THE KING'S BUSINESS
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3 u 6 g i n g S e l f a n d 1 F n t b *
S u c c e s s i o n ?
JUDGING SELF. N. H. Canada.
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other. We read of some great sin committed by one of the Corinthian brethren, and Paul says to "deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Cor. 5:5). We must ever remember that God dealeth with us as with sons. "What son is he whom the father chas- teneth not? (Heb. 12:7.) How solemn are the words, "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (1 Cor. 3:17). "What! Know ye not that your body i3 the tem- ple of the Holy Ghost in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, there- fore glorify God in your body, and in your Spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). "Seeing then ye are risen with Christ mortify therefore your mem- bers which are upon earth." No doubt whatever if we do not judge ourselves for any known defilement, thus defiling God's temple, God Him- self causes His anger toward sin to be manifested, and inflicts judgment against it; the same as He did towards Ananias and Sapphira, for His own honor and glory. ARE WE IN THE SUCCESSION? By Rev. J. H. Jowett, D. D. ERE, then, is a principle. The J j J. gospel of a broken heart de- mands the ministry of bleed- ing hearts. If that succession be broken, we lose our fellow- ship with the King. As soon as we cease to bleed we cease to bless. . . . My breth- ren, are ye in this succession? Does the cry of the world's real need pierce the heart, and ring even through the fabric of our dreams? Do we "fill up" our Lord's suffering with our own suf- ferings, or are we the unsympathetic ministers of a mighty passion? I am amazed how easily I become callo'us. I am ashamed ho wsmall and insensitive is the surface which I present to the needs and sorrows of the world/ I so easily become enwrapped in the soft wool of self-indulgency, and the cries
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E that committetli sin Is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Whoso is born of God hath not com-
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V mitted sin; for his seed re- maineth in him: and he can not sin, i because he is born of God" (1 Jno. 3:8, 9). All sin is of the devil, but we know that whosoevr is born of God sin- neth not. "But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are * found sinning, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I y (the old man, the flesh, the corrupt nature) build again the things which I y destroyed, I make myself a transgres- r sor" (Gal. 2:17, 18). "I am crucified with Christ (the old man), neverthe- less I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me" (Christ the new life), (Gal. 2.20). "That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the i Spirit is spirit" (Jno. 3:6). Colossians 3:4 shows Christ to be our Life; also »- John 11:25; 14:6. Now having been made partakers of this new life, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Apostle says: "Reckon therefore your- selves to be dead unto sin." It is not that we feel dead to it, or are dead to its motions, but as Chrsit died so we > reckon ourselves dead. We must ever be judging the flesh; crucifying it with all its affections and lusts, that it gain no mastery over us. The Apostle has ¡^ great cause to speak to.the Corinthian brethren when he says, "Let a man ex- amine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup." They „ did not discern for what they were * meeting; but came to feast their bodies and went so far as to be drunken. Sure- ly ly, they were walking and acting in the flesh, and not in the Spirit. -This con- y duct did not say that they were not the children of God, but the Apostle exhorts them to judge themselves, or else they would be chastened of the Lord, that they might not be condemned with the world. Luke 12:47 teaches us plainly that "That servant which knew His Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes." How true it is that the flesh lusteth against
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