September 1929
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The Christian's V ictorious Walk B y R ev . A rthur B. H arries , B.D., C ardiff , W ales (Address Delivered at the Summer School o f the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles)
Ì AM going to read a few verses from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, and I want to talk particularly over Èph. 6:10-18: " Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles o f the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against princi palities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness o f this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of right eousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the 'shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword o f the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.’1 So, you will never choose your service, but be ready to go, at any moment, anywhere the Lord wants you to go, “Ready to go, ready to wait, ready a gap to fill, Ready for service, small or great, ready to do His will." I want us to consider together three great central ideas : 1. The Presentation unto the Lord. 2. The Place of the Believer’s Cooperation. 3. The Purpose. You will observe that at least two of the ideas, the first and the second, are human, and on the side of the believer. The believer has to do something. We have an expression, “Let go and let God,” and I have been urging upon the people, particularly in the eastern States of America, that they will clearly make known what it means. Let there be a clearer explanation of the idea and term, “letting go.” T h e P resentation U nto th e L ord I want to be very clear, so that there need be no con fusion as to the terms we use. Thus, I invite your consid eration to one or two Scriptures that deal with the central idea, viz., that of presentation. The sixth chapter of Romans is the decisive chapter for thè believer. Rom. 6:13 reads : “ 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.” You will have to be very careful, believer, that whilst in your heart you love God, with your mind you are not playing into the hands of the devil. It is possible for your devotion to be all right, and for your mind to be all wrong. It is not only in relation to the work that Christ has done for me ; but as an individual, definite act, I am to present the members of my being to God, and not only ask Him to cleanse my heart, but yield to Him my brain, my devotion, my thought, my will, my body, my feet, my eyes, my ears, my tongue, and my hands. We have to do
it in detail so that we shall recognize the great moral and spiritual implications of our union with Christ in death. How many of us must acknowledge that we have ut tered words, written letters; and how we would have burned those letters, taken back those words, neither thought those thoughts, nor given expression to that spirit, nor displayed that passion, nor yielded to that lust. And oh, when that has taken place, we have been plunged into indescribable remorse and depression. Now, says the Lord’s apostle, “ Yield your members unto God.” And notice how close is the relationship be tween the members of our beings, and sin. We have to distinguish dearly between positional truth and experimental truth. The first part of the chap ter deals with positional truth. When Christ died, the whole of the believer died with Him, was crucified, buried, and rose with Him-. That is positional truth. Rom. 6:6 reads: “ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body o f sin might be destroyed, that hence forth we should not serve sin.” Therefore, the body of sin shall not have my tongue to use, none of my thought, shall not have my emotion, not energize my will, nor have my feet, nor my hands,— that body of sin shall be put on the unemployed list. Have you got it? That is Scripture. It can be expressed in two little words, “none effect.” It shall not have the being to express itself. The apostle goes on and says that “he who is dead is liberated from sin.” As the believer recognizes his union with Christ, here is his release. Rom. 6:11: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is an attitude of the heart in' relation to sin. Count yourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God. It is the vocation of the Holy Spirit to make that blessedly real in the heart of the believer. You have the subjunctive mode of the verb in the 12th verse: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” We have been looking to the Holy Ghost to do that. I find that sin masters me, Remember that frdm the ex perimental side of it, verse 11 follows verse 12. I choose now that sin, strong as it may be, sin, as far as the choice of my will is concerned, shall not reign over me, that I should obey it in the lusts thereof, in its decision and practices. Rom. 6:13: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments o f unrighteousness unto s in : but yield your selves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments o f righteousness unto God.” In every form of temptation you and I are to take an attitude toward the thing itself. Whether it comes in the stream of our own conscious thought or emotion, from within or without, as we stand with God and take the atti tude of faith and fellowship with Christ, instead of our brains thinking evil, we shall think divine; instead of our hearts being filled with passion and lust, we shall be filled with the love of God, and it shall be a true experience that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts.
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