Law, Sin, Savior.

 The law reveals sin. Without a law there is no infraction. I cannot break a law that doesn't exist. If I rob someone it would mean nothing except there is a law against robbing someone. We even have law against damaging the reputation of someone. A law reveals a wrong. If we did away with the laws then robbery would no longer be wrong, hurting the reputation of someone would no longer be wrong, killing someone would no longer be wrong. The law is necessary and can never be done away with- what will be done away with is anyone breaking the laws and when there finally exists a world where none will ever break a law the law will no longer need to be enforced because there will be nothing to enforce.

The law tells us we are guilty and deserving of punishment.

Only Jesus tells us we are guilty and deserving of punishment but HE will save us from the punishment that would destroy our existence.

The law will never free us from guilt, it can't, only Christ can.

If we are under the law without Christ we are dead. It is only when we are under the law with Christ that we live.  The law's dominion is death, is guilt. When we are freed from the condemnation of the law through Christ there is life.

The law reveals our sins. The law reveals that we are sinners. The law tells us we are sinners deserving of death. The law tells us we sin. The law shows us the sinners we are. The law reveals the sin surrounding our lives and shows us our desperate need of a SAVIOR. 

(Excerpt--)

'Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For a woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed form the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our bodies to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.' (Romans 7:1-6).

 

The ground covered by this seventh chapter is really gone over twice. The first part lays the broad facts before us; the latter part goes into the details and particulars of what is given in the beginning.

In the six verses that have been read, there is given us an illustration and the application. The illustration is easily understood. The simple fact of marriage is taken. A woman having a husband is bound to that husband so long as he liveth. By what is she bound? By the law. It is contrary to the law for her to have two husbands at the same time; but if the first husband be dead, the same law will allow her to marry another man. This is but a plain illustration, and if it is kept in mind throughout the study of the chapter, it will be a great help to us in understanding it.

There is no need of any argument in this chapter for the perpetuity of the law. That is not the question under consideration. The apostle is not making a special argument to prove that the law is not abolished. His argument starts from that point as one already settled, and shows the practical working of the law in individual cases. 

He brings it right home to the hearts of men that they are under the law; and if they are under it, how can it be abolished? He urges its claims upon the hearts of men, and by the Spirit of God they feel its working power upon them, and therefore know that it is not abolished.

Note the class of people to whom Paul is writing. "I speak to them that know the law." 

This epistle is addressed to professed followers of Christ. We find that in the second chapter, commencing with the seventeenth verse: "Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law and makest thy boast of God."

Now to the illustration: While the law will not allow the woman to be united to two husbands at the same time, it will allow her to be united to two in succession. 

It is the law that allows her, and it is the law that unites her. The same law that unites her to the first husband also allows her to be united to the second, after that the first is dead. This is easy to be understood and there is no need to consider it further.

Now to the application: "Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth fruit unto God." 

We can determine who the two husbands are by beginning with the second one. The "another" to whom we are to be married, is the one who has been raised from the dead, and that is Christ. We are one of the parties in the second marriage, and Christ is the other. He is the second husband.

The question now arises, Who was the first husband that died, in order that we might be united to the second? The sixth chapter has answered that. Compare Romans 7:5 with Romans 6. 

"For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death."

The law held us in the first union and now to what were we united? What were we in? We were in union with the flesh.

In the sixth chapter we found that the body of sin is destroyed by Christ. By what means is it that the body of sin becomes destroyed? By the man being crucified with Christ.

In the first place we are joined to sin--the sinful flesh. We cannot serve two masters. Here are two figures. We are servants to one master--united to one husband. We cannot serve two masters at the same time and we cannot be united to two husbands at the same time. 

But we can be united to two in succession. 

The first one of these, to whom we have all been united, is the body of sin; the second is Christ, who is raised from the dead.

The question arises, what is meant by our being dead to the law by the body of Christ? 

That brings us to the point where the illustration fails us. 

The illustration fails us--why? 

Because it is utterly impossible to find anything in life that will correctly represent in every particular divine things. 

There is no illustration that will serve in every particular. 

That is why we have so many types of Christ. 

No one person could serve as a complete type of Him.

