The Believer Becomes Dead to the World Christ, as our sanctification, brings out a very radical reversal in the believer’s relationship to the world and in its relationship to the believer. The apostle Paul uses a very strong expression in stating it. Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the…
The Believer Becomes Dead to Sin God does not speak of being dead to “sins” but to “sin.” He does not talk of “victories” but of “victory.” He does not command us to be troubled over our sin but to be “dead” to it. He makes it very clear that He does not mean…
This positional victory over sin through grace is perfect. In Christ, God has taken the believer beyond the necessity of sin’s lordship. In Christ, sin’s power is broken, and its claim is canceled. Several times in Romans 6 God declares the believer’s perfect freedom from the power of sin. Romans 6:18, 22 “And being…
Co-crucifixion opens the door into co-resurrection. Death is the gate to life. Identification with Christ in His death and burial is but the beginning of the believer’s union with Him in endless life. Death is both an ending and a beginning, an exit and an entrance. Romans 6:5 “For if we have become united with him in…
Self-trust—”the old man” is very self-confident and feels no need for one wiser and stronger than himself. Trusting in his own powers and resources, he is prone to say, “Though all men shall deny Thee, yet will not I.” Self-sufficiency—the self-confidence of “the old man” fosters an egotistical, smug self-satisfaction that leaves him stagnant….
Let us, then, pause for a moment to take a full-length portrait of this hideous, heinous self; let us face his manifold operations honestly and see if we are not forced to accept God’s estimate of him and to acquiesce in the method of deliverance from his sovereignty. The foundation of life in the…
The vast majority of Christians stop short in their experience of the blessings of salvation, with the joy of forgiveness of past sins and the hope of heaven in the future. But the present is a forty-year wilderness experience full of futile wanderings, never enjoying peace and rest and never arriving in the promised…
THE GREAT REFUSAL (2) Every sinner is guilty of countless sins, but there is one above all others for which God is today condemning him and holding him accountable, and that is the sin of refusing Jesus Christ as his Savior. Wrapped up in that sin are all the others. That is the sin…
THE RESPONSE OF FAITH Faith is very simple, yet it is a very comprehensive thing and involves in its operation the mind, the heart, and the will. Faith includes belief, which is the assent of the mind to the things written in God’s Word concerning the Savior. We believe He is the Christ, the…
THE MOST TRIUMPHANT WORDS ever spoken were those which fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ when on the cross He said, “It is finished.” It was the divine proclamation that grace had triumphed over sin. It was God’s pronouncement to the world that all that had been lost both to Him…
But how could a righteous God be just and the justifier of sinners (Romans 3:26)? How could God maintain His holiness in His dealing with sin and at the same time manifest His graciousness in mercy toward the sinner? How could God provide such a meeting place and not deny Himself through compromise? Before…
But why should He dread the inevitable “hour” or shrink from its approach? But an hour or two before, He had said, “Now I go my way to him that sent me.” Would not death be to Him an hour of glorious release from a life environed by sin, suffering, and sorrow? Would it…
“Character — homebrew” is the sign over the door of the self-righteous man’s life. He must admit weakness and failure, but he does not call sin sin or admit that he has any great need. There is nothing wrong with him that he cannot remedy himself if given time, a proper environment, and enlarged…
But there are those who, refusing to accept God’s estimate of the natural man, deny the necessity of any radical and revolutionary change in him. They delight in the exaltation of the flesh and reject the self-evident fact that human nature is in utter ruin though they are compelled to admit that it is…
God has taught one truth beyond all contradiction in His Word. It is that sin has created an awful chasm between Himself and man. Man may ignore or condone sin, treat it very lightly, and even be so foolish as to deny its reality, but that does not alter the unalterable fact that sin…
Not only was the realm of the spirit and the soul invaded by sin, but the body, which was intended to be the spirit’s cordial home became its prison. That which was supposed to be spiritual tends to become sensual. God purposed the body to be the channel through which the spirit within man…
In 2013 the word “selfie” was crowned Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries. In God’s studio, the Bible, a photograph can be found of each of His created beings. Our photograph is there. It has been taken by the Divine Photographer; therefore, it is accurate. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can…
Since we have already studied the “three parts” of man, let’s look at the impact of sin and death on each of these parts. The first “part” of man to be touched by the devastating breath of death was the human spirit. Sin shut the windows of the spirit Godward and made it a…
Adam’s sin brought innumerable suffering and grief to himself and his descendants. However, God was the One most wounded and wronged by sin. His purpose in the human race was not only defeated but He Himself was dethroned in his own universe. This was the twofold aim of Satan in the tragedy in Eden….