THE ABANDONMENT OF GOD by Oswald Chambers

sermonindex Mar 13, 2009

~~[b]~~THE ABANDONMENT OF GOD[/b]

"God so loved the world that He gave. . ." John 3:16

Salvation is not merely deliverance from sin, nor the experience of personal holiness; the salvation of God is deliverance out of self entirely into union with Himself. My experimental knowledge of salvation will be along the line of deliverance from sin and of personal holiness; but salvation means that the Spirit of God has brought me into touch with God's personality, and I am thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself, I am caught up into the abandonment of God.

To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification, is to get into a side eddy. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ. The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is part of the effect of the wonderful abandonment of God.

Abandonment never produces the consciousness of its own effort, because the whole life is taken up with the One to Whom we abandon. Beware of talking about abandonment if you know nothing about it, and you will never know anything about it until you have realized that John 3:16 means that God gave Himself absolutely. In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as God gave Himself for us, without any calculation. The consequence of abandonment never enters into our outlook because our life is taken up with Him.

sermonindex Mar 13, 2009

Preaching from Heaven. Bless Jesus!!!

JoanM Mar 13, 2009

~~[b]~~Oswald Chambers (1874 – 1917):[/b] Born in Scotland, he reported he became a Christian after hearing Spurgeon as a child. While teaching the Bible he experienced a “radiant, unspeakable emancipation, Christ's life in exchange for my sin.” He died at the age of 43. His talks in college and military chapels during World War I were transcribed by his wife, a stenographer, into many books (My Utmost For His Highest). Served as a YMCA Military Chaplin in WWI. [Sourse: Wikipedia and The Old Paths]

I am finding quite a few personal descriptions of a change in the life of those who already had a testimony and fruit of salvation. A great comfort and encouragement.

“Caught up into the abandonment of God.” may be Chambers general description of his personal report of a “radiant, unspeakable emancipation, Christ's life in exchange for my sin.”