Leaves Of Gold
A Call To Return To Biblical Teaching
“…to contend earnestly for the faith…”
These outlines are taken from “The Christian Life Bible” Thomas Nelson Publishers. Notes by Porter I. Barrington
Man's Sin------God's Remedy
Out of the
millions of books in print, only the Bible, according to Jesus, is the Word .of
God. Paul ,"All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim,
3:16),.which means that all scripture is God-breathed-that it is spoken by the
mouth of God, who cannot lie (Titus 1 :2). The Bible is the only book that
reveals God's remedy for man's ruin.
Man would
have to be spiritually blind, deaf, and mute not to know that "the whole.
world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19) In this verse, God reveals two classes of
people. First are those who are no longer spiritually blind, deaf, or mute to
God's message; they are saved by the grace of God and know it. "[They]
know that [they] are' of God;' and they also know that the whole world lies
under the sway of the wicked one:' The whole world of unsaved souls lies in
Evil One, Satan. Now Satan is the father of the wicked (John 8:44). The wicked
murder because their father is a murderer and the motivator of all murders. He
motivated Cain (who was religious) to murder Abel, who was righteous (Gen.
4:8). He is a liar, and the father of all liars, who will "have their part
in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death" (Rev. 21 :8).
Have you
ever wondered why every nation, every tribe, every family, the rich and the
poor, the educated and. the uneducated, all participate in the ruin of man? We
all have ~ common origin in Adam.. .
All share
a common heritage-the fall of the human race. All share a common legacy, the
ruin of man. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom.6:23). Death is the wages of sin, and
death is universal, because the ruin is universal. But the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," who is God's remedy for man's
ruin.
19-A. The Ruin of Man (Romans
5;12-14)- The
whole human race has one thing in common: death. Paul is saying that "all
sinned" when Adam sinned; all fell when Adam fell; all were ruined when
Adam was ruined. Though the law was not given until Moses, there were preachers
of righteousness who lived by faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, to mention
a few (Heb. 11:1-29). "Through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and
death [physical and spiritual] through sin, and thus death spread to all men,
because all sinned" (v. 12; cf. Gen. 2:16, 17). When Adam fell in the
Garden, the human race was ruined in him. Adam's sin was imputed judicially by
God· and transmitted by inheritance at birth to all of Adam's descendants. Only
those who are born-again of God's incorruptible seed can escape eternal
separation from God. This separation is called "the second death"
(Rev. 20:14). The rich and the poor,
the educated and the uneducated, kings and peasants, bond or free, all
participate in the· ruin of Adam.
There are
two Adams in the Bible (1 Cor. 15:45). The first Adam was created; the last
Adam was virgin-born (Luke 1:26-31). The first Adam was tempted, and failed;
the last Adam was tempted in all points as the first Adam, but was victorious
over sin and Satan.
(1) Through the first Adam came
the ruin of the race. Through the last Adam (Christ) came the righteousness of
God for the redeemed race (2 Cor. 5:21).
(2) Through the first Adam came
death. Through the last Adam came eternal life (John 3:36).
(3) Through the first Adam came a
ruined, sinful nature. Through the last Adam came an incorruptible nature (1
Pet. 1:23). By faith we are made partakers of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
Before
people can know the righteousness· of God in Jesus Christ, the last Adam, they
must first recognize the ruin of the race in the first Adam.
19-B: The Nature of Man's Ruin,
Romans 1:18-21. When Adam sinned he did not fall
alone; the whole human race fell with him.
He effected the ruin of all his seed (descendants). This is what David meant when he said:
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me”,
Psalm 51:5. David was not saying that
conception in marriage is sinful; he was emphasizing the fact that he was born
of the ruined descendants of Adam, i. e., ruined by Adam’s original sin.
There
are two ways in which man demonstrates the nature of his ruin:
(1) Spiritual depravity, which is spiritual wickedness. They “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” Romans 1:18, by preaching another gospel, Galatians 1:6-10. Or they deny God’s very existence. “Professing to be wise, they became fools”, v. 22. They are humanistic, i.e. they proclaim t he supremacy of man and deny God in their religious philosophy; they make gods of themselves, vs. 18-23.
