Process of Belief - Chambers, Oswald
Afternoon address given at the annual autumnal gathering of the league of prayer in London , November 1911
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of god, even to them that believe on his name. ( john 1:12)
According to the new testament, belief arises from intellectual conviction and goes through moral self- surrender to identification with the lord Jesus Christ.
Mind reception
But as many as received him . . .
What place has the lord Jesus Christ in your intellectual outlook? Until the lord Jesus Christ has been received as the highest and only authority, bible explanations are beside the mark because they lack The one efficient seal of the holy spirit who is the only interpreter of the bible revelation, and the holy spirit does not seal bible interpretation to any man who has not accepted the lord Jesus Christ as the final authority for his life, for his mind, and for his whole outlook. John 1:12 represents the whole work of an individual soul in relationship to Jesus Christ. Have i accepted Jesus Christ for my head as well as for my heart? Jesus Christ must be realised and accepted as the authority as far as man is concerned. Whether or not we are inside the pale of christian experience, have we solved the problem of who is the final authority for our intellect? Is Jesus Christ? Is he the finest, the holiest man that ever lived? If so, then our attitude of mind leads us to the position where we have the privilege of becoming sons of god. If i have the right mental attitude to Jesus Christ the next step is easy: i will necessarily be led to accept what he says, and when he says, if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him? Then i will ask and receive. Will i give a moral surrender to Jesus Christs authority? If so, the privilege of becoming a child of god will be a moral fact for me because the holy spirit will teach me how to apply the atonement of Jesus Christ to my own life, and how to be identified in obedience to him with the life of Jesus Christ in the experience of entire sanctification.
Moral reception
to them gave he power to become the sons of god . . .
But there is another class of people to whom the practical comes first. It is not the intellectual problem that bothers them but the personal one: conviction of sin, perplexity arising from a wrong disposition. Will you in that condition receive the lord Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life? If once Jesus Christ is clear to the vision of the heart, everything else is simple. To as many as received him, to them gave he the privilege (or the right) to become the sons of god. I accept him not only as my authority, i accept him as my saviour. I pin my faith implicitly to what he says; and looking to him in implicit confidence, i ask god to give me the holy spirit according to the word of Jesus and receive him in faith. Faith means implicit confidence in Jesus, and that requires not intellect only but a moral giving over of Myself to him. How many of us have really received from god the spirit that ruled Jesus Christ and kept his spirit, soul and body in harmony with god? The holy spirit will bring conviction of sin, he will reveal Jesus Christ, and he will bring in the power verse 13 describes which were born . . . Of god, begotten of god. He will do all that on one condition that we surrender morally to Jesus Christ. It is this point of moral surrender that nearly every man shies off. We sentimentally believe, and believe, and believe, and nothing happens. We pray lord, increase our faith, and we try to pump up the faith, but it does not come. What is wrong? The moral surrender has not taken place. Will i surrender from the real center of my life, and deliberately and wil fully stake my confidence on what Jesus Christ tells me?
Mystic reception .
. . Even to them that believe on his name.
From intellectual conviction and moral surrender to identification with the very life and joy of Jesus. A great thinker has said, the seal and end of true conscious life is joy, not pleasure, nor happiness. Jesus Christ said to his disciples, these things have i spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full identity with Jesus Christ and with his joy. What was the joy of the lord Jesus Christ? His joy was in having completely finished the work his father gave him to do; and the same type of joy will be granted to every man and woman who is born of god the holy ghost and sanctified, when they fulfil the work god has given them to do. What is that work? To be a saint, a walking, talking, living, practical epistle of what god almighty can do through the atonement of the lord Jesus christen in identity with the faith of Jesus, one in identity with the love of Jesus, one in identity with the spirit of Jesus until we are so one in him that the high-priestly prayer not only begins to be answered, but is clearly manifest in its answering that they may be one, even as we are. God grant that from intellectual insubordination and moral insubordination and spiritual insubordination we may prove that we are made one with the lord Jesus Christ by the marvellous gift of the holy spirit through the atonement of Jesus Christ, so that, as Paul says, when our lord comes he may be marvelled at in all them that believed.