GRACE GAZETTE
Volume XXIssue45
/Published occasionally for mourners in Zion/
/Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees;And make straight pathsfor your feet, lest that which is lame
be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.Hebrews 12::12-13/
FREE SERVANTS//
//
/Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
righteousness.--- For when/
/ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.Romans
6:18,20/
//
The common conception (actually a misconception), which is promoted
by the purveyors of “free-will” and an “easy believe” gospel (so
called) is that men are born in a neutral state wherein they can as
easily choose to serve the LORD as to choose not to.With such a
mindset they present man as possessing the ability to walk in paths
of righteousness before Almighty GOD or to choose to walk in paths
contrary to those commandments issued by the LORD, whenever and if
ever they decide to.One does not have to be a deep-thinking Bible
scholar to discover that such is clearly not the case.
The scripture abundantly declares that men will not choose the way
of GOD and will at every opportunity run contrary to the way of GOD
if left to themselves./“As it is written, There is none righteous,
no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are
together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not
one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have
used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is
full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood:
Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have
they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom
3:10-18/)/“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good,
and sinneth not.” (Ecc 7:20/)
This is not a description of a few members of the human race, or
even a majority, but rather the _entirety_ of mankind.Paul says that
Jew and Gentile, alike (see Rom. 3:9) are both “/under sin/”.If a
man is deep enough _under_ natural water, he will most certainly
drown barring an unforeseen rescue. So too, are men in need of a
deliverance which they cannot provide.For all men are “/under sin/”
by reason of their natural birth as sinners.Even as David testified,
/“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me.” (Psa 51:5/)
Men are born “/under sin”/in the fact that they are under the curse
and condemnation of the law (i.e.; /“the soul that sinneth, it shall
die/”) /“For the wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23/)Men are “/under
sin/” in that they are under its delusion from which they cannot
escape by their own power. “/for of whom a man is overcome, of the
same is he brought in bondage.” (2Pet 2:19/) The greatest delusion
of the natural man is his belief that he can by some activity of his
own, bring himself into a state of being accepted or received by the
LORD.This delusion is promoted by religious teachers of all sorts
who are as those “/blind guides/” spoken of by the LORD, who come
saying “/peace peace when there is no peace”/.“/The prophets
prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded
them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision
and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their
heart.” (Jer 14:14/)
Men are “/under sin”/in that they desire to fulfil the lusts of
their flesh and mind.All of these “lusts” are not necessarily
“immoral”, as men would judge “morality”.In fact, many of them are
the product of man’s belief that he can produce a righteousness of
his own which will be somewhat acceptable in the sight of the
LORD.Yet the grandest display of a man’s “righteousness”, is but as
dung before the LORD, who will not even look upon sin, even when it
is in the form of “righteousness”(as men would consider it.) “/But
we are all as an unclean thing, and _all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags_; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like
the wind, have taken us away.” (Isa 64:6/)
Men are “/under sin/” as they willingly embrace the darkness into
which they are born, quite content to continue therein.“/And this is
the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every
one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved.” (John 3:19-20/)/“Because that,
when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools.” (Rom 1:21-22/) /“And ye will not come to me, that ye might
have life.” (John 5:40/)
Paul speaks of servitude and freedom in his letter to the Romans.No
man, in his natural understanding, desires to be a “servant”.Patrick
Henry’s words are used to stir up the natural mind of men in
expressing this abhorrence of servitude, as he supposedly said;
“Give me liberty or give me death.”Yet men cannot escape being just
such a servant because of the condemnation under which they are
born.For Paul declares that these Roman Christians, were at one time
(i.e.; before they were born again), “/the servants of sin.”/They
(as all men are by nature) were willingly in bondage and thus in
servitude “to sin”, from which they could not escape.
In this state of being, as he says, “/the servants of sin/” they
were completely free “/from righteousness/”.By this he means that
they were in no wise affected by true “RIGHTEOUSNESS”.For they were
in darkness and had neither any understanding of true
“RIGHTEOUSNESS” nor any desire to walk in the precepts of
“RIGHTEOUSNESS.”So this “freedom” was actually their bondage, from
which they had no desire to be set free.For in this state, they were
quite content, /“Among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind; and _were by nature_ the children of wrath,
even as others.” (Eph 2:3/)
Paul also declares that these same Roman Christians who were at one
time, servants of sin and free from righteousness, have now
miraculously been transformed into those who are “/free from sin/”
(i.e.; its dominion and bondage) and now made the “/servants of
righteousness/”.Thus, he exhorts them /“Knowing this, that _our old
man is crucified with him_, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth _we should not serve sin_. For he that is dead is
freed from sin. Now _if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him_: Knowing that Christ being raised from the
dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in
that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he
liveth unto God. Likewise _reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin_, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey
it in the lusts thereof. 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. For _sin shall not have
dominion over you_: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
(Rom 6:6-14/)
The sons of GOD are made “new creatures” in CHRIST through no power
or activity of their own, but rather by the same POWER that raised
the LORD JESUS from the dead.This is that POWER of which HE spoke to
Nicodemus, when HE told him, /“_Ye must be born again_. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:7-8/)
Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying, /“Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new.” (2Cor 5:17/) That which is become “new”
(i.e.; heretofore unknown) is the clear understanding that JESUS
CHRIST is become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of HIS people, by the shedding of
HIS blood on Calvary’s cross, HIS resurrection from the dead, and
HIS ascension to the throne of GOD.All of their HOPE is here, and
they have no confidence in their flesh nor expect that they can in
any wise bring something of their own making to HIM for acceptance.
They are free from sin by HIS work in their behalf and they have
gladly become HIS servants. “I could not see; YOU gave me SIGHT.My
life was dark, you gave me LIGHT.My way was wrong, YOU made it
right. LORD let me serve you.I was alone; YOU befriended me.I was a
slave; YOU set me free.I had no worth, but YOU wanted me.LORD let me
serve you.My ship went down in a stormy sea, and it was YOU who
rescued me.What kind of man would I be, if I didn’t say, “LORD let
me serve you.”” (by Al Cloud, #184 GCSB) Are you HIS servant?mam
