Discovering the one thing yourself

Theodore Roosevelt was an unsaved man; he wasn’t a godly man, but I came across this poem he wrote in 1910, called The Man in the Arena:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Paul writes in Galatians 4: [19] My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

Who is he wanting to be formed in them? Not a denominational doctrine, not a grace truth—he wants formed in them a PERSON who is their life! He wants the character, the personality, the thinking of a person formed in them, says Richard Jordan.

Now, how are you going to know the mind of Christ and have it formed in you? Through His Word, rightly divided.

I Corinthians 2:16: [16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

We have the mind of Christ, but it isn’t a doctrinal statement that Paul wants formed in them.

When you stand for the Bible and that’s all you stand for . . . You know, you feel called to teach the Bible and tell people what the Bible says, and you want to tell them what they got to do to do what the Bible says to do.

Can I tell you, you aren’t in the arena if that’s where you are. You’re right in the middle of the camp; you’re not outside the camp. You haven’t discovered the one thing yourself that you’ve got to discover to start with and that is that you can’t do what you demand others they must do when you quote the Scriptures to them.

I got to tell you, standing for the Word of God, possessing it and understanding that, that can be very convenient for circumventing the Cross in your life and not dealing with the centrality of Jesus Christ and the necessity of Him being your life in your walk, not just in your theology.

Too often what people call Bible preaching, and standing for the Bible and knowing the Bible, is just some easy, cheap path to gain esteem and position, because it’s Christ formed in you, not the Bible. It’s Christ.

See, it’s a tricky thing. He gets formed in you through the Word, but if the focus ever gets on the forming and not on Him, then it’s on you and not where it ought to be.

When the Word of God is really, truly the center of your life then it’s going to be Christ who’s central, not the Bible. When the Spirit of God comes, He’s going to testify of who? Christ. When you get out of the Word of God what the Word wants to give to you, the focus is going to be on Him.

Oh, you’ll use the Bible more than anybody else will, but you’re going to be proclaiming Christ. You’ll hide all that you know about the Bible on the inside. You’ll use it, but you won’t be displaying it.

Listen, broken men don’t tell God’s people what they must do; they tell them what Christ has done and will do in and through them.

II Corinthians 4: [5] For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
[6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Not what we preach but who we preach.

Colossians 1:28, talking about Jesus Christ: [28] Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

What the ministry of the Word of God is you’re literally infusing Jesus Christ into people. That’s why it’s a spiritual transaction; that’s why it’s powerful because it’s "in you, the hope of glory."

Colossians 1:27: [27] To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: