We Are Weary.

Weariness.  This is something we are all too familiar with, isn't it? Being weary. We are feeling the weight of this world upon us. We live in such a time that the burdens of society are all around us. I can't help but comprehend though, that through most of mankind's existence there has been an element of weariness in one form or another. NEVER since the peace in the Garden of Eden before sin's introduction to mankind has there not been a weariness to living for us in one form or another. Each generation has its share of burdens. Always there have been problems- the need to eke out of life a way to stay alive. So many have such an awful time doing that, finding ways to live. As we struggle through our lives, no matter the circumstance, life gives us a weariness that makes living tiresome in so many ways. 

We see many levels of living conditions, from what we consider extremely luxurious, to the extremely deprived, and all levels in between. Seldom is anyone in any of the groups without weariness. The weariness of a rich man may be much different than the weariness of a poor man, but the weight of existence rests up all of us and it's up to us to take that weariness to our Savior and find His rest.

Spiritual labor, spiritual burdens, Satan will load us down with spiritual weight desiring to crush us completely. He can, and will crush the spirit in us deadening us to the Spirit of God, make no mistake, Satan desires to bring us to the point of despair so that we make the eternally deadly decision to turn from Christ, not towards Him.

Jesus tell us - 

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

Jesus is speaking to ALL of us, because there is not a single person who isn't laboring and heavy laden in this sin sick world. 

We have to go to Him to find the Spiritual rest that will keep us in Him.

More on this tomorrow by the GRACE and WILL of GOD! All through Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR now and FOREVER!

Let Not Sin Reign

(Excerpt)

Articles on Romans by E. J. Waggoner  Chapter 6

Instruments of Righteousness Romans 6:12-23

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 

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. 

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 1

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? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 

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

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 

22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Reign of Sin. In the fifth chapter we learned that the reign of sin is the reign of death, because death comes by sin. But we also learned that the gift of life is offered to all, so that whoever has Christ has life. Instead of death reigning over such, they themselves "shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ." The exhortation, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body," is therefore equal to an exhortation to abide in Christ, or to keep his life. We gained the life by faith, and so we are to keep it by faith.

Whose Servants Are We? That is very easy to answer. "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey." If we yield ourselves to sin, then we are the servants of sin, for "whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." John 8:34. But if we yield ourselves to righteousness, then we are the servants of righteousness. "No man can serve two masters." Matthew 6:24. We can not serve both sin and righteousness at the same time. No man can at once be both a sinner2 and a righteous man. Either sin or righteousness must rule.

Instruments. We have in this chapter two terms to describe people, namely, servants and instruments. It takes both to illustrate our relation to sin and righteousness. Sin and righteousness are rulers. We are but instruments in their hands. The kind of work a given instrument will do depends entirely upon the one who uses it.

For instance, here is a good pen; what kind of work will it do? It will do good work if it is in the hands of a skillful penman, but in the hands of a bungler its work will be poor. Or, in the hands of a good man it will write only what is good; but in the hands of a bad man it will exhibit that which is evil. But man is not a mere tool. No, not by any means. There is this difference between men and ordinary instruments: the latter have no choice as to who shall use them, while the former have full choice as to whom they will serve. They must yield themselves, not once only, but all the time. If they yield to sin, they will commit sin. If they yield to God, to be instruments in his hands, they can do nothing else but good so long as they are yielded to him.

A Parallel. In the nineteenth verse we are exhorted to yield ourselves as servants of righteousness just as we have yielded ourselves servants to sin. This being done, we are assured in the following verses that just as surely as the fruit was sin and death when we were yielded to sin, so surely will the fruit be holiness when we yield ourselves servants to righteousness. Yea, even more sure; for "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." 

Righteousness is stronger than sin, even as God is stronger than Satan. God can pluck out of the hands of Satan the soul that cries out for deliverance; but none can pluck God's children out of his hand.

God's Armor, Not Ours.