We have Adam in one place as a type of Christ; we have Abel; we have Moses; we have Aaron; David; and Melchizedek, and many others who represent different phases of Christ, because there is no one of them who could represent Him in every particular.

So when the apostle would represent the union of all people with the house of Israel, he says, "I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery." 

It is a mystery; it is something unnatural. He says that it is a grafting process, but that is contrary to the natural method. Therefore this illustration of marriage cannot be considered as complete in every particular. And yet, after all, the illustration does not fail, if we choose to consider that the union with the first husband is a criminal connection. It is so in the application. Those who are united to the flesh are guilty of a capital crime. The law holds them in that connection; i.e., it will not allow them to lightly dissolve the union and pass it by as though nothing had taken place--but it demands their life. With this explanation we can understand what follows.

We find that we are united with sin and with the body of sin. Then Christ comes to us and He presents Himself as the one altogether lovely. And in reality He is the only one who has any real claim upon us.

"I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." The apostle is writing to those who know the law and who have left their first love, and what applies to them will also apply in larger measure to those of the world.

Christ comes to the door of our hearts and knocks and begs that we will come to Him. He has spread out His hands all the day unto a rebellious people, "which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts." How deep, how unfathomable is the love of God!

1891 G.C. Sermons #11  E.J. Waggoner 

To be continued…

Submit to Christ.

 There is power in Christ. What is that power? Notice. Grace is favor! In the favor of God there is life. Then what is the power of the grace of Christ? It is the power of an endless life. 

If men really believe that Christ is risen from the dead, they can believe that they are dead unto sin, but alive unto God and free from sin. 

Rom_6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Does the apostle mean free from sin? It is a solemn, but a glorious thought. How thankful ought men to be that they can have that confidence in the power of God through Christ that they can without any mental reservation take this chapter and believe it. Yes, believe these very words, "He that is dead is freed from sin . . . reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ."

Rom_6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Rom_6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But is it true that man can live without sin?

In the last part of the chapter we read, "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness." 

Rom_6:20  For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

We all know what that means. Our past experience is not so pleasant to look back over. In it we see no good. Now why was it that we were free from righteousness? Because we were the servants of Satan. "But now, being made free from sin, we are become the servants of righteousness." Christ is the author of righteousness. The service we render is His. Which are we, the servants of Christ or the servants of Satan? When we were the servants of Satan, we did not do any righteousness. But now we are the servants of God.

"Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." 

Rom_6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Rom_6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

"Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?

 

There are just two services. 

The service of Satan, which is of sin unto death, and the service of Christ, which is of obedience unto righteousness. 

A man cannot serve two masters. All believe that. Then it is impossible to serve sin and righteousness at the same time. 

Now we call ourselves Christians. That means what? Followers of Christ! But in all our Christian experience we have left little loopholes along here and there for sin. 

We have never dared to come to that place where we would believe that the Christian life should be a sinless life. We have not dared to believe it or preach it. But in that case we cannot preach the law of God fully. Why not? Because we do not understand the power of justification by faith. Then without justification by faith it is impossible to preach the law of God to the fullest extent. Then to preach justification by faith does not detract from or lower the law of God but is the only thing that exalts it.

Now can we be the servants of Christ while we are committing sins and making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof? Is Christ the minister of sin? Whose servants are we while we are committing sin? We are the servants of sin, and sin is of Satan. Now if a Christian (?) is committing sin part of the time and doing righteousness the rest of the time, it must be that Satan and Christ are in partnership, so that he has only one master, for he cannot serve two masters.

But there is no consort between light and darkness--between Christ and Belial. They are in deadly antagonism. They are opposed to each other, and they have fought a fight even to the death. There is no quarter on either side. Then it is utterly impossible for man to serve these two masters. He must be on the one side or the other. "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?" We know enough about being servants of sin. We have yielded ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.

Now the question comes: How am I going to become a servant of Christ so that I will be able to die to my old life?

 "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey." The word rendered "servant" really means a "bond-servant." Just the moment that I yield myself to Christ to become His servant, that very moment I am His bond-servant. 

That very moment I belong to Him. How do I know that Christ will accept my service if I do give it Him? 

Because He has bought that service and paid the price for it. 

And in all those years that I yielded myself a servant to sin, I have been defrauding Him of His right. But all this time that I have been keeping back my service, He has been going about searching for me and seeking to draw me to Him. And when we say, "Here, Lord, here I am; I give myself to Thee," that very moment Christ has found us, for He has been seeking for us and we are His servants.

But how do we know that we are going to continue in His service? How do we know that we can live the life of Christ? Just in the same way that we know we have lived the life of sin. When we take this matter into account as to whose servants we will be, we want to take into account the power of the two masters. When we were the servants of sin, we were free from righteousness, because Satan swayed us and used us in whatever way he would, and we were at the mercy of his power.

Is sin stronger than righteousness? Is Satan stronger than Christ? No!

Then as Christ has proved Himself to be the stronger of the two and just as surely as when we were the bond-servants of sin it had power to keep us free from righteousness, so when we yield ourselves as bond-servants unto Christ, He has power to keep us from sin. The battle is not ours; it is God's. I said that Christ and Satan were not in partnership, but that there is the bitterest antagonism between them.

All are familiar with the words, "The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan." It is a household phrase among us. What is the controversy over? It is over the souls of men and the place of their abode. Who shall have your service and mine, is the question that they are fighting over. The controversy is between Christ and Satan. They are not only the principal ones in the controversy, but the whole controversy is between them and them alone.

We have this much to say--neither one of them can take our service against our will.

Of ourselves we have no power to stand against Satan; we have tried that. We have no power to meet him; we cannot face him and conquer him. We have no power at all, but at the same time we know that we do not want to be his servants. Yes, and we will not only say, I do not want to be his servant, but I will not be his servant. So instead of putting our strength against Satan, we yield ourselves to Christ and repeat over and over again, like David the psalmist, "O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid; thou hast loosed my bonds." Psalm 116:15.

What? I was a bond-servant of Satan's but just the moment I said to Christ, "I will be your servant," He loosed my bonds and took upon Himself the responsibility of defending me against Satan, who has no right to me. So when Satan comes to take me back and make me his bond-servant again, Christ meets him, even as He met him when He was here upon the earth. 

So simply tell your own heart, and Satan, that you are Christ's and that He has loosed your bonds.

Then you are loosed indeed. You have counted the cost and now you can take the words of David and repeat them over and over.

Your life is no longer your own, it is the life of Christ. His life, His very existence, is pitted against Satan. The battle goes over our heads, for we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. Says the psalmist, "Thou shalt keep them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." The battle between Christ and Satan is being waged over our heads and we are hid in the secret pavilion. This is the victory that overcometh the world, for Christ has gained the victory over Satan and by grasping the promises of Christ by faith and laying hold upon the life of Christ, the victory over Satan is ours.

Does not Christ say that all power is given Him in heaven and in earth? Note the precious words in Ephesians 1:19-21: "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named."

That same power which placed Him in that exalted position which is far above all principality and power--what has it done for us? "Quickened us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Where is it that we are placed? "Far above all principality and power."

Then the victory is ours in Christ and He has gained the victory already. He has conquered a peace for us. Just as surely as He gives His peace to us, just that surely has He gained the victory for us. So in the hour of trial we have a victory that is already gained. Well may we say that the battle goes over our heads, and great is our peace. There is peace all the time.

The strength of the Christian lies in submitting--the victory in yielding to Christ, so that He may keep us in His presence, and cover us up in His pavilion from the strife of tongues. Then it does not matter how great the trial may be, if we have Christ, there will be peace in our hearts.

O that every one in this house may be filled with a desire to have Christ and His righteousness, that this very night we may take His word and be inspired by its inspiration and then we shall have and shall be able to live the life of Christ. Then we can go about as missionaries for Christ and do good. When we take that power which we have by faith in Him, it will not be long till the work will be cut short in righteousness, and we shall see Him, who not having seen, we love.

Sin Shall Not Have Dominion Over You

 

'Christ's life is an eternal life. He voluntarily went under the dominion of death. By doing this He demonstrated His power over death. He went down into the grave to show that right there, while bound by the chains of the prison house of the grave itself, He had power to burst those fetters asunder and come forth free and a conqueror. 

Therefore since He dies no more and we take that sinless life of His, then we can reckon ourselves dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As death can have no dominion over Him, so sin, which is the sting of death, can have no dominion over us.

A questioner may say, "You make it out that we ought never to sin any more--you leave no room for sin." But is not that what the Bible says? "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Rom_6:14 

We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. How? By death, we make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. There is such a thing as a complete surrender to Christ--when we give up everything and then trust to His power to keep us in that state. And I thank God that He is able to do it.

Men start out on dangerous expeditions--some to conquer a country and when they reach that land, they burn the boats they came in so they cannot go back if they desired to. It is right for us to count well the cost. There is no use to make a headlong plunge into the battle. Look over the whole ground. Here is this pleasure and that indulgence. Can I give them up? They have been very dear to me; they have become entwined around my very life itself. They are identified with me, so that they show themselves in my very countenance; they are imbedded in my very character and are a part of myself. I have clung to them as I have clung to life itself. But Christ was not in them; they do not savor of the life of Christ at all. For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. Can I, for the sake of sharing that joy, endure that cross? Can I give up the pleasures of sin for a season in order to share the riches of Christ and the joy of His salvation? These are the questions we must ask ourselves.

Look up and place your eyes on Christ and the joy of present salvation. They form the opposite side of the picture. There is the joy of having an infinite power working in us. For that joy which we can have now are we willing to give up everything and to become sharers of the sufferings of Christ and to be made partakers of His death and the power of His resurrection? This is a joy that will last forever, so let us burn the boats and the bridges behind us! Can we give up all these things that have been so dear to us; can we give them up forever? That is the hard part.

Says one, "I have tried to give up these things before, and I have fallen again; now how do I know but what I shall fall again?" Ah, no, you are not making a new resolution this time; you are not turning over a new leaf and saying that you are going to do better. You are merely letting the old life and all the resolutions go. Simply say, "I know that there is power in God. And that same power which spoke the world into existence, that same power which brought Christ forth from the tomb--into the hands of that power I will yield myself and let it sustain and keep me in the new life." And day by day as we do that, our hearts will go out in thankfulness to God for His wonderful power.

It is not ours to make provision for the flesh in the lusts thereof, but we must step out and take hold of the life of Christ and feel that the power of God is working in us. When we feel that power working--that miracle which is wrought in us--the temptations to which we have yielded so often, the sinful practices to which we have given way, will be overcome and we will rise superior to them. Then we can go out into the world, in the power of Christ and carry the message as we never have done before.

How is it that we will have more power? Because we know that if God can work that miracle for us, He can do it for anyone. 

Our work from a human standpoint is an impossible one; difficulties arise on every hand. But we have a knowledge of what the power of God can do, and therefore go forth in faith that He who can cast down imaginations 2Co_10:5  in our hearts and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and can bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ can do that same work for others, since He has done it for us. It was that same power which caused the walls of Jericho to fall down before the people of God. I am so thankful that the God who has called us to be His servants is a God of infinite power. Take hold of that power and prove it for yourselves.

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." "Likewise"--Like what? Like as Christ was raised from the dead to be dead no more, so likewise reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin to sin no more. Is that true? Note it carefully--that sin shall have no more dominion over you. That is what the Bible says. We are no longer under the law but under grace. We are no longer under condemnation, but the grace of God resteth upon us. The spirit of glory and of grace is present with us.'

1891 G.C. Sermons #10  E.J. Waggoner 

We Die With Christ.

 

'What a precious thought it is that our lives are not our own. We have but the life of Christ. It is this thought that makes a man triumph even in death. Why? The sting of death is gone! Death does not sting the righteous man, because he is freed from sin.

 

It was the knowledge of this that enabled the martyrs like Jerome and Huss to go to the stake, singing songs of triumph and victory. "Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

 

Our lives are hid with Christ in God, so that we fear not the power of wicked men or of the devil himself. When we have given ourselves to Christ and our life is hid with Him, what matters it whether this life be cut off soon or not? We walk with Christ and He controls our lives. Wicked men or devils can no more touch our life than they could hold Christ in the grave.

 

Col_3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

 

Oh, that we might feel the power of that life and know that we are His!

 

When we do get it, the power of God will accompany the message, as we go forth bearing it. What difference if men bring reproaches on us--we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God, and the life we live, we live in Him and through faith in Him.

 

This is the power of the gospel and the hope that makes the Christian triumph even in death. It is the hope of the resurrection, for when the man is called to lie down and sleep, he sleeps in Jesus. His life is just as sure and even surer then, than if he were alive upon the earth. His probation is sealed; he has fought a good fight; he has finished his course and kept the faith. Well might the apostle say that he did not sorrow for those who slept, as for those who had no hope.

 

When the church of God and the ministers of God have died indeed, giving up everything that has pertained to their own life, then they will belong to Christ in deed and in truth. If Christ is willing to intrust us with some of these things; if we are to be spared on earth for awhile, it is all right. If on the other hand He thinks best to take us away, that is all right too. Whether sleeping in the grave or working for the Master on the earth, matters not, for it is Christ all the time.

 

When we get hold of these ideas and make them ours and we may have them as soon as we please, they are precious to us. Having counted the cost of giving up all those things that have been dear to us, if we are prepared to count them all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord, then we can yield ourselves wholly to Christ. Just as soon as we are willing to count the cost and to let ourselves be crucified with Christ, by giving up the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and all those things which have pertained to our old life, making no provision for the flesh, then the power of Christ comes upon us. But we are living yet on earth! Yes, but we have given up our life and all there is to us is Christ working in us.

 

The very moment that a man denies everything pertaining to the flesh, that very moment he can say that Christ is his, and that he has the life of Christ. How does he know it? Through faith in the operation of Him that raised Christ from the dead!

"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him." '

 

(Excerpt - GC Sermons 1891 E.J. Waggoner #10)

We Must Die.

 We must die.

 

There are various deaths we must consider.

 

When God told Adam and Eve if they ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree then they would die, did they breath no more upon that first bite? Did their hearts stop beating in that moment? No and no. Death was promised to be the result of their action and it was, it just was not instantaneous.

 

There is the first death and the second death.

 

Rev_2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

 

Rev_20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

Rev_20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

 

Rev_21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

 

The first death is the death millions and millions of people have experienced over the last six thousand or so years. The first death is the death that those you have known and loved and are no longer with us have experienced. This death sleep is a reality, but the resurrection promised by Christ when the last trump sounds and Christ returns is equally a reality. The dead in Christ will rise then.

 

1Th_4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first

 

From Adam to the very last person that dies in Christ, with Christ as their Savior- they will all rise from their graves to meet Christ in the air.

 

Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 

Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. 

 

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 

 

Act 2:34  For David is not ascended into the heavens

 

The patriarch, the second king of Israel, David died long before the Apostles were born and we know truthfully that He was NOT in heaven yet. There was the promise of heaven for him just like the promise exists for us.

 

There is yet another death we must consider.

 

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily

 

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 

 

2Co 11:23  Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 

 

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 

 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 

*******

 

We must die to self as we choose to live for Christ. Our lives truly are forfeit because we have no power to save ourselves. There is nothing we can do to give ourselves eternal life, we have to choose Jesus Christ so HE can give eternal life to us.

 

********  (Excerpt)

 

Says Paul in Galatians 3:27, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." In Romans he says, "As many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death." But if we died with Christ we are bound and certain to live again, for Christ is alive. Here we can forcibly apply the words of Peter in Acts 2:24: "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." It was utterly impossible that death should hold Christ.

 

Therefore if we died with Him and in our death are united with Him, we shall also live with Him. The great thought around which the whole Bible clusters is death and resurrection with Christ.

 

If we die with Him, we shall live again.

 

We die with Him--when? Now!

 

When we acknowledge our life forfeited and give up all claims to that life and everything that is connected with it, that very moment we die with Christ.

 

Now what is this giving up of our life? Life stands for everything that a man has. It stands for everything that pertains to life. What is it, then, that pertains to the life that we naturally have in ourselves? It is sin! It is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. It is envy, malice, evil speaking, evil thinking--all these things make up the natural life, because we see that every man that has the natural life has these things. They are a part of his life. They enter into the life of every man on earth.

 

When we come to that place where we see that we have those things and are ready to give them up and pay the forfeit, then it is that we can die with Christ and take His sinless life in their stead.

