The Way of VictoryBy JAMES H. McCONKEY

CONTENTSCHAPTER 1.The Way of Death Victory over the Dominion of Sin 2.The Way of Life Victory over the Law of Sin 3.The Way of Consecration Victory over the Choice of Sin 4.The Way of Cleansing Victory over the Practice of Sin 5.The Way of Resurrection Victory over the Death of Sin 6.The Sidelights of Victory

1 THE WAY OF DEATHVictory over the Dominion of SinHow shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ROMANS 6:2 A CHRISTIAN MAN with a long journey before him rose before dawn to get an early start. He passed down the garden walk, through the gate, and into the middle of the highway. Then he realized he was lost. The darkness was so intense he could not, with all his efforts, locate his position. Presently, as he strained his eyes to peer through the thick gloom, he spied the top of a telephone pole outlined against the first faint flush of the coming dawn. He saw only a few feet of the pole. With its cross arm at right angles to the body of the pole, it looked exactly like a great cross against the morning

sky. That cross became his guide in the darkness. He knew that it stood just at the junction point of the road in which he was groping, with that of the highway which he sought, and which would lead him into the city to the railroad station. He slowly picked his way toward the silhouette of the cross in the sky. Reaching the pole, he found himself in the middle of the desired highway and was soon on his journey to his destination. It was the cross which guided him from darkness into light. And now turn to chapter 7 of Romans. In it we have the stage setting of a great tragedy. It is the tragedy of the struggle of a human soul against besetting sin. The man depicted there longs for deliverance from the enthrallment of inbred sin. He hates that sin. He loves the Law of God. So because that Law is spiritual and holy he naturally proceeds to apply it to the sin that dwells within him. But when he comes to apply it to himself he finds something within which he

calls the flesh that simply will not obey this holy Law of God. It is not subject to that Law, neither indeed can it be. The more he struggles, the more bitter becomes the bondage. Although he delights in this Law of God after the inward man, this other law brings him into hopeless captivity to the law of sin and death which is in his members. He reaches at last the place of utter despair. Then he cries out in his wretchedness, Who shall deliver me? The answer comes quick and clear, I thank God through Jesus Christ! (Ro 7:24-25). In the midst of his darkness like the man lost in the middle of the road, he catches a glimpse of the cross the cross of Jesus Christ. He sees Gods own way of victory over sin. It is the way of the cross of Jesus Christ. It is the way of death. How shall we, that are dead to sin ...? (Ro 6:2). God lays His foundations deep. This one on victory over sin He lays in the depth of death. The Holy Spirit begins His triumphant teaching

of the believers victory over sin by this one terse, striking, graphic phrase: dead to sin. It is the foundation of the entire structure of teaching upon the life of victory. Three times in quick succession it occurs in the first ten verses. In verse 2 it is said of us, How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? In verse 10 it is spoken of Christ, For in that he died, he died unto sin once. In verse 11 it is said again of us, Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Man begins his teaching of victory over sin with cleansing. But God begins His with death the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our union with Him in the fellowship and the power of that death. Let us start where God starts in this matter of victory over sin. Then we can make no mistake. And God starts with those wondrous words quoted above, namely, Dead to sin. Note at the very beginning that there are three or four great truths touching upon death

which form the framework of the teaching of victory over sin in this key chapter 6 of Romans. The first one is this:

JESUS CHRIST NOT ONLY DIED FOR SINS BUT HE ALSO DIED TO SINThe Word is clear upon this. For in verse 10 we read: For in that he died, he died unto sin once. What does the Word mean by this statement concerning Christ? Let us illustrate. Suppose a man in your town had committed a capital crime. Suppose he had been arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for it. The fateful day of execution came and he paid the dreadful penalty for the heinous crime. Now suppose that by some wondrous power this man, who was really dead, should suddenly be resurrected and appear again in living form, as before, in your midst. What power and authority

would the law of the land now have over this man concerning the crime which he had committed and for which he had paid the full penalty of the law in his own person? Every lawyer or judge in your community would tell you that the law now has no power whatever over this man in regard to the crime which he had committed in your midst. The law having put him to death, he is now dead to the law. The law has no more dominion over him. Two thousand years ago our Lord Jesus Christ came under the dominion of sin in the matter of death. Not that He ever sinned, for He was utterly sinless and holy. But He bare our sins in his own body on the tree (1 Pe 2:24) and was put to death for us as our great sin-Bearer. Thus He came under the dominion of sin in the matter of death, and in that respect only. Then God wrought the miracle of the resurrection and raised Him from the dead. Now the dominion of sin in this matter of death is forever broken. The

only dominion that sin ever had over Him, because of our sins, has ceased. Like the man in the illustration who is now dead to the law, so of Christ it is said: In that he died, he died unto sin once (Ro 6:10), and death, which represented the only dominion of sin over Him, hath no more dominion over him (6:9). In the second place,

EVERY BELIEVER HAS BEEN BAPTIZED INTO THIS DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST TO SINSo many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death (v. 3). And now we come to the light as to this phrase How shall [can] we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? What does this expression dead to sin, as applied to us, mean? Clearly it does not mean that we are literally dead. Our Lord was. He literally died. His spirit left His

body behind. But immediately we see that we believers are not dead in this sense, for here we are living, walking, and working men and women, very much alive. What then does Paul, inspired by the Spirit, mean when he says, How shall we that are dead . . .? Note well his answer to his own question: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (v. 3). Paul does not mean that we are literally dead. But he proceeds to explain that we have been baptized into the death of Christ. Of him [God] are ye in Christ Jesus (1 Co 1:30). And because we are thus joined to Jesus Christ, though we are alive, yet the power and efficacy of our Lord Christs death become ours by virtue of our union with Himself. So then it is manifestly not our death, but our union with Christ in His death to which Paul refers when he says we are dead to sin. This distinction is of

tremendous importance, because there are those who claim that we are dead to sin in the sense of unresponsive to sin, even as a paralyzed limb is dead to the prick of a pin or the thrust of a needle. But we will be saved much of confusion and perplexity if we see that Paul does not use it in this sense at all, but in the one which is set forth so clearly and explicitly in the third verse cited above. Third,

EVERY BELIEVER IS COMMANDED TO RECKON HIMSELF DEAD TO SIN THROUGH JESUS CHRISTReckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (v. 11). Gods children seem to overlook the great fact that reckon . . . yourselves dead to sin is a command, as much so as thou shalt not steal.

You are just as much dead to sin now as you ever will be here on earth. For God has joined you to Christ. Of him [God] are ye in Christ Jesus. And you are just as much in Him now as you ever will be in this present life. So, in this sense, all Christians are dead to sin. Hear Paul: How can we that are dead sin? He is speaking of all believers. He declares that all of us who were baptized into Him were baptized into His death. It is just as much a fact that God has baptized you into the death of Christ as that God has laid your sins upon Him. It is as much sheer unfaith to disbelieve the one as it is the other. And it is largely due to the fact that people insist that this word dead means dead in the sense of unresponsive as the paralyzed limb already mentioned is dead to the prick of a pin or the thrust of a needle, whereas it means union with Christ in His death. Therefore we should take our stand on Gods Word and begin to count ourselves dead to sin because He says we are,

utterly apart from any feeling or unfaith of our own. It is as though God said to us, This is true through my Son, and I want you to begin to count it true. This word reckon is an accountants term. Count yourself dead to sin through your Lord Jesus Christ. Credit that to my account, says the bank depositor. Credit the Lord Jesus Christs death to your account. God credited Christs death for sins to your account. Because of it He wiped out all the debt of sins which was against you. Now He asks you to credit Christs death to sin to your own personal account. Begin to count yourself dead to sin, through our Lord Jesus Christs death to sin. Again,

RECKON YOURSELF DEAD TO SIN DOES NOT MEAN THAT SIN IS DEAD IN YOUI remember a summer trip upon the Great

Lakes. Our steamer contained cargo to be put off at a port of call. A dense fog enveloped the lake. As we approached the port the engines were slowed down, for the entrance was rocky, narrow, and dangerous. At the mouth of this entrance stood a lighthouse. For some time we kept slowly running back and forth. At last I said to the lookout, What are we doing? Trying to pick up the light was his answer, by which he meant we were trying to sight the lighthouse. And how are we running? By dead reckoning, sir was his reply. Now dead reckoning is what the mariner must use when the unerring guidance of the stars is blotted out, as it was that night by the all-enveloping fog. It was the mariners reckoning of the place of his ship by the speed and time elements of her progress. But there is always risk of error in it compared with the accuracy of the errorless stars in the heavens above. And so it was in this case. For back and

forth we coasted for more than an hour, by dead reckoning. But we could not find the lighthouse, and at the end of that time we gave up the task, headed out into the darkness of the open bay, and traveled all night to our port of destination. We had utterly failed to pick up the light by dead reckoning, and we dared not attempt the entrance. Are there not many who are making a similar mistake concerning the dead reckoning of sin? They reckon that sin is dead in us. And they say if we only keep reckoning thus, we shall find it to be true. But do we really ever pick up the light by this kind of dead reckoning? And does the Word of God justify us in saying that sin is dead in us? Certainly not here in Romans 6. This is the great, climactic, final word of God upon the work of the cross in giving victory over sin. But it does not say, Reckon that sin is dead in you. It does say Reckon . . . yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.

