Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 189, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 August 1912 — Making a Holy Man or Salvation from the Subjective Side [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Making a Holy Man or Salvation from the Subjective Side

By Rev. James M. Gray, D. D.,

Dean of'Moody

TEXT—For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit—Romans 8:6. There are several things which God does for the Christian believer in aD

objective flense, that is, in the sense that they proceed from himself without bein g necessarily .known to or experienced In the believer’s life. In other words, he reconciles him, he saves him, he justifies him, he blesses him with all spiritual blessings In Christ Jesus. These things all speak of the believer’s

state or position before God, and constitute what might be called his legal standing. * • • “ In this sermon, however, we are, to think about what God graciously does to transmute this legal standing- of the believer before him into the actual, experience and conduct of the believer himself. This is what we mean by “salvation from the subjective side." If the other things touch on Christ’s work “for” us, these relate to Christ’s work “in” us, on the supposition that we have received him as our Savior, and confessed him as our Lord. In other words, he, through the Holy Spirit, does several things which go to make the true believer a holy man, and which are enumerated in this eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans; for although our text is limited to but one verse, we intend to speak of more than one. In the first place, the Holy Spirit sets the believer free from the law of sin and death, verses 2 to 4. Prior to his regeneration through faith in Christ, the believer was under the power of a tendency or law in the direction of sin, the outcome of which was death, eternal death; but the incoming of tht Holy Spirit to him means that a new tendency or law has been set up within him whose direction is just the opposite to> this. , In tlie second place, the Holy Spirit gives him the spiritual “mind” or disposition to obey and follow out this tendency in the direction of holiness And eternal life—-verses 6-10. In the third place, he not only gives him the spiritual mind, hut goes farther and gives the spiritual power to exercise that mind, verses 11-13, so that the Christian has no excuse for committing sin. A Life of Victory. The New Testament does not teach a doctrine of sinless perfection, or the eradication of evil from our hearts, as long as we remain in the flesh, but It does teach that there is such a thing as living a life of victory every known sin every day. Christians have no justification for apologizing for quick tempers and Irritable speeches and envy and jealousy—not to speak of grosser Sins of the flesh — on the ground that such things are part of their temperament and can’t be helped. It is true that they can’t help them so far as their old nature Is concerned, but the very purpose of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to enable them to live a supernatural life of power over them if they yield their wills to him. In the fourth place, the Holy Spirit gives the believer spiritual encouragement to exercise this power, for he bears witness within him to his ship to God and heirship as well through Jesus Christ—verses 14-17. What stronger motive could there be to stir a. man to put away sin and live a holy life comparable to the apprehension of the fact that he Is Indeed a child of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ? People of the world are Inclined to smile at these things and consider them eth#real and visionary, because they cannot understand them, lacking the spiritual discernment, but these are, after All, the real things, the substance of life, while the phenomena that occupy so much of man’s attention now are only the shadow of the trne. Change in President Arthur's Life. I remember the great change that came about In the character and in the outward life of President Chester A. Arthur. As a New York politician And collector of the port, he had been one of the “boys,” the higher and finer class of “boys,” and yet one of them. But when a strange providence placed him In the presidential office after the murder of President Garfield, what a change came over him! What a steady, sedate, wise, successful, honorable and pure chief magistrate he made! All speak well of his memory. The dignity, the exaltation, the privileges which had come to him contributed to make him over. It is much the same with the Christian who knows who he is and what he has in Christ Finally, the Holy Spirit gives the believer spiritual access unto God in prayer—verses 26-28. This is the crowning act of grace and power. You know what a man is when roa know what he loves.