 

In yielding up that life of ours, we give up all these things, and when they are all given up, then we are dead with Christ.

 

But just as surely as we give them up and die with Christ, just so surely must we be raised again, for Christ is risen, and we then walk in newness of life.

 

That new life--that newness of life which we have, is the life of Christ, and it is a sinless life. Knowing this, "that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we might not serve sin."

 

Here is the secret of all missionary effort. When a man comes to the point where in very deed he reckons that he has no life of his own and he gives up the forfeited life which he did have in his possession and the life he lives in the flesh he lives by faith in the Son of God; then Christ is his life, and his life is "hid with Christ in God." He has been raised to newness of life by faith in the operation of God. What can that man fear of what man can do to him? What will he fear of what man will say of him? He will say to himself, It is not I, but Christ that liveth in me.

 

What will it matter to him if he is called to go to an unhealthful locality? His life has already been yielded up, so that death has no terrors for him. He goes willingly, "not taking his life in his hand," but leaving it in the keeping of Christ in God. If Christ, in whom his life is hid, wishes to allow him to sleep for awhile, it is all right. Moreover he is not discouraged by difficulties in the work to which Christ has assigned him, for he has practical knowledge of the power of Christ and he knows that He who cast down the high things that had exalted themselves in his own heart against Christ is able to subdue all things unto Himself. The life that he lives is the life of Christ, provided only, that every moment of his life he yields himself and is as thoroughly consecrated as he was at the time he died.

 

It is necessary that we die continually and that we continually know the power of God and of the resurrection of Christ. For "we are saved by his life." We must know and experience the same power that God wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. We take that power--How? "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."

 

It is simply a matter of making the resurrection of Christ a practical thing in our own lives. It is simply believing that what God could do for Christ, as He lay in the grave, He can do for us. That power which brought Christ from the dead can keep us alive from the dead. If we have the life of Christ and it is working in us, it must do for us all that it did for Him when he was in Galilee and Judea

 

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! All through His love! His amazing love always!

I Will Never Be My Own Righteousness.

Christ knew no sin. Christ knew OF sin, but sinned not. Christ abhors sin to the uttermost. Christ willingly took on flesh with ALL its tendencies toward sin. Christ COULD be tempted to sin.  If there had been a hedge erected around Christ so that it was impossible for Him to sin, then Satan would NEVER have bothered to even try to tempt Him and he would have been crying foul very, very loudly. If Christ did NOT really sacrifice anything, if He came to earth protected in a way that we cannot be protected why bother coming here at all?  Christ was GOD put into flesh, OUR flesh. Christ never sinned but being born into sinful flesh, death was the penalty for that flesh.

 

Christ was not given supernatural access to God - access we are not allowed to possess. Just imagine how Satan would use any sort of super power to say Christ didn't prove anything. Christ proved human flesh was capable of being sinless beyond the inherited sin tendencies. Christ proved the possibility by His complete and full choice to rely upon God the Father for ALL things always.

 

We all know how various sports/contests and the like strive to make things as fair as possible during the events. We've outlawed strength enhancing drugs, we have many weight classes so that the fights are as fair as possible. We try not to give any one team/player unfair advantages over another so that the winning is warranted fairly not because another has a greater advantage over the other. No winner wants to win based on unfair advantages, no winner that has any self-respect that is. What good does it do to say I won that race when I was so much more muscled, and my body was pumped full of artificial strength? I would know I didn't win fairly, I cheated.

 

Christ could NOT cheat and earn us salvation it would NOT work that way, it couldn't work that way! He did NOT have unfair advantage, He did NOT have anything that we are not able to avail ourselves of because He did NOT cheat.

 

Let's get one thing straight before we continue- Christ did not come so we would be able to resist sin  ON OUR OWN.

 

Christ did NOT resist sin on His own. He kept connected to God the Father.

 

Where Adam and Eve chose to break the connection they had with God, and sinned, Christ never broke His connection with the Father.

