'Following the Holy Spirit'
Back to 'Christ in You'
Eliezer of Damascus is a type of the Holy Spirit. He was sent from Abraham (the Father) to obtain a bride for Isaac (Christ). Rebecca (the Church) was led back to Isaac by the guidance of Eliezer (Genesis, Chapter 24).
Rebecca never had seen Isaac previously. She may have had a general idea where Isaac lived but she certainly could not have made the trip by herself.
If Rebecca had decided to remain in her home in Mesopotamia and enjoy the gifts that Eliezer had brought with him she never would have seen Isaac. She would have grown old and died while thinking about how wonderful it was that she had been chosen to be the wife of Abraham’s son.
So it is with a Christian. He must, upon having accepted Christ, immediately devote his whole attention to going exactly where the Holy Spirit invites him to go.
If the believer, having made a profession of Christ, does not start out on his pilgrimage toward Christ in strict submission to the guidance of the Spirit of God, his conversion to Christ may prove to be fruitless.
It is one thing to start in a race. It is another matter to finish the race. Christ has the wisdom, authority, and power to complete His work in us. We are required to live every day with the same dedication and faith in Christ that was true of us the day we first came to Him (Hebrews 3:14; 10:38).
The Christian discipleship never is static. It is a daily seeking of Christ with the whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. We are to follow Christ at all times, just as was true of the first apostles.
The Christian discipleship is dynamic at every moment. When we cease looking diligently to Christ we are attacked immediately by the forces of decay and death. Eternal life and eternal death constantly are striving for mastery over our conduct in the world. The one who is saved is he who endures to the end. Salvation is not completed in us until we finish our course.
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. (Hebrews 3:6)
To be a true Christian requires every second of our attention, our whole interest and love. No man can serve two masters. If we give less than our best we cannot be an overcomer (Revelation 12:11).
The Lord Jesus Christ always is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He alone can bring a person to the Father. Jesus of Nazareth is infinitely more than a master teacher who instructs us in a philosophy of living. He Himself Is the Way to God. We must keep on pressing forward in Him and toward Him.
As we move forward in Christ, truth is created in every part of our personality. We are the flesh being created the Word of God. As we are being made the Word of God, resurrection life increasingly is the force that moves us and by which we live. Our experience of eternal life is developing at every moment.
Our fleshly life is dying and indestructible resurrection life is taking its place. After we commence this process we ought never to look back. We are to keep our eyes steadfastly on Christ until we stand perfect and complete in all the will of God (Colossians 4:12).
Accepting Christ as our Savior and Lord includes taking up our cross and following Him (Matthew 16:24,25). Our position from then on is that we have the life of the Holy Spirit in our inner self because of the righteousness of Christ that has been given us as a gift. Our mortal body remains in death because of its sinful tendencies.
Our task is to sow to the Holy Spirit until resurrection life is perfected in us. We must yield ourselves to the Spirit rather than to our flesh. Our fleshly mind continually is conspiring with Satan and the spirit of the present wicked age in the attempt to divert our attention from Christ.
If we allow the resurrection life of Christ to work in us, then, at the coming of the Lord from Heaven, the same resurrection life that already is in us will make alive our physical body. This is the redemption of the body and the point at which our body is adopted as a son of God (Romans 8:23).
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [make alive] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
We must give our attention to grasping eternal life. Romans, Chapter Eight teaches that if a Christian walks in the appetites of the flesh after having made a profession of Christ he will die spiritually. The Divine Seed will be choked out by the cares of the present world (Luke 8:14).
As Romans 8:11 states, we already possess the life that will redeem our mortal body when the Lord returns. If we choose to live in the desires of the flesh we will lose that indwelling grace. We will defeat our own resurrection. As in the case of the foolish virgins we will not possess enough "oil" to go with the Bridegroom when He appears.
If by the power of the resurrection life of Christ the believer keeps on bringing his body under subjection to the will of Christ, he will live before God. The grace that already dwells in him will make alive his mortal body at the coming of the Lord.
When we receive Christ we are given the authority to be a child of God (John 1:12). In order to transform this authority into the actual attainment of sonship we must take up our cross and follow the Holy Spirit of God.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)
In the United States, each person has the authority to receive a high school education and his parents are prohibited by law from putting him out to work when he is a young child. Many American citizens do not achieve a high school education, even though they have the authority to do so, because they cease attending classes or become ill or some other problem develops.
So it is in Christ. Each person who receives Christ is given the authority to be a child of God. But in order to actually become a son of the Father he must follow the Holy Spirit just as Rebecca followed Eliezer of Damascus.
Back to 'Christ in You'