Joseph’s Secret to Success

Tucked away in his father’s blessing is an illustration that the blessings of the Lord are greater than anything we can imagine on this earth. One commentator has said, “It is the Old Testament equivalent to John 15:1-17 where Jesus taught His disciples to abide in the vine. Whether the Old or the New Testament, the secret of spiritual fruitfulness is union with the Lord God through Jesus Christ.”

“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall” (Genesis 49:22 NIV).  That is the testimony of the Bible. “The LORD was with Joseph… The LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph… The LORD was with Joseph… The LORD was with him, and whatever he did, that the LORD made to prosper” (Genesis 39: 2, 5, 21).

The LORD God caused Joseph’s vine to “climb over a wall” into Egypt, and God used him there. “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction” (41:52).  “God has made me lord of all Egypt” (45:9).

Joseph was saying, “I saw God do it!”  The LORD God was sovereign in his life, and it was His sovereign grace that delivered and sustained him during those long hard years in Egypt as a Hebrew slave.

If Joseph had been living in our day, he would say without Christ we can do nothing.  However, when we are in union with Him, it is His life that is seen in us; it is His power at work in us, and our works are therefore His works.

Jacob told his son Joseph how he would be a fruitful vine.  It would not be without adversity, trials, and temptations.  Bitter archers who hated him attacked Joseph.  “They shot at him with hostility” (v.23a-24a).  He kept liberally “in an unyielding position.”

Joseph’s own brothers shot their bitter arrows of hatred and envy at him.  “If God loves you, man will hate you; if God honors you, man will dishonor you,” cried Spurgeon.  Joseph’s own brothers shot their bitter and hostile arrows at them conspiring to kill him, threw him in a cistern and sold him unto slavery and was taken to Egypt.  The first archers were the archers of envying in his own home. “When they saw him, they plotted against him to put him to death” (Gen. 37:18). 

The hot arrows of temptation from Potiphar’s lusty wife took aim at Joseph.  When given the opportunity that many a man craves for, Joseph ran for his life shouting, “How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”  (39:9).  It was not just one lustful, passionate advance because “She spoke to Joseph day after day” (v.10). 

Joseph said, “No!”  “He did not listen to her to lie beside her or be with her” (v.10).  He fled, and he paid for it by going to prison.

Joseph was maligned in the eyes of his master, and  his character was ruined. Spurgeon said, “It was a marvelous providence that Potiphar did not put Joseph to death.”  This lying person ruined Joseph’s character..

  1. H. Spurgeon drew an application saying, “There are no royal roads to heaven – they are paths of trial and trouble; the archers will shoot at you as long as you are on this side the flood.”  Those who are true to God’s Word can expect it, indeed, must expect it.  “Bless be God, they have not said worse things of us than they said of our Master.”

Again, the great old Baptist preacher said, “Do not be in a hurry to set yourselves right.  God will take care of you.  Leave yourselves alone; only be very valiant for the Lord God of Israel, be steadfast in the truth of Jesus and your bow shall abide.”

No one was able to bend Joseph’s bow but he and God.  “His bow abode in strength; it did not snap, it did not stray aside.  His chastity was his bow, and he did not lose that; his faith was his bow, and that did not yield it did or break; his courage was his bow, and that did not fail him; his character and his honesty was his bow, nor did he cast it away.”

What was Joseph’s secret?  How did he bear such fruit of righteousness?

“His bow remained in an unyielding position, and the arms of his hands were agile, from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob” (v.24 using the marginal notes).  The NIV reads, “But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you…” (49:24-25b).

Joseph’s arms “Were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.”  The image is that of the LORD God placing His strong hands upon the hands of Joseph as he draws the string of his bow just as a strong father might steady and guide his son in giving an archery lesson.

Who steadies your hand?  Who gives you inner strength?  Joseph’s “bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5b).  The secret of Joseph’s strength is divine strength.  And if you and I ever accomplish anything to God’s glory, it will be in and by and through abiding in Jesus Christ.



Walking in the Flesh

“The sinful mind is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7).

It is impossible for a person who does not know Jesus Christ as their Savior to please God.

Two different mindsets have two entirely different end results. One produces peace with God and the other hostility toward God. Everyone needs to ask a critical question of ourselves: Is my mind dominated by “sinful nature,” or is it under the control of the Holy Spirit?

