Address—Bill Prost
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A sister by the name of Mrs. JA Trench, and apparently she wrote it as a relatively young woman on the occasion of her baptism.
Sometimes helpful to know that and to realize that some of these people had very similar experiences to some of us. 254 Death and judgment are behind us. Grace and glory are before all the billows rolled, or Jesus there they spent.
Their utmost power.
2:54 will sing it to a common tune that I think everyone will know.
Death and judgment.
Let's look to the Lord for His help.
I realized that sometimes I keep telling stories from the past.
Sometimes they're worth telling.
Way back once again in the 1800s, apparently there was a reading meeting at a Bible conference. Probably not nearly as large as this because travel in those days was not what it is today. But at the beginning of the meetings, a very well taught brother who was present just looked around and said, what shall we take up? And someone.
Some brother suggested Ephesians, no doubt feeling that the highest truth that God ever gave.
Concerning the blessings of the church were well worth looking into.
Well.
As the meetings went on, apparently the brother who had been addressed.
Said I questioned whether we were really up to the book of Ephesians.
I perhaps, if it had been left to me, would have suggested Romans.
But he went on to say it really doesn't matter because no matter which one of Paul's epistles we go to, we always end up back in Romans anyway.
What did he mean?
He meant that sometimes, and not just sometimes, but perhaps many times, there's a need to go back to basics in understanding where we are in our Christian lives and in enjoying the truth of God.
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I'd like to take us back to basics this afternoon, and we've already referred to the chapter that I would like to look at. Not that, not that this will be the only group of verses that we'll have before us, but turn with me, please, to Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6 and verse one.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into or unto Jesus Christ?
Were baptized into or unto his death.
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, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.
That henceforth we should not serve sin.
Going down now to verse 11, please verse 11. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof.
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.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Going down a little further now, verse 21.
Four, no, not four, but rather what fruit had ye then in those things whereof you're now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit under holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We'll stop there for a moment.
And in order to put things perhaps in their right perspective, we will, with the Lord's help, first state the problem, and then, with the Lord's help, seek to bring out the answer.
It is appalling today.
The moral breakdown that we see around us in Western nations, the Word of God is being thrown overboard, its principles are being cast aside, and every kind of sin is being brought in as if, and you have heard this especially you young people, that everything is relative.
There are no absolutes anymore.
It's all relative, and whether it is moral standards, whether it is truth concerning God and what he is, whether it is truth concerning God's way of salvation, whatever it might be, it is being trumpeted around that Everything is relative. You can have your truth. I can have mine.
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And even if yours and mine contradict each other, well, that's fine.
If what works for you is your kind of truth, I can have my kind of truth if that works for me.
We can scarcely conceive of a more ridiculous and illogical way of looking things, and yet that is man's natural heart. But the real problem comes about because all of this that is going on around us in the world tends to not creep in.
But come in like a flood among the people of God, and it is possible, and you know very well about what I am speaking, that it is possible to sit in these meetings and sit under the ministry of this precious truth that we have heard yesterday, the precious truth that we heard in the last meeting, and yet at the same time to go out.
Somehow and rationalize our way into carrying out very serious sins.
That is absolutely contrary to the Word of God.
Satan has done a very good job of bringing Christianity down to the level of a worldly religion, telling people, yes, if you want to be saved now, he doesn't want anyone to be saved, of course not. But if the gospel is going to be preached and people are going to be saved, Satan has done a good job of telling people you don't need to change.
You can carry on with the same lifestyle that you have always had.
After all, God is gracious.
On the one hand, God has established righteousness through the work of His beloved Son. Man turns that around and invents false religions and says, and of course he has brought it right into the great House of Christendom, that you have to work to do your part to get your righteousness.
But if the grace of God comes in.
What does Satan do with that? He turns around, and this is in the book of Jude, and turns the grace of God into that big word lasciviousness. What does that mean? Lasciviousness simply means.
Unbridled lust.
Oh well, God will forgive. He understands. And I had a young man whom I felt was a Christian and who had been at the Lord's Table tell me that many years ago he was engaging in serious immorality, having divorced his wife and having at that time been involved with another woman whom he expected to marry. And he had the.
To tell me, I think that the Lord understands these things.
He had warped his mind to that point.
And we have to realize that this is where we are in the world in which we live. And please understand, young people, that we are not some of us who are older pointing the finger at you, because we are affected by it too. Maybe not always in the same way, but we are affected by it. And the tide of evil that is coming in has its effect on those of us who are older.
And every new truth.
And every new thing that the Spirit of God seeks to teach you and me, young or old, from the Word of God will find its corresponding antagonist in some aspect of my old nature. So we are never free from it. And if anything, the more you want to know the Lord, the harder.
Sin will keep trying to gain the ascendancy.
It has very painful results.
Because sometimes we can try to deal with the matter in our own strength.
You have all seen that caption. At least it's very common in Canada where I live.
Just say no to drugs.
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Sounds good, doesn't it? Does it work?
There's an epidemic, at least in the province of Ontario where I live with opioids at the present time. Just say no to drugs.
But it doesn't work.
Don't drink and drive.
Does that work? Maybe to some extent, because the punishments, at least where I live, are fairly severe for being caught under the influence of alcohol, and I imagine it's similar in the United States. But does that stop men from drinking? No, and we could go on and on.
Man seeks to try doing it by his own efforts. And I am not suggesting that governments do not have the need or the right to establish laws. They do, because when it's a question of curbing the activity of the old sinful self, yes, the law is necessary, very necessary, even for a believer.
It's a rather funny story, but it's a true story, and it happened in the southern states quite a few years ago.
Where a man was brought up before a judge for stealing, I think he'd been stealing chickens, if I remember rightly, not, shall we say, the most major of crimes, but it was stealing.
And sad to say, it turned out that he was a believer. He'd rationalized himself into stealing. He was brought before the judge, and when he was found guilty and convicted, the judge said, Sir, do you have anything to say for yourself before I pass sentence?
He was not only a believer, he knew his Bible a little bit. And so he said, your honor, I would only point out that it wasn't really I that did it. It was the old man.
Hmm, Was that right? I'm afraid it was.
But the judge was also a believer and the judge had an answer for him. The judge said yes Sir, I believe that with all my heart and because of that we are going to put the old man in jail.
And he went to jail. He was responsible for what the old man did because.
He was letting the old man act through his body.
Well, what an awful thing to do that look over in Chapter 7 and we're still dealing with the problem.
What does it say in verse eight of Chapter 7?
Now please understand, in one hour of a meeting there is no way we can cover the subject in its entirety.
If the subject is not clear to anyone.
It's absolutely imperative if you are a true believer that you get these things straight.
Absolutely imperative.
I can remember the time when they came clear to my own soul.
My mother went to be with the Lord almost 30 years ago and for the first time I read her diary.
Kept it secret until then and I found out that she at approximately the age of 20 or 21 when she was in nursing school, had the same problem and stayed behind in the local assembly where she was after a gospel meeting and said I know I'm saved, but how do I get the victory over sin?
And she got clear about it.
But notice what it says in verse eight of Chapter 7. But sin taking occasion by the commandment.
Wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
The minute I try to do it in my own strength and put myself back under law, what happens?
That word concupiscence is another big word, but it simply means.
Strong desire. Have you ever felt that in your own heart, where there was a temptation in front of you and the desire was just so strong, even though you knew inwardly that it was wrong somehow, some way, it was just impossible to resist. Have you felt that?
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I have and it's very humbling.
Have you ever gone out the door of your home?
Some morning having perhaps, and we'll call it a Monday morning, and maybe you enjoyed the Lord's Day.
Previous to it, maybe you really enjoyed the remembrance of the Lord and maybe there were other meetings on that Lord's Day that you really enjoyed. And in the freshness and joy of everything that you had enjoyed the day before, you walk out of the house Monday morning and say.