 

Having kept His connection with the Father perfectly Christ still had to pay the penalty for sin- and He did that FOR US. Christ had to face what all who will face that are not forgiven and saved by Christ. Christ faced a complete cut off from His Father having done NOTHING to deserve such a horrific fate! The sacrifice was of such enormous impact we can scarcely even imagine it at all!  We live our lives able to choose to have Christ forever with us, never cut off from us, never. Christ cried out at the forsaking of Himself by the Father. We do not ever have to cry out the forsaking of ourselves by Christ not even when we face the first death. Christ is right there with us, with ALL His forever promises! We may suffer unimaginably but that suffering is not done alone. Christ had to go through His death suffering alone. Christ had the hope, the faith in the Father, but not the Father with Him at the very end. We have the hope in Christ, the faith in Christ, and Christ will never leave us, never forsake us, through HIS power we hold fast to the hope found only in HIM.   Paul could say though he faced death and torture often that it was joy to him because it was for Christ.

 

Christ went through the worst of the worst so He could fairly before universes unnumbered, before the Father in Heaven, before all angels- redeem sinful mankind. He paid the awful price necessary to pay in order to give us the hope of a life made new in HIM, a life that will know eternity with Him.

 

We suffer now, but we are never forsaken.

 

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 

Php 3:9  And be found in him, NOT HAVING MINE OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 

Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 

Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 

 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 

 

1Pe_2:19  For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

 

1Ti_4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

 

2Ti_1:12  For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

 

2Ti_2:9  Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

 

2Ti_2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us

 

2Ti_3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

 

Heb_11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season

 

1Pe_2:20  For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

 

1Pe_3:14  But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled

 

1Pe_3:17  For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

 

1Pe_4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

1Pe_4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

 

1Pe_4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

 

Rev_2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

 

How then are we to live…

 

By GRACE.

 

And GRACE will work in us as we avail ourselves of that grace. We seek to know God's will. We know the law that was transgressed and brought about sin, the same law that came with the hope of grace.  The perfect standard impossible for the imperfect to uphold revealing the need for a perfect Redeemer who would uphold the perfect standard.

 

The Redeemer who becomes our Redeemer and lives in us, works in us, fills our lives and in that presence we know of our imperfection and we rely upon Him to save us from those imperfections. As we fall short, we turn to Him for forgiveness. We never stop recognizing the perfect standard for what it will always be. We never excuse our short comings, we acknowledge them and in acknowledging them our remorse for our imperfection has us to cling ever tighter to our Redeemer, our hope. We are NOT our own hope! Christ is our hope, Christ is EVER our hope. 

 

I sin because I am a sinner. I desire NOT to sin because I know that any and all sin is a separating of me from God. I repent and seek forgiveness so I can be covered in the Righteousness of the One who sinned not, the Perfect One, Jesus Christ Our Savior. I rest in HIS righteousness, not at any time in my ability to seemingly overcome any sin. If I happen to stop sinning a particularly besetting sin it will only be by the power of Christ. I will have not stopped of my own accord. All the glory goes to Christ, all the glory goes to God! As I continue to sin under those sins that easily beset me, the almost deliberate sins I seemingly fear I'll never give up, I MUST keep within me the HOPE of their ultimate end as a part of my life! The battle rages on and my victory is found in CHRIST. I trust that every single sin that is a part of my life will ultimately be forsaken. I trust that all that separates me from God will be gone! I claim the blood of Jesus Christ, I have my filthy robes washed white in HIS blood! I trust in HIM. I BELIEVE in HIM. He helps my unbelief! He gives me the faith I need to have the faith! The Holy Spirit is promised to me now, to live in me to guide me along this wicked world's roads, protecting me!

 

CHRIST IS MY RIGHTEOUSNESS! I am not and will never be my own righteousness!

Out of Love, God Show Us Our Sins.

 

(Excerpt - Sermon On Righteousness #9)

Continued…

"Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20)

The time of the entering in of the law was the time when it was spoken from Sinai. It entered that the offense, or sin, might abound. But where that sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

There was sin in the world before that law was proclaimed from Sinai.

Therefore the law was there before it was proclaimed from Sinai.

But God spoke it in that awful way and in those thunder tones from the mount for the purpose that sin might seem to be a greater sin. It was done that the people might see sin more as God saw it.