RECKON, THEREFORE, NOT UPON THE BANISHED PRESENCE OF SIN AS A PRINCIPLE BUT UPON THE BROKEN DOMINION OF SIN AS A MASTERLet us pause here long enough to note this striking fact. Chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Romans are the high-water mark of Gods teaching concerning victory over sin. Everything before leads up to this. Everything later in the New Testament refers back to it. This is Gods full, final, and exhaustive statement of the whole question of victory over sin. Now note this significant fact. In all the eighty-seven verses of these chapters devoted to the subject of victory over sin, the word cleanse does not once occur; neither is there any mention anywhere of victory over sin as being an act of cleansing. The reason is obvious. Gods remedy for the

flesh is not cleansing, but crucifixion; not the fullers soap, but the spikes of the cross; not sinlessness of nature, but holiness of walk. A total absence, therefore, of all mention of cleansing from these three great chapters upon victory over sin is a searching argument against the teaching that Gods way of victory over sin is a cleansing of the flesh from the inbred principle of sin. On the other hand, all the terms of defeat in Romans 6 are pictures of the slavery of sin, while all its terms of victory are terms of deliverance from the dominion, mastership, and slavery of sin. Run over the chapter and note how strikingly this is true: That henceforth we should not serve [be slaves to] sin (v. 6). Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body (v. 12). For sin shall not have dominion over you (v. 14).

To whom ye yield yourselves servants [bondslaves] (v. 16). Ye were the servants [bondslaves] of sin (v. 17). Being then made free [emancipated] from sin (v. 18 ). And become servants [bondslaves] to God (v.22). Therefore dead to sin does not mean that sin is dead in you. Neither does it mean that there is never any response to sin in you. What it does mean is that just as the dominion of the law was wholly broken over that man who died and then rose again, and just as the dominion of death was forever broken over Jesus Christ who died and rose again, so the dominion of sin over you has been forever broken by your union with Christ in His death. And now you can say to sin, I am conscious of your presence in me. I know too well the appeal you make to me. But I believe with all my heart your dominion over

me was broken by what God did in Christ Jesus for me. And this faith is for me the beginning of a new and glorious victory in Christ Jesus.

BEGIN TO RECOGNIZE AND YOU WILL BEGIN TO REALIZERealize what? The power of Christs death (not ours) in breaking the dominion of sin. Because He died, death hath no more dominion over him (6:9), and because of our union with Him sin shall not have dominion over you (6:14), even though it is present in you. Our reckoning ourselves dead to sin through Jesus Christ does not make it a fact. It is already a fact through our union with Him. Our reckoning it to be true only makes us begin to realize the fact. It is counting on something which is true in Christ. And as we count upon it we begin to realize it. As we reckon we realize. For reckoning is not imagining a fiction. It is counting upon a fact. And that fact is that you and I, though living, are

baptized into the death of Jesus Christ; and as we begin to reckon upon it, we begin to realize it. Faith steps upon the empty void And finds the rock beneath And now let us note another important fact, namely,

REMEMBER THAT IT IS NOT THE UNDERSTANDING OF RECKONING BUT THE PRACTICE OF IT WHICH BRINGS VICTORYWe do not understand the mystery of atonement, but when we believe in Jesus Christ we receive the blessing of it. We cannot understand the mystery of an indwelling Christ. Paul said it was not known to the prophets of old. But when we received Jesus Christ it became our glorious possession (Col 1:27). We do not understand the mystery of sonship. But

believing in Jesus Christ this, too, became our precious heritage and possession. So note this important fact: It is the practice of reckoning ourselves dead to sin through Christ, not the understanding of the mystery of it, which makes this great truth real in our lives. God commands us to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ. And it is obedience to a command not the understanding of a mystery which brings it into the realm of our experience. This text is one of Gods imperatives. To know its power, we must obey it. We must treat it not as doctrinal fiction but as a divine fact. It is a weapon which God has placed in our hands for victory over sin, and a weapon is of no value unless we use it. Remember that this imperative of Gods, Reckon yourselves dead to sin . . . through Jesus Christ is a command to be obeyed. And through the faith which obeys, God will release the stream of power which is in

this text and will make it a great spiritual dynamic in your life. Do you say, How shall I obey? How shall I use this weapon? Simply say to sin as it assails you in the midst of all the stress and tumult of temptation, and however your feelings may protest against it, On the strength of Gods clear Word, I count myself dead to you through Jesus Christ. However conscious I am of your presence, you shall not have dominion over me just as death no longer has dominion over my Lord. Through this faith in Gods Word you will find God releasing into your life the power of that Word. For no word from God is void of power. And as you obey this great victory imperative of God, reckon yourselves dead to sin . . . through Jesus Christ our Lord, this truth will become a mighty weapon placed in your hands by God to be triumphantly wielded against the adversary as he assails you in the arena of temptation.

VICTORY WILL COME AS YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR DISCHARGE THROUGH JESUS CHRISTHe that is dead is freed [has his discharge] from sin (6:7). A bright youth enlists in the navy for the regular term of service. The work keeps him busy. Nor is it always an easy job. But he entered with the purpose of doing his duty to the utmost. Moreover, he realizes that the officers of his ship are his superiors and that it is his duty to obey them to the limit of his ability. The years pass by and the term of his enlistment is about to expire. At high noon he receives his discharge papers. He is a free man. Five minutes afterward his superior officer says to him, Jack, I want you to scrub the deck, polish the rails, and clean the guns as usual. Jack turns to him, respectfully salutes, and quietly replies, No more of that for me, sir. The officer says, Why, you have been

scrubbing these decks, polishing these rails, and cleaning these guns at my command for five long years. And Jack replies, That is all true, sir; but not any longer. Why not? says the officer. Whereupon Jack smiles and says quietly but very firmly. I have my discharge! It is the same with the believer. Sin has done its worst in putting his Lord to death. Death has no more dominion over Him. And because the believer is united to Him in the likeness of His death, sin shall no longer have dominion over him. For he that is dead is freed from sin. That is, he has his discharge.

VICTORY WILL COME AS YOU CLAIM YOUR EMANCIPATION THROUGH CHRISTBut now being made free [emancipated] from sin (6:22). When Abraham Lincolns pen finished signing

the Emancipation Proclamation, at that instant every slave in this broad land was set free. Whether he believed it or not, whether he acted upon it or not, whether it instantly began to change his inner and outer life or not, nevertheless, at the instant of the signing of that historic document he was set free. The instant the Son of God cried out on His torturing cross, It is finished, that instant every man who was, or ever would be, in him through faith, was set free. Whether he believed it or not, whether it has yet affected his inner and outer life as a slave or not, whether he is knowing the power of that emancipation or not, yet he is set free from the slave mastership of sin. To be set free by someone else is one thing. To realize our freedom is another. Do not let us doubt emancipation because we have not yet realized and experienced it. For the former is the act of the emancipator. It is true entirely apart from any attitude, feeling, or experience of yours.

Your unfaith cannot nullify it; your faith does not establish it. Why? Because it is the act of another. That unfaith or faith of yours does vitally and tremendously affect the realization of emancipation in your life and walk. But it does not affect in the slightest degree the fact of emancipation. For the fact of emancipation is dependent wholly upon the act of the Emancipator: God, sending His own Son, condemned sin in the flesh. God signed this great emancipation proclamation. His Son cried out, It is finished, and you and I are to believe it.