Now, I'm not going to let Satan get me today. I'm not going to fall into sin today.
Have you had the experience that somehow Satan was right there just around the corner? And if I may be allowed to use a modern expression, Satan knew just the right button to push?
And there you sin before you knew it.
I've had that experience and I have to say, with all humility and shame, too many times.
Why? Because I thought that I could handle it in my own strength.
Going back now to Chapter 6.
Notice what it says there in verse 14.
For sin shall not have.
Dominion over you now. We're still dealing with the problem.
Shall not have dominion over you.
Turn back to Psalm 19 for a moment. Psalm 19.
Excuse me for a moment.
Psalm 19.
And verse 13.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Sin doesn't start with the great transgression, does it? It does not start with sin having dominion over me.
It starts with little things.
It starts with wrong thoughts that I don't judge.
And then those thoughts turn over and over in my mind.
Until eventually a thought translates into an action.
And then those actions, if they are carried on over a period of time, become a habit.
Some of you will remember that last year at Morningstar camp.
The theme we had before us in the morning meetings was choices and habits.
And one thing that was brought out was that it takes very few actions to form a habit. Sometimes as few as three actions can be the formation of a habit, but it takes many good reactions against it to break a habit.
Dominion over me.
If you and I allow sin in our lives, they will eventually have dominion over us, and the natural man knows that all too well. Whether it is something that is very difficult, such as an addiction to drugs and addiction to alcohol or whatever it might be, or an addiction to anything, these things tend to have such a dominion over us that we find.
Very difficult to break.
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And sometimes in our younger years.
Perhaps with strong human energy, perhaps we can keep, to some extent anyway, things under control, but then we will find out that as we get older.
And I'm in that category now as we get older. The sins that I refuse to judge before the Lord in my younger years.
Have dominion over me when I get old. Why? Because the human energy is not there anymore. I don't have that energy. And then, sad to say, those bad habits, those bad choices that I made and refused to judge, start taking over. It's very sad to see. Very, very difficult especially.
May I say it when we see it in a believer and one of the saddest things and allow me to say this.
With many fingers pointed back here, one of the saddest things is to see a dear Christian brother or sister who perhaps has gone on for many years and maybe been a real help to others, maybe has been someone who really.
Knew the word of God well and was able to teach it and has been a real help.
But then there comes a time, and I have had that happen in my life, where the Lord lays his finger on what we might call a besetting sin and says, Bill, it's time to deal with that. Now we're talking about basics. I hope that's all right. I feel it's needful.
Bill, it's time to deal with that. Yes, I know you've been doing this and that and the other for me. And sometimes we rest on that. I had a dear brother tell me one time when I I knew him very, very well and he didn't live in North America.
I ventured to bring before him something in his life that I felt he needed to deal with and his reaction was, Well brother, the Lord is using thee. People are being saved through my gospel preaching and people are being edified by my ministry and the Lord is really using me. How can there possibly be something wrong that the Lord needs to deal with?
Was that good reasoning? No.
No. Are we ever going to be at a point where the Lord can't put his finger on something and say it's time to deal with that? Not till we get to the glory. Not that we have any excuse not to deal with it, no. But I don't believe no matter how careful we are.
That we will ever be in a position where we can say I have nothing to deal with in my life.
Somebody pitched that question out in a reading meeting many years ago where there was a very faithful and well taught brother, he said. It is it possible for the believer to live a sinless life?
How do you answer that?
Hasn't God-given us everything to be able to do that? He has. His answer was superb.
He said I know nothing stronger than the grace of God, but I know nothing weaker than the flesh in me.
Good answer.
That weak flesh is going to be with us until the Lord takes us home.
Dominion over me. What a sad thing it is to pick up the thread that we talked about a moment ago to see someone who has been used of the Lord, and the Lord lays his finger on something and says deal with that. And instead of dealing with that, the individual reacts against it, justifies himself, perhaps makes excuses, rationalizes his way around it.
And ends up destroying his usefulness.
