247
THE KING’S BUSINESS
Malachi 3:1, 6, 13-18; 4:1-3). . Ninth. The believer has the blessed assurance of eternal security (5:10). He is assured that if when we hated God, when we were at enmity with Him, when we were virtually enemies and rebels against His whole law and will, He then saved us, H.e. surely will keep us now that we love Him and are seeking to glorify Him in our lives. Thus we are not only saved, but kept by faith. The risen life of our Lord Jesus Christ is the secret of a life of victory. The Christ of the cross saves from the guilt of sin; the Christ of the throne, from the power of sin. Paul was desirous of knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection (Philippians 3:10). He will keep us “for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). “Of all that thou hast given me, I have lost none” (John 17:12). “My . . . sheep shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:27-29). 3. The new way of life described in relation to the race— our choice of remaining in Adam or choosing Christ (5:12-21). Up to this point in the epistle, the apostle has been endeavoring to xshow only the fact that all men are sinners by nature as well as by act, and are therefore under the divine wrath, and destitute of the right eousness of God. In this section the apostle identifies the sin of the race with the sin of the natural representative head of the race—Adam: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (5 :12). Certain death comes to man through Adam’s sin (5:12), so assurance of perpetuity of life comes from union with Christ by faith (5:11). “By the trespass of the one the many died” (v. 15). “The judgment came of one unto condemnation” (v. 16). “By the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one” (v. 17). “Through one trespass the judg ment came unto all men to condemnation” (v. 18). “Through the one man’s dis obedience the many were made sinners”
Spirit indwelling, but not all believers have the fulness of the Holy Spirit. All may have that fulness, however. Indeed, it is probably disobeying a command of God not to be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephe sians 5:18). Many Christians have the indwelling Holy Spirit for the satisfaction of their own ■spiritual state, but they do not have the overflow of the Spirit for the blessing of others (John 7:37, 39). It is interesting to note here in what special connection the Holy Spirit is ^estowed— with suffering, and with joy triumphing over shame (Acts 7:54-58; 1 Thessalonians 1:6, 7). Seventh. The believer has the assurance of God’s love and favor, in spite of his own conscious weakness (5:6-8). If we are tempted to doubt our relationship to God by faith because of dissatisfaction with our condition, we are reminded of the Tact that when we were weak and abso lutely helpless to do anything to save our selves, then Christ died for u s; that then God saved us. There are doubtless times when all God’s people doubt whether there is anythjng in them worth saving. It is in such moments as these that the comfort of these verses receives its full value, and brings its appropriate blessing. Eighth. The believer is saved from wrath through faith in Christ (5:9). One wonders very much, after listening to much present day preaching, whether there is any such thing as the “wrath of God,” or whether there is anything in God to be afraid of. Our fathers used to preach the wrath of God, and men trembled, feared, and cried out in agony of soul, “What shall we do to be saved?” Then there flashed upon their hearts and minds, light from Calvary, and the gospel of light dispelled the darkness of the law, and men believed and found rest of soul. Is there such a thing as future wrath? Undoubtedly the Apostle Paul believed so (Romans 2 :5, 8, 9; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Jesus taught that there was something in God to be feared (Mark 9:42-50;; Luke 12:4, 5). It is also the burden of the prophetic message (cf.
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs