Sin and Deliverance: September 2007
Table of Contents
Deliverance - Its Three Parts
The beginning of Romans 8 is the full answer to the cry of wretchedness in chapter 7 — “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). There are three great parts in deliverance: first, the setting free of the soul at the commencement of its career, then practical freedom in its course, and, finally, ultimate deliverance for the body in resurrection at the coming of the Lord.
Setting Free the Soul
Without spiritual freedom there can be no practical power, either in worship or in service. Let us then first consider the setting free of the soul. It must be noted that deliverance is distinct from quickening, and in Romans 7 we have the strongest proof of this. The one in Romans 7 is quickened, but not delivered. He is not careless or unawakened, but he is undelivered. He is not a natural man, but he is a carnal man. The natural man has no interest in the things of God, but the carnal man, while having new life, is not walking in the full enjoyment of it. In Romans 7 a struggle is described and fully argued out. It is a state, not of natural wickedness, but of spiritual powerlessness. Whenever he wants to do the will of God, the dead weight of evil within drags him down. He wakes up at length to the humbling fact that there is this constant inward evil ever seeking to break out and that having the blood of Jesus for his forgiveness does not fully deal with the case. An awakened conscience has given the law killing power, and he is slain in the conviction of sin, which he did not have as an unconverted man.
The experience of the soul is a valuable thing, and no soul ever values freedom without having known something of bondage. In the proper experience of every believer there is a most seasonable breaking down of self, which is the consequence of measuring ourselves before God. It cannot be learned by a mere effort of the mind. How is this necessary lesson learned? He tries to do what he should and what he desires, but he breaks down. He tries again, and he fails again. He has not yet learned to abandon himself and to rest in another. The truth is that the effect of sin is far deeper than we suppose. Deliverance comes after there has been practical proof, not merely that we are sinners, but that we are without strength, which is a much deeper thing. The man is finally brought to the point where he looks outside of himself, and this is the turning point. He had looked to the Lord to find rest and forgiveness, but when he had Christ, he thought, “I shall now be able to go on happily glorifying the Lord.” He finds out his weakness and at last looks beyond himself to Christ, where he finds that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
Dead and Risen With Christ
The Christian is not merely forgiven; he is identified with a dead Christ, and as such he is dead to sin. He is baptized unto Christ’s death, but as Christ is also risen, he is identified with a risen Christ. Thus the believer is dead to sin, but alive unto God, because he is seen as dead and risen with Christ. There can be no condemnation for the believer — he has absolute forgiveness. He is in Christ.
The Apostle gives two conclusive reasons for this. First, he says, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). The expression “the law of the Spirit of life” means the fixed principle by which the Christian now lives. It is the place of deliverance that no one ever had until Christ died and rose again. When the Lord rose from the dead, He acted on this principle immediately by breathing on the disciples the breath of His own resurrection life (John 20:22). Sin is no longer a law or principle under which the believer lives, for he is no longer in bondage to it. Nor is it true that he is doomed to die, as all men do naturally. Scripture says, “We shall not all sleep” (1 Cor. 15:51). Those alive when the Lord comes will be changed without dying. Of course, the Christian may die, just as he may sin, but neither is a necessity for the Christian. When life in the Spirit was given, there was power against sin, and when Christ comes, death shall disappear for all that are His. Consequently, we are entitled to have peace, joy, power and conscious victory now.
A Double Blessing
Second, “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). Because of sin, there are two things appointed of God to man —death and judgment. Christ bore judgment as well as death, and now the believer receives a double blessing. Not only does he have life, in contrast with death, but also deliverance in Him risen, and no condemnation, because the condemnation has fallen on Christ. He was the holy One, yet became man — as truly man as He was God. He came “in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin.” This last expression means that He came as a sin offering. It was to deal with “sin,” not merely “sins,” that Christ was sent —to remove the root as well as the fruit. Sin in the flesh God condemned at the cross, for it is not pardon that is wanted for a sinful nature, but condemnation. This condemnation fell on Him who had no sin in Him, for “in Him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Being the holy One of God, the only One in whom was no sin, He could suffer, not only for sins, but for sin. Thus God condemned sin in the flesh.