(2)
Moral depravity. God is against all ungodliness,
whether it be spiritual or moral, of which sexual promiscuity and homosexuality
are most prominent as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”, v. 18. “Therefore God also gave them up to
uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor t heir bodies among
themselves” vs. 24-32.
19-C: The Results of Man’s Ruin, 1 Corinthians 15:22. “As in Adam all die”. Adam was the head of the human race. By natural birth we are his descendants. When Adam sinned, death passed upon all because all sinned in Adam, Romans 5:12. When God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden, He gave him two commandments:
(1) Cultivate and tend the Garden.
(2)
Eat freely of every tree of the Garden except
“…the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day
that you eat of it you shall surely die”, Genesis 2:15-17. Adam ate the
forbidden fruit; this was the ruin (fall) of mankind; the result of the ruin
was death. Theologically, death
is separation. According to the
Scriptures there are three deaths:
A. When Adam sinned, he died spiritually; he was separated from God and the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:22, 24. This was the spiritual ruin of man, Ephesians 2:1-5.
B.
In Genesis 4 we again see the results of the ruin. The first physical death was murder; Cain
murdered his brother Abel, Genesis 4:8.
In Genesis 5 from Adam to Noah, three little words are repeated: “…and
he died…” The result of man’s ruin is
spiritual and physical death.
C.
There is yet another death called “the second
death”. This is the final separation
from God and His mercies forever and ever: consignment to the Lake of Fire (the
final hell). Without salvation, the
forgiveness of sins, in Jesus Christ, all that mankind has to look forward to
is eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire, Revelation 20:14,
15.
19-D:
God’s Remedy for Man’s Ruin, Mark 10:45.
God’s unique remedy for man’s ruin is “His only begotten Son”, John 3:16, who came into this sin-cursed world through the womb of a virgin named Mary, Luke 1:26-38, and lived a holy, sinless life because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God and not by a father bearing the sin of Adam. Jesus had no human father, Matthew 1:18-15. In sinless human flesh He “….was in all points tempted (tested) as we are, yet without sin”, Hebrews 4:15. Jesus was pure in thought, work and deed. He never:
(1) Entertained an evil thought: “Who knew no sin”, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
(2) Spoke an evil word: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”, 1 Peter 2:22.
(3) Committed an evil deed: “In Him there is no sin”, 1 John 3:5. He could stand before His enemies and challenge them to convict Him of sin, John 8:46.
God the Father sent His Son into the world to do two things: “to serve and to give His life a ransom for many”, Mark 10:45. From His immersion in Jordan to His death on Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ:
A. Served the people. At Cana He turned water into wine, John 2:1-11. Beside the Sea of Galilee He multiplied five loaves and two fishes into enough to feed five thousand, John 6:1-14. The people reasoned that if He were king they would always have food to eat. However, Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and so He refused their kingdom, John 6:15.
B. Gave “His life a ransom for many”, Mark 10:45. He came to pay the debt of sin with His own life, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”, Romans 6:23. God’s remedy for man’s ruin was completed when Jesus suffered the supreme penalty on Calvary. He paid the believer’s debt of sin in full! John 1:12, 29. cf. 1 John 2:2.
In Adam all died, spiritually and physically, but in Christ Jesus all believers are made alive, Ephesians 2:5, cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. In Adam all were created and then ruined through the Fall, but in Jesus Christ all who put their faith and trust in Him are redeemed from the ruin, Galatians 3:13.
19-E:
The Results of God’s Remedy for Man’s Ruin, 1 Peter 1:18, 19.
The
effects of God's remedy for man's ruin are:
(1) Redemption through the
precious blood of Jesus. God did not redeem us with corruptible things, silver and
gold, that we may become His slaves. Neither are we redeemed by our good works,
that we may have grounds to boast; nor did He send angels to redeem us, that we
might become angels. He sent His only begotten Son to redeem us "with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot"
(v. 19), so that we might become sons of God. This is accomplished through believing that "Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4).