The sinful mind is hostile toward God. That is the result of total radical depravity. There is no way it can possibly please God.

The apostle Paul said, “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (v. 8). “The mind of the flesh is enmity against God” (v. 8). It is hostile toward God. It hates God. It is impossible for anyone who is dominated by the flesh to gain divine approval.

It is the total inability of the natural man to be well-pleasing to God or to do what is well-pleasing to God. “Enmity against God” is nothing other than total depravity and “cannot please God.”

The governing principle of the mind of the flesh is “enmity toward God.” All sin is against God.

Underlying all activity of the “mind of the flesh” is opposition and hatred of God.

“After the flesh” (vv. 4, 5) and “in the flesh” (vv. 8, 9) have the same effect of the human nature that is corrupt, directed, and under the control of sin.

On the other hand “after the Spirit” (vv. 4, 5), and “in the Spirit” (v. 9) are of the same effect as one is under the control and conditioned to the Holy Spirit.

“The mind of the flesh” (v. 5) is to have the things of the flesh as the preoccupation of thought, interest, affection, and purpose. 

“The mind of the flesh” includes the cognitive activities of reason, the emotional responses, and volition controlled by the sinful flesh.

“The things of the Spirit” (v. 5), “after the Spirit,” “in the Spirit,” “the mind of the Spirit,” and “walking in the Spirit,” or “after the Spirit” takes in the opposite direction with completely different principles. It is to be under the habitual control of the Holy Spirit.

The outcome of both principles is also very clear. “The mind of the flesh is death” (v. 6). It has the effect of separation from God. The “mind of the Spirit is life and peace” (v. 6). It produces fellowship with God. When we are at one with God we experience His deep, deep peace. The opposite of enmity and death is reconciliation.

Are you walking in the sinful flesh or in the Spirit? This is a very serious question. It is not something in which we can be careless. Eternity hangs in the balances. Only you can decide as the Spirit of God speaks to your heart. But the Holy Spirit will never contradict the written Word of God, and will always lead in ways that conform us to the likeness of Christ. He will never lead us into sin or compromise behavior.

Are you a saved person? Have you been born again? Do you have the testimony of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit? What is in habitual control of your life? Is it the “sinful nature” or the Holy Spirit? If our minds are set on “sinful nature” we had better ask some serious questions about our relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you have spiritual life? Are you responsive to the things of God? What is your response to the pricking of your conscience by the Holy Spirit? Are you alive spiritually or spiritually dead to God just as if you were physically dead?

The Christian mind is “set on what the Spirit desires.” Is this your habitual thinking? Do you desire to please Him? The unbeliever has his mind set on what the “sinful nature” desires. The action of one is spiritual life and peace, whereas the other is spiritual death. Have you passed from death to life? Have you been born again?



Sleepless Nights and Stressful Days

What do you do when the pressures of daily life assail and assault you?

Since the LORD God has saved you by His grace from beginning to end, why should you tremble before the lesser dangers of this life?

King David tells of an experience how he was able to lie down and sleep in the midst of a sudden danger occasioned by his son Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15-16).

“I lie down and sleep; I awake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side” (Psalm 3:5-6).

David went to sleep trusting God with one of the greatest threats to his life. God was a shield around David as he slept trusting God with his life.

  1. H. Spurgeon said, “It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God.” Those are the most crushing moments in our lives. We feel as if the very floor has been pulled out from us, and someone has greased the rope we were holding on to desperately.

King David in the first stanza gave expression to the great crisis he was experiencing. He acknowledged and deeply experienced the deep anxious feelings. His enemies have risen up against him. “O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me? Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him’” (vv. 1-2).

Think about it. Sometimes we, too, feel like our enemies are giants much larger than life, and we are mere ants ready to be crushed. We seem overwhelmed when we take inventory of our lives.

David was fleeing from his son Absalom. Are you fleeing the presence of a son, daughter, or spouse who has turned their lives against everything you believe in and are committed to in life? Perhaps you face an uphill battle in pursuing the God-given goals in your life. You may feel like the cutthroat environment where you work is an open warfare. Instead of swords, knives and bullets they are swords of lying gossip, rumors, deceit, misrepresentation, etc. As you go to work you are dreading the living hell in the jungle at the office. There is always that animal that is pushing buttons trying to find your vulnerable spot. The enemies of the gospel are saying, “God will not deliver you.” Who hasn’t felt the assault of the enemy?

