Himself – Part III

Himself – Part III

by A.B. Simpson

Have you yielded?

Is your body yielded to Christ for Him thus to indwell and work through? the Lord Jesus Christ has a body like yours, except that it is perfect.
His is the body not of a man but of the Son of man. Have you considered why He is called the Son of man? The title means that Jesus Christ is the one typical, comprehensive, universal, all-inclusive Man. Jesus is the one Man who contains in Himself all that man ought to be, all that man needs to have. All the fullness of the Godhead and the fullness of perfect manhood has been embodied in Christ, and He stands now as the summing up of all that man needs. His spirit is all that our spirits need. His body possesses all that our bodies need. He has a heart beating with the strength that our hearts need. He has organs and functions redundant with life not for Himself but for humanity.

Jesus does not need strength for Himself. The energy that enabled Him to rise from the tomb above all forces of nature was not for Himself. That marvelous body belongs to our bodies. We are members of His body. Our hearts have a right to draw from His heart all that they need. Our physical lives have a right to draw from His physical life their support and strength. It is not us, but it is the precious life of the Son of God.

Will you take Him as your life? You will not merely be healed, but you will have a new life for all your needs – a flood of life that will sweep disease away and remain a fountain of life for all your future need. Take Him in His fullness!

My wonderful secret

If I were to announce that I had received from heaven a secret to wealth and success that God would give freely through me to anyone willing to accept it, your interest would be intense. I want to show you in God’s Word a truth that is more precious. The inspired apostle Paul tells us that there is a “mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations” (Colossians 1:26). It is a secret that the world has sought in vain. a secret wise men hoped they might find. God says it “is now made manifest to his saints.” Paul went through the Roman world telling just this message to those who were able to receive it. Here it is: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Christ in you – this is the great secret. And I share it with you, if you will take it from God. It is a secret that has been wonderful to me! Years ago I went to God burdened with guilt and fear. I tried that simple secret, and it was the solution to all my fear and my burden of sins. Years passed, and I found sin overcoming me and temptation too strong to resist. I went to God a second time, and He whispered, “Christ in you!” and I had victory, rest and blessing.

It wrought healing of the body

Then my physical body broke completely. I had always worked hard. From the age of 14 I studied and labored, sparing no strength. At 21 I
took charge of a large congregation. Half a dozen times I broke down utterly. My constitution was worn out. Many times I feared I should drop dead in my pulpit. Because of a weakened heart and an exhausted nervous system, I could not ascend any height without a sense of suffocation.

I had heard about the Lord’s healing, but I struggled against the thought. I was afraid of it. I had been taught in seminary that the age of the supernatural was past, and I could not go back on that early training. My head was in my way! At last I was brought to attend “the funeral of my dogmatics,” as one person has termed it, and the Lord whispered again to me the little secret: “Christ in you!” From that hour I received Him for my body as I had received Him for my soul. I was made so strong and well that work has been a perfect delight.

Since that time, I have spent even my summer holidays in the hot city of New York, preaching and working among the masses. In addition, there has been the work of our home and college, an immense mass of literary work and much more besides.

But the Lord did more than remove my suffering. It was more than simple healing. He so gave me Himself that I lost the painful consciousness of physical organs. That is the best health He gives. I thank the Lord that He keeps me from all morbid, physical consciousness. This body of mine is no longer the object of anxious care. Jesus gives me life that is a delight, and my service for the Master is a rest and a joy.

It brought quickening of the mind

Again, I had a poor sort of a mind, heavy and cumbrous. It did not think or work quickly. I wanted to write and speak for Christ. I wanted to
have a ready memory so as to have the little knowledge I had gained always under command. I went to Christ about it and asked if He had anything for me in this way.

“Yes, my child,” He replied, “I am made unto you wisdom.” I had been always making mistakes, which I regretted, and then thinking I would not make them again. But Christ said that I might have His mind, that He would be my wisdom. He told me He could cast down imaginations and bring into captivity every thought to His obedience. He could make the brain and the head right. Then I took Him for all that. And since then, He has kept me from mental disability, and work has been rest.

I used to write two sermons a week, and it took me three says to complete one. But now, in connection with my literary work, I have numberless pages to write besides the conduct of very many meetings each week. All is delightfully easy for me. The Lord has helped me mentally, and I know He is the Savior of my mind as well as of my spirit.

I also had an irresolute will. I asked God, “Cannot You be a will to me?” He answered, “Yes, My child. ‘It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.’ ” Then He taught me how and when to be firm and how and when to yield. Many people have a decided will, but they do not know how to hold on just at the proper moment.

I came to Christ as well for power for His work and all the resources for His service, and He has not failed me. And so, if this precious little secret of “Christ in you” will help you, you may have it. May you make better use of it than I! I feel I have only begun to learn how well it works. Take it and go on working it out, through time and eternity – Christ for all, grace for grace, from strength to strength, from glory to glory, from this time forth and even for evermore.

          Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord;

          Once it was the feeling, now it is His Word.

          Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own;

          Once I sought for healing, now Himself alone.

          Once ’twas painful trying, now ’tis perfect trust;

          Once a half salvation, now the uttermost.

          Once ’twas ceaseless holding, now He holds me fast;

          Once ’twas constant drifting, now my anchor’s cast.

          Once ’twas busy planing, now ’tis trustful prayer;

          Once ’twas anxious caring, now He has the care.

          Once ’twas what I wanted, now what Jesus says;

          Once ’twas constant asking, now ’tis ceaseless praise.

          Once it was my working, His it hence shall be;

          Once I tried to use Him, now He uses me.

          Once the power I wanted, now the Mighty One;

          Once for self I labored, now for Him alone.

          Once I hoped in Jesus, now I know He’s mine;

          Once my lamps were dying, now they brightly shine.

          Once for death I waited, now His coming hail;

          And my hopes are anchored safe within the veil.