Oh, I don't point the finger, brethren. Please don't say it. Don't look at me. I am pointing the finger right here. I need it because it is something I suggest that we all need. Sometimes there is a real root that goes pretty deep, and sometimes the young people sing a song. At least I've heard it. I don't know it very well.
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But and it's not, it's not the best English, but it talks about.
Our heart being like a house. And a couple of the lines of that hymn go like this. When the Lord wants access to a certain area of my heart, the individual is quoted as saying, Lord, I have a room in my heart where I don't go because I've got some things in there that I don't want no one to know.
Can we have that as believers? We can.
We can.
A very real difficulty. We've painted a bit of a bleak picture, but we have to face the problem squarely before we see the remedy.
The answer is there is a remedy.
And I want to say at the outset.
The remedy is not in myself.
When you and I were saved, we had to come to the point where we were absolutely helpless, didn't we? We had to realize that there was absolutely nothing we could do in order to save ourselves, that everything depended on the finished work of Christ, and when we came to the Lord as helpless, lost, guilty sinners.
Then we were saved through the grace of God.
Isn't it wonderful that the grace of God has provided not merely for salvation from the penalty of my sins, but has also provided for?
The release from the power of sin in my life down here.
And I don't want to point the finger, but I have to say, in my experience with dear believers, there are altogether too many who have not brought been brought into the good of that precious truth that not only does the work of Christ give me deliverance from the penalty of my sins.
But also brings me into a place where I can be released from the power of sin.
The 1St 5 1/2 Chapters, and this is just a little background, not to make it complicated, but it's important. The 1St 5 1/2 Chapters of this book of Romans. Now we're in the Psalms, aren't we? We better go back to Romans. Go back to Romans again.
And we can open our Bibles at Romans 6.
The 1St 5 1/2 Chapters of Romans deal with the question of our sins, those individual acts of sin that we have committed, and the answer to all that is the precious blood of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son.
Cleanse us from all sin.
And as we get in Acts chapter 13 and verse 39, and by him or more accurately in Him, all that believe are justified from all things wonderful justification from sin.
But notice an expression at the end of verse 18 of chapter 5. Because the latter part of chapter five starts dealing with a new subject, it starts dealing with sin in its root and its principle.
And notice what it says there, verse 18 of chapter 5 of Romans. Therefore, as by the offence of one, or perhaps it could read one offense.
Judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men. And here's the expression.
Justification of life.
There's justification from and justification to.
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If God takes away my sins through the precious blood of Christ, He does not leave me there. He gives me a new life that wants to please the Lord.
Justification of life isn't that precious.
You know, in one sense, and I'm indebted to this remark to one of our old writers, in one sense, justification of life was not really complete until the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And that's why the resurrection is so important. Notice verse four of chapter 6 that we read.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death or unto death.
That like as Christ was raised up from the dead, notice this by the glory of the Father. Even so we also should walk in newness of life. That's justification of life. And how does that come about? Because Christ went down into death.
Lay in the grave in death, and then came out of it in the power of resurrection. Why is that justification of life? Because it was God's stamp of approval on the work which Christ had done. And in the words of that hymn that we sung at the beginning of the meeting.
Jesus died, and we died with him buried in his grave we lay.
One with him in resurrection now in him in heaven's bright day, as we had yesterday. I believe the expression in him or in Christ is a revelation given to the apostle Paul, Peter, John, Stephen, Phillip. They didn't preach that before Paul came on the scene with revelations from a risen Christ in glory that the believer is.
Christ.
Justification of light.
What's the result of that?
Notice verse six of Romans 6. Knowing this, that our old man should be crucified with him. Oh dear, that's not what it says, is it? I read it wrong on purpose.
Is crucified with him.
The old man. What is the old man? Now this I know is going over very fundamental ground with many here. I hope it's all right.
But I need to be reminded of it.
Maybe others do too.
