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Holding Fast to Christ, the Ladder, March 10
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2
Peter 1:11
.
We ascend to heaven by climbing the ladder—the whole height of
Christ’s work—step by step. There must be a holding fast to Christ, a
climbing up by the merits of Christ. To let go is to cease to climb, is to
fall, to perish. We are to mount by the Mediator and all the while to keep
hold on the Mediator, ascending by successive steps, round above round,
stretching the hand from one round to the next above.... There is fearful
peril in relaxing our efforts in spiritual diligence for a moment, for we are
hanging, as it were, between heaven and earth.
We must keep the eye directed upward to God above the ladder. The
question with men and women gazing heavenward is, How can I obtain
the mansions for the blessed? It is by being a partaker of the divine nature.
It is by escaping the “corruption that is in the world through lust.” It is
by entering into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, laying hold of the hope
set before you in the gospel. It is by fastening yourself to Christ and
straining every nerve to leave the world behind.... It is by being in Christ
and yet led by Christ; by believing and working, ... holding onto Christ
and constantly mounting upward toward God....
We point you to the mansions Christ is preparing for all those who love
Him. We point you to that city that hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. We show you its massive walls, with the twelve foundations,
and tell you that these walls must be scaled. You look discouraged at the
magnitude of the work before you. We point you to the ladder set up on
earth, reaching to the city of God. Plant your feet on the ladder. Forsake
your sins. Climb step by step and you will reach God above the ladder,
and the Holy City of God....
When the successive steps have all been mounted, when the graces
have been added one after another, the crowning grace is the perfect love
of God—supreme love to God and love to our fellow men. And then the
abundant entrance into the kingdom of God.
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