The second stanza tells us how David gained the victory. He put his confidence in the LORD God. There is no other way to explain the change. He takes his mind off his enemies and focuses his attention on the only one who can deliver him.

“But You are a shield around me, O LORD, You bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the LORD I cry aloud, and He answers me from His holy hill. Selah” (vv. 3-4).

Like a great crescendo of orchestra music the psalmist says, “Pause. Just think about it.” We often respond with “Praise the Lord!”

Faith says, “I have committed my soul to the LORD God in His matchless grace in Jesus Christ. Since He has saved me by His grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, He is quite capable as my sovereign God to take care of this frightful matter at hand. This personal ordeal I am presently facing is small in comparison to what God has done to save my soul. I can trust this to Him and rest.”

When we gaze at the problems we face and see our weakness it all seems impossible. However, when we bring God into the picture we see Him in His true great stature as the eternal sovereign one. Our mountains become foothills. Our giants become ants. Our fears become occasions to see the great hand of God in our lives.

David cried out to God for help, knowing that God heard Him. He leaned upon the LORD saying, “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side” (vv. 5-6).

Are you willing to say? “Lord, I hand this matter over to You. You are bigger than this problem can ever become. Nothing gets out of hand with You.”

David prayed, “Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! . . . From the LORD comes deliverance.” And like David, you can go to sleep knowing the LORD will deliver you.



Be Imitators of God

“Be imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1).

Those words are startling, upsetting, impossible. It is “the ultimate ideal.”

“Be imitators of God.” There can be no higher standard than that. The apostle Paul boldly tells us if we are to be like God we must imitate Him.

How is it possible for us depraved sinners to possibly imitate the sovereign LORD of the universe?

Once we get over the initial shock we realize that as children we are to imitate our parents. We should behave like them assuming they are godly role models.

Since we were born into God’s family as His legitimate children when we repented and placed our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we therefore should be an imitation of God (John 1:12-13).

Let it be clearly stated that “imitating God” has nothing to do with trying to merit eternal life. It has to do with our sanctification. We are to grow in godliness. The supreme example of this idea of imitating God is in the life of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul used the word

mimetai

from which we get our English word to “mimic.” The idea is to copy closely, to repeat another person’s speech, actions, behavior and mannerisms. Paul is saying get to know your heavenly Father so you can echo His speech and behave the way He behaves.

How do we “imitate” our Father? We know that the apostle is not telling us to try to imitate God’s sovereignty. He alone is and ever will be self-existent and self-efficient. That is absolutely beyond our means. He alone is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, etc. Those are non-communicable attributes of God. He alone is God.

We are “to be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). Not childish attitudes and behavior, but as His children.

Ephesians 5:2 explains how the believer is to imitate God. We are to “walk in love.”

Jesus sacrificed His life for us. As the Good Shepherd He gave His life for the sheep (John 10:11, 15). Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God, and our Father” (Galatians 1:4).

God took our sin seriously and He dealt with it fully in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. On the basis of that death God chose to forgive you and me (1 John 4:10; Rom. 5:8; Gal. 2:20; John 15:13; 3:16).

Christ “gave Himself up” for you and me. He surrendered Himself to death by execution for our crimes against God. He died in our stead, i.e. in our place. That is how great His love is for us.

Christians can imitate God by loving others, even to the point of death if necessary (1 John 3:16).

“We are to walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Ephesians 5:2). 

“Walk in love” is a constant ordering your behavior within the sphere of love. The child of God is to order his behavior within the sphere of this divine, supernatural love produced in his heart by the Holy Spirit. After a while it becomes a good habit, and we be become more and more like our heavenly Father.

Let’s be careful to note the context of the admonition. A couple of verses earlier he wrote, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (4:30). How do you grieve Him? The next verse says by bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice (v. 31). Let’s put it away from us because it causes pain, grief, and distress to the Holy Spirit of God.

We can please Him by being “kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you . . .” (4:32-5:2).

How do you please Him, rather than causing Him grief? Act the way He acts; behave the way your Father in heaven behaves; “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore, be imitators of God . . .”

