• Books
• Parables

For additional practical discussion of these topics, see The Life That Wins.

1. The Blood of Christ
• Our Dual Problem: Sins and Sin — The things we have done and our very nature are both problematic when it comes to a relationship with God.
• God’s Dual Remedy: The Blood and the Cross — God takes care of each part of our problem in His own way.
• The Problem of Our Sins — The Blood of Christ works in three ways: Godward, manward, and Satanward.
• The Blood Is Primarily for God — Christ’s Blood covers our sins with His righteousness.
• God Is Satisfied — God’s judgement passes over us when he sees Christ’s Blood. We do not see it, nor do we feel it, but by faith we ought to accept God’s assessment of it.
• The Believer’s Access to God — When we accept God’s forgiveness we have confidence and a clear conscience before God.
• Overcoming the Accuser — Satan’s accusations are on the basis of our sins. The Blood of Christ answers this charge. It is our own lack of faith, our own inability to accept God’s forgiveness which makes us vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.
2. The Cross of Christ
• Some Further Distinctions — The Blood deals with our sins. Our sin nature needs to be crucified. Our sin nature is hereditary. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.
• Man’s State by Nature — We are sinners because we descend from Adam. We cannot become righteous unless we can change our parentage. This is exactly how God dealt with it.
• As in Adam So in Christ — Adam is the head of our human family; Christ is the head of our family of faith.
• The Divine Way of Deliverance — Our deliverance from the power of sin is a matter of being in Christ. This is not something we accomplish for ourselves. We cannot get into Christ. Rather, it is God who has placed us in Christ. When He was crucified we, in Him, were also crucified.
• His Death and Resurrection Representative and Inclusive — God has included us in Christ’s death and resurrection, providing us with deliverance from sin’s power.
3. The Path of Progress: Knowing
• Our Death With Christ a Historic Fact — By this fact, we must realize that our deliverance from the power of sin is a done deal.
• The First Step: “Knowing This...” — Faith in God’s facts as revealed in us by His Spirit is essential.
• Divine Revelation Essential to Knowledge — Some anecdotes of the ways in which the Spirit has made this truth evident.
• The Cross Goes to the Root of Our Problem — Dealing with sins is one thing, but dealing with sin itself is just as important.
4. The Path of Progress: Reckoning
• The Second Step: “Even So Reckon...” — Knowing must precede reckoning. Reckoning alone brings the failure of trying to accomplish in the flesh what only the Spirit can do.
• The Reckoning of Faith — God’s work is done. In Christ, I AM crucified!
• Temptation and Failure, the Challenge to Faith — Faith is the substantiation of God’s Word. Whatever contradicts that is the Devil’s lie.
• Abiding in Him — Christ is the foundation for our deliverance. It is in Him that we find life. In ourselves is only death. In Him we have all which God has graciously given. We don’t need to “get into” Christ, we simply need to stay there where God has put us.
5. The Divide of the Cross
• Two Creations — Not “good” or “bad” but flesh or Spirit? Old man or new in Christ?
• Burial Means an End — An end of the flesh. But it’s not a future event for us, either. We were buried with Him by baptism into His death.
• Resurrection Unto Newness of Life — Christ’s resurrection life enters into us to give us that new life.
6. The Path of Progress: Presenting Ourselves to God
• The Third Step: “Present Yourselves...” — Our members are unemployed to sin, now they belong to God.
• Separated unto the Lord — The definition of being sanctified. That which was set apart for sacrifice or anointed for service became sanctified by God.
• Servant or Slave? — A servant can hire on with someone else, but a slave is bound to serve his master.
7. The Eternal Purpose
• Firstborn Among Many Brethren — In Christ, we also become the sons of God, Christ’s brethren.
• The Grain of Wheat — Falling to the ground and dying, then bearing the fruit of new life in us.
• The Choice That Confronted Adam — The tree of life versus the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• Adam’s Choice the Reason for the Cross — Adam chose to make something out of himself in independence from God. He chose self-life rather than divine life.
• He That Hath the Son Hath the Life — An illustration of how different the plane of human life is from the plane of divine life.
• They Are All of One — Christ was begotten of the Holy Ghost, and we were born of the Spirit, born of God.