What is the old man? The old man is what I am as a child of Adam. It's what I am seeking to attain righteousness in my own efforts. It's that which is characterized by a nature that can do nothing but sin, a nature that is ultimately at enmity with God.
And that's why I might say just as an aside.
That it's so important to realize that salvation begins as a work of God.
I was very much helped my brother Ron read a quotation from Brother chapter Macintosh. I'll give you a one sentence from him. That was a big help to me.
He said Quotation The thought that the new life, the new nature can be had by the will of the old nature is absolutely ridiculous.
Is the old nature going to ask for the new nature to come? It can't. It's an enmity with God. God must begin the work in the soul. Thank God he does.
But then we find out when we come to Christ, that our old man has been crucified with him.
What does that mean?
Says that old sinful man, that old man, he has no more rights anymore.
Because what does it say that the body of sin might be destroyed? Now the body of sin perhaps is a difficult expression, but it simply means everything that characterizes as characterizes us as connected with the old man. I expressed that old man through my body.
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And the sin that I commit I do with my body. It doesn't mean that the body is destroyed, but it means that everything.
That characterized the old man. God says that it might be destroyed.
Which one of us does it perfectly? None of us. But is there power there to do it? Yes, there is.
And So what does it say that henceforth we should not serve sin?
The point we want to make is, among other things, that.
And this again is something that I learned when I was young.
Every exhortation given to us in the New Testament is based upon what we already possess.
Every false religion says do this and you might get there. God says I've put you there now.
Live it out.
And God has crucified the old man with Christ. We are identified with the death and resurrection of Christ.
And that is the simple meaning of baptism. We don't have a chance time today to go into all the aspects of baptism.
But in simplicity it means that I personally as a believer.
Take my place and say yes.
I identify myself as being dead and risen with Christ, and that's why in the Word of God, whenever baptism occurs.
It occurs as soon as possible after the individual confesses Christ. No such thing as an instruction period. No such thing as a catechism of knowledge that has to be attained. No such thing as a waiting period. Well, let's see if he's real or not. Or something like that, no?
If you and I named the name of Christ, that is what baptism means. And so the Philippian jailer was baptized right away, the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized right away. And so with many others, I say to those here, if someone confesses Christ.
The responsibility rests mainly with those who hear the confession of faith.
Scripture does not present baptism as being primarily the responsibility of the individual who is to undergo baptism. Now, I don't say they don't have a responsibility because someone can refuse to be baptized, and I've seen that happen. But Scripture places the main responsibility on the shoulders of those who hear someone's confession of faith and then immediately it's brought before them. You need to be.
Think about an army if someone were in the United States. Now if someone joins the US Army.
Though they wait until that individual says, well, let's see, I've been in the Army for several months now, I guess. Could I have a uniform please? Is that the way it works? Of course not. He's given the uniform right away and told Now you behave. Remember when you wear this uniform, what and whom you represent.
It's the same with baptism Christian parents. Now I know some practice Christian household baptism that's different, but if you do not.
And your children confess Christ. They should be baptized as soon as possible.
That's just an aside.
So let's get down in the last few minutes if I could use the expression.
To nitty gritty.
How do we put this into practice? How do we counter that strong desire of concupiscence when we're tempted? How do I keep from sin having dominion over me?
The old man is crucified with him.
The flesh is never.
Said to be crucified? No, the flesh is all too active. It's there.
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What do I need to do?
Look at verse 11.
Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed under sin, but alive under God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I am entitled to do that because of where God has placed me. I have the right. If I could use that word in the proper way, I have the right.
To say I am dead to sin, I reckon myself to be dead to sin. That old sinful self has no rights anymore.
I can say that.
And I'm told to say it.
The flesh asserts itself, it tries its hardest, and the more I want to let that new life display itself, the harder that old sinful self comes at me.
We had this in Lawrenceville a week ago but turned back to it and or yes it's forward to it to Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5.
Notice what it says there.
In verse.
Three. But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh Saints.
Fornication, I don't think it hurts To mention it bluntly, is a serious sin.