 We live in a world that tells us we need to focus upon ourselves at any given moment. Do you know why Satan wants us self-obsessed? Because as long as we are caught up in our own feelings, our own ideas, our own thoughts, our own self in any way, then we are not focused on anyone else, including God. Satan sets us up perfectly, make no mistake he takes every single opportunity to arrange for us to be slighted even in the tiniest way. As soon as we feel the inkling of a slight we are shaking off the armor of God and replacing it with armor of our own fashioning trying to protect our own feelings, our so called honor, our perceived dignity, our self-important integrity and God's armor cannot remain upon us if we replace it with our own armor. Why can't God's armor protect us if we are fashioning our own? Because God's armor is SELFLESS, not SELF-FOCUSED.  

The Helmet of Salvation-  Christ's selfless sacrifice.

The Breastplate of Christ's Righteousness- Christ's selflessness as He relied upon the righteousness of the Father.

The Loins Girt in Truth- Christ is truth, selfless truth. Sacrificing truth.

The Feet Shod in the Gospel of Peace - Peace found in the selfless of Christ's sacrifice.

The Shield of Faith- Faith in Christ's selflessness.

The Sword of the Spirit of the Word of God - the Selfless WORD of GOD, the same Word that tells us to sacrifice self for God, for others!

God sacrificed ALL for us, we are called to do no less than sacrifice all for God- by the Spirit of the power of God. We are called to allow God to have His way in us because we KNOW His way is the way of LOVE, pure LOVE unlike anything we can truly comprehend in our sin soaked state of living. 

We need to give up SELF! Self-protection of our feelings, our idea of self-justification, these all need to be given up! Satan will use them to destroy us at every turn eating away at us bit by bit, piece by piece, chipping at our perceived self that we deem more important than so much else.

Vain glory… self-glory- this is something we must not desire! We must not provoke one another in any way, we must not envy one another something we do all too much! God help us, God save us! God keep us from all evil! God keep us from all evil - from every single evil trap Satan lays for us to fall into!

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Gal 5:26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. 

Choosing Christ, Unendingly.

 Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Gal 5:26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. 

Crucified the flesh.

Crucified the affections and lusts of the flesh.

Recognizing the flesh and the Spirit is so incredibly important. When we talk of crucifixion we automatically have an image of our Savior nailed to a cross where He suffered and died for us.  The crucifying was His being nailed to a cross.  

The dictionary also gives us this definition-

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (v. t.) To fasten to a cross; to put to death by nailing the hands and feet to a cross or gibbet.

2. (v. t.) To destroy the power or ruling influence of; to subdue completely; to mortify.

3. (v. t.) To vex or torment.

From <https://biblehub.com/topical/c/crucify.htm> 

When we are told that if we are Christ's we have crucified our fleshy affections and lusts, we are destroying the power and influence those things have over our lives, we are subduing them completely.

Fleshy affections.

Fleshy lusts.

These come in so many forms and to all of us in many similar ways and yet many unique ways. My fleshy lusts may not be the same as yours, or they could be the same in one sense but not in another. Intensity and such are all factors but the bottom line- we have these fleshy affections and lusts that need to be subdued completely, they need to be crucified. 

We need to live in the SPIRIT and this is the only way for any sort of crucifixion of our affections and lusts to take place. 

Live in the SPIRIT, walk in the SPIRIT. Some will lay claim to living in the Spirit but their walk is not in the Spirit.  If we truly live in the SPIRIT we must be walking in the SPIRIT. 

The Spirit and the flesh are contrary to one another.  We choose. We must live in our bodies made of flesh with all its frailties and imperfections, but our bodies are receptacles of our minds and spirit. God will give us all we need, the Holy Spirit working in us, Christ in us is our hope, and clinging to these truths is where we find that hope of walking in the Spirit, by the Spirit, through the Spirit. We will not suddenly develop powers that allow us on our own to crucify our fleshy affections and lusts, we develop the truth, the Spirit of truth working and living in us. 

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Gal 5:26  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. 

We subdue completely the flesh, surrendering it all to Christ! And as we do this DAILY, we will be confronted with truth that it is a forever choosing, a constant unending choosing over the course of our entire lives. By the grace and mercy of God may we through Him and His power, by the Holy Spirit, all by our Heavenly Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, may we be HIS, known by HIM now and forever! His perfection ours, for we have none without Him!

We Are Buried.

 We are--

Crucified with Christ.

Buried with Christ.

Raised with Christ. 

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. 

