Fair everyone that thirsteth! (Come ye to t the waters! And, he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat! Come without money and without price!”—Is. 55; 1.n6487 ¶1
“Search the Scriptures. They testify of Me,” was the astounding assertion of Jesus, the Christ. Again, He announced: “TI, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.”n6487 ¶2
Who is this “I” and this “Me” that we are to search after, find, and lift up? Is it man? Is it an idea? Or, Is it the 1 AM?n6487 ¶3
The need of the hour is a study of God’s Word which is founded on Jesus Christ. Hence, the vision of the true disciple is on Jesus Christ—the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection.n6487 ¶4
Now, whom does Jesus tell us to exalt and lift up? Ourself? No. Himsetr. We are to lift Him, Jesus Christ.n6487 ¶5
In the past we have thought that if we lifted ourselves, we would thus be fitted to lift others, but this is not what Jesus said we should do.n6487 ¶6
12 THe Curist WITHINn6487 ¶7
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Jno. 3; 14. Moses lifted up a serpent for the people to look upon, saying unto them: Look AND Live. This serpent was a symbol of the Christ, while Jesus, whom we are to lift up, is the Christ, Himself.n6487 ¶8
Friends, are we lifting Christ or are we holding up a method or a system of our own or of another? Are we lifting “the Name that is above all other names”? Be not afraid to ask yourself these questions and to answer them, too: Where is my vision? Whom am / lifting up? Whom do J follow?n6487 ¶9
The test of any teacher, seeker or student is this: Whom does he preach?n6487 ¶10
Let anyone who makes the stupendous assertion, “I am self-sufficient,” DEMONSTRATE it. Let him stand before the world free from disease. Let him stand before the world in perfect soundness of mind and body. He cannot do it. There never lived on earth a man or woman who could demonstrate self-sufficiency.n6487 ¶11
Why is this true? Because there has beenn6487 ¶12
Tue Curist WITHIN 13 but one who proclaimed: “I am Life. I hold the keys to death and hell. All power in heaven and in earth is given unto Me.” There has been but one who claimed Self-sufficiency and who proved it.n6487 ¶13
No one on earth can save himself or save another in his own name or by his own works. There has been but one name given among men whereby man must triumph,—and this name is Jesus Christ.n6487 ¶14
Beloved, the self that would be lifted up and would have his or her name blazed on history’s pages dies hard. How it tries to shine. Yea, to such heights will it attempt to ascend that it will even call itself—God.n6487 ¶15
Shall the selfhood be lifted to such an height? Is this what the Master taught? No. The self shall die. The self must die to its own works and exaltations, for, “He that loveth his life shall lose it,” and, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.”n6487 ¶16
Happy are we who can let the self “die daily,” even as Paul acclaimed, and can declare, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” None of self and all of Thee should be our cry. “But,” demands the self, “Why should I thus behold myself? Why not look upon myself as pure and holy? Why not look upon myself as sinless?”n6487 ¶17
Listen to the Word of God: “All have sinned.” (Rom. 3; 23) “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not inus. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is notinius.241 fno.1; 35110!n6487 ¶18
What is the secret? What is the solution to this problem about the “self” and the “Self”? It is this: “Without Mk ye can do nothing.” Jno. 15; 5. We are not holy and sinless in and of ourselves, but CHRIST IN US, who is the perfect Self, is both righteous and holy, pure and sinless.n6487 ¶19
It is written: “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Jno. 12; 24. Except the self be utterly wiped out by either Truth or suffering, it abideth alone, or is in a sense of separation from God; but, if the self die, resurrection takes place, transformation begins, the New Birth is started, and Christ, the perfect Man, the divine Selfhood, is revealed.n6487 ¶20
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh” and that which is born or originates in the self is “flesh.” Only that which is born of the Spirit is permanent and glorious.n6487 ¶21
Shall we say, Follow me, or, Follow my method and my interpretation? And, shall we place our own name—the name of the self— before a method or a system that we, in our opinion, believe to be the right way or the right method? God forbid. Let the name of the self remain in the background that the Name above all other names shall receive all worship, all attention, all homage and all glory. The one reborn directs: Do not follow me nor my methods, but, follow Christ, or, Follow me insofar as I follow Jesus Christ.n6487 ¶22