The End Result
The moral end of all this is “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4). Here is the walk of the Christian, in its proper order and true place. When his standing is a settled fact and when he knows himself consciously delivered, then a walk according to the Spirit follows. When we are not happy and free, everything goes wrong; we are vexed with circumstances, other people and ultimately with ourselves. Such is the condition of the soul in Romans 7. When by faith we recognize that we have died with Christ and are alive in Him to God, we are no longer self-tormentors because of the corruption within. We know that our old sinful self is totally evil, but we accept the blessed truth that it has already been condemned by God in Christ’s death. Now, by righteousness and in Christ, victory comes over self.
Of course, though one is delivered, he may not always walk in the Spirit. He may yield to the flesh and prove its bitter consequences. It is not the same wretchedness as that of Romans 7, but of a still deeper kind. What anguish to have forgotten and dishonored Him, after knowing such love and grace! Chapter 7 describes the sorrow of one not yet delivered, but the deeper affections of chapter 8 are awakened, not only in doing good, but also in sin, if the believer sins.
Thus there is the constant discerning between flesh and Spirit. We must not tolerate the least sprout of the old stock. We are to walk after the Spirit, not after the flesh. This is practically carried out by applying the blessed truth that I am entitled to reckon myself dead to sin, but alive unto God in Christ.
W. Kelly, adapted from
The Bible Treasury, 12:30-41
Judging the Root
In other articles in this issue, we have seen how, at the cross, God has dealt with sin as well as with sins. The blood of Christ puts our sins away, while in the death of Christ, we are dead to sin itself, the cause of the whole problem. Sins are the fruit, but sin is the root, and the root must be dealt with if we are to live a life of victory before God.
Positional and Practical Deliverance
In Romans 6:6 we read, “Our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” At the cross, God saw the end of the old man —what we were as children of Adam — and now the believer does not need to be in bondage to sin. We are called upon to act practically on this truth and to reckon ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11). Because Christ has already won the victory for us and given us this place positionally, there is power in Him (not in us) for us to take this place practically. As a result, believers may now yield their members “servants to righteousness unto holiness” (Rom. 6:19).
It is important to realize that the practical side of this in our lives is an experimental thing, for most of us must go through an experience similar to that of the man in Romans 7 before we get real deliverance. It is possible to understand the truth of death and resurrection with Christ in an intellectual way, to have been baptized, and even to have, at least in a limited way, reckoned ourselves to be dead to sin, and yet not really to have fully yielded ourselves to the Lord. It is one thing to say, “O wretched man that I am!” in a general way, and to admit that there is no good in my old sinful self, but it is another thing to be willing to allow the searching eye of God to expose my old nature for what it really is. It was only in the light of the law that sin became “exceeding sinful” (Rom. 7:13), and it is only in the light of God’s presence that I am able to say with Job, “Wherefore I abhor myself” (Job 42:6). If I am to be really free, I must be willing to take this place, and not to trust in myself anymore.
Self-Righteousness
Unhappily, most of us do not want to admit that our hearts are capable of some of the worst sins. We like to foster our own self-esteem and to feel, like the self-righteous Pharisee of Luke 18:11, that we are “not as other men are.” I well remember a sister in Christ who, when referring to another believer who had committed a serious moral sin, said to me, “But you and I would not do something like that, would we?” We like to persuade ourselves that we are innately better than others. Then, when our sinful nature manifests itself from time to time, there is the tendency either to become angry and defensive, or perhaps to deny that we ever did such a thing. Such a tendency to self-righteousness in the believer is largely responsible for the misery found among Christians. If they were to justify God instead of themselves, they would avoid the weary process of self-vindication, and also much sorrow in their lives.
