Counter-Balanced
Our personal knowledge of the Cross and fellowship with Jesus must be balanced for us to truly experience God's presence and love.
Miles J. Stanford emphasizes the importance of balancing our personal knowledge and fellowship with Jesus' resurrection with our fellowship in His death on the Cross. He highlights the significance of approaching God with boldness through the blood of Jesus, ensuring that we do not neglect the Cross in our pursuit of His presence. Stanford underscores the deep satisfaction Jesus finds when we abide in Him and the immense love that welcomes us into His presence, transforming us to reflect His glory and beauty.
Text
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19).
Personal knowledge of and fellowship with our risen Lord Jesus is counter-balanced by personal knowledge of and fellowship in the death of the Cross. The principle of balance prevents our slipping past the Cross and pushing into His presence.
"Where do you dwell? 'Come and see. They came. . . and abode with Him' (John 1:39). The highest satisfaction He can have is that we should be at home with Himself. He has removed the distance from His own side.
"If you believe that, you say, I will approach Him. That is one thing. The next thing is, His love is so great He delights to have your company. It is not that you will feel yourself out of place there-you will be there in all the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ."
"Our Father delights in having us with Himself. Love yearns to satisfy itself about me. It is not only that I can go in, but a much greater thing--my Father, in all His majesty and glory, can come out, All is equipoise. Not only have I entree, but I am shaped to the grandeur of the scene, conformed to the glory of God. Not admitted like a stranger, but changed into the same image; not to equality but similarity; transformed into moral correspondence." -J.B.S.
"If we are not with Him where He is, we cannot be for Him where He is not. We must be inside the veil to be outside the camp."
"Let us draw near with a true heart in fall assurance of faith " (Hebrews 10:22).
Sermon Outline
- Personal Knowledge of the Cross
- Personal Knowledge of Jesus
- Our Father's Love
- Transformation and Conformity
- Changed into the same image
- Transformed into moral correspondence
Key Quotes
“If we are not with Him where He is, we cannot be for Him where He is not.” — Miles J. Stanford
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” — Miles J. Stanford
“Our Father delights in having us with Himself. Love yearns to satisfy itself about me.” — Miles J. Stanford
Application Points
- We must balance our personal knowledge of the Cross with our fellowship with Jesus to truly experience God's presence.
- God delights in having our company and yearns to satisfy itself about us.
- Being with God where He is transforms us into moral correspondence and shapes us to His grandeur.