And if I may be so bold, it's becoming increasingly common today among believers because it's common in the world. And so are many other serious sins.
And some of us are old enough to have seen that moral breakdown over a period of 50 or more years that has come about in Western nations.
But what leads up to fornication? Uncleanness.
And what leads to uncleanness? Covetousness. And what does Paul say about all three?
Let them not be once named among you.
Why does he say that? Oh, because if I would judge the covetousness that starts the ball rolling, I wouldn't have to have my brethren judge me for the fornication.
In simple terms.
What do I do if having reckoned myself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God?
What do I do when that happens? When a temptation comes to me, do I fight with it? Do I use human energy to fight with it?
Back in the days when there were coal fires in North America and particularly in European countries, many more than there are today.
Creosote, which is a very flammable compound and a byproduct of the combustion of coal, would build up in chimneys and as a result you had to have a chimney sweep come along every now and then and clean out the chimney.
We had one come and clean out our fireplace once because we burned wood in our fireplace and he cleaned out our chimney a couple of times. Dirty job but in days gone by they tell me those chimney sweeps would walk down the street.
Close, black with soot, with brushes over their shoulders, black with soot. And a brother made the comment, he said, which would get you dirtier.
Hugging a chimney sweeper. Fighting with him.
Which would get you dirtier.
Wouldn't make much difference, would it? It just as dirty if you came to blows with a chimney sweep and wrestled with them. You'd probably get just as much soot on yourself as if you hugged them. Whether I hug sin or whether I fight with it, the devil doesn't care as long as I'm involved with sin. And that's where many dear believers make a mistake, because they think that fighting with sin is the way to get rid of it, no?
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It's too strong force. What do I do the answers outside of myself.
I look outside of myself, I look up to the Lord and say, Lord, I thank thee that I am no longer in the flesh or in flesh, but I am in spirit. Now those are expressions from Romans 8, and time doesn't permit us to go into that chapter. We are no longer in flesh. A man in flesh is trying to please God with a human energy and he fails.
That's what happens in the 7th chapter of Romans. He's trying his hardest and he fails every time. Now it's really the experience of a man who in that sense isn't truly saved. He's got new life, but he's not truly saved yet. He doesn't have the Spirit of God. But again, we don't have time to go into all that. But even a believer that is indwelt with the Spirit of God can fall into that way of thinking.
And we need to get clear of it. The answer is to look up to the Lord and say, Lord, I thank thee.
That I am no longer in flesh, but in spirit. That I am no longer before thee as a lost, guilty Sinner.
In flesh, but that I am before thee in all the perfection of Christ Himself. And then what do we do? Turn away from it. Think about something else.
I say this a little too often, but this is a personal reference. I was driving along in my car one time, pulled up to a stoplight. It was a warm day and it was just a nice temperature. So instead of turning on the air conditioning, I had the windows down. Really nice in the spring, but when I drew up to that.
Stop light. The car next to me had the radio on, and what was coming out of that radio was anything but edifying. Not only music but words and things like that.
And I couldn't. Thus I put my fingers in my ears. I couldn't help but listen to it, but I didn't want all that reverberating around in my mind when I pulled away from the stoplight. I simply started humming a hymn to myself. You know it works. Suddenly my mind is turned in the right direction, or I start thinking about the Lord.
This is a true story. It happened in Grand Rapids, MI.
And I was not there, I only read it, but I thought it was a very interesting story. There were two Christian men, I have no idea who they were, no one that I had ever met, but they were in a hotel in Grand Rapids, MI at a business meeting. And when they went out to get out of the hotel, it was one of these hotels in a big U shape and so on. And they got turned around and ended up, ended up instead of going up the right aisle to go out the front.
Door, they ended up going out the back door and they ended up going out by the pool and they had to walk pretty much through the pool area to get to the door to the back, which took them to the parking lot and.
As they walked through that pool here, of all things, they stumbled right on a beauty contest, and here was a bevy of beautiful girls in skimpy bathing suits standing there.