How did our heavenly Father treat us? He dealt with us in kindness, compassion, forgiving. Praise God that He has not dealt with us with what we deserved. In grace He has chosen to love us and forgive us of every sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all our sins. That is love. That is how God treats us.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children . . .” Act like the Father. Love like the Father. Forgive like the Father. Be kind to one another like the Father. “Just as God in Christ has forgiven you.” “Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us.”



Who can be against us?

To be very honest there are days when I don’t have to look very far over my shoulders to give you the answer.  The Apostle Paul suggests a most violent opposition:  tribulations, distress, persecutions, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, death, principalities, etc.

The devil himself, Satan, is a powerful enemy of every Christian. He is “a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). At times, like in the Garden of Eden, he calls God a liar, and at other times he is like an angel of light with beautiful wisdom. He would even deceive the elect if he were permitted.

However, “There is no one on par with God,” writes A. T. Robertson. Satan and his hosts of demons can never ultimately triumph over the believer in Jesus Christ. God has given us spiritual armor and He expects us to use it in our spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-17). 

John Calvin correctly said, “There is no power under heaven or above it which can resist the armor of God.”

“If God is for us” does not suggest doubt. Since it is true “God is for us” we do not have to be concerned about all other opposition.

Since God is for us who can be against us? The world, the flesh and the devil are always plotting and scheming, but God has demonstrated that He is always for us. Since He is for us, nothing can possibly defeat His eternal purposes for our lives.

The Sovereign Creator God is for His redeemed children. He has proved His love for the sinner by sending His very best, His only begotten Son, to die for us on the cross.

Since God is for us, we can rest assured all things work together for our good.

Who can be against us when the Lord God is making “all things,” even that which is against us, to work for us (Romans 8:28)? Everything is working

for us, and ultimately not

against us.

It makes all the difference in a good day or a bad day when we realize that God is for us all the time. “There is no one on par with God.” No one. Since He is always for us, who can be against us?

Moreover, since He is for the believer who has been purchased by the blood of His Son, He always provides His very best for His children.

In Jeremiah 29:11, God told Jeremiah, “‘For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope'” (Jeremiah 29:11, The NET Bible)

Does God want anything less for the person He has chosen to be conformed to the image of His Son? The Psalmist declares, “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count” (Psalm 40:5, NASB 1995). Again in Psalm 139:17, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:17, NASB 1995).

The emphasis of the last paragraph of Romans eight is the perseverance of the saints or security of the believer in Christ. “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35). The whole point Paul is stressing is we are secure in the love of God in Christ Jesus.

“What then shall we say of these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (v. 31). We can answer with the words of the Psalmist again, “The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6, NASB 1995).

What is the worst thing that men can do to me? The world says, “Kill me.” Even that would only usher me into the very presence of the Father in heaven (Acts 7:56-60). To live is Christ and die is far better yet. The apostle Paul said, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8, NASB 1995).

As for my lovely wife and daughters His favor alone is sufficient for every sorrow. His strong arms protect against the dark storms in life’s violent seas (Ps. 23:4; Ps. 56:11).

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Who can stand against the LORD God? Nobody. Nothing. The LORD God reigns!

The LORD God will protect His investment. Next to His only begotten Son, we are the most precious possessions He has because we were purchased with His own blood.

Let us come boldly, yet humbly, declaring “defiantly, triumphantly, challenging any creature in heaven or earth or hell to answer” or deny the truth. But there is no answer for this and several others questions posed by Paul in this paragraph, for nobody and nothing can harm the redeemed people of God.



Power to Obey

How many times have you herd the excuse, “But I am afraid I can’t live the Christian life”?

The badge of the true disciple of Jesus Christ is obedient faith.

Jesus told His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

He has commanded us to go and make disciples of every nation. And when we are obedient He gives us the power to obey His command (Acts 1:8).

He gives us Himself, and in the giving of Himself He gives us all that we need to obey Him.

The power we know we need to accomplish His will can be ours if we obey His Word. As we yield ourselves to Him He will fulfill His will in and through us. He does not ask us to do anything that He does not enable us to do.

The indwelling Holy Spirit is in us an all-prevailing source of power to obey His commands. He abides in us and we in Him. Our greatest needs are fully met in Christ and all that He provides for His people. He gives us the vitality, energy, and spiritual power to do everything God asks of us.

