Christ Alone Delivers His People - Hallelujah!
"And
you hath HE
QUICKENED,
who were dead in trespasses and sins."
-EPHESIANS
2:1 [KJV]
Death
in sin is of course a figure, and must be interpreted as such; for
moral death is its meaning, and by moral death we understand the
utter absence of everything holy, heavenly, spiritual, and divine;
the entire want of participation in, and conformity to the life which
God lives as essentially and eternally holy, pure, wise, and good,
and for ever dwelling in the glorious light of His own infinite
perfections. To be dead, then, is to have no present part or lot with
God; no knowledge of Him, no faith, no trust, no hope in Him; no
sense of His presence, no reverence of His terrible Majesty; no
desire after Him or inclination toward Him; no trembling at His word,
no reliance on His promise, no longing for His grace, no care or
concern for His glory.
It
is to be as a beast before Him, intent like a brute on satisfying the
cravings of lust, or the movements of mere animal passion, without
any thought or concern what shall be the issue, and to be bent upon
carrying out into action every natural purpose, as if we were
self-creators, and were our own judge, our own lord, and our own God.
O what a terrible state is it to be thus dead in sin, and not to know
it, not to feel it, to be in no way sensible of its present danger
and certain end, UNLESS DELIVERED FROM IT BY A MIGHTY ACT OF
SOVEREIGN POWER! It is this want of all sense and feeling which makes
the death of the soul to be but a representation of, as it is the
prelude to, that second death which stretches through a boundless
eternity.
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
January
27th, EARS FROM HARVESTED SHEAVES
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