The Good Is Bad
In dealing with this bad root, we must also realize that not only must the “bad” in us die, but also the “good.” Most of us have a tendency to feel that, while we are sinners and thus have some bad qualities, we also have some good qualities that can be salvaged from the wreckage of our sinful selves. Perhaps we are naturally kind and loving — cannot that be used for God in our Christian lives? Or perhaps we are generous in giving — is not that a good quality? Maybe one is a good leader — do we not need leadership like that among believers? No, for while it is right to be kind and right to be generous, sin has spoiled even actions like that. Leadership ability is not in itself wrong, but even if the act is right, sin attaches wrong motives to it, and self becomes the object, not Christ. Paul had not only to say, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18), but he also tells us, concerning his so-called good qualities, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7). Outside of new life in Christ, we have no pure motives.
We must realize that there is no such thing as reformation for the flesh; death is the only remedy for it. Sometimes, when the flesh becomes too objectionable, we may try to control it by human energy. This may work for a while, and if we have a strong determination, we may succeed in keeping the flesh under a measure of control. However, inevitably we will find it too strong for us, and then we will find ourselves back in Romans 7:19 — “the evil which I would not, that I do.”
Denial and Defensiveness
There are at least two common reactions to the realization of what I am in my flesh. Some believers will become crushed and depressed, not wanting to believe that they are really all that bad. “What will people think of me, if they find out?” Others become defensive, denying that they are like that and refusing to face what they really are by nature. Sadly, there is that in each of us that is devious enough to pretend to surrender to God without actually doing so. We may be viewed outwardly as good Christians, whether in our personal lives, in family life, at work, or even in Christian service, while inside we have not really brought that root sin to the cross. Many times, when we are confronted, either by others or by the Lord Himself, with some bad root that He is calling on us to judge, we will run from it, deny it, and refuse to face it. We still want to hang on to some shred of dignity for ourselves, instead of admitting in God’s presence what the flesh really is. We must realize that an oversensitivity about our own character stems from a state of soul that is not occupied with Christ. Seeking to try and conceal our true state from the Lord only produces heaviness of spirit, and we will not enjoy the warmth of God’s presence. Like the psalmist, we will be compelled to say, “Day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer” (Psa. 32:4).
Dealing With the Root
Often dealing with the root of sin involves a real struggle in the presence of God, for the root may be quite different from the fruit, although, of course, connected to it. One bad root may give rise to many fruits, perhaps not appearing on the surface to be related, yet all growing from the same root. We see examples of this in the Word of God. When David sinned with Bathsheba, it might seem rather obvious that lust was at the bottom of it. However, when the prophet Nathan confronts David, he does not even mention the initial act of adultery, but rather calls attention to how David despised the Lord (2 Sam. 12:79). Although lust was surely involved, the real root was David’s not being content with the abundant provision God had given him and then abusing his authority and power as a king. The other things stemmed from that. In another case, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, went after Naaman and asked him for some silver and clothing as a reward for Naaman’s having been cured of his leprosy. It might have seemed like a simple case of a poor man who wanted a little something out of Naaman’s wealth and abundance, but later Elisha exposed Gehazi’s heart. Elisha mentioned not only money and garments, but also oliveyards, vineyards, sheep, oxen, menservants and maidservants (2 Kings 5:26). Evidently Gehazi resented being a servant, and instead of being content to serve Elisha, he really wanted to be a wealthy man himself, with riches and servants of his own. Thus the root may be deep and may require probing by the Lord.
Complete Surrender
The happy response to God is to be ready to surrender to Him and to admit the reality of our sinful selves. God is ready to help us do this, for “the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly” (Prov. 20:27). Once we are truly saved and the Spirit of God dwells in us, God is willing, by His Spirit, to bring to light those things with which we need to deal. Then, if we respond to Him, we will find that we are “changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). Every new truth that the Spirit of God seeks to bring before us will find its corresponding antagonist in some part of my old nature. But the God who brings it to our attention has already prepared the remedy for it.
