Study on Steps to Christ Essay Example for Free

Study on Steps to christ EssayHe took creations record, that He capacity reach troopss wants. The distressingest and humblest were non afraid to approach Him. such is the voice of savior as urgency oned in His smell. This is the character of beau ideal. It was to redeem us that Jesus lived and suffered and died. He became a Man of Sorrows, that we might be do partakers of everlasting joy. exactly this grand sacrifice was non made in night club to create in the experiences substance a sexual contend for man, non make Him imple run lowforceting to uphold. No, no graven image so loved the arna, that He gave His only-begotten Son. John 316.The Father loves us, non because of the big(p) propitiation, scarcely He provided the propitiation because He loves us. N integrity however the Son of god could accomplish our redemption. What a value this interposes upon man with transgression the sons of man become subjects of Satan. Through conviction in the atoning sacrifice of Christ the sons of Adam may become the sons of God. The matchless love of God for a world that did not love Him The thought has a subduing power upon the reason and brings the estimation into captivity to the bequeath of God. Man was origin altogether in either(prenominal) in ally endowed with noble powers and a well-balanced mind.He was complete(a) in his being, and in capital of New Hampshire with God. His thoughts were pure, his aims blessed. But through disobedience, his powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of love. His nature became so weakened through transgression that it was out of the question for him, in his induce strength, to resist the power of pestiferous. It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we be sunken. Our hearts be evil, and we chamberpotnot change them. thither moldiness be a power working from within, a brisk life from above, before men butt end be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ.His grace only when can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness. To all, there is but one answer, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh outdoor(a)(p) the sin of the world (John 129). let us avail ourselves of the means provided for us that we may be transformed into His resemblingness, and be restored to fellowship with the ministering angels, to harmony and communion with the Father and the Son. How shall a man be undecomposed with God? How shall the sinner be made righteous? It is only through Christ that we can be brought into harmony with God, with holiness but how ar we to come to Christ?Repentance includes sorrow for sin and a turning off from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness until we turn away from it in heart, there leading be no real change in the life. But when the heart yields to the warp of the Spirit of God, the con erudition will be quickened, and the sinner will discern something of the depth and sacredness of Gods holy law, the foundation of His government in heaven and on earth. Conviction takes hold upon the mind and heart. The collection of David, after his fall, illustrates the nature of true(p) sorrow for sin.His repentance was sincere and deep. there was no effort to remedy his guilt no intrust to escape the judgment threatened, inspired his prayer. David saw the enormity of his transgression he saw the defilement of his soul he loathed his sin. It was not for pardon only that he prayed, but for exclusivelyice of heart. He longed for the joy of holiness, to be restored to harmony and communion with God. A repentance such as this, is beyond the reach of our get power to accomplish it is obtained only from Christ. Christ is sic to set us give back up from sin, but He does not force the will.If we refuse, what more can He do? Study Gods Word prayerfully. As you see the enormity of sin, as you see yourself as you really argon, do not give up in despair. It was sinners that Christ came to save. When Satan comes to tell you that you be a great sinner, look to your Redeemer and talk of His merits. Ack immediatelyledge your sin, but tell the enemy that Christ came into the world to save sinners and that you may be saved (1 Tim. 115). He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall accept mercy. Proverbs 2813.The conditions of obtaining mercy of God are simple and just and reasonable. Confess your sins to God, who only can forgive them, and your faults to one another. Those who strike not humbled their souls before God in acknowledging their guilt, go for not yet carry through the first step of acceptance. We mustiness(prenominal) be willing to humble our hearts and comply with the conditions of the Word of truth. The excuse that is the outpouring of the in or so soul finds its way to the God of infinite pity. True confession is eternally of a specific character, and acknowledges particular sins.All confession should be definite and to the point. It is written, If we confess our sins, He is convictionful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 19). Gods promise is, Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 2913. The safe and sound heart must be yielded, or the change can never be wrought in us by which we are to be restored to His likeness. The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought.The yielding of self, resignationing all to the will of God, requires a struggle but the soul must submit to God before it can be regenerate in holiness. In self-aggrandising ourselves to God, we must necessarily give up all that would separate us from Him. There are those who profess to serve God, while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. Their hearts are not moved by all deep finger of the love of Christ, but they seek to perform the duties of the Christian life as that which God requires of them in order to gain heaven. Such religion is worthless.When Christ dwells in the