Rom_6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

I still remember my baptism vividly. The day I was buried symbolically with Christ. I can still recall the moment I was fully lowered under the water. I wasn't under the water very long, but I was under completely, fully submerged, all of me, every bit of me was buried. I was crucified with Christ. I was buried with Him by baptism. And when I came up out of that water grave I was raised up from the dead like Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. On that day I followed the commands of my God, of my Savior and through that I obeyed the direction concerning the death, burial and resurrection of my Savior!  

Do I celebrate Easter? No. Not in the traditional sense. I recognize all its pagan origins interspersed with the religious connotations. I do NOT worship any bunnies, eggs, or any of the fertility symbols. I do NOT worship this day delegated to be Easter as a day God commands. This is a day mankind has contrived on many levels. I do believe a lot of people celebrate this day with the intent to hold it up as celebrating Christ's death and resurrection, just as Christmas day is done to celebrate His birth- though there is no Biblical command anywhere for us to do this, not one.  These days are used and abused in many ways, though the hearts of many believe they are following truths, and in ignorance perhaps they are forgiven, but given the opportunity for truth they then are accountable. God help us all.   I gather with my family, I use what I consider to be secular days set aside to do this, but DO NOT and WILL NOT ever claim these days to be Biblically mandated in any way. I will NEVER worship these days, never. I will worship ONLY GOD and only on the day He has commanded and set aside, the day He made holy, the day He sanctified, and that day is the seventh day Sabbath and it is a weekly day of WORSHIP that by HIS grace and will I am able to set aside and worship Him as He desires! 

God forgive me if I'm wrong even in gathering with family on these days, but I hope and pray all my family knows that I worship God and God alone on the Sabbath day, and no other day.  

*

(Excerpt E.J. Waggoner - Articles on Romans Chapter 6)

'We are separated from sin, by death with him, in order that we may be joined to life in him. 

*

"Buried with Him by Baptism." 

Baptism, therefore, is burial. 

If people were content to follow the plain reading of the Scriptures, there never would be a question concerning "the mode of baptism." No one from reading the Bible could ever get any other idea than that baptism is immersion. "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." Col. 2:12.  Baptism represents the death and resurrection of Christ, and by it we show our acceptance of his sacrifice; and the very act is an actual burial, in order to make the lesson the more impressive.

Why the Change in Baptism? 

How is it that there has been a change from Scripture baptism to sprinkling? The answer is very easy. Baptism is a memorial of the resurrection of Christ. But "the church," by which is meant the bishops who loved the praise of men more than the praise of God and who wished to curry favor with the "better class" of the heathen, adopted the pagan sun festival. And in order to appear to justify themselves in so doing,  they claimed that the rising sun which was worshipped by the heathen was a symbol of the resurrection of "the Sun of Righteousness," namely, Christ, and that by observing Sunday they were celebrating his resurrection.

But they did not need two memorials of the resurrection, and so they dropped the one that the Lord had given.  In order, however, not to appear to throw baptism away, they claimed that the heathen sprinkling with "holy water" which they very naturally adopted with the heathen sun festival, was the baptism enjoined in the Scriptures.

The people trusted in the "fathers" instead of reading the Bible for themselves, and so it was very easy to make them believe that the Bible was obeyed. It is true that there are some who follow the word in regard to immersion,  who also observe Sunday; but the two practices are inconsistent. The word is neglected in one particular  (observing Sunday) in order to provide a memorial for an event which they already celebrate in accordance with the word (baptism). Scriptural baptism is falling into disuse among [many] who observe the first day of the week.  It must be the case that sooner or later they will wholly give up one or the other.

*

There is absolutely no Biblical proof whatsoever that the Sabbath day of worship that Christ Himself worshiped on, the seventh day, was changed to the first day of the week, none.  People will cite the resurrection automatically created the change, but Christ did not institute the change anywhere. He did institute an act to commemorate His death and resurrection and that is the Lord's Supper, that is the symbolic breaking of bread representing His body that He gave for us. It is the symbolic drinking of wine that represents the blood He spilled giving His life for us.  Baptism, the submersion of ourselves under the water represents us descending into the dark grave of death, the rising up out of the water represents us rising to new life! These acts were done by Christ Jesus Himself and examples to US.  