Christ is
our Redeemer. His blood was the price He paid for our redemption. Jesus paid
the price required by God the Father for the forgiveness of our sins. "The
LORD [God the Father] 'has laid on Him [God the Son] the iniquity of us
all" (Is. 53:6). "Without shedding of blood there is no
remission," that is, no forgiveness of sin (Heb. 9:22, page 1244). The
precious blood of Jesus is upon the mercy seat in heaven's tabernacle, which
was not made with hands, and is not of this earth. "With His own blood
[after His resurrection] He entered the Most Holy Place once for all."
Jesus, our High Priest, sprinkled His own blood upon the mercy seat,
"having obtained eternal redemption" (Heb. 9:11-15). Jesus paid sin's
debt in full on Calvary when He came the first time to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself on the cross (Heb. 9:25-28. It is no wonder that Peter
called the blood of Jesus "precious blood" (v. 19).
(2) A new creation in Christ Jesus. "Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17), cf. 1 Peter 1:4. Because believers are now partakers of the Divine Nature of God, they are born again children of Him, 2 Peter 1:23 because they are born again of the incorruptible see of God, they will never be the same.
All who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (who are new creations in Him) will join the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders around the throne of God (in the future) to sing the new theme son of heaven: “Redeemed by t he blood of the Lam”. It will be he theme songs on earth during the thousand year kingdom of Jesus Christ, and forever upon the renewed face of this present earth.
Without saving faith in the precious blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin, 1 Juan 1:7, there is no remedy for your ruin by the sin of Adam! (These studies will continue).
Sin and Salvation
(From the book: “Rightly Dividing The Word” by Clarence
Larkin. Chapter XVI)
It takes
no Bible, or standard of morals, to make a man realize that when he would do
good evil is present with him. We all recognize that there is a conflict
between our conscience and our conduct, between our better judgment and our
natural disposition. Men may call this "Moral Inharmony" or what they
will, the Bible' calls it SIN. Every careful and thoughtful observer will note
that there is a difference between the animal creation and man. Animals do not
have to contend against inherited tendencies to do evil. They are governed by
instinct, which naturally leads them to their highest possible attainments.
But man has an inveterate tendency to go astray, to sin, to entertain all kinds
of misleading errors, and it is an endless struggle with him to do good. Why
this difference? Something has happened to man that has not happened to the
animal creation. Something has happened to change his nature. . What that
thing is we would not have known if the Scriptures had not revealed to us the
"Fall of Man" in Eden. Now we know what has caused the difference, it
is SIN.
I. SIN
Sin is
the world's "BLOOD POISON." Bad blood manifests itself in the human
body in two ways. Inwardly as diabetes, and outwardly in inflammation, boils,
carbuncles and ulcers. The former is invisible and may for a time be
unsuspected, while the latter are evident to the eye. We must distinguish
between "SIN" and "SINS." "SIN" is that tendency
or disposition to sin that we inherit from Adam. "SINS" are the
"specific acts" of sin that we commit as the result of our tendency
to sin. The first like diabetes is internal, the second like boils and
carbuncles are external. Jesus came to make Atonement for "SIN," not
for "SINS." He came to remove the "Natural Depravity," or
tendency to sin, of the human heart. That is to impart a "New Nature" in which there will
be no tendency to sin, and therefore no desire to commit specific acts of sin.
By "Natural Depravity" is not meant that there is nothing good in human
nature at all, that men are never kind, affectionate generous, lovable, but
that the tendency of the human heart is naturally toward evil. It is because
people do not understand the nature of sin that they are offended when we speak
of them as sinners. They think that a sinner is one guilty of some specific
crime, as murder, theft or adultery, whereas a sinner is one who has a sinful
disposition.
We have five definitions of sin
in the New Testament.
1. LAWLESSNESS is Sin.
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:
4.
To
break any law of God or man is to sin.
2. NEGLECT is Sin.
"To him that knoweth to do
good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James 4: 17.
3. DOUBT is Sin.
"And he that doubteth is
damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of
faith is sin." Rom. 14: 23. That is, to do anything we doubt the
rightfulness of is SIN.
4. UNBELIEF is Sin.
"And when He (the Holy
Spirit) is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment: of sin, because they believe not on ME. (Jesus.) John 16: 8-9. The
crowning sin of all sins is to not believe in Jesus. Men and women are not lost
because they are sinners, but because they will not accept Jesus as their
Savior.
5. ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS is Sin.
"All unrighteousness is
sin." 1 John 5: 17. This is a blanket mortgage that covers every kind of
sin.
Let us for a
few minutes turn the "Search Light" of God's Word on our lives. The Psalmist
said-"Thou hast set our 'iniquities' before Thee, our 'secret sins” in
the light 0f Thy
countenance." Psa. 90: 8. Here the Psalmist speaks of two classes of sins,
"Open" and "Secret." The "open sins" are such as
are publicly committed, as profanity, intemperance, lying and theft. The
"secret sins" are such as are committed in secret. Would you like the
Almighty to turn the "X-RAY" of His omniscient "Eye" on
your heart, and search every "Chamber of Imagery," and bring to light
every impure and murderous thought, every feeling of envy, pride, jealousy,
hatred, and revenge? The Apostle John says that "Whosoever hateth his
brother is a MURDERER." 1 John 3: 15. Do you wish that someone was dead
that you might possess their property? Then you are a murderer". Jesus
said that to merely look at a woman to lust after her is adultery. Matt. 5:
27-28. .
What does
the Bible say about the human heart?
Listen.
"The heart is, deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can
know it." Jer. 17: 9. One day Jesus dissected the human heart for the
benefit of His Disciples. Read what He said-"For from within, out of the
heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness." Mark 7: 21-22. Here are 13 specifications
that outline the character of the human heart; can anyone read them and say,
"That does not describe my heart?"
In fruit
there is a tendency to rot and decay, and unless preserved it will soon perish.
So it is with the "root principle" of sin in the human heart. Out of
Christ there is no difference between men. Take a man honest, honorable,
truthful, upright, benevolent; take a woman pure, chaste, amiable, gentle, meek,
the embodiment of all loveliness: take some sweet girl, pure as a lily, the
light of the household, a living joy: take a little child, innocent the
heaven-sent, prattler of the fireside, and as unspotted as the new fllen snow;
and what is the difference between any of these and the lost spirits, the
sin-saturated souls hating and hated, cursing and cursed, blaspheming and
damned that writhe in Hell? It is simply the difference between meal into which
the leaven has been placed and meal in which the leaven has done its work. It is simply a difference as to time and
development. The batch of meal that has been leavened cannot take the leaven
out of itself; neither can it prevent the leaven from doing its work. Its final
state is only a question of Time. If men and women go into the other world
without having the leaven of sin eradicated by the "BLOOD OF JESUS,"
the leaven of sin will continue to work on down the Eternal Ages, and they will
grow worse and worse as eternity rolls on, until they shall become as bad as the
demons in Hell. The leper was just as truly a leper the moment the first taint
of leprosy entered his system, as he was when he sat a loathsome creature
outside the city walls and cried "Unclean! Unclean!"
What does
sin do? It produces shame and leads to separation. It drove" Adam and Eve
out of the Garden. Of the wicked it is said-"He shall be driven from light
into darkness, and chased out of the
world." Job. 18: 18. And Peter said to
Jesus-"Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord." Luke 5:
8.
What are
the Wages of Sin? DEATH. Sin does not ask us to sin for nothing. It pays wages,
and it pays on the installment plan, and it pays in full, and we cannot avoid
taking the wage. And the wage is DEATH. Not physical death, for animals and the
righteous die. If the wages of sin were mere physical death. it would be a
blessing rather than a curse, for many a sinner would be glad to die a physical
death if that was all the punishment he had reason to expect. It is not
spiritual death for sinners are already spiritually dead. Eph. 2: 1-3. It is
"ETERNAL DEATH." What is that? We are told in Rev. 20: 11-15, that
after the Wicked shall have been judged and found guilty they shall be
sentenced to the "Second Death." What is the "Second
Death?" What is the "First Death?" It is the separation of the
soul and spirit from the body. At the resurrection of the Wicked, the Wicked
get back their bodies, but when they are sentenced to the "Second
Death" they die again in the sense that they lose their bodies again, and
in their soul and spirit, that are indestructible by fire, they go to the Lake
of Fire where they remain separated from God for all eternity and that is what
is meant by "Eternal Death."