Friends, what are we seeking? Are we seeking health? Peace? Joy? Understanding? Or, are we seeking Christ, Truth? “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ’? is the mandate of St. Paul. As we put on Christ, we simultaneously put on health, joy, peace, harmony,n6487 ¶23
16 ‘ae CHRist™ Withinn6487 ¶24
Life, Truth, Love, Resurrection, Power, Glory, Victory.n6487 ¶25
Are you seeking happiness and peace or are you seeking Christ? Now, “Christ is ALL” (Gole3;. 11); “forsit pleased =the Mathers thar in Him (Christ) should all fulness dwell’ (Col. 1; 19). Then, “Christ in you” means salvation, victory, dominion, authority, glory and peace in you. Is it not worth-while that we die to self that we may “awake in His likeness,’ and put on the riches and glories of Christ, the perfect Self?n6487 ¶26
Let us look now at something that is very important for us all to understand. It is an admonition found in the Bible. This admonition is a great favorite with those whose vision is placed on mental things and mental ways, and who believe that their own right thinking is God.n6487 ¶27
The much-used Bible text is this: “Worx OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION.” What can these words mean, they ask, if not that we shall be God to ourselves? How can one work out his salvation except he be God? What else could this command mean, they challenge, if not to heal yourself, free yourself, gain understanding from yourself—in short, look to yourself for all things?n6487 ¶28
The answer, my friends, is simple enough, but reason alone could never produce it; and, it is because the self is not sufficient that it is unable to discover the true and spiritual meaning of these words—Work out your own salvation—but, on the contrary, gives explanation full of labor and opposed to the teachings of the Master.n6487 ¶29
When the vision of one is placed on himself, or on his own mind, he weaves everything around this vision, for no one can experience higher than his vision; but, when the vision lifts from self and rests upon the Self, then the Christ of God—Truth, is seen and known and felt.n6487 ¶30
What does it mean to work out salvation? What does it mean to spend a thousand dollars? What does it mean to open a door? What does it mean to walk ina path? Does it mean to make the money? Does it mean to create the door? Does it mean to originate the path? No. It does not mean this.n6487 ¶31
18 THE CuHrist WITHINn6487 ¶32
Work out your own salvation means—Ex- PERIENCE: EXPRESS: APPROPRIATE: SPEND: LOOK AND BEHOLD THE FINISHED WORK!n6487 ¶33
Can you spend a thousand dollars if you do not possess it? Could you open a door if there were no door? Could you walk in a path if there were no path? Could you, then, work out your own salvation tf there were no salvation?n6487 ¶34
We can work out our salvation because we already have it. Wecan express the salvation that is prepared, at hand—the salvation that Christ has given.n6487 ¶35
What is redemption? ‘he finished work. The finished kingdom. Who is the Finisher? You or I? No. Jesus Christ, the One. “I have finished the work” (Jno. 17; 4). Thus, salvation is finished, and, to “work out” means that we must individually experience this finished redemption; we must use it, express it, appropriate it, eat it, drink it, breathe it, magnify it!n6487 ¶36
To “work out” means to look and behold; declare and preach; recognize and claim; believe and accept; experience and appropriate the finished Kingdom, the fields already white, the heaven at hand, the healed universe, the saved people, the redeemed world!n6487 ¶37
Oh, how many there are laboring with thought as though there were no Almighty God, no white fields, no victorious Christ, no finished Kingdom, no heaven here and now!n6487 ¶38
Seeker of good, can you of and in and through yourself work out your own salvation as though to CREATE it? Never. ‘This is strife and labor on the mental plane, and is not the acceptance of the great and wonderful fulfilment at hand. “Ye are bought with a price,” visioned Paul. This world 1s redeemed according to the Word of God. Redemption is FINISHED in the sight of God and in reality. Jesus Christ removed the curse of the law for us and He finished His work.n6487 ¶39
“Tt is finished!” announced He. What is finished? “Let not your heart be troubled. | have overcome the world.” ... “It is finished!” What is finished? “And the glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them.” ... “It is finished!’ What is finished? “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive.”n6487 ¶40
20 THE CuHrRIst WITHINn6487 ¶41
“It is finished!’ What is finished? “THE FATHER’S BUSINESS.” The first recorded words of Jesus are: “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?”n6487 ¶42
What was the Father’s business? “And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life 1s in His Son.” . “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” ... “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, that we might live through Him.”n6487 ¶43