We are by the divine power of the Spirit of God set free to serve Him, and obey Him.

A true Christian knows the power of obedience. Christian liberty is not a license to sin it up. There is freedom in the liberating good news of Jesus Christ. But it is not a freedom to give ourselves to licentious pleasures of the flesh. It is a new freedom to serve God in righteousness (Rom. 6:12ff). He gives us the freedom to love Him with all our heart. “If we love Him we will obey Him.”

We get our freedom through surrender to Christ. We get the power to obey by obeying. We have been set free to do the will of God.

Have you ever tried to witness to an unbeliever without being in fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Our words are like dead lives fall on frozen ground during the winter. But when the Holy Spirit quickens the heart and we are in fellowship with Him they penetrate the heart of unbelief and He uses them to accomplish His purpose.

What blessed joy when He gives us power to declare the Word of God with power. We are told that He can be grieved by our unyieldedness, but we can also bring joy to Him as we yield ourselves to His control.

Jesus gave to His disciples through the gift of His Spirit the power to speak and be witnesses to His death and resurrection. The power of the Holy Spirit is the power to think God’s thoughts after Him, to speak His words to all men.

Jesus commands us to go and preach His good news. When we do He gives us His enabling power. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

Are you spiritually anemic? Have you gone to Him in humility, confessing your sins, turning from them and making yourself available to Him to do anything He wants to do in and through you?

When He has us ready spiritually He will use us. The Holy Spirit indwells us, giving us the power to obey God. All that He asks is total obedience. The Holy Spirit is within us, and by His power we can do His bidding. We will receive His power to obey. He even gives us faith to trust Him.

Will you make yourself available to Him to do anything that pleases Him in and through you? It may scare you to death. But that is all that He asks. Don’t think up a bunch of excuses. Just say, “Here am I, send me, Lord.” And then step out trusting Him for His enabling, anointing and power. The moment you act upon what you know to be God’s will, God answers that prayer, and He empowers you to do what you cannot do in yourself. The Holy Spirit gives us the desire, ability, and power to do the will of God.

If you love Him, you will obey Him.

Love solves our obedience problem.



Wisdom for Trials

In the context of a discussion on trials in life the apostle James tells believers to ask God for wisdom to understand and use them for God’s glory.

Divine wisdom gives us the spiritual ability to view trials form God’s perspective. But not only does He help us to understand our suffering, He enables us to apply the wisdom to our trials.

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

James tells us trials come from many sources. Sometimes we bring trials on ourselves by making foolish decisions and pursuing selfish objectives.

They come when we are persecuted for the cause of Christ. Satan is the one behind these trials because God has invaded his territory. He cannot take away our salvation, but he can sure eat away at our joy and fellowship in the Lord.

We live in a fallen world that has been severely affected by the results of Adam’s disobedience. Therefore, hardships in this world cannot be prevented and will be with us until the day of its redemption when Christ comes.

We also need to be sensitive to the fact that God allows each trial that we encounter. He sends trials so that we will learn to trust Him.

God uses trials so He can get our attention and teach us through those experiences. His wisdom helps us to discern not only His will, but also how we respond to these pressures in life. What does God want you to learn in this process of dealing with this trial? What is the good that can come out of this evil intent in persecution or misunderstanding?

God tests us in order to demonstrate our faithfulness and strength. He wants to show us how strong we are when we depend upon Him. The testing of our faith produces likeness of Christ.

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Testing proves Christian character. It tests our commitment and endurance to live for Christ. People are impacted with the Gospel when they see us following Christ faithfully, regardless of the chances, changes and circumstances in our lives.

The question of commitment comes when we face trials, hardships, and persecutions with confidence in Christ and obey Him when we do not understand why it is happening to us.

God uses trials to strip away the superficial spirituality in our lives. They reveal the secret inner attitudes of our lives and make us aware of secret sins, unclarified values and selfish motives.

God uses trials to demonstrate to us His sustaining grace and power during our most difficult experiences in life.

Christ lives His life in and through us to demonstrate to the watching world what authentic Christianity is really like. The pressures of trials conform us to the likeness of Christ by producing His likeness within us.

God uses our trials to minister to others who are going through similar experiences. God “comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Through trials we are better equipped to share what we have learned.

