Paul's Gospel Brings you to Glory - by JB Stoney

PAUL'S GOSPEL BRINGS YOU TO GLORY

. . . It is a great hindrance to souls to be occupied exclusively with the gospel, that is, to be occupied only with the great benefits of grace; they thus confine Christ to His meeting their own need, and do not see that it is the purpose of God to unite them to Christ in heaven; just as one might dilate very largely on Matthew 8, Christ in the ship, and not venture to say a word about Christ walking on the water, Matthew 14, and leading us to join Him there. In Paul's gospel he brings you to glory; he begins with Christ in glory.  If souls understood this better they would understand and accept from their start that this world is a wilderness, and would learn more and more every day that there is nothing for Christ here, and that the heart that seeks Christ must seek Him where He is. This is the great teaching of the book of Hebrews; you are drawn away by Him who is not here, first by His meeting your infirmities, but it is eventually to find your­self with Christ in the cloudless light of God. In the book of Hebrews nothing is conferred on us here. Everything is conferred with Christ outside of the world, so the great result is that we are inside the veil and outside the camp. There is no other road to heaven now but through the wilderness and over Jordan. You get no taste of what Christ is to you, but as you are really in heart over Jordan with Him. For any special light or power, such as knowing Him as Head, you must be over Jordan if only for a moment; and I believe, besides this, there is an actual sense that you have crossed the Jordan with Him, so that you are severed from every link here, and find un­speakable happiness in being with Him. A great day for the heart, and a journey which you must take one day, for there is only one way to heaven.