A Spiritual Death & A Spiritual Life
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." -Romans 8:10 [KJV]
We
want two things in lively operation; a spiritual death and a spiritual
life. We want death put upon the flesh, upon sin, upon everything which
is ungodly, that it may not reign or rule; and we want also the
communication and maintenance of a divine life which shall act Godward,
exist and co-exist in the same breast, and be in activity at the same
moment.
Here is sin striving for the mastery; but here also is a view of
the cross of Christ; here is a testimony of bleeding, dying love. This
puts a death upon sin. But as death is put upon sin and the lust is
mortified, crucified, resisted, or subdued, there springs up a life of
faith and prayer, of hope and love, of repentance and godly sorrow for
sin, of humility and spirituality, of a desire to live to God's praise
and walk in His fear. The cross gives both. From the cross comes death
unto sin; from the cross comes life unto righteousness. From the cross
springs the healing of every bleeding wound, and from the cross springs
every motive to a godly life.
Thus, in God's mysterious wisdom, there
is a way whereby sin can be pardoned, the law magnified, justice
exalted, the sinner saved, sin subdued, righteousness given, and the
soul made to walk in the ways of peace and holiness. Oh, what depths of
wisdom, mercy, and grace are here! Look where you will, try every mode,
if you are sincere about your soul's salvation, if the Lord the Spirit
has planted the fear of God in your heart, you will find no other way
but this.
There is no other way that leads to holiness here and heaven
hereafter; no other way whereby sin can be pardoned and the soul
sanctified. It is this view of salvation from sin not only in its guilt
but also in its power, this deliverance from the curse of the law and
well-spring of all holy, acceptable obedience, which has in all ages so
endeared the cross to the souls of God's family, and made all of them
more or less to be of Paul's mind, when he declared that he was
determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
-preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
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