heart, the soul will be so modify with His love, with the joy of communion with Him, that it will cleave to Him and in the contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. wonder to Christ will be the spring of feat. Such do not ask for the lowest standard, but aim at perfect conformity to the will of their Redeemer. Do you feel that it is too great a sacrifice to yield all to Christ? Ask yourself the question, What has Christ given for me? The Son of God gave alllife and love and sufferingfor our redemption. And can it be that we, the unworthy objects of so great love, will protect our hearts from Him?What do we give up, when we give all? A sin-polluted heart, for Jesus to purify, to cleanse by His own blood, and to save by His matchless love. And yet men think it hard to give up all God does not require us to give up anything that it is for our best interest to retain. In all that He does, He has the well-being of His shaverren in view. Many are inquiring, How am I to make the surrender of myself to God? You longing to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in thrall to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin.Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you but you hire not despair. What you need to down the stairsstand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. E realthing depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men it is theirs to exercise.You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him. Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go but if you forego here, they will avail zilch. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God.They do not now choose to be Christians. Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender to God you will be alterd to live the new life, even the life of faith. As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, i ts woe and you look upon it with abhorrence. It is peace that you need. You have confessed your sins, and in heart put them away. You have resolved to give yourself to God.Now go to Him, and ask that He will wash away your sins and give you a new heart. Then believe that He does this because He has promised. The gift which God promises us, we must believe we do get hold, and it is ours. You are a sinner. You cannot atone for your past sins you cannot change your heart and make yourself holy. But God promises to do all this for you through Christ. You believe that promise. You confess your sins and give yourself to God. You will to serve Him. Just as surely as you do this, God will fulfill His Word to you. If you believe the promise,God supplies the fact.Do not handle to feel that you are made whole, but say, I believe it it is so, not because I feel it, but because God promised. Summary of all the key points in Steps to Christ, pp. 9-51, in the authors own words. Part Two How Ca n I Remain True to God? Jesus says, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye slang them, and ye shall have them (Mark 1124). There is a condition to this promisethat we pray according to the will of God. But it is the will of God to cleanse us from sin, to make us His children, and to enable us to live a holy life.So we may ask for these call forths, and believe that we receive them, and thank God that we have reliable them. Henceforth you are not your own you are bought with a price. Through this simple act of believe God, the Holy Spirit has begotten a new life in your heart. You are a child born into the family of God, and He loves you as He loves His Son. Now that you have given yourself to Jesus, do not sustain back, do not take yourself away from Him, but day by day say, I am Christs I have given myself to Him and ask Him to give you His Spirit and keep you by His grace.As it is by giving yourself to God, and believing Him, that you become His child, so you are to live in Him. here is where thousands fail they do not believe that Jesus pardons them personally, individually. They do not take God at His Word. It is the privilege of all who comply with the conditions to know for themselves that pardon is freely extended for e very sin. Put away the suspicion that Gods promises are not meant for you. They are for every repentant transgressor. Look up, you that are doubting and trembling for Jesus lives to make intercession for us.Thank God for the gift of His dear Son. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 517. A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or trace all the chain of sight in the process of conversion but this does not prove him to be unconverted. A change will be seen in the character, the habits, the pursuits. The contrast will be clear and decided between what they have been and what they have become. Who has the heart? With whom are our thoughts?Of whom do we love to converse? Who has our warmest affections and our best energies? If we are Christs, our thoughts are with Him. There is no evidence of genuine repentance unless it works reformation. The loveliness of the character of Christ will be seen in His followers. It was His delight to do the will of God. There are two errors against which the children of God especially need to guard The first is that of looking to their own works, trusting to anything they can do, to bring themselves into harmony with God.All that man can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, which can make us holy. The opposite and no less dangerous error is that belief in Christ releases men from belongings the law of God that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace of Christ, our works have nothing to do with our redemption. Obedience is the fruit of faith. Righteousness is defined by the stand ard of Gods holy law, as expressed in the ten commandments (Exo. 203-20).That so-called faith in Christ, which professes to release men from the obligation of obedience to God, is not faith, but