It is not a happy thing naturally to have our hearts exposed before God, for we will find interior caverns there that are full of filth and webs of deceit. However, we can rest in the knowledge of two things. First of all, He already knows our hearts, for “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13). He knows far better than we how bad the flesh really is. Second, no matter how bad the old sinful self is, we can rest in the fact that “our old man is crucified with Him” (Rom. 6:6). God has seen the end of the natural man, and, having died with Christ, we no longer need to serve sin. A sense of the grace of God in our souls will enable us to justify God, judge the flesh unsparingly, and live a life of victory for Him.
W. J. Prost
Dead, Not Dying
If I look to walk after Christ, I must reckon myself dead. I never say I must die, because this would be to suppose the flesh there working; of course, it is there, but I say it is dead. I quite understand a person passing through a state by which he learns what flesh is, and such processes are more or less long. But when brought thoroughly down to say, “In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing,” then God can say, Reckon yourself dead; do not let sin have dominion over you. The spring from which all power comes is that you have died. That is the fundamental truth as to deliverance. Deliverance comes when by the power of the Spirit of God we reckon ourselves dead. It is not so but to faith. Christ is there in power, and I reckon myself dead, and then I can deal in power.
J. N. Darby, Collected Writings, 27:209
Full Deliverance
Once we stood in condemnation,
Waiting thus the sinner’s doom;
Christ in death has wrought salvation;
God has raised Him from the tomb.
As strangers then to God we lived,
Filled with enmity and fear;
Our souls from death He has reprieved;
Love revealed and brought us near.
Now we see in Christ’s acceptance
But the measure of our own;
Him who lay beneath our sentence,
Seated high upon the throne.
Quickened, raised and in Him seated,
We a full deliverance know;
Every foe has been defeated;
Every enemy laid low.
Now we have a life in union
With the risen life above;
Now we drink in sweet communion
Some rich foretaste of His love.
Soon, O Lord, in brightest glory,
All its vastness we’ll explore;
Soon we’ll cast our crowns before Thee,
While we worship and adore.
G. W. Frazer, Little Flock Hymnbook, #200
Take It up to Thee (2 Kings 6:17)
The power of Elisha to make the lost axe swim in water gives us a picture of how the Christian can overcome the power of sin through “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2). Those who have turned to the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins often struggle to overcome the root of sin in themselves and seek deliverance in their own power. When one of the sons of the prophets lost the axe he was using, he turned to Elisha for help instead of probing the waters of the Jordan River to find it on his own.
This Place Is Too Strait
The sons of the prophets felt that their dwelling-place was “too strait” for them and set about to make a larger place. This is an example of the feelings of one who seeks to control himself by legality. So often the restraints of legality confine the soul by control rather than relying on the power of grace. This is the condition of the man in Romans 7 when he says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (vss. 22-23). By nature man likes trying to keep the law of God, but there is a basic root cause that prevents him from doing so. His sinful nature wars against the desires of his mind and drags him down. This condition prevents him from obtaining the objective — deliverance from sin.
“Alas, Master! for It Was Borrowed”
One of the sons of the prophets was laboring with borrowed material. While laboring to enlarge a dwelling-place, his axe head fell into the river. For him, it was more serious because it was borrowed. We are not told why he did not have his own axe, but his present condition gives a clue of previous failure. He was using it to work, but needed to return it to its owner. Now he could do neither. After his failure in hewing wood, he did the right thing in turning to Elisha rather than trying to recover it himself. How often we forget to turn from ourselves to the Lord when we have failed. We need a man like Elisha who has power.
“Where Fell It?”
The man of God did not say, “Why weren’t you more careful?” or, “What made you do it?” Such questions take for granted that there still might be power within to avoid such a mistake. The issue wasn’t concerning what he had done, but, “Where was he?” God asked Adam the same question: “Where art thou?” The answer is, “Fallen in sin.”