THE FAILURE OF FAITH IS THE FAILURE OF FREEDOMShortly after the Civil War a Northern woman came South to visit some friends. She stopped at a little wayside hotel for entertainment. There she was waited on by a Negro woman who had been a slave. The service was careless, listless,

and inattentive. As this went on, the Northern woman became disturbed. Finally she burst out with, Auntie, is this the way you treat people who have set you free? The woman made no reply but left the room. By and by she returned. Her whole demeanor was changed. Her figure was erect, her eyes were flashing, and her voice was full of tears as she cried out with great emotion, Oh, Missus, is we free? Is we really free? The Emancipation Proclamation had really set her free. But she was as much a slave as though that document had never been issued. For she had not believed it. Her failure of faith meant the failure of freedom. Multitudes of Christians are in the same plight. They do not see that the emancipation of a slave is one thing, and the cleansing of a slaves life and walk is another. They do not see that while the slave has something to do with the latter, the former is wholly and only of God. Being made

free from sin is Gods glorious emancipation proclamation for them. But they remain as veritable slaves as though it had never been uttered. For they do not believe it. The first secret, therefore, of victory over sin for the Christian is clear. It is this: Step out on believing ground. Begin to count yourself, that is to reckon yourself dead to sin through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let this reckoning of faith be intelligent. Understand that this death to sin does not mean an inner state of deadness but does mean broken dominion. Say to sin, I am conscious of the pull of your presence, but you shall not have dominion over me. Meet all the assaults of sin with this steadfast attitude of faith. Soon you will find this reckoning of faith issuing into the realization of experience. You will discover that the cross of Christ has as surely broken the dominion of sin for you as it has cleansed away the guilt of your sins. You will realize that the way of death, the death of

our blessed Lord, has brought victory over the dominion of sin. And now you will be ready to press on to the way of life which will bring you victory over the law of sin.

2THE WAY OF LIFEVictory over the Law of Sin The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. ROMANS 8:2 SUPPOSE YOU HAVE a boy who is learning music. He does not have much talent for the art. Day by day he works away with all faithfulness. He gives his time and strength without stint to the practice of scales and technical exercises, but he seems to make but little headway. As the weeks and months go on he grows discouraged. Finally he reaches the place of despair and is on the verge of giving up. Suppose now you could put into this boy the spirit of some great musician. Suppose by some wonderful miracle there could enter into the boy the spirit of a Mozart, a Mendelssohn, a

Beethoven, or a Chopin. What a marvelous transformation it would make in the boys life. For where he had moved at a snaillike pace before, now he would advance by leaps and bounds. Soon he would reach such skill and proficiency as would rejoice your heart as well as his own. Your fondest hopes for his complete success would now soon be realized. The spiritual parallel to this illustration is a simple one. God looks down into the hearts of His children and sees there a stream of life which has flowed down to us from the first Adam. It is defiled and polluted with sin. Day by day we struggle and battle against it. Constantly we are suffering defeat from its presence and power. The good that we would we do not, and the evil that we would not that we do. At last we too reach the place of despair. We cry out, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me . . . ? (7:24). Then comes Gods deliverance. He looks down upon us with

a compassionate heart and says, I will put a new stream of life into the hearts of My children. I will give them the very Spirit of life which is in My own Son. And the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus shall make them free from the law of sin and death. So, Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts (Gal 4:6). So Pauls wondrous secret of victory, the secret of his marvelous, triumphant, Spirit-filled life in Christ, is found in his message to the Galatians, in one short revealing sentence of four words. Here it is: Christ liveth in me (Gal 2:20).

THE INDWELLING CHRIST IS OUR LIFEWe recall one summer day in the Adirondacks. A party of us were climbing one of the highest peaks. It was an intensely hot June day. As the climb progressed we grew very hot and thirsty.

We began to look about for water. Presently we spied a tiny stream trickling down along the mountain trail. We all dropped upon our knees and began to drink deep draughts of the little stream. Presently we arose from our knees refreshed and strengthened by the cooling draught. The water was so cold that it seemed to us to be ice water. However, that seemed a foolish idea up here in the mountains and we dismissed it. But we soon discovered that we were not so far wrong after all. For as we took our journey farther up the mountainside, the mystery was revealed. About a hundred yards further up, the trail took a sudden turn. There, just in the bend of the trail, was a great mountain boulder. Right in the middle of the rock was a huge cleft. This cleft was filled with snow and ice which had lain there since the last snowfall of the late spring. The great boulder was hidden among the trees and shrubbery in such a way that the sun scarcely smote the cleft

at any time of the day. From this hidden source in the cleft of the rock the mass of snow and ice slowly melting was feeding its refreshing contents to the little stream from which we had drunk below. We had really been drinking from a fountain of ice water hidden above us in the cleft of the great unseen rock. Even so is it in the spiritual life. The pathway here below is dusty and toilsome. The besetments of sin are fierce and unrelenting. The treacherous weakness of the flesh is ever present with us. But our life is hid with Christ in God. Yes, and most wonderful of all, Christ is our life. This was Pauls profoundest secret. Christ liveth in me, and I live by faith in Christ. The Israelites drank from the Rock which followed them and that Rock was Christ. As the mountain climbers drank from the cloven rock above, so for us there flowed from the cloven side of Christ a double stream of blood and water. In the blood we have the way of

death, or victory over the dominion of sin. In the water we have the way of life, or victory over the law of sin. Christ in us, therefore, is literally our spiritual life, and it is as this life of the living Christ within us becomes the law of our life that we are made free from the law of sin and death. For the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

THE INDWELLING CHRIST IS OUR HOLINESSAnd for their sakes I sanctify myself (Jn 17:19). A mother in a hospital was in sore need of a transfusion of blood to save her life. In the emergency the doctors searched for someone to help out in the need. Her own son offered his body for the necessary supply of blood. The doctors accepted the offer. But before they made the transfusion they made the most searching

test of the boys blood from specimens which they took for examination. Why was this done? Because if there was the slightest defilement or infection in the blood of her son it could not be transfused into the body of his mother without risk of pollution and death to her. The stream of life to be transfused into her veins must be one of purity and health, not of infection and death. How beautifully this illustrates our Lords words in John 17:19, For their sakes I sanctify myself. Why does He say this? Because He was coming into us sons of God to live out His own life in us. And if we were to be made holy in truth, then that life which entered into us must be what it was, and what He kept it, namely, a perfectly spotless, holy, sanctifying life upon which we could draw and which would constitute our holiness, as distinct from the defiling stream of death which has flowed down to us from the first Adam. A great truth concerning victory stands out

here. It is that the believer has no innate holiness of nature in himself. Jesus Christ, and He alone, within us is our holiness. We are indeed called to holiness of walk. But the only sinlessness of nature within us which we can ever possess here is the holiness of Christ Himself dwelling in us.

THE INDWELLING CHRIST IS OUR POWERHere lies a tiny pool of water in the middle of the highway. The winter winds blow fiercely upon its surface, but they cannot carry away one drop of water from it. And now along comes a little child. In her hands she holds an oldfashioned clay pipe, a tin cup, and a bit of soap. She puts a little bit of water into the cup and begins to beat it into soapsuds. Then she places her pipe to the soapsuds, lifts it up, and begins to blow. As she blows the beautiful soap bubble grows and grows. Presently she gives it a deft twist with the hand, and the soap bubble floats

up and up into the heavens, mirroring all the beauty of sky and field and forest. What all the fierce blasts of the tempest could not do to carry away the water from the pool and lift it into the skies is done in a moment by the breath of a child. Listen to this: And he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost (Jn 20:22). It was the earnest of Pentecost, the fore-breathing of His own spirit, the pledge of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which should make us free from the law of sin and death. What all our own struggles and selfefforts cannot do to break the power and fetters of sin, the law of a new life in Christ Jesus will do for us if we only yield ourselves to Him and learn His secret. But how shall we avail ourselves of the life, holiness, and power of this indwelling Christ? How shall we appropriate Him and make Him real in victory in our lives? Has Paul some other secret concerning Christ within which we must

needs learn to know the victory he knew? He has indeed another, and a wondrously simple secret, in addition to this great one already named Christ liveth in me. It is another simple, four-word secret which also lays bare the hidings of his marvelous power in Christ. It is this: I live by faith. He is not here talking of salvation by faith but of living his life by faith in an in-living Christ. And that is the secret for which we are searching. What is this faith by which Paul lived his marvelous life? What is there in it in addition to the faith for salvation? What are its earmarks that we may know and enter into it? It is: The faith which believes. The faith which yields. The faith which draws.

THE FAITH WHICH BELIEVESWhat do we mean by the faith which believes?