presumption. The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been,just what it was in paradise before the fall of our first parents,perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness. If eternal life were granted on any condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and misery, to be immortalized. Christ changes the heart.He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the uninterrupted surrender of your will to Him and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes for your vision will be clearer. This is evidence that Satans delusions are losing their power. No deep-seated love for Jesus can dwell in the heart that does not realize its own sinfulness. The soul that is transformed by the grace of Christ will admire His character.A view of our sinfulness drives us to Him who can pardon and when the soul, realizing its helplessness, reaches out after Christ, He will reveal Himself in power. The more our sense of need drives us to Him and to the Word of God, the more exalted views we shall have of His character, and the more fully we shall reflect His image. The change of heart by which we become children of God is in the record verbalise of as birth. Again it is compared to the germination of the good seed sown by the husbandman. It is God who brings the bud to fall downering and the flower to fruit.It is by His power that the seed develops. As the flower turns to the sun, that the bright beams may aid in perfecting its beauty and symmetry, so should we turn to the Sun of Righteou sness, that heavens light may shine upon us, that our character may be developed into the likeness of Christ. Do you ask, How am I to abide in Christ? In the same way as you authorized Him at first. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the skipper, so walk in Him. Colossians 26. By faith you became Christs, and by faith you are to grow up in Himby giving and taking.You are to give all,your heart, your will, your service,give yourself to Him to obey all His requirements and you must take allChrist, the fullness of all benediction, to abide in your heart, to be your strength, your righteousness, your everlasting helperto give you power to obey. Consecrate yourself to God in the morning make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee. This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day.Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be mold more and more after the life of Christ. A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of feeling, but there should be an bide, peaceful trust. When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the microbe of strength and life. Hence, it is Satans constant effort to keep the worry diverted from the Saviour and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ.When Christ took world nature upon Him, He bound humanity to Himself by a tie of love that can never be broken by any power save the choice of man himself. Satan will everlastingly present allurements to induce us to break this tieto choose to separate ourselves from Christ. But let us keep our eyes pickleed upon Christ, and He will preserve us. Looking unto Jesus, we are safe. nothing can pluck us out of His hand. All that Christ was to the disciples, He desires to be to His children today. Jesus prayed for us, and He asked that we might be one with Him, even as He is one with the Father.What a union is this Thus, loving Him and abiding in Him, we shall grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 415). God is the source of life and light and joy to the universe. Wherever the life of God is in the hearts of men, it will flow out to others in love and blessing. Our Saviours joy was in the uplifting and redemption of fall men. For this He counted not His life dear to Himself, but endured the cross, despising the shame. When the love of Christ is enshrined in the heart, like sweet fragrance it cannot be hidden.Love to Jesus will be manifested in a desire to work as He worked for the blessing and uplifting of humanity. It will lead to love, tenderness, and sympathy toward all the creatures of our ethereal Fathers care. Those who are the partakers of the grace of Christ will be ready to make any sacrifice, that others for whom He died may share the heavenly gift. They will do all they can to make the world better for their stay in it. This spirit is the sure outgrowth of a soul truly converted. No sooner does one come to Christ than there is born in his heart a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus.If we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, we shall have something to tell. We shall seek to present to others the attractions of Christ and the unseen realities of the world to come. There will be an vividness of desire to follow in the path that Jesus trod. And the effort to bless others will react in blessings upon ourselves. Those who thus become participants in labors of love are brought nearest to their Creator. The spirit of unselfish labor for others gives depth, stability, and christly loveliness to the character, and brings peace and happiness to its possessor. Strength comes by exercise.We need not go to heathen lands, or even leave the narrow circle of the home, if it is there that our duty lies, in order to work for Christ. With a loving spirit we may perform lifes humblest duties unto the Lord (Col. 323). If the love of God is in the heart, it will be manifested in the life. You are not to wait for great occasions or to expect extraordinary abilities before you go to work for God. The humblest and poorest of the disciples of Jesus can be a blessing to others. Many are the ways in which God is seeking to make Himself known to us and bring us into communion with Him.If we will but listen, Nature speaks to our senses without ceasing. Gods created works will find out us precious lessons of obedience and trust. No tears are shed that God does not notice. There is no smile that He does not