Sin is
not a misfortune, it is perverseness. To claim that we ought not to be held
responsible for having been born With a nature tainted by sin is no excuse. Our
sin is in refusing to accept the provision God has made to get rid of that
nature by accepting Christ as our Savior. By my rejection of Jesus Christ as my
Savior I elect to bear the penalty of sin myself.
SIN is
the most expensive thing in the Universe. It cost Satan the loss of his exalted
position before the Throne of God and led to rebellion in Heaven. It cost the
human race the loss of Paradise. It cost God the "Life Blood" of His
Only Begotten and Beloved Son. It cost Jesus the agony and "blood
sweat" of Gethsemane and the excruciating sufferings of the Cross-and the
tasting of Eternal. Death when He took the place of the sinner and realized
what it meant to be forsaken by God.
II. SALVATION
Every
rational human being recognizes that he has a "Threefold Need." (1).
In regard to YESTERDAY. Why? Because "yesterday" was the day of SIN.
What are we to do with the past years? We cannot live them over again, nor balance
them by "Works of Supererogation. (2). In regard to TO-DAY. If I have
managed to provide for the sin of yesterday, what am I to do for today? For
today if there is no change in my nature I will sin as yesterday. (3). In
regard to TOMORROW. Suppose that I have been able to make provision for the
past and the present, for yesterday and today, what am I to do for tomorrow?
for tomorrow will come with the same old forms of temptation, the same old
suggestions to evil, the same helplessness to overcome sin as in the past. From
this we see that we need PARDON for the Past, PURITY for the Present, and POWER
for the Future. Where are we to get them?
If, as we
have seen, SIN is the World's "BLOOD POISON," and every human being
born into the world has inherited the disease, then as there is a remedy somewhere
for every disease, there must be a remedy for the "Disease of Sin,"
and this remedy is found in the Gospel. "For I am not ashamed of the
'Gospel of Christ;' for it is the POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION to every one
that' believeth." Rom. 1: 16. The "Power" of the Gospel lies in
the "BLOOD OF JESUS." "The BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST His Son,
cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1: 7. This is fully explained in the
Chapter on "Atonement and Redemption," and so need not be more fully
dwelt on here.
Salvation
is a "threefold process." It begins in "Justification,"
proceeds through "Sanctification," and ends in
"Glorification." Titus 2: 11-13. So we can say that we are saved,
that we are being saved, and that we will be saved.
1. We are saved from the PENALTY of Sin.
This we get by "Faith."
Faith leads to our JUSTIFICATION. "Therefore being JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. The word
"Justification" is a legal term and means to declare not guilty. It
can best be defined by an illustration. We will suppose that a man has been
charged with murder and tried and found guilty and been sentenced to die.
Before the hour of execution a man appears at the prison and asks to see the
Sheriff, to whom he hands an official document, which when the Sheriff reads he
finds to be a pardon. The man at once is set at liberty and walks out of the
prison a free man, but not a justified man for the guilt of the crime still
remains on him. He is simply a pardoned CRIMINAL. On the other hand we will
suppose that the condemned criminal was really innocent, having been condemned
on circumstantial evidence, and that before the date set for execution the real
murderer surrenders himself to the Sheriff and produces evidence that he is the
real criminal. What then must the Sheriff do? He cannot any longer hold the
first man, for he is not guilty, he therefore sets him free, and he walks out
of the prison a JUSTIFIED man because he is innocent of the crime charged
against him. That is the legal meaning of "Justification" and that
is the Scriptural meaning. Here is the "Mystery of Salvation." It
would be impossible for an innocent man to satisfy the law, for while he might
take the criminal's place he could not take his GUILT:. But this is what Jesus
Christ does. "He hath made Him to be SIN FOR US, who know no sin: that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5: 21.