Simply this: It is the faith which takes Gods simple word that the living Christ is dwelling in every one of His children. Does the Word of God make any such statement about His children? It surely does. Again and again does the Spirit state that great truth through the writers of the Book. Let us hear some of them. In Colossians 1:27, Paul says, Christ in you, the hope of glory. In Ephesians 3:17 he says, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. In Galatians 2:20 (ASV) he says, It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me. In John 17:23 the Lord says, I in them, and thou in me. Again one of the clearest and most remarkable passages is that of 2 Corinthians 13:5. There Paul calls us to examine ourselves, but as to what? Not as to our works, nor our acts, nor our holy life. All these are the results of Christs indwelling, not the preconditions of it. But examine yourselves, says he, Whether ye be in the faith. That is, whether you are

believers, whether you are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. If so, Know ye not as to your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you. The only condition named here is that we be in the faith, that we are believers in Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. If so, the living Christ is dwelling in us. And now someone says, Do you mean that we are to take Gods simple word for the indwelling of the living Christ, exactly as we once took His word that our sins were laid upon Jesus? This is precisely what we mean, and exactly what God wants each one of His children to do by faith. The great truth set forth here is this: Recognize and you will realize. Let us illustrate. When I came into this room today there were many things here not necessary to my existence. This pulpit, these lights, these songbooks, these pews before me. All of these I can see and touch and handle, but not one of them is necessary to my existence. I could stand here and speak the

Word of God to you without them. But when I entered this room there was something here I could not see nor touch nor sense in any way. Yet without that something I could not have stood here and spoken to you for thirty seconds without falling lifeless to the floor. It was the air. When I entered the room, I began to recognize its presence. I acted as though it were here, even though I could not see it nor feel it. And as I recognized its presence I realized its presence. In my boyhood days I knew an old Negro saint who knew the indwelling presence of Christ in his spirit. One day I said to him, Elias, how do you know that Jesus Christ is dwelling in you by His Spirit? His answer was illuminating: Just you believe Hes there and He is there. That was the finest comment I ever heard on Pauls great statement: That Christ may dwell in your heart. Is it by feeling, by emotion, by joy? No, these are all the results of Christs indwelling, but not the preconditions of

it. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith is Pauls word. Love, peace, and joy are the fruits of His indwelling. I know. But whom do I know? I know whom I have believed, says Paul (2 Ti 2:12). To one of noble birth seeking light upon this great question came this message: Act as though I were and thou shalt know that I am. Practice the presence of God was old Brother Lawrences striking way of putting it. All these speak the same great truth for the child of God. Accept Gods clear statement that the living Christ is dwelling in you. Believe it to be true because God says it is true. Then as you begin to recognize you will begin to realize. This is what we mean by the faith which believes. Myriads of Christians need to receive and to incarnate this truth in their life and practice. To believe with such a faith in the indwelling Christ will revolutionize the very apprehension of His presence, and will transform their lives in

consequence. This is the first aspect of Pauls faith in the inliving Christ. Let us notice the next phase of it.

THE FAITH WHICH YIELDSPaul loved to say of himself, Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ. But the word is a stronger one than servant. It means, Paul, the bondslave of Jesus Christ. He was one who had faith enough in Jesus Christ to trust Him with himself, his life, his all, and yield himself to the doing of His will. Is that where your faith in the inliving Christ fails? Perhaps it is not so much that you have not let Christ in, but that you do not let Him out! That is, you have not trusted Him enough to place your life wholly in His blessed keeping and let Him work out through you that part of His great purpose of service and suffering which He has ordained for you from before the foundation of the world (Eph 2:10; 1:4). The mighty throb and pulse of power in a

giant steam boiler cannot possibly manifest itself if it has no engine yielded to it through which it may work. So you shut off the throb and thrill of the indwelling Christs life and power if you do not trust Him with the faith which yields. Let us illustrate: Years ago a strange thing happened to the beautiful river on the banks of which I spent my boyhood years. It occurred about sixteen miles below my village home. At that spot the broad river is compressed into very narrow bounds. Between these rockbound shores its waters rush with great swiftness and power. One memorable day the beautiful river suddenly went dry. The rush of water ceased. The foaming, churning current was no longer there. The river had virtually disappeared. The news of this marvel spread for miles around in the surrounding country. Hundreds of people flocked to the shores of the river to witness this marvelous sight which probably had never occurred before

since its creation. They strolled about in the rocky riverbed. They walked upon the hidden sandbars, and thrust walking sticks and canes into every crevice and cranny of the rocky riverbed. The Susquehanna River was virtually a lost river. And all the country around about was talking about it. What was the explanation of this wonder? What had caused the great river to disappear like magic in one day? The answer is simple. Just a short distance above that spot a great water-power company had built a huge concrete dam to develop electric power. This huge barrier had shut off all the waters of the rushing stream. The Susquehanna was for the moment really a lost river. This nature story has its counterpart in our spiritual lives. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus cannot flow forth through us if we do not have the faith that yields. Unfaith here is like that great cement barrier that crossed the

flowing river. It dams up the stream and shuts off the onflow. He that believeth on me . . . out of his . . . [innermost being] shall flow rivers of living water (Jn 7:38) said Christ. But that river of victory and power from the indwelling Christ cannot flow forth if we will not trust Him with the faith that yields. So when Paul said, The life which I now live, I live by . . . faith (Gal 2:20), he meant not only the faith which trusts the indwelling presence of Christ, but the faith which yields its life to Him. We cannot know the outflow of His victory life and power unless we trust Him enough to give Him our lives. Then again this faith for victory is:

THE FAITH WHICH DRAWSAre there not twelve hours in the day? (Jn 11:9). What did our Lord mean by this question? Simply that He drew His life hour by hour from the Father. I live by the Father (Jn 6:57), said He. And as Christ lived the life of

hourly dependence upon the Father, so Paul says, I live by the faith of the Son of God (Gal 2:20). He had learned the final secret of victory. It was the secret of hourly dependence on the living and indwelling Christ. He literally drew his life from Christ, and henceforth he knew not even Christ after the flesh but lived by faith in this ever-present indwelling Christ whose resurrection life was his life hour by hour. I was sitting one evening chatting with a young wireless operator. He told me this interesting story. He worked on a coastal steamer which traveled north and south along the Atlantic Coast. He said it was the habit of the small towns along his route to close down their electric plants after midnight, for purposes of economy. As his ship coasted along a few miles out at sea opposite these towns he often opened the electric key and began to operate his wireless. If the powerhouse door was open or if there was some defect in the insulation of the

wires, the electric waves from his instrument would enter the system and light up the whole town. Not with a light as brilliant as these, he said, pointing to the electric lights in our room, but every electric light in that town would glow with light. So it is with the faith which draws upon the indwelling Christ. It so opens our innermost lives to Him that His stream of life and power can flow into it and through it, even as the pulsing waves of power from the wireless instrument flowed into the midnight power system at whatever point it was open to that instrument. This is the believers final secret of victory. It is the secret of walking in Christ, of abiding in Him, of drawing upon Him as our allsufficiency for strength, guidance, light, love, power, yea every need of our lives, however minute, however difficult. As He lived by the Father so He asks us to learn to live by Him. The righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in them

who walk after the Spirit instead of after the flesh. This step-by-step life, this day-by-day and need-by-need life, is the last great secret of victory for the believer to learn. By His tender love and patient grace we may learn it even as His own stumbling, faltering, failing disciples came to know it when the indwelling Christ became theirs.

3THE WAY OF CONSECRATIONVictory over the Choice of Sin Present your bodies a living sacrifice. ROMANS 12:1 EMANCIPATION, then, is of God. It is God who joined us to Jesus Christ in the power of His death. It is God who has bestowed upon us the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which, as we walk therein, makes us free from the law of sin and death (Ro 8:2). It is of God we are in Christ Jesus and through this divine union with Him comes all our victory over sin. Here, too, as in salvation, it is of faith, that it might be by grace (Ro 4:16). But is there nothing for the believer to do? Is victory merely

passive? Is it the mere acquiescence of our faith in the truth as it is in Christ Jesus? No, that truth carries with it a clear claim of obedience as well as faith, a clear call for action as well as belief. That is, our faith in an emancipating God must issue into a great act of obedience if it is to make victory over sin a reality in our lives. What do we mean here? Simply this: No slave will ever know the reality and power of emancipation unless he repudiates the old mastership and yields himself to the new. So with the believer. Repudiation of the old mastership and yielding allegiance to the new is an act which no one else can do for him, and which God in His Word clearly calls upon him to do. The Word of God makes this absolutely clear: Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield

yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Ro 6:13, italics added). Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (v. 16, italics added). And so we come upon the truth of consecration. It is the meeting ground of the will of God and the will of the believer. This is the will of God, even your sanctification (1 Th 4:3). But the will of the believer must cooperate with the will of God in this great work. He is called upon to present his body a living sacrifice unto God that He may fashion his life and transform his members, once instruments of sin, so that they may become instruments of

righteousness and holiness. And this is a matter of the believers choice. God beseeches him to do it (Ro 12:1) but He does not force it. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve (Jos 24:15) in the Old Testament has its counterpart in Present your body a living sacrifice in the New. The Old Testament teaching upon the burnt offering, in chapter 1 of Leviticus, sheds rich light upon the truth of the believers consecration. Let us take it up in detail. First:

THE BURNT OFFERING WAS AN OFFERING UNTO THE LORDIf any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD (Lev 1:2). It is not primarily an offering unto any calling, ministry, or service, however high and noble, but first of all an offering unto the Lord, leaving

wholly to Him the time, place, and character of our lifework. Sitting one evening by the fireside of a prominent businessman in a large city, he narrated to me his personal experience upon this point. In his young manhood days, he was a journeyman apprentice in a bakery. Being a Christian man, this matter of consecration came up to him. He decided that it meant the foreign mission field for him. So he made up his mind to go. It so happened that he was engaged to the daughter of his employer, a lovely Christian girl. He thought it best to tell his employer of his decision. The latter replied, That means four years at college and three years at the seminary. And that is a longer period than I care for my daughter to be engaged. If you go to the foreign mission field you will have to give her up. My friend went back then to fight the battle royal of his life. For consecration meant the

possibility of losing the woman of his heart. For two hours he fought a fierce battle over the whole matter. Then he decided, as every Christian should decide, that he would give his life to the Lord and leave to Him the decision where that life was to be spent. Before the day passed, he said, there came the message to him which he felt sure was from the Lord, You stay right there in that bakery and live for Me. So there he stayed. God prospered him and made him the head of one of the largest baking concerns in that great city. His generous giving, his ministry, and his devotion to the service of the Lord were conspicuous throughout the whole community. No minister in that whole city occupied a greater sphere of influence for God than that consecrated Christian layman who had decided wisely first to give his own life to the Lord and leave the outcome and the place of

service of that life in the Lords hands where it belonged. Do not misunderstand us. Not for one moment would we disparage the high place of foreign missions. If God calls a man to the foreign mission field, it is, in our mind, nearly the highest place of honor He has for any man in this world. But the point we are covering is this: It is your part to give your life to God in consecration apart from any calling however high or noble. Then it is Gods part to show you your place of life service. The Macedonians had it right. They first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God (2 Co 8:5). They first settled the question of consecration. Then God showed them what His will was for them. Will you please tell me in a word, said a Christian woman to a teacher, what your idea of consecration is? Holding

out a blank sheet of paper, the teacher replied, It is to sign your name to the bottom of this blank sheet of paper and let God fill it in as He will. That is the finest definition of consecration I know. You know that French phrase, carte blanche. It means a white card, or a blank check. So, give God the white card. You have nothing to do with how He will fill it out. It is simply yours to give it to Him.

THE BURNT OFFERING WAS OF THE WORSHIPERS BESTA minister friend told me this striking story. A great railroad president was taking a journey. He was standing by the engine talking to the Christian engineer whom he knew. Jim, he said, this will be a great night for a long run. Yes, Mr. President, this is a fine night for a

long run. Then they parted. The president went to his luxurious private car at the rear of the train. The engineer took the place of danger and duty at the throttle of the great locomotive. The long night journey began. Sometime during the night there was an accident. The president was uninjured. He made his way to the front of the train to find how his engineer friend had fared. He found him lying on the ground, dying. The engineers lips were moving as though he were trying to say something. The president bent down to get the message. Then came this precious message from the lips of the dying engineer: I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Ti 1:12). Jim, said the president, I would give all I own if I were able to say that. Yes, Mr. President, that was just what it cost me.

The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). Nothing less than that from us will satisfy His great heart of love. There is not a wife reading these lines but that would spurn the gift of her husbands houses and lands and bank account without himself. There is not a husband who would not scorn the gift of silver and gold and title deeds of his wife if she withheld herself. The highest and holiest relation that God has established on this earth, that of husband and wife, is built upon the gift of life to life. Yet, when Jesus Christ asks us to enter into that same intimate relationship with Himself, and give ourselves to Him that we might know the depth of His love and peace and power as never before, we shrink back in hesitation and fear. The Son of God gave Himself for us, but that seems too much for us. I do not wonder at what men suffer, said John

Ruskin, but I do wonder at what they lose. As Jesus Christ looks down upon us from glory, He must wonder at what we lose through our failure to trust Him enough to give our lives to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.

THE BURNT OFFERING WAS AN ATONING OFFERINGOne can understand how this was true with the sin offering, for He was the propitiation for our sins. In His own body He bore our sins upon the tree. But the burnt offering, besides being a type of Christs offering of Himself, is also a picture of the believers consecration. And how is it an atoning offering for him? Light came upon this question years ago to the writer in the letter of a beloved friend from faraway China. We had been dear friends and classmates in college. When we parted he was headed for a secular

business, and I, for the law. Fifteen years elapsed and then one day came this letter from China. It read like this: How often I think of the old college days. How little we did for the Lord in those days. How many opportunities for winning men to Christ we passed by. What a weak testimony we gave for the Master. As I think of those wasted years and those lost opportunities I would be heartbroken except for one thing. And that is this: They are all under the blood. The great thought of this letter flooded my soul with light. Not only was my past, unsaved life under the blood, but also my formal, nominal Christian life. All my coldness and indifference, all my failure to be a burnt offering for God, all my neglected opportunities and wasted years, all these were under the blood. How gracious and tender is the love of God

toward His children! As soon as we give our lives to Him, He forgets all our indifference, coldness, failures, and shortcomings and receives our consecration with as loving a heart as though we had all our lives been His devoted and faithful servants. This is why the burnt offering was an atoning offering. In it we realize that not only the unsaved life, but also the unconsecrated life, is under the blood.

THE BURNT OFFERING WAS AN OFFERING OF IDENTIFICATIONIn the sin offering, the laying on of the hand signified the identification of the worshiper with the offering. The sin of the worshiper was transferred to the offering, and the blamelessness of the offering transferred to the worshiper. This was true of us and Christ in the

sin offering. Our sins were transferred to Him, and His righteousness, to us. He was made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Co 5:21, ASV). Now what does the onlaid hand mean in connection with the burnt offering? Simply this: The believer in his consecration identifies himself with the Lord Jesus in doing the will of God, which is what the burnt offering stands for. A modern devotional writer pictures the Lord Jesus as He is about to say farewell to His disciples. He tells them to go into the whole world and make disciples of all nations. He tells them that His plan to give the Gospel to the whole world is to send it out through them. Then the writer pictures one of the disciples as saying to the Lord, Lord, what if we fail in this enterprise? Suppose we do not succeed in carrying this Gospel to the world. What other

plan have You? And the Lord is pictured as saying very quietly and very soberly, I have no other plan. God has no other plan for giving the Gospel to a lost world except to have His children identify themselves with His Son by giving their lives to Him in consecration. Therefore, let us stand by His side, and look up into His face, and say to Him, Dear Lord, I want to have some part in carrying out the will of God for a lost world. I give my life to You for that purpose. I ask You to show me what humble part You have for me in this great work. And by thy grace I will seek to do it. This is what it means to lay our hands on the head of Jesus Christ in consecration. This is what it means to seek . . . first the kingdom of God (Mt 6:33). A great engineer lay dying. He had been one of the most brilliant men of his generation. His

genius had wrought wonderful achievements in his chosen profession. Most men would look with envy upon what he had accomplished. But as the clergyman friend sat with him in his last hours, he said soberly to that friend, Now that I have come to the end of it all, I realize that I have all my life been doing second things. All his brilliant achievements now looked to him like second things. His whole life had been out of tune with the great purpose of God. He saw clearly that he had not sought first the Kingdom, but had pursued his own ambitions to the very end. One of the most solemn experiences in all life is to see a great truth too late in life to obey it. And such was the great engineers sober experience. He saw the privilege of being identified with Christ in doing the will of God for a lost world. But he saw it too late to enter into it. Therefore came his heartbroken

confession, I have all my life been doing second things. Let us see this great truth before it is too late to obey it. Let us lay our hands on that dear head of His, and ask Him to show us the will of God for our lives. However humble that place may be, it will be the place of greatest joy in all the world for us. We are told of our Lord that when He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion on them (Mt 9:36). That is the striking difference between us and Christ. He saw men. We see things. We see the wealth, the prizes, the treasures of this world. But He saw lost men and came to seek and to save that which is lost. This is the profound significance of consecration to all of us. Our vision changes from that of things to that of men. We begin to see a lost world. We begin to hunger to have a part in giving His message to that world. We