8. The Holy Spirit (The subject of this chapter is expanded in The Communion of the Holy Spirit.)
• The Spirit Outpoured — The visible, outward manifestation of the Spirit’s working.
• Faith Is Again the Key — It is faith in Christ’s death which gives us access to forgiveness; it is faith in His exaltation to His throne in Heaven that gives us access to the outpoured Holy Spirit.
• The Diversity of the Experience — The Spirit works on an individual basis. The experience is not the same for everyone.
• The Spirit Indwelling — The inward working of the Spirit that produces maturity.
• The Treasure in the Vessel — The very person of God’s Spirit dwells within each of who are in Christ.
• The Absolute Lordship of Christ — He is Lord. What areas have I reserved for my own control? When will I yield them to Him?
9. The Meaning and Value of Romans Seven
• The Flesh and Man’s Breakdown — In my flesh dwelleth no good thing, therefore I fail when I try to do good things for God.
• What the Law Teaches — The law was given to make us law-breakers.
• Christ the End of the Law — We cannot be free of the law unless we die. In Christ, we are dead to sin and the law.
• Our End Is God’s Beginning — The end of our efforts to please God is the beginning of God working His will in us.
• I Thank God! — At our point of greatest weakness God performs His works for which we then give effusive thanks.
10. The Path of Progress: Walking in the Spirit
• The Flesh and the Spirit — A discussion of the difference between living in the flesh and living in the Spirit.
• Christ our Life — Living the life of Christ alone.
• The Law of the Spirit of Life — A higher law which does not revoke the law of sin, but rather has the power to surpass it.
• The Manifestation of the Law of Life — God must manifest that law, for we are subject to the law of sin and cannot overcome it.
• The Fourth Step: “Walk...After the Spirit” — Not a work, walk. A quiet, restful dependence on God. A yielding to His Spirit.
11. One Body in Christ
• A Gate and a Path — Spiritual experiences tend to have certain definite stages which figuratively equate to a gate and a path. (See also A Balanced Christian Life, chapter one.)
• The Fourfold Work of Christ in His Cross — Undoing man’s sin and the work of the devil, and securing the purpose of God.
1. Blood of Christ
2. Cross of Christ
3. Life of Christ
4. Working of Death
• The Love of Christ — As woman was taken from man, the church was taken from Christ.
• Our Living Sacrifice — The inter-dependent corporate body of believers offered for service.
• More Than Conquerors Through Him — Alone we are no match for the powers of darkness, but what we alone cannot do the Church can.
12. The Cross and the Soul Life
• The True Nature of the Fall — Adam’s choice was to live independently; apart from the need for God to guide him.
• The Human Soul — Our reason, will, and emotions guide us in our lives. These are in opposition to the Spirit.
• Natural Energy in the Work of God — Origin determines destination. Starting with the flesh, your result will never be of the spirit.
• The Light of God and Knowledge — Rooting out the control of our own soul cannot be achieved by using the evaluation processes of that soul. Only illumination of our faults by God Himself can truly show us our states before Him.
13. The Path of Progress: Bearing the Cross
• The Basis of All True Ministry — The power of resurrection must be the ground on which all true ministry is founded.
• The Subjective Working of the Cross — Bearing the cross daily in the areas of our affections, self-preservation, and obedience to God’s call.
• The Cross and Fruitfulness — We bear fruit when Christ’s death works through us to maturity.
• A Dark Night — A Resurrection Morn — This fruit, this true ministry comes only after God has stripped away those things which distract us from the guidance of the Spirit. It seems dark because even that which we suppose to be good may be taken in order that we rely on God alone. Then when we learn that, the brightness of the resurrection will be seen.
14. The Goal of the Gospel
• Waste — In the world’s eyes, devotion to Christ is seen as a waste of life and talent.
• Ministering to His Pleasure — The Gospel is for the satisfaction of Christ. Are we ministering to Him, or do we simply work for Him?
• Anointing Him Beforehand — Ministering to the Lord today while there is yet time.
• Fragrance — The result of our “wasting” ourselves on Him is the release of the “fragrance” of Christ which affects all who come into contact with Him.