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###### Trade with Another’s Stock of Goods

{Since the Heavenly Trade Is the Best Trade…

Exhortation to Those Who Began the Heavenly Trade But Have Backslidden

Advice: Set Up No More for Yourselves, But Become Factors for Christ

Trade with Another’s Stock of Goods}

If you want to be Christ’s factor, you must trade with His stock. You must not only take all your goods from Him, but since you are His, get all your graces, abilities, skill, and successes from Him.1334 More than that, you must use and make use of them as His, not your own. “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16 NKJV). It was not only part of His fullness before He gave it to you, but is still His after He gave it to you. “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Colossians 1:19 NASB).1335 This is true not only of the fullness of the divine nature, but true of the fullness of habitual grace, both of which are in Christ. The latter is mainly intended here, which grace dwells in Christ as the Head, not for Himself only, but for His body of believers. Christ gives grace for the use of humans similar to beams from the sun and water from a spring. The Father has laid up all the grace that believers need here and forever in the Lord Jesus as in a treasury or trustee’s hands for their use. The Father has given this grace to Christ, not only as a gift, but as a purchase, which He has bought with His blood for the good and use of His children. It is His fullness by right and investment, but for believers’ use and advantage, though it is still God’s property and His to distribute and assign as He wishes. Fallen humanity has forever forfeited its credit with God since the fall of Adam; people can no longer be managers of their own concerns and inheritances, or ever be trusted with their own portions. God deals with saved souls as do parents with prodigal children: He secures their estates in the hand of a trustee. Believers’ treasures are laid up in Christ so that graces, as well as salvation, sanctification, and glory may be sure to them, and not subject to forfeiture or loss. Thus believers are prevented from possibly discarding or losing them since Christ holds them and they are certainly and eternally theirs so they may go to Christ for all they need. This is similar to heirs under age who have nothing more in hand than they immediately need; they must go to their parents or guardians for all they need. More than that, believers are also responsible as stewards who are accountable for what they have and how they use it.

Poor decayed souls, do you want to recover your losses and renew your trade? Then you must go to Christ’s fullness and get all the free grace you need from Him alone. Do you desire grace for your duties, station in life, trials, and sufferings? Go to Christ’s fullness for your supplies. Send a message to Him by the hand of prayer concerning all your needs. Make your requests known to Him. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6 ESV). Do not stop following God in the Name of Christ with requests until the Spirit meets you with returns.1336 The Lord Jesus has ordained that His people receive their supplies, salaries, and stipends from Heaven in the Court of Requests.1337 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7 NKJV). “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22 NKJV). Seek it by prayer, receive it by faith. Go to Christ in the promises for all you need, judging Him faithful who has promised (Hebrews 11:11).1338 God’s Word is as good as present pay and will be fulfilled by Him who cannot lie to all who by faith receive it and wait for its fulfillment. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV). Christ came down from Heaven to confirm the promises with His blood and has returned to Heaven to fulfill them by His intercession (Hebrews 7:25).1339 You may boldly venture on divine assurance, and you will not be ashamed if you sincerely trust Christ’s Word. Be well acquainted with the promises. Make certain your portion in them by believing and expecting their fulfillment through Christ. It may be that your graces are low, your corruptions high, your guilt heavy and your fears many. Refuge fails, your prayers are not answered, and no good news comes from Heaven or earth. You pray, hope, and wait, but without answer. In this case, nothing but firm reliance on divine faithfulness can keep your head above water.

Are you in need? Go to that promise: “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 NASB). “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11 NASB). Do you find changes in your spirits, bodily constitutions, and conditions? See that Word: “And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed’” (2 Chronicles 20:20 ESV). Are corruptions high? Apply that word: “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19 NASB). “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14 NASB). “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14 NKJV). “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 NKJV). “Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, And gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame In every land where they were put to shame” (Zephaniah 3:19 NKJV). When you see nothing but withering and dying in your soul, apply these promises: “O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live” (Isaiah 38:16 NKJV).1340 “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green” (Psalm 92:12–14 NASB). “I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon. His shoots will sprout, And his beauty will be like the olive tree And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon. Those who live in his shadow Will again raise grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon” (Hosea 14:5–7 NASB). “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31 ESV). In these and similar promises, as in wagons sent to carry you (Genesis 45:19),1341 go to your Joseph [Christ], and get them laden with the riches of His kingdom that you may be provisioned and carried on in your trading for Heaven. Use these, not as yours, but as the Lord’s goods. That is the first requirement: trade with Christ’s stock.

1334This is like managing a branch of a chain of stores; you must get all your signage, distinctive decor, and so on from headquarters, so the store you manage looks and acts according to Christ’s brand.

1335Some versions render this verse so as to indicate that the fullness in Christ is/was the fullness of God. Now, this is a true statement, but the context is that, since Christ is the head of the body of believers, Christ must have preeminence in believers, so that all fullness belongs to Christ—also a true statement. “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20 NKJV). How much more are the things God gives to us for our use still His, and for His glory.

1336The image here is similar to a child who, as the parent moves around, follows the parent, repeating its entreaty for something.

1337Court of Requests: in some countries, at certain times in history, an official, the Master of Requests, was responsible for receiving petitions from commoners to be considered for presentation to the king. The details vary widely over both geography and time.

1338“By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11 NASB).

1339“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25 ESV).

1340ESV, NASB render this is a prayer: “Oh restore me to health and make me live!” There appears to be a minor textual variant in this verse.

1341“Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come’” (Genesis 45:19 NASB).

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