Deeper Yet

[b]Deeper Yet[/b]

In the blood from the cross,
I have been washed from sin;
But to be free from dross,
Still I would enter in.

Refrain

[i]Deeper yet, deeper yet,
Into the crimson flood;
Deeper yet, deeper yet,
Under the precious blood.[/i]

Day by day, hour by hour,
Blessings are sent to me;
But for more of His power,
Ever my prayer shall be.

Refrain

[b]Near to Christ I would live,
Following Him each day;
What I ask He will give;
So then with faith I pray.[/b]

Refrain

Now I have peace, sweet peace,
While in this world of sin;
[b]But to pray I’ll not cease
Till I am pure within.[/b]

Refrain
[i]Deeper yet, deeper yet,
Into the crimson flood;
Deeper yet, deeper yet,
Under the precious blood.[/i]

[url=http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/d/e/deepryet.htm]source[/url]

However, I would give a caution, from personal experience, for the sake of some here who may have suffered as I did, when this longing for purity spills over into something extreme, even neurotic in my case.

It is [i]the LORD[/i] our Righteousness, not [i]our[/i] righteousness. He is our Purity, not we who are pure.

That means we can relax and let Him live in us, rather than struggling to attain perfection. ...Not to do nothing, but to give up the striving which is actually self-righteousness (= trying to be righteous in and of ourselves - even "with God's help")

(Romans 10:6-8)
'6 But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach)'

Until les than a year ago I desperately craved for perfection, and as a result lived in an almost constant state of guilt and self-condemnation. So much so that, at one time, certain holiness preaching made me believe I wasn't born again after all. (They said one had to have something called "a new pure heart" to be born again, and my heart felt so very dirty)

Probably I misunderstood the meaning of this teaching, because of already being self-condemned. However, when attending conferencees that preached holiness, two people at different times made it plain that they also doubted very much if I was born again!

There's no need to strive for perfection, rather we can trust in the finished work of Christ.

A few years ago I did something of which I was deeply ashamed - more ashamed than usual! I'd had a bad attitude towards someone, and was later all prepared to repent (it wasn't possible to ask forgiveness from the person concerned).

But the Lord wouldn't let me repent! I realisd afterwards that it wouldn't have been true repentance, but a self-indulgent mourning at having let myself down.

Instead, He said: "What do you expect? That's what you are like left to yourself!"

Left to ourselves we [i]are[/i] 100% failures and can never be any different, but it doesn't matter any more because we aren't in ourselves but in HIM! As Paul said, "in...my flesh dwells no good thing". Worrying about our imperfections only hinders the Lord manifesting His life through us.

Instead of bringing into condemnation, as it used to, the knowledge that I can't be pure in and of myself makes me rejoice that He has done it all - so He gets all the glory!

Jeannette

PaulWest wrote:
Jeanette,

We become pure by absolutely abandoning ourselves to the One Alone who is pure. But make no mistake, sister, we must fight daily. We must strive, resist and mortify the flesh daily. This is pure scripture, and the truth is that if you want to progess in God, in holiness and purity, the devil will fight you every inch of the way. If you take time to be holy you'll have a vicious fight, this is assured. I am not advocating self-righteousness or attaining some kind of perfection status by my own merit. No, no. This is the progessive holiness of God, this is transforming fire and purity and wisdom. If you desire to grow in Christ, you must be schooled by God. And God's school is full of surprise tests. If you just sit back and relax and "take it all by faith" and not prepare yourself for battle, you'll get shot down.

We are not to relax; we are to put on the full armour of God and fight the devil. Do you realise the kind of damage this "don't worry about striving for perfection" mindset has caused the church? Multitudes are taught that any kind provocation toward holy living and godliness is of the flesh. That they are not to "strive" for it; if they do, it is an indication of a fleshy attempt, trying to attain perfection by their own standards. They are thus dissuaded from developing any kind of radical devotion life and resolution to dicorce themselves from the transient enticements of this world.

This is unfortunate; this is lamentable. As result, the church is not holy. As believers we need to come to a point of desperation to have the workings of inner purity manifest within(birthed by the Spirit of God). I propose that every inch of growth in this area of inner holiness will be grossly contravened by Satan. because a holy minister is an awesome weapon in the hands of God.

Brother Paul

I think you have misunderstood. I was simply making a plea for balance, in view of my own problems with holiness teaching. I was not advocating "relaxation" in the sense of doing nothing, but in the sense of trusting the Lord not our own efforts. A positive, not a negative thing - letting the power of His holiness flow through our lives.

Coming to, and remaining in, the place of letting that happen is in itself a severe battle, much more perhaps than doing it ourselves.

There are two sides of the same coin:
On one side is Paul's insistance on "justification by faith" and at the other James' insistance that "faith without works is dead". [b]Both are true![/b] Both have to be held [i][b]together [/b][/i] as truth. Not like Luther who was so impressed by the first truth that he rejected James altogether; nor like those who think that good works, by themselves will get them into heaven. Paul was like that before he met Christ, perfectly righteous and "pure" as concerning the Law. Its a very subtle trap at times.