The man of God asked him, “Where fell it?” This directs us to the bottom of the river — the place of death. The man could not go there to recover it. But the place must be identified before Elisha can remedy his situation. Once the place was identified, Elisha cuts down a stick and casts it in that place. This reminds us how the Lord Jesus had to go down into death to satisfy God’s requirements concerning sin. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). Christ must die that we obtain a life that can walk pleasing to God.
In Deuteronomy 19:5 there is an interesting provision regarding the axe. “When a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live.” We must recognize that our actions made it necessary for someone to give their life lest we remain under condemnation forever. The Lord Jesus has done this, and a city of refuge has been provided into which we can flee and escape the avenger. The Lord Jesus is not only our substitute, but also our place of refuge.
“the Iron Did Swim”
After the stick sank into the water, “the iron did swim.” It had a life or power over the waters of death. The natural law of gravity makes iron sink in water. But at Elisha’s word a new law is introduced, and the iron swam. This is a figure of the law of life and the power of liberty of the Spirit. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). The stick being cast into the water resulted in the iron swimming, overcoming the natural law of gravity. The Spirit of God after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus gives the believer a new life that is free from the law of sin and death. This new life cannot sin nor is subject to death. It gives freedom to act according to righteousness, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
“Take It up to Thee”
Elisha gave the word, “Take it up to thee,” indicating he was to take control of his axe, which before he was unable to do. Now he was enabled to work for God. It says that he put out his hand and took it. In order for us to labor for God, we must realize our own utter ruined condition in the flesh. Only then can we realize full deliverance from sin through the Spirit of God in us. “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” “The Spirit is life because of righteousness. . . . If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:9-13). We owe service to Him for what He has done for us. May we then take up the work the Lord has given us to do, with a realization of our new life in the Spirit.
D. C. Buchanan
Sin and Deliverance
The suffering and death of the Lord Jesus not only put my sins away, but put me away as well. When Christ died, God says that I died with Him.
Within me, sin dwells in my flesh. That sinful flesh is determined to have its own way and will never change. God tells me that He has condemned that sin in me. I am not to live according to the desires of the flesh anymore, for my Saviour is also my Deliverer.
I could not deliver myself from the power of that sin in my flesh. Because I have His life in resurrection, I have the desire to please God in my life, and by His Word I have the knowledge of what pleases Him. But desire and knowledge are not enough. I need power to overcome the sin that dwells in my body of death.
The Word tells me that God delivers me through Christ, and having delivered me, the Spirit that dwells within me is stronger than the flesh in me. So I can and should be an overcomer. But am I?
As the writers in this issue explain, this truth of deliverance from the power of sin is learned by experience. Each must learn it individually in the school of God. But God is a perfect and patient teacher, so let us not despise the need to learn or faint under the painful lessons that are part of the learning process.
Persecution
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
On a trip to India earlier this year, we experienced a little taste of persecution when a radical Hindu interrupted the meeting we were holding in a private home, demanding that we stop immediately. About the same time two believers in Bhutan were sentenced to prison by the strongly Buddhist government for preaching the gospel. Many other stories could be told, but all of this reminds us that Christ and His followers are still not wanted in this world.
Ever since the formation of the church, it has been the lot of believers to suffer persecution. The Lord Jesus could say to His disciples, “The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Then in the following chapter, He reminded them, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33). Later on, Saul of Tarsus, afterward called the Apostle Paul, was struck down by a light from heaven on the road to Damascus. When the Lord sent Ananias to visit him, He told Ananias, “He is a chosen vessel unto Me . . . for I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16). As the representative man for this dispensation, Paul exemplified the character of the Christian pathway, and it was surely one of suffering.
For Those Who Will Live Godly
In the verse quoted from 2 Timothy at the beginning of this article, Paul reminds Timothy that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Concerning some Paul had to say, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). They had not turned away from Christianity and gone back to paganism, but they had turned away from that heavenly calling and those precious truths which Paul had labored so strenuously to teach them. No doubt this resulted, among other things, in an easier path and made them less likely to experience persecution. Nevertheless, Paul maintains that if we are going to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus, we shall suffer persecution. This world does not want the Lord Jesus and will not want His followers either, if they follow Him faithfully.
