Christ Is Lord Over His Church

Part III and the conclusion of this particular series

by A.W. Tozer

From his book “Reclaiming Christianity: A Call to Authentic Faith”

Accepted in the Beloved

Again, through the apostle Paul, we are admonished, “That we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestined us unto the adoption of children” (Ephesians 1: 4). What does “predestined” mean? Well, “pre” means “before,” and “destined” means “to choose a destination or destiny.” Beforehand, He determined your destiny. And what is the Christian’s destiny? It is to be made by Jesus Christ for Himself. And why did He do it? “According to the good pleasure of his will.” God wanted to do it. God said, “If I wanted to do that, you need not worry about it. What is that to you? I wanted to do it.”

It is out of the good pleasure of God’s will and it is “to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (verse 6). No one can come straight to God and be accepted. A CHristian is one who believes the truth that there is only one door and that door is the Son of God Himself. We are only accepted in the Beloved. That is why I cannot go along with these nature poets, these religious poets and all these strange people who teach how you can come to God anywhere and in any way. “There is nothing unique about Christianity,” they say. According to them, God has spoken to Greeks, to Plato, to the Muslim in Mohammed and the Buddhist in Buddha. Let anybody believe what he wants to.

That is not Christianity, and that is not what the Bible teaches. Anybody who thinks he is still a Christian and teaches that has been educated beyond his intelligence and needs to start over. The simple fact is that there is only one way: “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14: 6). You cannot walk straight out of the woods into heaven. You come by the only door there is, Jesus Christ the Lord. But thank God, that door is as wide as you need.

The Spirit also encourages us in Romans 5: 1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This peace is not what everybody is running after and taking pills to get. You will never get it in a bottle. God did not say, “Being justified by grace, you have peace of heart.” He said you have “peace with God.”

The man who is under sentence of death does not have peace with the state. When a magistrate has a man stand up trembling before him and says, “I’m sorry to have to do this, but the testimony of witnesses and the laws of this dominion require me to say that you shall be kept in such and such a jail until such and such date and then hang by the neck until dead.” There is a scream in the courtroom as his relatives hear it, and he turns gray, tries to smile at his lawyer and is led away. There is no peace in his heart, but that is not what I mean.

And so, there was hostility between God and man. Man had sinned, violated the laws of God and incurred death, and the soul that sins shall die. There was no peace between man and his God. Then came Jesus and opened the kingdom of heaven to all who would believe, and now therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. The high court of heaven is no longer angry with us and no longer says we must die but declares that we may live.

The Outcome of Tribulation

Now, do not think that God does not give you peace of heart as well. I do not mean to leave that impression, but that is not what we are talking about here. We have access by faith into this grace and we “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Romans 5: 3).

We say, “O, God, give me patience.” God does not give us patience as we might go and buy a can of beans at the grocery store. He gives us patience by letting us suffer tribulations. Nobody likes that. We say, “Lord, I wish I could do it differently.” But God knows best, after all. If He put tribulation before you and said He will give you patience by giving you a little trouble along the way, wouldn’t you take a little trouble?

You say, “Lord, I want all my highways paved.” The Lord says, “I’m sorry, I can’t accommodate you. I’m going to let you run over some bumps occasionally, so you will have patience.” You do not like the bumps, but you like the patience, and if you want the patience, you will have to take the bumps. And what is patience but experience?

The Holy Spirit offers a word for young, scared and troubled Christians: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long…for I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 35-36, 38-39).

Free Indeed!

All right, Christian, if you are truly born again and truly love Christ, do you see where that puts you? Do you see that you are something new in the universe, something different in the population? You are a privileged and honored person, you are rich and under God, you are wonderful. Therefore, you ought to thank Him and continue to thank Him.

That deep inward defeat can be cured only by an equal inward release. When the Lord releases a man, he is free; and until he is released, you cannot sing him free, you cannot pound him free, you cannot preach him free and you cannot get him free any way known to mortal man. Yet the Church spends millions of dollars every year putting on religious stuff in order to try and get people free. One simple act of the Holy Spirit will free a man; free him forever and turn him loose. And you can go to God and get bold about it.

When I was young, I got in some kind of inward jam. The burden was on me, and I felt bound and miserable. One day, I was walking along the street in west Akron, Ohio, and I had had enough. I knew that God was not mad at me, and I knew the devil was bothering me. Suddenly, I stopped, stamped my foot in bold daylight, looked up through the trees to God and said, “God, I won’t stand this anymore.” And I didn’t. Right then, I became a free man. That particular thing left me. God set me free, because He knew it took faith. I was not mad at the Lord; I was mad at the devil. And it was not the Lord that had me bound; it was the old devil.

I believe the Lord’s people could be a happier people, and then more souls would be converted. “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation…then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee” (Psalm 51: 12-13). It always follows that a church that is happy from the inside out did not have to pay a dime to be happy, did not have to import anything to find happiness. It was there already. That would be a sample of a New Testament Church.

It is possible to have a logjam in a church. One or two logs get crossed, somebody gets offended, and the work of God cannot go on. But the Holy Spirit is wonderfully able to find logjams and release them. The preacher does not know; he is as innocent as a newborn babe in the arms. But the Holy Spirit knows, and so He finds that person. And if He can get the cooperation of the fellow that has the issue, away it goes and the blessing of God comes.

Jesus Christ exercises absolute authority over the Scriptures written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit. Every problem in the Church, from the day of Pentecost to this very hour, is addressed in that marvelous book we call the Word of God. If we are going to reclaim the Christianity of the New Testament, we must return to the faith of the New Testament.