The
moment a sinner accepts by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior
he is JUSTIFIED. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that heareth my word, and BELIEVETH on Him that sent me, HATH EVERLASTING
LIFE, and shall not come into condemnation (Judgment), but IS PASSED from
death unto life." John 5: 24. The result of Justification is that we have
peace WITH God. Rom. 5: 1. We must distinguish between "peace WITH
God," and the "peace OF God." Phil. 4: 7. Here an illustration
will best serve our purpose. We will suppose that during the Civil War President
Lincoln had issued a proclamation that any person in rebellion against the
Government would be pardoned the moment that, coming from the South, he should
step over the "Mason and Dixon Line." Suppose such a person had
crossed the line at 12 o'clock midnight unknown to himself, at once he would
have been at peace WITH the Government, but not knowing that he had crossed the
line he continued on in fear of arrest and imprisonment until, as the day began
to dawn, he realized that for hours he had been safe. What joy and peace of
mind would then fill his soul. So the very moment we accept with saving faith
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior we have "peace WITH God," but it
may be days, weeks, and even years before we know this, and have the
"peace OF God" that passeth all understanding.
2. We are saved from the POWER of
Sin.
When the
angel announced to Joseph that Mary was to have a son, he said-"Thou shalt
call his name JESUS; for He shall save His people from their SINS." Matt.
1-: 21. So we see that Jesus is not only a Savior from SIN, but also from SINS.
From our daily besetting, or as the colored preacher said, upsetting sins.
Writing to the Philippians Paul said-"Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is GOD WHICH WORKETH IN YOU both to WILL and to DO
of His good pleasure." Phil. 2: 12-13. Now this does not mean that we are
to be saved by our works. It means that having received Salvation through faith
we are to now work it out. That is, having been saved from the
"Penalty" of Sin, we must work to be delivered from its
"Power." And in this, though we do it with fear and trembling,
conscious of our own weakness, we will be aided by God, for it is God who
worketh in us, to WILL and DO of His good pleasure. What we need to do then is
to co-operate with God in His work of Sanctification, to let Him will and do in
us what is necessary to save us from the "Power" of Sin.
The
revelation of sin is progressive. It is not until after conversion that we
really begin to realize what sin is. When you awake in the morning twilight you
see a few conspicuous articles of furniture. As the light increases you see
taking form the pictures on the wall and the toilet articles on the dressing
table; but it is not until the sun is up that you see smaller articles as pins,
pieces of thread and particles of dust. When we came to Christ we were
conscious of a few sinful habits. We gave them up. But as we grew in grace
other things in our lives were seen as wrong and laid aside. And so it has gone
on. Things that we did five years ago we would not do today, and what we do
today, we will not do five years from now. Writing to the Corinthians eighteen
years after his conversion, Paul said,.-"I am not meet to be called an
Apostle." 1 Cor. 15: 9. Six years later he wrote to the Ephesians-"I
am less than the least of all saints," Eph. 3: 8. And five years later he
wrote to Timothy-"I am the chief of sinners." 1 Tim. 1: 15. What was
the matter with Paul? Had he grown worse? No, he only realized more than ever
his own sinfulness. Paul never professed complete sanctification. He said that
he was not "already perfect" or had "attained" unto that
for which he had been "apprehended by Christ" but he was
"reaching forth" and "pressing toward" the mark. Phil. 3:
12-14. From this we see that Sanctification is a progressive act, and that our
complete deliverance from the "Power" of Sin will not be until the
death of the body, though we may have to a large extent "Victory over Sin" if we surrender absolutely to
the "Wil God," and permit Him to will and to do of His pleasure in
us.
3. We are to be saved from the
PRESENCE of Jesus died on the Cross to save our soul from de He is coming back
to complete our salvation by redeeming our body from the grave, or to change it
into immortal body at the Rapture. Not until then shall be saved from the
"Presence" of Sin. So we see t Salvation is a "threefold
process." That it begins "Justification" and ends in
"Glorification." Justification being instant and complete deliverance
from the "Penalty" of Sin; "Sanctification" being a
progressive deliverance from the "Power" of Sin, and
"Glorification” our final deliverance from the "Presence" of
Sin. (These studies will continue)
James A. Nelson is the editor, jan@twinvalley.net. Martin Gutzmer is the Webmaster, mrgutzmer@gmail.com David Pickett is the sponsor, dr.pickett.hotmail.com