The Godly in Our Day
In our day, the truth of God’s Word remains the same, and those who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. In the last fifty or more years, communist governments around this world, particularly in the former Soviet Union and other eastern bloc countries and more recently in China and other nations, have done their best to stamp out Christianity. Believers have been and continue to be imprisoned, tortured and put to death for following and preaching Christ. In other countries, particularly those with Muslim governments, there is a real price to be paid for being an out-and-out Christian. There are probably more believers today suffering for Christ and giving up their lives for Him than at any other time in the church’s history.
Subtle Forms of Persecution
For those who live in Western Europe and North America, the question may well arise, “What about us?” For the most part we do not experience active persecution. We can meet together without fear, preach the gospel, witness to others as individuals, and generally live in peace. Is Satan any more tolerant of Christ and His claims in the West?
Of course, we are always open to such things as ridicule and perhaps more subtle forms of persecution, such as being passed over for a promotion in our work, or finding ourselves the subject of gossip and bad rumors. But is this all we will suffer for Christ, even if we are faithful to Him?
The Lord Jesus did not hesitate to tell His followers the true cost of discipleship, pointing out that the terms were not negotiable. When He laid down the conditions for following Him, He could say, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). To bear a cross had a terrible significance in that day, for it meant that the one carrying it was going to die. This is the true cost of discipleship — to die to everything except Christ and His interests down here. If we seek to do this, we will indeed find that we will suffer persecution, even in lands that permit freedom of worship. The persecution may take different forms, and at this point in time it may not involve torture, imprisonment or death. However, I would suggest that the Lord will allow forms of testing in our lives, testing that will bring us to the point where we must decide whether to seek an easier path by compromise or remain faithful to Christ and suffer persecution.
Persecution From Within the House
A believer from China who was spending some time in Canada, traveling and preaching, was suddenly made the subject of a verbal attack by a vicious (and totally false) email message that was circulated. He was devastated by it, and eventually he realized that, while believers in China were persecuted by beatings and imprisonment, believers in western countries were sometimes persecuted by the words of other Christians. In other cases, Satan will attack the truth of God by allowing difficulties in a local assembly, or worse still, by bringing on a situation where believers in a number of assemblies find themselves divided over an issue. In such difficulties it is easy to allow family ties and personal feelings to overrule our loyalty to Christ and to take an easier path rather than the one of faithfulness.
On the other hand, let us beware lest we, in a zeal for God without knowledge, become ourselves the persecutors of our brethren. We do well to remember the Lord’s warning, “Woe to that man by whom the offence cometh” (Matt. 18:7).
The Crown of Life
Down through the ages, many dear believers have stood firm in the face of terrible physical persecution and have triumphantly laid down their lives for Christ. They are those who have been “faithful unto death” and who will receive the “crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). However, we read in the Word of God of another way to win the martyr’s crown. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation [testing]: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life” (James 1:12). The believer may not be put to death to win the martyr’s crown, but in quietly resisting the temptation to compromise and have an easier path and in enduring the persecution from within the great house, he too will win that crown.
Of the Lord Jesus it could be said, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). Here He is an example for us, and His joy can be our joy, if we are ready to follow Him. W. J. Prost
Deliverance From Sin
Nothing could be more gloomy than to dwell upon the subject of “sin,” nor is anything so calculated to humble us, if our hearts are at all honest, as the fact of our having inherited a nature from Adam which in every way is opposed to God. But deliverance from sin is that with which the glory of redemption is connected. The knowledge of this dispels the gloom and gladdens the hearts of the children of God through the application of His Word to our souls. The Apostle thus writes, “Now, having got your freedom from sin, and having become bondmen to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life” (Rom. 6:22 JND).
Sin — a Will With a Way
Every unconverted person is characterized and controlled by an evil nature, which Scripture calls “sin,” and which is nothing less than “a will with a way,” ever acting contrary to God.
