Therefore, having these promises. . . .” I claim God’s promises for my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19). But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
Chambers gives glory to the indwelling Holy Spirit in every believer, but then he veers into a man-centered effort in order to effect His complete power over us, as if the Holy Spirit needed out help.
But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by obedience to Him.
The Bible teaches otherwise:
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
In the original text, there is not mention of a "glass". If we look only at ourselves, we are not transformed by merely informed of our own inadequacy or deformed from out true identity in Christ (cf Colossians 1:27)
The Holy Spirit transforms us as we behold Jesus, as we read of Him in the Word. This reception is confirmed in James' Epistle:
"For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. ( James 1: 24-25)
Here, "the perfect law of liberty" is the gospel, in which we are informed that we have complete forgiveness of sins and are made one with Christ resurrected and glorified, who has released and infused us with His Holy Spirit to bless us and guide us in all of our doings.
We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings (cf Ephesians 1:3) and instilled with all wisdom and knowledge (cf 1 John 2: 20, 27) by the power of the Holy Spirit, who could not reside in man until the perfect propitiation for all the sins of the world, including yours and mine:
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2: 2)
God instructs us even in the smallest details of life. And when He brings you conviction of sin. . .
This is one of the most fundamental errors in the Christian walk. God does not convict the believer of sin! This erroneous teaching flows from a cursory ( and cursed!) reading from the Gospel of John:
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
"And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
"Of sin, because they believe not on me;" (John 16: 7-9)
Conviction of sin is for those who "believe not on me." For those who do believe on Jesus Christ, there uis not further conviction of sin -- the one sin of not believing on the Him whom the Father has sent to save and enliven us (cf John 6: 29)
John's account of the coming of the Holy Spirit:
"Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;" (v. 10)
Because Jesus does not exist among us, but sits in glorious intercession at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 3:1), He is not personally present to remind us of our righteous standing in Him, but the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father to all mankind (cf Acts 2:33) abides in each believer, convicting him or his righteousness in Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts the believer of righteousness, not sin.
do not “confer with flesh and blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
Chambers misapplies scripture to a make an unscriptural point. Paul did not "confer with flesh and blood" when Jesus was revealed in Him, not for conviction of sin, but for conviction in righteousness, imparted to him by the full revelation of the gospel, and directly from the mouth of Christ Himself (cf Acts 9:4)
And we do not cleanse ourselves: the Word of God revealed to us does that:
"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." (John 15: 2-4)
In this passage, "purgeth" means "cleanse", the same word in verse 3. Christ's Word in us cleanses us. This effort is not initiated or completed through our isolated diligence. Chambers' rhetoric is too man-centered. Jesus confirms the primacy of His Finished Work in us:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
Christ's Word is Spirit and Truth (cf John 6:63), and it is the truth that we know that sets us free and transforms us from glory to glory.
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