I cannot remind you too often that it is a miserably inadequate conception of Christianity and the gifts which it bestows and the blessings which it intends for men when it is limited, as it practically is, by a large number of professing Christians, to a simple forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. The Cross stands at the beginning, not the end, of the Christian life. It should be the introduction and not the climax and end of Christianity. The Christian life begins with the blessed assurance that our sins are forgiven, that all the past is cancelled by the blood of Christ and through faith in His death for us, but that forgiveness is with a purpoge—the purpose being that henceforth we should live for God. This ideal is humanly impossible—we cannot live holy lives in our own strength nor is it intended that we should attempt it. We are to be "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." Christ is to dwell in our hearts by faith. Now let us be quite definite here. The dwelling of Christ in the believing heart is to be regarded as a plain literal fact. In every soul where faith, however feeble, has been exerciséd, there Christ does verily abide. It means the closest and most vital connection the mind of man can imagine. We are not to be puppets with an outside power pulling the strings, but we are to dwell in Christ and Christ in us.
"Abide in me," He said, "and I in you.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.