mark. If we would but fully believe this, all undue anxieties would be dismissed. Our lives would not be so filled with disappointment as now for everything, whether grea t or small, would be left in the hands of God. God speaks to us through His providential works and through the set of His Spirit upon the heart. God speaks to us in His Word.Here we have in clearer lines the revelation of His character, of His dealings with men, and the great work of redemption. Fill the whole heart with the words of God. They are the living water, quenching your burning thirst. They are the living bread from heaven. The theme of redemption is one that the angels desire to look into it will be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now? As we meditate upon the Saviour, there will be a hungering and thirsting of soul to become like Him whom we adore.The Bible was written for the common people. The great truths necessary for salvation are made as clear as noonday. There is nothing more calculated to change the intellect than the study of the Scriptures. But there is miniature benefit derived from a hasty reading of the Bible. One passage examine, until its significance is clear to the mind and its relation to the plan of salvation is evident, is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive instruction gained. Keep your Bible with you. As you have opportunity, read it fix the texts in your memory.We cannot obtain wisdom without earnest attention and prayerful study. Never should the Bible be studied without prayer. Before opening its pages, we should ask for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and it will be given. Angels from the world of light will be with those who in humility of heart seek for divine guidance. How must God esteem the human race, since He gave His Son to die for them and appoints His Holy Spirit to be mans teacher and continual guide Through nature and revelation, through His providence, and by the influence of His Spirit, God speaks to us.But these are not enough we need also to pour out our hearts to Him. In order to commune with God, we must have something to say to Him concerning our actual life. Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him. Our heavenly Father waits to bestow upon us the fullness of His blessing. What a wonder it is that we pray so unretentive God is ready and willing to hear the sincere prayer of the humblest of His children.What can the angels of heaven think of poor helpless human beings, who are subject to temptation, when Gods heart of infinite love yearns toward them, ready to give them more than they can ask or think, and yet they pray so little and have so little faith? The darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray. The whispered temptations of the enemy influence them to sin and it is all because they do not make use of praye r. Yet prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heavens storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence.There are certain conditions upon which we may expect that God will hear and answer our prayers One is that we feel our need of help from Him. If we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we cling to any known sin, the Lord will not hear us but the prayer of the penitent, contrite soul is always accepted. When all known wrongs are righted, we may believe that God will answer our petitions. Another element of prevailing prayer is faith. When our prayers look not to be answered, we are to cling to the promise for the time of answering will surely come, and we shall receive the blessing we need most.But to claim that prayer will always be answered in the very way and for the particular thing that we desire, is presumption. When we come to God in prayer, we should have a spirit of love and forgiveness in our own hearts. Perseverance in prayer has been made a condition of receiving. We must pray always if we would grow in faith and experience. We should pray in the family circle, and above all we must not neglect secret prayer, for this is the life of the soul. Family or public prayer alone is not sufficient. unfathomed prayer is to be heard only by the prayer-hearing God.There is no time or place in which it is inappropriate to offer up a petition to God. In the crowds of the street, in the midst of a business engagement, we may send up a petition to God and plead for divine guidance. Let the soul be drawn out and upward, that God may grant us a breathing room of the heavenly atmosphere. We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected examination our thoughts will turn to Him as naturally as the flower turns to the sun. Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him you cannot toil Him. He is not indifferent to the wants of His children.We sustain a loss when we neglect th e privilege of associating together to strengthen and encourage one another in the service of God. If Christians would associate together, speaking to each other of the love of God and the precious truths of redemption, their own hearts would be refreshed and they would refresh one another. We must accumulate about the cross. Christ and Him crucified should be the theme of contemplation, of conversation, and of our most joyful emotion. We should keep in our thoughts every blessing we receive from God, and when we realize His great love we should be willing to trust everything to the hand that was ailed to the cross for us. The soul may ascend nearer heaven on the wings of praise. As we express our gratitude, we are approximating to the hero-worship of the heavenly hosts. Many are at times troubled with the suggestions of skepticism. God never asks us to believe, without giving sufficient evidence upon which to base our faith. Disguise it as they may, the real cause of doubt and sk epticism, in most cases, is the love of sin. We must have a sincere desire to know the truth and a willingness of heart to obey it.