begin to realize that He has prepared (Eph 2:10) a life of service for us; that He has taken us into partnership with Himself in this great work. And this is what it means to stand by His side and say, My faith shall lay her hand, On that dear head of Thine. Let us not disappoint Him in His plan, for He has no other. Let us yield these lives of ours to Him that we may enter into the joy of His precious will for them. Then His message to us shall be the same as His word to Daniel. Thou shalt . . . stand in thy lot (Dan 12:13). For all time and all eternity we shall realize that we are in the place that He has chosen for us, and He is having the supreme joy of carrying out His great purpose through these humble lives of ours. This is what seek ye first the kingdom of God means, and when life ends for us it will not be

with that sober plaint, I have all my life been doing second things. Consecration, then, is one of the great keypoints of victory over sin. Thousands of Christians mark that crisis as the hour of momentous victory in their lives. Nor could it well be otherwise. For the stream of Gods victory runs deep in the channel of Gods will. And as consecration is placing the whole life in alignment with the will of God, it of necessity brings a great manifestation of the power of God in victory. Therefore if you would know another great secret of triumph over sin find it here in the act of consecration. Do not complicate nor involve it. Make it a simple, definite, final abandonment of your life and all to Jesus Christ. Gods one supreme requirement of you is that it be sincere. Without this He can do nothing for you. With this, all else will come into line with

His great purpose of victory for your life. It is the greatest open secret of the triumphant life on the human side. It is a golden key which God puts into your hand to unlock one of His choicest treasure chambers of victory. Being then made free from sin that is the work of God ye became the servants of righteousness (Ro 6:18) that is your own Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered step which by the mercies of God (Ro 12:1) you are asked to take. See to it that you do not miss taking it. For it places your hand in Gods, to walk with Him in the way of triumph over the sin which doth so easily beset us (Heb 12:1).

4THE WAY OF CLEANSINGVictory over the Practice of Sin Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 CORINTHIANS 7:1 WHAT IS THE FINAL SECRET Of victory over sin for the believer? Let us illustrate. You remember that when the priest came into the tabernacle, the first object he met was the great brazen altar upon which he made the sacrifice for the sins of the people and of himself. Then as he passed on toward the Holy of Holies, the next object he met was the brazen laver. This was made of metal which had composed the consecrated mirrors of the women and was filled with water. As the priest looked into the mirror and water, he saw himself, even as the believer sees himself when he looks into the Spirit-indwelt Word of God. In this brazen laver, then, the priest was to wash. If he passed by it without washing, the penalty was death. Here is a striking teaching for the Christian.

He has been washed from the guilt of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. But, as he goes his way, he must cleanse his daily life from the practice of sin. And wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy Word (Ps 119:9). So as the Word of God, which is the mirror of revelation of His will, reveals to the believer his own practice of sin, he is to cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh and is to perfect his holiness in the fear of God. Day by day, as the Word of God reveals these shortcomings and shows him where his life falls short of the holiness which God requires of him as revealed in His Word, he is to cleanse his life according to that Word. That is, because he has given himself in consecration to do the will of God, he is to cleanse himself from the practice of anything in his life which falls short of that will. Here is where multitudes of believers fail. They have accepted by faith their emancipation from the slave mastership of sin, by the cross of Christ. They have yielded themselves in consecration to God to become His servants. They have wonderful manifestations of the

presence and power of God in their innermost souls. But by and by this begins to fade. They begin to talk of a lost experience. They say the joy of Christ and the peace of Christ which once they knew have fled away, and they do not understand why. Would you know the explanation? They have failed to learn the last great secret of victory over sin. They do not conform their practical daily life to the revealing and cleansing Word of God. If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body is Gods Word in Romans 8:13. Or, as Moules fine translation puts it: If ye through the Spirit keep doing to death the practices of the body. It takes us back to the Lords word to Saul, through Samuel: What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep . . . and the lowing of the oxen . . . ? (1 Sa 15:14). God had ordered them put to death. But Saul had kept them alive. So God tells us to keep doing to death the practices of the flesh, but we keep them alive. And God is obliged to ask us the same question He asked Saul. What mean these jealousies and envyings and lust for high places among men who bear the name of

the humble Nazarene? What mean these murmurings against God because we cannot see every turn of the path or understand every way of the Lord in dealing with us poor lumps of clay? What mean our testiness, impatience, resentfulness, and unlovingness toward others who are not quite as attractive in person or spirit or habits as we think we ourselves are? What mean our unfaith and unrepudiated doubts toward a loving Father in times of stress or need or darkness of the way? What mean all these practices of the flesh which we defend and suffer in our Christian lives by saying, Well, God does not expect a man to be perfect! But what does God mean when He says through Paul, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh? (2 Co 7:1). He means just what He says. We are to turn over the boards and planks on top of which we have been walking our pathway of life, and let the sunshine of Gods Word shine in upon the hideous creeping things of the flesh which are underneath our life walk. And then we are day by day to do to death the whole loathsome brood which has lost us the throne of our

spiritual power, even as the flesh with its disobedience lost Saul his. There is nothing so hateful to God as sin. Yet there is nothing so common as to hear it palliated by men who are the sons of God (1 Jn 3:1) and are called to walk worthy of the Lord (Col 1:10).

SIN IN THE MEMBERSYield your members servants to righteousness (Ro 6:19). Physicians will tell you that if blood poison gets into the system it will soon possess all the members of the body, such as the ear, nose, and throat, which are the outward expressions of the bodys activities. So sin in the flesh soon spreads through the entire being of the Christian and takes possession of the members of the body. It uses the eye, the ear, the mind, and the imagination and becomes a defiling power in everything the believer does. So the Word of God in Romans 8:13 says to the Christian, If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. As already noted, Moules

fine translation of this is, If ye through the Spirit do to death the practices of the body ye shall live. In other words, the believer is called to do to death these practices of sin which have gotten control of the members of the body. This is practical holiness. This is the fruit of the holiness of which Paul speaks in Romans 6:22. Let us notice some of the members which sin uses in this way. First,

SIN USES THE EYESI made a covenant with mine eyes was Jobs statement (31:1). And every believer needs sorely to make such a covenant! Sights we should not gaze upon may come under the range of our eyes without any volition of our own. But it is the second look that counts. The first may be, and usually is, accidental or incidental. But the second look has in it the sin of choice. And it is there our guilt begins. You know what I mean. And it is here that we are responsible, and here that our defeat is born, if we have not learned the secret of victory at this point. There is a clear border line between things which

thrust themselves upon our vision, and things which we choose to look upon. The one is innocence; the other is sin. So long as we are in the world we cannot escape the first. But unless we keep doing to death the second, we will find ourselves daily skirting the edge of the precipice of sin and final downfall. Too many catastrophes, spiritual and moral, have come to pass here to allow any man to trifle with the lust of the eyes. Through the open portal of the eyes the destroyer has entered into the innermost lives of thousands and hurled them from the place and path of purity into the slough of sensual sin and shameful defeat. Make a covenant with your eyes, and, by the grace of God, keep yourselves unspotted from the defilements that are waiting to enter by that easy route. The appeal to the eye is the deadliest and easiest route to the souls undoing, and the nation will someday, when it is too late, awaken to the fact that the modern movies have caused the moral wreck and ruin of its youth.

SIN USES THE MIND

Keep your mind clean. Not only keep your own lips clean from the shady story, but stop another person when he starts to tell you one. For the mind is the vestibule of the heart. Keep out the pitch and the slime of impurity in any shape or form, or else it will soon seep down into the heart and become the seed of deadly temptation. All foul and suggestive things which enter the mind are like the streams which feed the river of lust and passion, and unless you shut off these tiny streams the river will overflow its banks in some unguarded hour, and work your moral and spiritual undoing. Do not think of telling a story that will pollute a childs mind. Do not let anyone tell you one. Get out of earshot. Move on. You remember General Grants fine rebuke of an officer who began a doubtful story by saying, I see there are no ladies here. Grants stern reply was, Yes, but there are gentlemen here, sir. Even in the holy hour of prayer, sin will endeavor to pollute and occupy the mind if possible. Guard that mind with care from every avenue of defilement. And in your quiet hour beware that your imagination is not allowed to become the dwelling place of

sinful thoughts and imagery.