And all the rest of it.
And one of them heard the other one saying to himself with his eyes kind of half closed. Lord, you certainly are a great Savior. Lord, it's wonderful to be saved. Lord, it's wonderful to know that I no longer have to be subject to the devil or anything to do with sin. Lord, I'm thankful that very quickly I'm going to be with thee in heaven.
When they got outside, the first one said to that one, What was that all about? What were you saying all that for?
Brother, he said. It sure beats lust.
Did he have the right idea? He did.
Well, I'm not saying that everyone should go at it that way, but that was his way of dealing with the matter.
I'm being very practical.
But we need to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God.
It works. And what happens as a result of it? Not only do I.
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Learn more about the Lord. But it's liberty. It's liberty. It's not legalism. It's not bringing me under law. It's not living by a set of do's and don'ts. No, it is not. It is referring everything to the Lord, but it's doing it in what Scripture calls in James, the perfect law of liberty.
And what is the result of it? Spiritual growth?
Many dear believers stunt, and I'm pointing at myself, stunt their spiritual growth by allowing that in their lives which the Lord calls on them to judge. And even if it's only our thoughts that need judging, evil thoughts can be enough to destroy our communion with the Lord.
One last verse.
2nd Corinthians 4.
Or two last verses.
2nd Corinthians 4.
Verse 10.
Excuse me?
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
You know that draws out our affections.
What a difference that makes.
And it's an always thing. It's a daily thing. I reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Perhaps I do that once, and I do that in a very real way, and I take that position before God. That's good. But practically it's a daily, everyday thing. I have constantly, and maybe more than once a day.
To bear about in my body, not the fact that Christ died under sin as a mere fact.
But the dying of the Lord Jesus, my affections must be brought into play. Not merely do I do all this as a magic formula to be remained free from sin, but rather I remember in my heart and soul that that sin which I am tempted to commit.
Was that which ultimately caused the suffering and death of my precious savior.
That will have a stronger effect on me than merely a knowledge of the truth of all this.
And then the next verse.
Verse 11 And this is one step further for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake.
That the life also of Jesus might be.
Made manifest in our mortal flesh, what is it to be delivered unto death?
It is to have the Lord see something in me that I don't recognize.
Sometimes I can be some so taken up with things that there is that in my life which I don't even realize.
And the Lord has to deliver me unto death. Now don't get me wrong, you know very well that I am not suggesting that every trial in a believers life is the Lord seeking to bring before me some root of sin that I need to judge. But sometimes the Lord sees fit in His ways to deliver me unto death. And if he does so, and I honestly go to him about it and ask him what it's for, I can tell you from experience there will.
No question in your life and in your mind and in your heart as to what the Lord is speaking about. He will make it clear to you.
And so we ought not to resent the being delivered unto death, because the result of it is what?
That the Lord will deliver us unto death. To what end? Whoops, back to Romans 6.
Back to Romans 6.
What's the last verse of the chapter?
Verse 23 For the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We often use that word in the gospel, that verse, but it's written to an assembly of believers, and I believe we can apply it to ourselves as believers in this way. That death in the sense of eternal death is definitely the wages of sin.
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But the wages of sin and a believers life are moral death.
And those who can remember our late brother Eric Smith will remember his saying to us.
And referring to believers that, as he called it, were dead on the battlefield of life, like Saul and Jonathan and others on Mount Gilboa in the Old Testament.
Moral death, a lack of power, a lack of going forward for Christ, a lack of real testimony for Him. Why? Oh, because of that which has been allowed, which we have been unwilling to deal with.
Oh, how much better to submit to being delivered unto death in that way.
In order that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our mortal bodies or our mortal flesh, rather than finding out to our sorrow that the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, we get the gift of God when we are saved and the thank God for the present possession of eternal life. Beautiful.
We don't have time to go into it, but the expression eternal life is used in four different ways in scripture and one of them refers to the present enjoyment of it in our life down here. I suggest that that application is appropriate in this scripture.