Certainly someone who is morally and spiritually lazy needs the counsel you give here. However, I (and no doubt others on this forum) was at the very opposite extreme, full of guilt and crippling fear of making mistakes, constantly "going about to establish my own righteousness" instead of "submitting to the righteousness of God". Indeed I was [b][i]totally unable[/i][/b] to, as you say, "become pure by absolutely abandoning [myself] to the One Alone who is pure". Being told that I had to constantly strive for holiness terrified me, and brought despair, and a kind of inner paralysis, not greater effort! Even now, reading your message brought a temptation to give in to that old fear of being wrong!

As it says at the beginning of Romans 10
[color=000099] "1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified."[/color]

Yours in Him

jeannette

PaulWest wrote:

However, I (and no doubt others on this forum) was at the very opposite extreme, full of guilt and crippling fear of making mistakes, constantly "going about to establish my own righteousness" instead of "submitting to the righteousness of God".

Noted, sister. This feeling of guilt does not negate the truth of striving and fighting and resisting; instead, this was the unfortunate result of a faulty [i]understanding[/i] of fighting, striving, and resisting.

It probably doesn't, "negate the truth of striving and fighting and resisting". Except that the concept of "striving" does imply (at least to me) doing things in our own strength.

It is the [i]ground[/i] of our resistance that I was concerned with. The ground is [b]the finished work of Christ[/b], everything else is of self. The "striving" has to be [i]from His victory[/i], already won, not to [i]our[/i] victory, or we will fail.

The reason I energetically answered your post is because I know the concept of perfection is so misunderstood by the church. There are so many multitudes that resemble what you went through, and I would not have them read your testimony and go away disillusioned that we are to cease to stive for perfection in Christ.

Again, another aspect of the ground of our warfare is His Sabbath rest (Heb 4). The Lord didn't cease from all activities when He finished the work of creation, (He continued, and still continues to maintain that creation)yet He rested in His finished work, as Jesus later did on the Cross. So do we when we enter into His rest, we don't cease from activity, but work and war from that secure place in Him, ceasing to do "our own works".

Perhaps we basically agree, and its just a matter of expressing things in words. Hopefully that's so.

Thanks for your concern.

Jeannette

Sister, I am actually enjoying our discussion, and have a smile on my face as I sip my tea and type!

Here is another song on going deeper:

[b]Deeper and Deeper[/b]

Into the heart of Jesus
Deeper and deeper I go,
Seeking to know the reason
Why He should love me so,
Why He should stoop to lift me
Up from the miry clay,
Saving my soul, making me whole,
Though I had wandered away.

Into the will of Jesus,
Deeper and deeper I go,
Praying for grace to follow,
Seeking His way to know;
Bowing in full surrender
Low at His blessèd feet,
Bidding Him take, break me and make,
Till I am molded, complete.

Into the cross of Jesus
Deeper and deeper I go,
Following through the garden,
Facing the dreaded foe;
Drinking the cup of sorrow,
Sobbing with broken heart,
“O Savior, help! Dear Savior, help!
Grace for my weakness impart.”

Into the joy of Jesus
Deeper and deeper I go,
Rising, with soul enraptured,
Far from the world below.
Joy in the place of sorrow,
Peace in the midst of pain,
Jesus will give, Jesus will give;
He will uphold and sustain.

Into the love of Jesus
Deeper and deeper I go,
Praising the One Who brought me
Out of my sin and woe;
And through eternal ages
Gratefully I shall sing,
“O how He loved! O how He loved!
Jesus, my Lord and my King!”

[url=http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/d/e/e/deeperad.htm]Source[/url]

Breaking engenders making, and the breaking is often very painful. The purging flames can be hot, the dross extracted noisome, but Christian perfection is not cheap, the price of our salvation was not cheap - and the cost of following Christ and being molded into His image is not cheap either. But it is possible in his strength!

I must be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease
Let others fight to win the prize
and battle on their knees

I cannot fight, but I must reign
In heaven's blest abode
I'm glad that some endure the pain -
I'm resting in the Lord!

There are no foes for meto face
My pastor is so good
he says, "Just draw on saving grace
And love the brotherhood"

I am a soldier of the cross
Unfaithful though I am
I pay my tithes for his own cause
And blush to speak his name

I'm sure in that day of rewards
He'll give me some small prize
And so my gracious, loving Lord
Will wipe tears from my eyes

Oh, that is very sobering. [i]I cannot fight, but I must reign, In heaven's blest abode, I'm glad that some endure the pain - I'm resting in the Lord![/i]. Once again, humanism! I want what will benefit [b]me[/b] the most! Ah, it is indeed a fight, a fight to keep self off the throne and Christ on. And yet in my own strength I cannot not win, but Christ in me overcomes.
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Romans 8:37.
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." Eph. 6:10, be strong [i]in the Lord[/i], and in the power of [i]His might[/i].

No, brother Paul, I don't think I've heard this song. I'll have to look it up in our hymnal, it looks like a really good song. Thank you for sharing it, brother.

Purer in heart, O God, help me to be;
May I devote my life wholly to Thee:
Watch Thou my wayward feet,
Guide me with counsel sweet;
Purer in heart, help me to be.

Purer in heart, O God, help me to be;
Teach me to do Thy will most lovingly;
Be Thou my Friend and Guide,
Let me with Thee abide;
Purer in heart, help me to be.

Purer in heart, O God, help me to be;
Until Thy holy face one day I see:
Keep me from secret sin,
Reign Thou my soul within;
Purer in heart, help me to be.