Thus it is that we accept the finished work of Jesus Christ—God the Son, and accept “salvation” as a finished fact awaiting the individual recognition.n6487 ¶44
To no man on earth was given the privilege of self-sufficiency, for, “Without Mg ye can do nothing,” and, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God,” acknowledged Saint Paul, having proved this fact for him- Ser,n6487 ¶45
If we consider that we are to work out as though to create our happiness, health and harmony, then, of what use is Jesus Christ as our King? And what are we doing with the words: “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for yours only but also for the sins of the whole world’? And this: “By grace are ye saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”?n6487 ¶46
When we leave out Jesus Christ, the Door, God the Son, we leave out Living Water, Heavenly Bread, Resurrection.n6487 ¶47
Are we the finishers of ourselves, or, have we had a Finisher? Without the Finisher ye can do nothing. Without the Spirit of Christ in us, our efforts, no matter how strenuous or how supreme, are built upon self as power and understanding and will end in disappointment and failure. When we stand upon our own ideas and opinions, what does it amount to? They change from day to day. When we stand upon the systems and opinions of others, of what permanent value are these? Theories come and go; rise and fall.n6487 ¶48
Then, upon wHart shall we stand? Stand on the “Rock that is Christ!’ (1Cor. 10; 4). “The same yesterday, today and forever!”n6487 ¶49
While it is true that Jesus Christ is our Way, our Door, our Finisher, there is an individual work for us todo. If we do not accept Him as the Way, the Finisher, the work that He did for us is not benefiting us; that is, we are not experiencing the good that is prepared for us. The finished kingdom is here, yet all are not appropriating it or experiencing it.n6487 ¶50
If one is in a dense forest, in which is no path of escape, and some one appears and cuts a path, a way of escape, the original one in the forest did not make the path himself, but by walking in the path that is made for him, he may reach safety. The one who made the path does not also do the walking for him. He himself must do the walking; and, should he close his eyes to the path that is made and that will bring him safely into the wonderful sunshine, and begin to make another path, he, alone, is to blame and will suffer for his blindness.n6487 ¶51
Our part in life is to lift our vision, behold and accept the path that is already made for us and walk in that path. We are to take and to enjoy the great good already prepared, and cease trying to cut new paths and create new ways. Let us “work out’ or express that which we already possess, that which we already ARE.n6487 ¶52
Another gravely important question is this: How do we regard Jesus Christ? How many of us have been separating Jesus from Christ? We certainly do not find ground for this in the Bible. Let us read what the disciples say: “Philip preached Curist unto them.” “Philip preached unto him JeEsus.” (Acts.8, 5, 35) Jesus.” (Acts 9; 20:17, 18) “We preach not ourselves but Curist Jesus.” (2Cor. 4; 5)n6487 ¶53
Can you see any distinction in the above verses between “Jesus” and “Christ”? There is none. Then why should we, if we accept the Bible as the Word of God, our sufficient guide, make any distinction? ‘The disciples had one Christ and this was Jesus Christ.n6487 ¶54
The Godhead is a trinity. When this is understood by the student, it becomes easy to accept Jesus Christ as God. God is tri-une;— God, the Father invisible: God, the Son, visible as Jesus Christ: God, the Holy Ghost, invisible Spirit or Comforter. Thus it was that Jesus was “without sin” and had the right to give Himself as Saviour of the world. “That ye might believe that Jesus 1s the Christ, the Son of God (God the Son or second), and, that believing, ye might have life in His Name” (Jno. 20; 31).n6487 ¶55
Why “in His Name’? Why not your name or my name? Because His name is God’s name. Because Jesus is God the Son. “I am come in My Father’s Name” (Jno. 5; 43).n6487 ¶56
Said "Paul 2). hiss) esustis) Christ! said John: “Jesus is the Christ!’ Said Peter: “Thou art the Christ!’ Said Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”n6487 ¶57
“What shall I do with Jesus that is called Christ?” asked Pilate. ‘This question will be repeated in the heart of each one of us. Ask yourself, What Christ have I? Have I Jesus the Christ? Have I this Christ of God, or, have I been calling my own mind or my intellect or my reason—Christ?n6487 ¶58
Is your own reason sufficient to save you? Reason is used in two directions. A man reasons out how he shall kill another and a man reasons out how he shall cure another. How could reason, which can be used for wrong and right, to kill and to cure, be Christ, “the same yesterday, today and forever’’? Was it not wrong reason that crucified Jesus? Did they not “reason together how that they might kill Him’—Him altogether lovely? Because of their wrong reason, did they not “hate Him without a cause’’?n6487 ¶59
