walk by faith and carefully observe His Laws, we would find Him abiding with us and we would be abiding with Him. Spoke I not truly when I said that to His people, He is the most familiar Friend that they have? He dwells in them and they dwell in Him. “I in them, and You in Me,” said Christ to His Father—a wonderful union! And our union with Christ ought to be, in its enjoyment, as perpetual as Christ’s union with the Father, for He speaks of it in the same terms! “I in them, and You in Me.” Yes, Beloved, we are, indeed, brought into fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord, seeing that we are permitted to have Him for our constant Companion and Friend! (source)

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