As we make ourselves available to Him He lives in and through us giving us wisdom, grace and power.



A New Creation, Not Yet Perfect

“The believer is a new man, a new creation, but he is a new man not yet made perfect,” observes John Murray.

The born again believer still has to deal with indwelling sin. He still sins even though he is growing in Christ likeness and is the subject of the progressive sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

The believer is being transfigured into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

The emphasis the apostle Paul makes in Romans 6:14, 17, 18-20 is there has been a radical change in the believer’s relationship to sin. It is true that the believer still sins, but he is no longer a slave to sin. Sin no longer reigns as in the condition of the old man, the unregenerate person. Romans 7:14-25 teaches us that sin still remains in the believer’s mind, affections, and will. Slavery to sin is broken. But as Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:20-24, and Colossians 3:9-10 brings out the struggle in the heart of the very believer.

Herman Bavink said, “The spiritual struggle which the believers must conduct is between the flesh and the spirit, between the old and the new man, between the sin which continues to dwell in the believers and the spiritual principle of life which has been planted in their hearts.”

If the old nature has been “crucified” and “laid aside,” how can one say the believer still has an old nature?

Christ’s death took the form of a Roman crucifixion. The apostle Paul says the believer is “crucified with Christ” and is “dead” as a result of this action just as Christ after His crucifixion. Just as Christ was definitely dead so is the believer in his vital union with Christ is dead to sin. “For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Romans 6:10 NET).

But the finality of death is not the only thing Paul stresses about our relationship with Christ. Drawing on the symbolism of baptism by immersion in water Paul says, “Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4 NET). It is not a physical death and burial in regard to the believer, but forensic and positional. Paul has in mind our new position in a vital union with Christ. This is an act of God. We have a new relationship with Him. We have been placed in a new unchanging position. This is the way we exist in God’s sight. We are no figment in His imagination. This is the greatest of spiritual realities.

Believers are to “consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” because this is the great reality of our spiritual lives (6:10).

This status or position before God has vital significance and power in our daily life. We draw power and resources from this unchanging position.

Paul is describing the whole man and the change in our relationship. We have a new position. The contrast Paul is bringing out in these passages is not a change in our nature, but a change in relationship. Our old man is the old unregenerate self. The new person is the new regenerate self.

Because of this spiritual regeneration brought about by the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we are new creatures in Christ. As a result we have a new relationship with Christ and a new position before God the Father.

It is the believer’s responsibility to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in obeying the Word of God and overcoming temptation.

The true believer knows he needs Christ everyday. He knows he must guard and keep his heart everyday until he sees Christ is glory. When he sins he flees to Christ, His advocate. God had begun a new work in the believer, but that work is not yet perfect.

The Christian lives in both Romans chapters seven and eight. The Christian life is an increasing dynamic repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Everyday we increasingly depend upon the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ to cover all our sins. We love Him more and more everyday.

Our sense of repentance deepens as we discover more sins that need to be put to death. Like the apostle Paul, we cry out daily in our mourning, “I am carnal.” But daily we also rejoice in the great truth, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We die to sin daily, and we live to righteousness daily. By the inner working of the Holy Spirit, we “put to death the deeds of the body that we might live.” This is daily responsibility. Daily the inner man or “self” is being renewed day by day.

Romans 7:14-8:4 is the inner battle against remaining sin and imperfect obedience to God’s Word. It is the work of the Holy Spirit leading the believer into deeper repentance, increased holiness, and a greater dependence upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.

There will be a day when repentance will be no more, but that day has not arrived. Until that day arrives, we need to deepen our repentance and increase our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.



Privileges of the Child of God

The apostle Paul makes it very clear, if we are saved, we are “in Christ.” If we are “in Christ,” He is in us and His life within us will inevitably turn us from sin to a life of righteousness.

God loved us and Jesus died for us so that we might be holy. “God saved us that we who believed on Christ, once lost in sin, might live a holy life.” This new union of the believer with Christ produces holiness.

There is no higher privilege in life than to bear the name of Jesus Christ and be known as a Christian. Therefore, because of this new relationship with Him we must strive constantly to live a holy life. We are sons and daughters of the King of the universe. God the Father claims us as His children because of the atoning death of Jesus Christ. There is no status greater than this on earth. How then do we dare act like the children of the devil? We are now “members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19).