SIN USES THE LIPSHow we sin with our lips! Hasty words, bitter words, cruel words, unkind words, critical words! How Christian men and women need to do to death all such sinful words! There is no one of our members which sin uses with more deadly effect than the lips. Sinful words are like the stabs of a dagger. They go straight to the heart. They cause wounds so deep they can never be healed. They bring estrangement into the lives of multitudes. They mar and blast the most beautiful friendships. More Christian men and women fail and fall and sin at this point than at any other in their lives. Unguarded lips in unguarded moments work the wreck and ruin of many lives.

OTHER SINSThere are many other forms of sin with which Christians are only too familiar. There is the sin of anxious care. Only when we put this in the sin family and see that it is distrust of God and

His loving care do we begin to get victory here. There is the sin of covetousness which has laid hold of multitudes of Christian men and so enslaved them that they do not realize it to be a sin. There is the sin of murmuring against God and his providential dealings in our lives, of which the Israelites were so heinously guilty. There is the sin of indulging in some form of the fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Keep doing to death these practices of the body until they have no place in your life and in your walk.

THE SECRET OF FAILUREWith multitudes of Christians their failure of victory is right here. Their lost victory is this victory of mortification. They have learned to reckon themselves dead to sin through our Lord Jesus Christ. They have given themselves in a real consecration to Him. They have known most blessed and definite manifestations of His presence and power. But here they have stopped. They fail in the progression of victory, in the practical victory in their daily lives. What they need is to bring to light before God every

sin revealed to them by the Spirit and the Word of God, to lay down the straight edge of that Word alongside of those daily lives, and then with steady, unflinching hand and heart, to keep doing to death that practice of sin which has become a habit in their members until they have it in triumph under their feet, and its power and practice passes out of their daily lives.

PERFECTING OUR HOLINESSThe text quoted above says we are to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh; that we are to perfect our holiness in the fear of God. But someone says, How can this be? How can we cleanse ourselves from all filthiness? How can any man live a perfect life? Let us answer in a very practical way. There are some sins in your life over which you practically have complete victory. There is the temptation to murder or the temptation to steal. Your victory over these is practically complete. Now there is no reason in the world why any Christian man should not bring every sin of the flesh to the light of his conscience, and keep doing it to

death day by day until he gets the same victory over it that he has over the temptation to steal or murder. This passage does not mean holiness of nature but holiness of walk. For no believer has any innate, intrinsic holiness of nature apart from the holiness of Christ dwelling within him. But every believer is called to holiness of walk and dare not set before himself any lower standard than that set by this text, namely, that he cleanse himself from all filthiness of the flesh. As a matter of simple practical common sense, every man of us would be well satisfied to have as complete a victory over all filthiness of the flesh as we have over the temptation to steal or to murder. Sinlessness of nature is one thing, and is not ours to possess. But victory over the practice of sin in our lives is another thing, and every child of God is expected to realize it. To attempt to justify our failure of victory over sin by saying that no man can be perfect is merely quibbling. It is a kind of spiritual smoke screen to conceal the humiliation of our daily defeat. Let us be honest enough to discern and acknowledge this vast difference between sinlessness of nature and

holiness of walk. The apostle John makes it beautifully clear: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 Jn 1:8). My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not (2:1). In other words, if any man says that he is sinless, that is, has no sinful nature, he deceiveth himself, says John. But every believer is called to victory over the practice of sin, that is, to a holy walk in Christ Jesus.

A DEFILED TEMPLEA beloved friend cites this fine illustration culled from medieval history: In the peninsula of Sinai at the foot of the mountain of the law, stands the ancient monastery of St. Katharine, the oldest religious monastery in all that region. Built in the twelfth century, it has withstood the fierce monsoon sweeping over the desert; it has stood the poverty of the land, the summers scorching and the winters cold. Through centuries hordes of Saracens have again and again sought to destroy this insult to the Crescent and the prophet Mohammed. In the 16th century one of these attacks was upon the

point of being successful. The Abbot of the monastery and the Mohammedan general made this grim bargain which the Abbot accepted: That a Mohammedan Mosque with all of the accessories be established in the very heart of the Monastery, in one of the innermost rooms, and that the Mohammedan pilgrims be permitted to worship there once a year. And so it was for many centuries until the power of the Turk was broken. The Monks never referred to it; it was a room that was closed save for the yearly pilgrimage. And yet that monastery lost its ancient glory and became pitiful because of that room within. The story has its spiritual analogy. The believers body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is to be kept clean from the practice of sin. If it is not, its glory is dimmed and the Spirits victory through it is marred and hindered.

THE CALL TO MORTIFICATIONSecret playing with sin ends in open shame. The backward look toward the abandoned land of the flesh still brings the Lords sharp rebuke,

Remember Lots wife (Lk 17:32). Jobs Old Testament teaching, I have made a covenant with mine eyes (Job 31:1) finds its counterpart in Pauls neither yield ye your members (Ro 6:13). The break with sin in the heart of the believer must be real if the indwelling Christ is to be a realization. When sin is still cherished as a sweet, even though forbidden, morsel under the tongue; when there is a lingering grasp instead of a cleanly broken one; when the imagination wanders in pathways which we have closed to our feet; when the flesh though discrowned is not yet despised and spurned; in short, wherever a man has not pressed the issue of separation to the bitter end, and made the break with sin clean-cut, absolute, and allcomprehensive, then let him look to himself, for he will surely drink of the bitter cup of defeat.

5THE WAY OF RESURRECTIONVictory over the Death of Sin Death is swallowed up in victory. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:54 SOMEWHERE I have read an Indian legend of a tribe which lived in a great forest at the foot of a lofty mountain peak. One day the old chief summoned the lads of the tribe to his side. He called upon them to clamber to the top of that lofty summit and win the renown of its conquest. It would test their mettle and prove their worth to the tribe, for it had been many a day since a young brave had mastered that skypiercing pinnacle. The lads started out to obey. Hours went by and they began slowly to return. One of them brought a tuft of moss which he had torn from the mountainside as a token of the height to which he had climbed. Presently another came with the broken twig of a tree which stood still higher up on the mountain, but not yet upon its summit. By and by came another grasping a beautiful flower

which grew well up toward the summit of the peak, but still not upon its top. After a while all the lads were back except one. For hours he did not come. Then as the gloom of the night began to fall, they heard his voice calling in the distant forest. Nearer and nearer he came until he stepped into the fire lit circle of the waiting camp. He had no token in his hand; but, when they saw his face, they did not need to ask him if he had conquered the towering peak, for it was lighted with the glory of vision, and he cried aloud, I have seen the crystal sea. Next to our Lord Jesus Christ, probably no man who walked this earth knew the secret of victory better than the apostle Paul. He knew the way of death, through union with his Lord Jesus Christ. He knew the way of life, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus thrilled and pulsed through his whole being physical, mental, and spiritual. He knew, too, the way of consecration, for he was Jesus Christs bondslave in an utter abandonment of devotion and obedience. He knew, too, the way of practical cleansing from the daily practice of

sin, for the vision of the risen Christ in all His holiness was like a consuming fire in the purging of sin from his walk and life. But as he reaches this mountain peak of the resurrection victory, he is like a man who has scaled the loftiest summit of vision, who has seen the splendor of the crystal sea, and whose face is radiant with the foregleams of coming glory. For with all his wondrous experience of victory, yet the sentence upon his mortal body is the body is dead because of sin (Ro 8:10). But now he sees the crystal sea of coming triumph over the death itself which is stamped upon these mortal bodies. It is the resurrection vision which now enthralls him. It is the resurrection shout of victory which breaks from his jubilant lips as he cries out, Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Co 16:54).

THE STORY OF THE RESURRECTIONFor the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the

dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory (1 Th 4:16-18; 1 Co 15:51-54). The Lord Jesus shall come again in glory. The dead in Christ shall be resurrected. The living in Christ shall be instantly glorified. Both shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Both shall be forever with the Lord. Thus is death swallowed up in victory. Such is the wondrous resurrection story in all

its scriptural clearness, simplicity, and certainty. It is the blessed hope of the Church, the consummation of this Gospel age, the climax of Gods great purpose of glorification, the longawaited instant of all time when death shall be swallowed up in the supreme victory of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself the first fruits of that mighty miracle of God, and they that are Christs at his coming (1 Co 15:23).

