Thursday

Related Verses
Heb. 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to Him, for he who comes forward to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Luke 9:23
23 And He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Exo. 3:14
14 And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And He said, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you

Gen. 5:22
22 And Enoch walked with God after he had begotten Methuselah three hundred years, and he begot more sons and daughters.

Rom. 8:13
13 For if you live according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.

2 Cor. 5:14-15
14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died;
15 And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.

Matt. 16:24
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

Gal. 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Related Reading
He who comes forward to God must believe that God is (Heb. 11:6b). This is very simple. God requires you only to believe that He is. The verb to be is actually the divine title of our Triune God…Moses asked God what His name was. God answered that His name is I Am Who I Am (Exo. 3:13-14). Our God’s name is the verb to be. He is I Am Who I Am. He is the only One. 

In the whole universe…only One is. He is, because He is real. All other things created by Him are not real. This is why Solomon, the wise king, said that all things are vanity (Eccl. 1:2)…The sun, the moon, the living creatures, the heavens, and the earth are all vanities. Only One is. This is, the verb to be, implies existing. He is the One who was existing, who is existing, and who is to be existing. (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 276-277)

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Jesus is the great I Am. He told us, “I am…the life” (John 14:6a). “I am the resurrection” (11:25). “I am the door” (10:7, 9). “I am the good Shepherd” (v. 11). “I am the bread of life” (6:35). He is the real food…He is the breath (20:22), the living water (4:10, 14), and the tree of life (15:1; 14:6a; Rev. 2:7). He is God (John 1:1; 20:28-29; Rom. 9:5), the Father (Isa. 9:6; John 14:9-10), the Son (Mark 1:1; John 20:31), and the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b). He is everything to us. 

Our life is a false one…We are today, but eventually, we will not be tomorrow. So in the whole universe we are nothing. 

If a husband realized that only God is and he is not, then he would not love his wife by himself and in himself. 

The brothers need to ask themselves, “Is it me or Christ who is the husband to my wife?”…If her husband is Christ, she has the only Husband, the unique Husband. Only Christ is the Husband. No husbands are real husbands. They are all vanity. Do you come forward to God? If you say yes, then you have to believe that God is, implying that you are nothing. You are finished. 

It would be good to speak a word like this at a wedding. The person marrying a couple could say to them, “Are you the dear bride, and are you the dear bridegroom?” The bridegroom should say, “No. I am not. But Christ is.” The bride should say, “I am not the bride…I am not pretty. Christ is the beautiful One. I am not the bride, but He is.” This is a believer. 

When you say what Paul said, “It’s no longer I, but Christ,” you believe that God is. To believe that God is…implies that you realize that you are not, but He is. You are not means that you do not exist. This is what the Bible means when it says to deny yourself…A believer who is about to be married should say, “Lord, I am going to marry this man. Lord, You know I am nothing. I cannot be the proper wife. I am nothing, Lord.”…This is the blessing of denying yourself in everything. 

To deny yourself equals to believe that God is, and to believe that God is equals to deny yourself. This is because you believe that only He is. In the whole universe He is, and all of us are nothing. I should not be anything. I should not exist. Only He should be everything. Only He should exist. So Paul says, “I have been crucified. It is no longer I, but Christ.” 

I would like…to refer to what Darby said: “O the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing nothing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here.” This is faith. We care for nothing but His interest. We should always say, “Not I, not me, not my, not mine; but He, Him, His. He is the first and the last and everything in between.” (CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 277-280) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 7