|
Romans 8:2, "For
the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and
death."
This morning, there are many
that do not understand
the exact nature of the purpose
that Christ had when
He left the portals of glory to
come to this sin
cursed earth. Many suppose (due
to their reasoning or
the influence of others) that
His purpose was to offer
Himself to man for eternal
salvation. Many believe
that it takes a choice on man's
part to be housed in
heaven and immortal glory for
all eternity. However,
there is something intrinsic
about man's position
before the sacrifice of Christ
that makes it necessary
that the redemption have an
equal but opposite
intrinsic quality as well.
There are many different laws in
existence today.
Most of the laws on record are
laws of action and
consequence. If the law is
transgressed, the penalty
is served. This was the nature
of the Mosaic Law
(talked about in Romans 8:3).
However, there is
another law that works whether
man makes choices or
not. The law of gravity works
whether man wants it to
or not. If a man says that he
does not believe in the
law of gravity, and therefore,
will jump off a
building, he is going to fall to
the earth anyway.
This law affects those in the
realm of that law no
matter what they say. Likewise,
the laws referred to
in the verse above are laws with
this same intrinsic
property. Look at the law of sin
and death. It is
carried out on every one of
Adam's race that is born
into this world. Every child
that is born is a sinner
by nature, and will soon shew
forth that quality.
Also, the end result of the life
of man is that he
will die due to the wages of
sin. This is something
that man can deny all he wants
to, but the fact
remains that he is a sinner,
will continue to sin, and
will one day die as a result of
that sin. Now, if
this law works regardless of
man's decisions, then the
law of redemption (Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus)
must work the exact SAME WAY IN
THE OPPOSITE
DIRECTION.
Did any of us
choose to be sinners by
nature? Did any of us choose our
parents? The answer
is no in both cases, so of
necessity, the answer must
be no to the following two
questions. Did any of us
choose to be righteous? Did any
of us choose God as
our Father to be born into His
family? I did not
choose my parents. I did not
choose God to be my
Father. In both cases, I was
passive. God our Father
chose us as His children.
Therefore, I did not choose
to be born into a state of sin
and death. Likewise, I
did not choose to be in a state
of righteousness
before God. These laws MUST work
the same way in
opposite directions. Adam
plunged us into the miry
clay, and Jesus Christ raised us
not only out of it
but also as high above it as we
were under it. That
is the meaning of receiving
double for all of our
sins. (Isaiah 40:2) Indeed, He
is so very good to us, and may we
ever be found praising Him for
His goodness and not
trying to claim
some of it for ourselves.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
|