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selfish. vain. and sinful - must die
in order that we might rise again to
live, really live, by God's laws and
commandments and quit sinning.
"Knowing this. that our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of
sin might be destroyed. that hence–
forth we should not serve sin" (verse
6). As we have seen, sin is the trans–
gression of lhe Iaw. So Romans 6:6
certainly shows that we should
not
continue in lawlessness.
Rather, we
must repent of breaking God's laws
and begin to let Jesus Christ -
lhrough his Spiril and His !ove -
live wilhin us a life of obed ience lo
God's laws and of service to our fel–
low man.
Be Sure You Do Your Part
Are you absolulely sure lhat you
have come to this kind of real re–
pentance and surrender to the God
of the Bible? Have you come to ab–
hor yourself - to realize that your
natural spirit of lust, competilion
and vanity is simply not bringing
you real peace, happiness and eter–
nallife? The people of this world, as
a whole, simply do not know this
way to peace and righteousness (Ro–
mans 3:10, 17).
The greatest stumbling block that
prevents most people from accept–
ing God's truth and being converted
is their own vanity. Most people
have grown up with sorne religious
teaching from grandparents, par–
ents, uncles, aunts or friends. But
they bate to admit that they - and
perhaps friends and loved ones -
have been wrong. They fear to ad–
mit that they may never have been
converted. H uman nature makes
lhem want to maintain their own
righteousness.
But God says, "For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways.... For as the
heavens are higher lhan the earth,
so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts" (rsaiah 55:8-9).
"There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of deatb"
(Proverbs 14: 12). Our own human
ways and reasonings are nearly a l–
ways wrong!
Why
Total Surrender?
lt
is almost certain lhat most of
you reading this article still bave
what the Bible describes as a "car-
What
ls REAL
Conversion?
WHAT IS A REAL CHRISTIAN? Just what
is this experience called " conversion' ' ?
Millions think that a Christian is already perfect
- never does anything wrong. ls it possible
for one to actually SIN and sti ll remain a
truly converted Christian? This booklet provides
the Biblical answers.
See inside front cover for address of
PLAIN TRUTH
office nearest you .
Pl AIN TRUTH April 1973
na!" mind. You probably never
really surrendered your will to God
and began obeying all of His com–
mandments. Do you still argue, rea–
son and justify self? Do you say:
"This is the way 1 look at it"?
Although many religious people
think thcy have already been what
they call "saved,'' the sad truth of
the matter is that they do not know
what it means to be saved! They
have never come to the place of
even beginning to truly surrender
their wills
10
really obey the God of
the Bible. They have never received
God's Holy Spiril or become His be–
gotten sons.
Such people are not overcoming
human nature, nor do they under–
stand and live by the words of lhe
Bible more and more every month
and year of lheir lives. Why?
"Because the camal mind is en–
mity against God: for it is nol sub–
ject lo the law of God, neither
indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).
You see, God describes the "car–
nal" mind - the natural, fiesbly
mind of man - as a mind tbat is dis–
obedienl lo His laws. The camal
mind tries to "reason
around"
lhose
laws and go its own way. Through a