They led Him away to a hill, which had the appearance of a human skull—human reason —and they took off His raiment and beat Him with many stripes. They thrust cruel nails into the very hands that had blessed them and fed them, and they put spikes into the very feet that had walked among them, bringing sight to the blind, feet to the lame and life to the dead. They pierced the heart that had loved them with an everlasting love, that had wept for them and which now would pass through the ordeal called death for them.n6487 ¶60
Come, Beloved. Face upward and behold the real Christ of God—Jesus, the I AM, who came that we “might have life more abundantly”; who “is the same, yesterday, todayn6487 ¶61
26 Tue CuHrRIst WITHIN and forever”; who said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”; who promised, Believe in Me and in My finished work, so will I rule in your life, so will I guide and direct you, so will I bless and glorify you, so will I be in you a living Fountain, springing up into perpetual and continual health, joy and harmony.n6487 ¶62
Is not this a wonderful Christ to have? What more glorious and satisfying Christ could there be for us than the indwelling Christ?n6487 ¶63
“Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you?” inquired Paul. “This is the true God and eternal” life?) Let us think well,” ‘Can we afford to thrust aside the Bible, the Word of God, regarding Jesus Christ, and substitute teachings at variance with this Word? Can we afford to have any other Christ than the Spirit of God?n6487 ¶64
Can we afford to have any other method save that given to us by Jesus Christ, who DEMONSTRATED His teaching, who left victory, glory and triumph? Can we afford to listen to man rather than to hear the “still small Voice” of Soul?n6487 ¶65
We cannot serve two masters. Are we looking to Christ or to self? Are we trying to create or are we appropriating the finished kingdom with its own creations and glories?n6487 ¶66
‘Master, Where dwellest Thou?” we ask. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him.” (Rev. 3; 20) Wuen will Christ come to us? When we open the door. He has already come universally, and He will come individually, or will come to the individual consciousness when that consciousness has prepared itself for Him. It is as we say “Christ liveth in me” that our lives become transfigured and glorified.n6487 ¶67
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3; 4). “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him” (1Jno. 3; 2).n6487 ¶68
Now that we recognize the real Christ of God, what shall we do with “reason” that has been erroneously called Christ? Shall we cast it away? Certainly not. We shall use it as a process, a modus operandi. We do not cast away the eye when we discover that sight itself is not the eye, but that the eye manifests and expresses sight. Nor shall we cast away reason when we know that reason is not THE Christ but that right reason is a help in discovering this Christ.n6487 ¶69
When we see that an electric light bulb brings light into a room, we do not forget that the bulb is simply the means of light and is not the power of light, itself.n6487 ¶70
Let no man deify his reason simply because his reasoning can bring him a conclusion. The electric wire carries the message, but the wire is not the electricity nor the message; neither is reason Christ nor is individual man—God. He is the vehicle through which God works.n6487 ¶71
E who has the consciousness of God knows beyond his mind and wakes a new kind of body in tune with the Infinite Immortal.n6487 ¶72
The upward watcher knows things which before he knew not, and which neither teachers nor books have mentioned.n6487 ¶73
The mind is not capable of bringing anything to pass except it be transfixed by inward vision. To endure as seeing the invisible is to fetch it forth into visibility. Man’s inward visional direction creates his judgments or mentals; mentals then translate into manifest affairs and manifest bodies.n6487 ¶74
This looking faculty antedates the mind. It is primarily what we see and not what we think that constitutes our presence, power and history.n6487 ¶75
The farther toward the celestial zenith we send the limitless eye, the deeper our assurance of our divine origin and transcendent Selfhood.n6487 ¶76
Lifting the inner eye to Him who is above reason lights our two outer eyes to see the world in a new aspect, gives the tongue new descriptions of the world, and tips the pen with fadeless phrases.n6487 ¶77
Look to the man who threw aside the wrappings of the grave, the stone-sealed tomb and the soldiers’ swords, bursting their three dimensional bindings with risen divinity, as the law for the whole of us. world without end.n6487 ¶78
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