one time, nor is it always immediate. A soul which has been born into the kingdom of God will walk in obedi ence day-by-day, so that over a pe riod of years there will be a marked change in that character as it be comes more Christ-like. So many of God’s people strive hard to do their best for God. This is not condemn ing any kind of trial which may be right and proper. From Scripture we see that the Christian life is not your trying to do your best but rather it is your allowing God to do His best in and through you. Our Lord used so many illustrations, such as the one in John 15:5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fru it: for without me ye can do nothing.” It’s the abiding life which provides the victory. There has to be a proper relationship to the Saviour. As Paul points out in Romans 6, “In the old days these fin gers, this tongue, these eyes, these ears, were all used for wrong pur poses; they were the instruments of sin.” Now we have been redeemed; we have become re-orientated. We don’t get new hands, new eyes, new ears, but rather, we receive a new nature. Our hands are to serve Christ; our feet are to walk in His way; our lips are to speak His praise. This very same body now be comes the vehicle through which His holiness expresses itself. “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
I N THE SIXTH CHAPTER OF ROMANS we find the life of Christian vic tory flO-17). The first thing we find in this portion is the fact that vic tory for the Christian is not an ab normal experience. It is not reserved for just preachers or those who go around to conferences and conven tions. This doesn’t produce a supe rior brand of Christians. The vic torious Christian life has been pur chased for us by Jesus Christ by His death and resurrection. This then is your spiritual b i r t h r i g h t . You weren’t redeemed in order to live a life of constant defeat. I t is true that occasionally there will be the bitterness of failure. This, however, isn’t the fault of Christ. Instead, you failed to depend on the Lord. The Lord wants to keep you from stumbling. Defeat comes through our lack of trusting Him. The Bible doesn’t te a c h sinless perfection. That’s an attribute belonging only to God. When we see the Lord, we shall be like Him. We are living in a filthy world. Yet we are required to live before God and men in holiness and righteousness all our days (Gal. 2:20). In the flesh no man can please God. What we need to do is to cru cify the flesh. Being in the flesh is defined in various ways such as “the carnal mind,” “enmity against God." The flesh is the crucifixion of the self-life. The previous life need not be a drunkard’s life, or an immoral life. I t could have been a religious life, yet still according to the flesh. The Lord didn’t come just to Chris- tionize our paganism, coloring up our old personality. His life is all new, for we receive His nature. This should now dominate our personali ties. It may not always be seen at 12
When a fellow falls in love with him self, it’s certain he won’t have any com petition.
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