THE PLEDGE OF THE RESURRECTIONMany years ago we were traveling through a Southern state. It was the month of February and the time of the blossoming glory of the peach tree. By and by our train pulled by a great peach orchard. In it were 100,000 trees. Each individual tree was robed in the glory and splendor of its pink and white bloom. As the train slowly wheeled past the great orchard the south wind which blew into the car windows was heavily laden with the rich perfume of the vast orchard of peach trees. Suppose you had stood at the same spot in the

dead of winter, a couple of months before. Those peach trees were all there in the same place, but how different. There was not a sign of life nor bloom nor beauty. There they were stretching their dead, bare, leafless limbs toward the winter sky as though in mute appeal for the life, beauty, and blossom to come, of which there was yet no sign. Suppose as you bent over those peach trees you were to whisper to them, Peach trees, as you stand there so dead and dry and bloomless, what is your hope that you will some bright day be clothed with the splendor and glory of the spring blossom time? If those peach trees could answer you, they would call back as with one voice, The peach life in us is our hope of glory. Similarly, Paul told the Colossians he has a wonderful mystery to reveal to them. It is a mystery which God had never before revealed, a mystery which was not made known to the prophets of old, a mystery which was the most wondrous truth that the great apostle could pass on to these children of God; it was:

CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY (Col 1:27)That Christ who had come into them at regeneration; that Christ who, dwelling in them, was their promise and power of sanctification; that same Christ would in the resurrection moment be their glorification. For He Himself had said it while He walked the earth. Not simply I will someday bring you the resurrection; not merely I am the power of that resurrection; but I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE (Jn 11:25) And that same life of Christ within us will, in the striking figure of the prophetic Word, someday swallow up death (1 Co 15:54). As the swift-advancing prairie fire swallows up every tiny pool of water which lies in the fiery path of its advance, as the beauteous dawn of the breaking day swallows up every den and cavern of darkness before its swift march, as the music of a great symphony orchestra swallows up all the discords which have been filling the ears of the listening multitude, so Christ within

us shall someday swallow up these dead bodies of His own in one marvelous moment of miracle and glory. The body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Ro 8:10). In these bodies which bear even now the hidden seeds of death there is also dwelling the hidden life of the resurrection Christ and He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (Ro 8:11). Wherefore the pledge and the power of the coming resurrection of Gods own children is the life of His own resurrected Son within them.

THE INSTANTANEOUSNESS OF THE RESURRECTIONDo you remember our Lords wondrous statement about these resurrection bodies when the Sadducees tried to trap Him by one of their foolish questions? They had supposed the case of a woman having seven husbands in succession, and then sought to bring Him to confusion before the multitude by asking Him whose wife she would be in the resurrection.

Back came His marvelous teaching that in heaven there would be neither marrying nor giving in marriage, but that all of Gods children would be children of the resurrection. Do you note that striking phrase and its significance? Plainly it is this: Marriage was given by God for the perpetuation of the race. Through its holy relationship children are born into the world with their natural bodies. The pangs of birth and the long, slow years of growth fashion these natural bodies of ours. But neither marriage nor physical birth nor the long progress of years will be needed to fashion the new, glorified bodies of His redeemed children. That body is fashioned in an instant, the glorious instant of resurrection. It needs no human union for its creation. It leaps into being at the supernatural touch of Gods resurrection power. Heaven shall be filled with a new race of beings, who, as to the body, will flash into it in a second of time, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Co 15:52). It shall be peopled with millions of glorious bodies of Gods children which were never born in human wedlock. Thus they are children of the resurrection. And

heaven itself is waiting for the blessed hope of the Lords coming which shall bring to it myriads of its children whose bodies are swiftly born by the Spirit of God from the womb of the resurrection of glory. And how quickly will this mighty miracle of glorification be wrought! As swift as the passage of the lightning flash across the heavens shall be the coming of Christ (Mt 24:27). And in the same instant, in lightning like fulfillment of His Word, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, shall follow the marvel of the resurrection of Gods children. In that instant the divine Artists great masterpiece shall be unveiled; in that instant earths graves shall be burst asunder and, ravaged of their contents, shall yield up in incorruptible glory the bodies which went down into them in corruption.

THE JOY OF THE RESURRECTIONWe do not realize the joy of the resurrection victory as pictured in the Scriptures. We note the seeming paucity of statement concerning it, and are misled thereby. For do we not realize

that the highest, deepest joy of the heart finds utterance in the fewest words? When that boy came home from the suffering, struggle, and death of that awful world conflict, was your joy a voluble one, of much speaking and many sentences? No, you could only throw your arms about him and cry out with quivering heart, Oh, my boy! And your strong-armed, stouthearted lad could only take you in his arms and, with tearful voice and glad heart, cry out, Mother! The deepest emotions of a true heart find vent in the fewest words. And is not this why we have failed to see the wellsprings of joy in the resurrection forty days of Christs presence with His own? Think of that morning when He stood in the garden in the dimness of dawn. When the weeping Mary began to speak to Him, how did He reveal Himself? By a single word. It was the word by which love most richly and deeply expresses its joy toward a loved one the name of the loved one: Mary! That seems terse and barrenly brief to us. But the thrill of resurrection joy and glory back of it must have been such as never vibrated through that single

mention of Marys name in all the years of her earthly life. And when doubting Thomas saw the Lord, how much did he say? Only My Lord and my God (Jn 20:28). But can any human imagination picture the joy that must have flooded Thomas heart as he realized that Jesus Christ was really risen from the dead and that he could touch Him with his own hand! And when John, with spiritual instinct, was the first to recognize the risen Lord upon the lakeshore in the faint light of that momentous morning what did he say? Only It is the Lord (Jn 21:7). Yet that little sentence sent headlong into the waiting sea the man whose heart had been broken by his denial of his Master, and opened the floodgates of a joy so boundless and ecstatic that no human being could possibly picture it. And so may it be some glad, golden day with us. If suddenly radiant faces should swarm into our astounded presence, sweet familiar voices of long ago whisper our name as our Lord spoke Marys, the thrill, uplift, and splendor of glorification sweep through our whole being in one jubilant instant of time, and then we should be caught up together with them . . . to meet

the Lord in the air (1 Th 4:17), resurrection joy would be no mere dream as it seems now to many, but the same marvelous, thrilling reality of bliss and glory that it was twenty centuries ago there on the quiet shore of Galilee. Only then it was Christ the first fruits but for us it would be they that are Christs at his coming (1 Co 15:23).

THE REUNION OF THE RESURRECTIONThe dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (1 Th 4:16-17). Here is the inspired picture of the marvelous reunion of the resurrection. The dead in Christ are raised first. Then the living in Christ are instantly changed, that is, glorified. And thus reunited the glorified living are caught up together with them, that is, together with the glorified resurrected ones, and so shall they ever be with the Lord (1 Th 4:17) . Whether we are dead or alive when Jesus

comes, we must all be changed, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Not carnal, natural bodies, but only glorified, spiritual ones, shall enter there. With but a breathless instant intervening, the glorification of Gods living children shall accompany that of His dead ones. The corrupted ones will put on incorruption, but the mortal ones shall immediately put on immortality without ever seeing corruption, and then, with this wondrous reunion brought to pass, as if by a rushing, mighty wind, in one out-flashing of supernatural glory, living, working, waiting men and women shall be whirled up to meet the Lord in the air. So sublime is the simple statement, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them . . . to meet the Lord in the air, that our feeble human imagination, striving to soar to this lofty height, falls back like a spent bird, gasping and breathless with its failure of the wing to reach the dazzling summit which the eye has scanned. Caught up! Who can picture it? While men and women walk the busy streets they shall be caught up! While they bow in the secret

chamber of prayer they shall be caught up! While with burning hearts they ponder the Word that tells of His coming they shall be caught up! While patient, suffering ones lie in beds of pain they shall be caught up! While the living stand by the open graves of the dead they shall be caught up! And as the startled world wonders, the only record left shall be that of Enochs And they walked with God, and were not, for God took them! From the pen of a missionary writer comes this beautiful story. A faithful missionary in distant Korea sat by the bedside of his dying wife. For fifteen years they had toiled together in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And now her summons had come. The heartbroken husband sat waiting for the end. She knew what the parting meant to him. She realized the keenness of his suffering. So, with her last thought an unselfish one for him, she left him this last message of eternal comfort: Do not grieve for me, my dear. Youll get me back; youll get me back. A month passed and the grief-stricken husband sat by the same bedside watching the spirit of their only child, a little four-year-old boy, take

its flight to the same Lord to whom his darling mother had gone. Again the fathers heart was crushed. Again he faced a parting which meant untold anguish to him. But the little fellow had the same message as his mother for the sorrowing father. Dont cry, Daddy, sai