These things were written for our benefit. The speaking of that law in thunder tones with such a solemn scene of grandeur all around it is to have the same effect on us that it had on the children of Israel. We are to see the thunder clouds and the lightning and they are to strike terror into our hearts.

Still further: Whoever touched the mount was to die. What is meant by that? All that was intended to show the awfulness of the law. It was given in that way that the people might see the wonderful majesty that it had and that by it no man could get life. It was so great that no man could keep it.

Everything connected with its giving, conspired to show man that the only thing he could get by it was death.

It was so great, so inexpressibly great, that they never could reach to the heights of it. It was given in that way to show the people that there was only death and condemnation to them in it.

Then was not the law just given to put discouragement into the hearts of the people?

No. Go back to Abraham and we shall see what else was taught by the giving of the law. There was a promise to Abraham and to his righteous seed of a righteous inheritance. That promise was sworn to Abraham and to his seed by God Himself. God had pledged His own existence that there should be righteous men--men whose righteousness should be equal to the righteousness of the law. But here was the law in such awful majesty that there could be no righteousness gotten out of it. It was to be the sole standard. Now put two things together: The law is so holy in its claims that no man can get any righteousness out of it, as was shown in the giving of it; but God had sworn that there should be men who would have all the righteousness that it demands; therefore the very giving of the law served to show the people that there must be and was another way of getting that same righteousness.

So in giving the law, He was giving the gospel in thunder tones. Righteousness and peace dwell together in fullness in Christ. So in Him is life. Condemnation is in the law, but the law is in Christ, and in Christ is also life. In Christ we get the righteousness of the law by His life. The voice that declared the law from Sinai was the voice of Christ, the voice of the very one who has this righteousness to bestow.

Now see the force of the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 33:2, 3. "And he said, The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran and He came with ten thousands of his saints from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people."

The giving of that law was one of the highest manifestations of love that could be because it preached to the people in the strongest tones that there was life in Christ.

The One who gave the law was the One who brought them out of Egypt. He was the one who swore to Abraham that he and his seed should be righteous, and this showed to them that they could not get righteousness in the law but that they could get it through Christ. So there was a superabundance of grace, for where sin, by the giving of the law did abound, there grace did much more abound.

That thing is acted out every time that there is a sinner converted. Before his conversion he does not realize the sinfulness of his sins. Then the law comes in and shows him how awful those sins are, but with it comes the gentle voice of Christ in whom there is grace and life.

How precious it is to have that conviction of sin sent to our hearts, for we know that it is a part of the work of the Comforter which God sends into the world to convict of sin. It is a part of the comfort of God to convict of sin, because the same hand that convicts of sin holds the pardon, that as sin had reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. In this grace we have again those precious words--much more. Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.

The Lord searches the heart and He knows our sins. Shall we go about mourning and sighing and saying our sins are so great that God cannot forgive such sinners as we are? Some people seem to fancy that God never knew that they had any sins. Then they say that they are not worthy that He should take their sins away. They cannot see how He can save them. Who is it that makes us feel sinful? Who shows us our unworthiness? How do we come to find out that we have sinned? It is God that shows us our sins. He had known them all the time. We do not consider this--that God has known all our sins beforehand and that He it is who shows them to us for the first time, when we are convicted of sin by Him.

When God made the plan of salvation, he knew what He was doing. He knew the human heart. He knew the depth of degradation to which humanity would fall, as no man has ever known it. Now, by His law He drives the sins home to our hearts and then that sin abounds in the proportion that it should. It was small in our eyes before, but He makes us see it as He sees it.

Remember it is the Comforter that convicts.

Remember that where sin abounds in your heart or in your mind that there grace does much more abound.

It is your firm belief of that that makes the grace effective in taking away the sin.

Christ is able to save to the uttermost him that cometh to God by Him.

You cannot ask anything of Him so good or so great but what He is able to do it and--much more.

God does not have to take the measure of grace and look over the world to see how many there are among whom it will need to be divided and then go to work to portion it out so that there will be enough to go round. He gives us scripture measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over. No matter how great are the sins to be covered up, there is grace much more than enough to do it.

Mortal man may be covered with the righteousness of Christ as with a garment. Then let us take the life of Christ by faith and live a new life.  

1891 General Conference Sermons- Study #9 A.T. Jones