“Sin” in its nature and the “sins” which we practice are clearly distinguished in the Word of God. Forgiveness of sins is obtained as soon as the heart receives by faith the blessed truth that Christ “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Practical freedom from sin is obtained by seeing, through faith, our identification with Christ in His death and entering into what is taught in the following verses: “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin. For he that has died is justified from sin” (Rom. 6:67 JND).
Sin — Neither Pardonable nor Improvable
Scripture frequently speaks of pardon for sins, but sin is neither pardonable nor improvable. It is folly to excuse sin when God has exposed it, or to seek to improve it now that He has condemned it. Both the exposure and condemnation of sin are seen in the cross — exposed in all its hatefulness in the light of God’s holiness and condemned in the sacrifice of His own Son. “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). The Spirit of God leads us to see the infinite value of the sacrifice of Christ by assuring us from the Word of God that not only have our sins been forgiven, but that sin in the flesh has been condemned.
Sin — in God’s Sight
No man can form a true estimate of what he is in himself without first seeing what sin is in the sight of God, and nothing so clearly declares it as the cross of Christ. If I accept the judgment of God according to His Word, I shall be forced to say, like Job, “I abhor myself” (Job 42:6), and if, on the other hand, I reject His judgment and form one of my own, I shall think I am as good as other people. Where is the man that naturally cares to condemn himself? Even if he were to do so, it would only be in part, for the worst man living likes to boast of his good qualities. Even when we appear to be “putting ourselves down,” as we say, we may be puffed up with pride at the very time without being conscious of it. A fallen creature with a deceitful heart and sinful nature is not capable of forming a judgment as to what he is in the sight of God, but the prayer of the upright is, “Let my sentence come forth from Thy presence,” and the language of faith is, “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Psa. 17:2; Rom. 3:4).
Each heart has its own reserve, more or less, of self-esteem, which will never allow us to give up that in which we pride ourselves most until we see death and condemnation written thereon at the cross, where the end of all flesh for faith came before God.
The Self-Deception of Sin
Job was a pattern man in his day, but he never was really at rest until he learned what a mass of moral corruption he was in the sight of God. Satan was used to bring out the boils on his body with which he was covered from head to foot, so that his moral condition might be clearly depicted and that he might appear outwardly in the sight of man what he was inwardly in the sight of God. Great was his disappointment as he complained of God’s treatment towards him, but having once accepted God’s estimate of himself, he no longer defended himself. Rather, he judged himself as one that had deceived himself in the past, and afterwards he received abundant tokens of God’s favor in the form of earthly prosperity. It is a mercy, then, to be saved from self-deception in regard to sin. We must be brought to the point where we disclaim any right or title to anything that is good in the sight of God, for we have inherited a nature which is alienated from God. We were all slaves of sin until its dominion over us was broken by deliverance in divine power, a deliverance that “called us out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Slaves of Sin and Sons of God
The Jews were quite indignant when the Lord Jesus said to them, “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” “We be Abraham’s seed,” they replied, “and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?” Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:31-36).
There are just the two positions brought before us in this scripture — that of the slaves of sin and that of the sons of God. The former we occupy by nature, and the latter we get through grace, on the ground of redemption. The Holy Spirit gives us the consciousness of our new relationship with God as Father, as we read, “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6). In Romans 6 sin is viewed as a “master,” to whom the whole of Adam’s race is in bondage and whose dominion extends to the end of the earth. The captive of sin needs to be taken out of his lost condition and placed in a new one. There are two things which have been accomplished through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, for those that know their identification with Him: First, He died to take them out of the service of sin, and second, He rose again that they might live in association with Him and bring forth fruit unto God. “In that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:10-11).
It is the privilege of the believer to view himself as having died to sin in the death of Christ. No longer in the flesh and under condemnation as a child of Adam, but as dead to sin and alive unto God, he is exhorted to present his body “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom. 12:1), as his reasonable service.
E. Dennett, adapted from
The Christian Friend, 1897