Why did mankind insist on adding their own twists on things? Because by and large mankind is ruled by Satan who wants to deceive all those he can into following his lies. He doesn't want mankind studying for themselves the word of God, but rather taking what other men say is truth and believing it. Satan has completed his deception so thoroughly that when Christ returns millions upon millions of people are going to be shocked they are NOT Christ's, that they don't know Him at all and Christ doesn't know them!  Why? Because they cared more for mankind's lies than His truths. The truths that are UNPOPULAR, the truths that are SHUNNED, the truths that make up the very, very NARROW way that few will find!  

Father, God, please…please let me know ONLY Your truth! Please, keep me from the evil of Satan's grand deceptions! Please KNOW me when You return for Your people! Please! PLEASE!  All through Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior now and forever!

Loved Perfectly.

Everyday.

 Crucified With Christ.

Joh 14:19  Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 

Because Jesus lives, we will live. This is our HOPE!  We have NO HOPE in ourselves. It's because JESUS lives that we will live! It isn't because we live, it isn't because we are good, it isn't because we are special in some way of our own making. We live BECAUSE He lives!

If Jesus hadn't lived then we wouldn't have any hope whatsoever.

Each of us is given the hope of eternal life. It is Satan's position to take this hope from all he can. Satan will stop at absolutely nothing at all to take the hope of eternal life from each and every one of us. Satan will deploy tactics so deceptive that people will never even realize who is the evil source of their eternal end.  

What I don't comprehend is the belief not to believe simply because of arrogance great or small that gives a person a tiny bit of self-satisfaction to say they won't be fooled into believing a fairy tale.  Believing in Christ as our Savior gives us a hope, but what hope does one have who chooses not to believe? They will live and one day realize before they are eternally gone that they made the wrong choice not to believe. The horror of that moment will only be equaled by the horrors of the many who for very various reasons will be lost eternally. Those whose beliefs are fueled by self, not Christ. Those who say they know Christ and do all sorts of wonderful things in His name, but their hearts are not known by Christ at all. Those who have never made a personal commitment to know Christ, accepting His death and living for Him.  So many will be lost, many more than those who will be saved all because Satan uses great deception and man chooses self over God!

We've got to stop choosing self over God! And we have to do this by the power of God. Everyday yielding ourselves to HIM! Regardless of what our day contains, each and every day we yield! We seek forgiveness every day as we pick up our cross daily. EVERYDAY!

God help us! Please, God help us! Keep us from the evil that would keep us from You!

(Excerpt)

Crucifixion with Him. 

As Christ was crucified, therefore, being baptized into his death means that we are crucified with him. So we read, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."  Galatians 2:20. Crucified, yet living, because crucified with Christ, and yet he lives. Christ said, "Because I live,  ye shall live also." John 14:19. How can we live a new life? We have no power at all of ourselves; but Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father; and in his prayer to the Father he said, "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them." John 17:22. Therefore, the power that raised Jesus from the dead is exercised to raise us from the death of sin. If we are willing to allow the old life to be crucified, we may be sure of the new.

"Our Old Man" Crucified. We shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. If we are crucified with Christ, our sins must also be crucified with Christ, for they are a part of us. Our sins were on him as he was crucified, so of course our sins are crucified if we are crucified with him.

But here is a difference between us and our sins when crucified. We are crucified in order that we may live again;  our sins are crucified in order that they may be destroyed. Christ is not "the minister of sin" (Gal. 2:17). It was the life of God that raised him from the dead, and in that life there is no sin.

A Separation From Sin. The reader will notice that the separation from sin is in death. That is because death is in sin. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. Therefore nothing less than death will effect a separation. We could not separate ourselves from sin, because sin was our very life. If it had been possible for us to effect the destruction of sin, it could have been only by the giving up of our lives, and that would have been the end of us. That is why there will be no future for the wicked who die in their sins; their life having been given up (or rather, taken from them), they are out of existence. But Christ had the power to lay down his life, and to take it again; and therefore when we lay down our lives in him, we are raised again by his endless life.

Remember that he does not give us our own life back again, but that he gives us his own life. In that life there never was a sin; and so it is that our crucifixion and resurrection with him is the separation of sin from us. This thought must be borne in mind when we come to study the next chapter.