Four Propositions For Successful Christian Living

the little ship nearly wrecked at least twice. The second time, when currents drove it toward a reef during a calm, Taylor and three other Christians prayed. Two of those praying Christians had been won by Taylor’s persistent witness. Taylor went on deck and asked the godless mate to unfurl sail, saying wind was coming and he needed to be prepared. The mate cursed, but a puff came at that moment, and they soon had enough wind to clear the danger.

When he was unable to make his mission board in England understand the situation and needs in China, he graciously withdrew and formed the China Inland Mission, a work based entirely on faith. He adopted Chinese dress so that western costume would not impede his work. And knowing that the Chinese resented foreigners, he aimed from the start to create a Chinese church run by the Chinese. He had moments of despondency and once even came close to despair, but persisted and saw an increase in workers and in fruit.

By his death, the mission had thousands of converts and two hundred and five missionaries.

According to Leslie T. Lyall, the secret of Hudson Taylor’s life and ministry could be summed up in four simple propositions:

I want to use those propositions for a devotional tonight in what I cal FOUR PROPOSITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL CHRISTIAN LIVING.

There is a living God.

30 times in the Bible (exactly 15 in OT and 15 in NT) the descriptive term of God is “the living God.”

Dr. Henry Morris notes:

The two central occurrences—the last occurrence in the Old Testament and the first in the New—both speak of those who are “sons of the living God.” In the first case, it is concerning those among God’s chosen people who will receive His life as they turn to Christ when He comes again: “It shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God” (Hosea 1:10). In the second, it is Peter’s testimony concerning Christ Himself: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). - Dr. Henry Morris Days of Praise 10/26/1998 https://www.icr.org/article/21493

The Scriptures are depicting God as living as well as being the Source of all other living things. (both physical existence and spiritual everlasting life for fallen humans)

This involves being alive, active, and moving - Norman Geisler

The term living God implies much more than “God is alive, not dead”

The living God is conscious and aware of what is going on, and is powerful.

It suggests that the one and only living or true God is eternal- has always been, exists now, and shall always be.

From this term we can see that the living God is sufficient, enough, able,

It’s a unique “living”

He is the self-existing one -

John 5:26 “26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;”

This is never said of anyone else - Only God has life in himself.

We are dependent on oxygen, food, water - God depends on nothing outside of himself.

Tozer as only he can, put it this way -

God has no origin,” said Novatian and it is precisely this concept of no-origin which distinguishes That-which-is-God from whatever is not God.

Origin is a word that can apply only to things created. When we think of anything that has origin we are not thinking of God. God is self-existent, while all created things necessarily originated somewhere at some time. Aside from God, nothing is self-caused.

He continues...

To admit that there is One who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: this requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage Him. Yet how He eludes us! For He is everywhere while He is nowhere, for ”where” has to do with matter and space, and God is independent of both. He is unaffected by time or motion, is wholly self-dependent and owes nothing to the worlds His hands have made.- A. W. Tozer - Knowledge of the Holy

He has spoken in His Word.

We call this revelation.

The Living God has spoken and man cannot live by bread

Deut 8:3 “3 ...that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

Jesus quoted this to the devil in his temptation to make bread from stones:

Matthew 4:4 “4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Luke 4:4)

God’s revelation wasn’t just for information or inspiration - but brings life to us as well.

God led them into the desert where they had no alternative but to trust Him or to murmur against Him. In the desert they could not produce their own food but had to depend on God for food and thus for their very lives. When Moses reminded them that they did not live on bread alone he meant that even their food was decreed by the word of God. They had manna because it came by His command. It was therefore ultimately not bread that kept them alive but His word! “Bread alone,” that is, bread acquired independently of His word, could not keep them alive.

This was why Jesus refused Satan’s temptation to turn the stones into bread when He was in the wilderness (Matt. 4:3–4). Jesus knew that God had not decreed those stones for His food, and also that His Father would provide food apart from the Son’s working of a miracle at the suggestion of Satan (cf. Matt. 7:9).1

1 Jack S. Deere, “Deuteronomy,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 277–278.

He means what he says.

God doesn’t just say things to be saying something. He doesn’t use fillers or extra words

When God says something he means it.

And He is willing and able to perform what He has promised.”

You can trust him.

Hudson Taylor once said, “When I cannot read, when I cannot think, when I cannot even pray, I can trust.”

“All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reackoned on God being with them.”

“There are three stages to every great work of God; first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”

“It does not matter how great the pressure is. What really matters is where the pressure lies -- whether it comes between you and God, or whether it presses you nearer His heart.”