Our new status as believers in Jesus Christ brings new privileges, rights and responsibilities to our lives.

These new privilege as children of God produces a likeness of Christ in our daily life.

We now have access to God. We are “no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (v. 19).

Just think about it! We who were dead in trespasses and sins have now “gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Romans 5:2). We can now come to God in prayer anytime, any place, in any and all circumstances.

We have this immediate access guaranteed because of God’s saving grace. We are His children and we can go into His presence continually without any human mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6a). He is our middleman, our go between, because He alone is qualified to be that person. He brings peace, fellowship, and salvation to the sinner. The perfect God, and the perfect man is the only mediator we need. He alone gives us this perfect access to God. What a privilege is ours!

“Lo I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20). He is with us constantly, even when we are unaware of His presence. It is my prayer that I am in such fellowship and communion with Christ that He can break in upon my conscious awareness any moment, any hour, every day. “I am with you always.” What a marvelous provision!

The apostle Paul wrote, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Jesus promised, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14).

Because of His saving grace He has brought us into this new relationship with Him and He has provided for all our needs. He has not promised to provide all we want. Because He has promised to provide for our true needs, we can concentrate on serving other people.

The LORD God has an unlimited supply of riches in His grace at His disposal, and He is willing to give out of that supply to His children. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. . . .And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:13, 19).

Not only is He able, but He is also omnipotent and all wise. I can also trust Him not to give that which will harm me. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus is our constant Protector.

He is also constantly at work deep within our hearts to make us all that He wants us to be. He wants to produce His likeness in us so that He can use us to accomplish His eternal purposes in this world. The apostle Paul admonishes us, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Let us make ourselves available to Him so that He may make us holy and blameless in full measure. When lost people see Jesus Christ in us, and the way we live they will be attracted to Him and listen to the eternal message of His saving grace.

This privilege of being in Christ will never cease. His love for us, demonstrated at the cross will never fade. We are assured that His love will last for all eternity. Is your awareness of His love now greater than ever before?



Yes, But God

We are totally depraved sinners who cannot earn or merit in any way, a right relationship with God. Before I became a Christian, I was “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). I “walked according to the course of this world, according to the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (v. 2). I too “lived in the lust of my flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind and was by nature a child of wrath, even as the rest” (v. 3).

That is an ugly picture, but it is true of my life before Christ conquered me.

It is the sad state of every person outside of Christ. We have each failed in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. We are sinners. Our lives do not bring glory to God. Because we are sinners, we cannot please Him with our self-righteousness and religious works, no matter how good our motives or our works.

Yes, “But God.” How beautiful are those words to the depraved sinner.

Yes, “but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us” (v. 4).

That same holy and righteous God had “mercy” on us. The word means loving kindness, help in the time of need. It is God’s active intervention to help. He is the Helper of the helpless.

He treats us in mercy because He loves us. We absolutely deserve eternal condemnation in an eternal hell. If you disagree with that statement, you do not understand free grace. You are not claiming God’s grace alone in Christ alone to save you. We are undeserving of God’s free grace. We deserve the death penalty (Rom. 3:23: 6:23).

“But God . . . loved us” (John 3:16; Rom. 5:6, 8).

“But God . . . loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions” (Eph. 2:5).

“But God . . . made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (v. 6). That is grace! We have a completely new relationship with God because of His rich love, mercy and grace.

Dead in transgressions? Dead in sin? Yes. But God performs resurrections. He reaches down to sinners, and brings them to spiritual life again. He calls them, and His voice brings life to the dead.

No one can take the credit but God alone. It is God’s sovereign, free grace that makes us right with God.

“But God . . . . in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (v. 7). Through out all eternity the redeemed will sing, “Saved by Grace.” We are trophies of God’s saving grace and will be to His honor and glory alone through out eternity (Rev. 4:8-11; 5:9-17).

“But God” rich in mercy, loved us, with His great love, and made us alive with Him, raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in a vital union with Him and saved us by His grace.

Apart from the quickening voice of God there would be no hope for anyone.

We were the objects of His wrath, but God out of the great love with which He loved us had mercy upon us. We were dead, and dead men do not rise, but God made us alive with Christ. We were slaves, dead, powerless, but God has raised us up with Christ and set us at His own right hand, in a position of honor and power.