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SALVATION?
(Continued from page 3)
to a life of willful and continuous
disobedience. But future missteps
must-and can- be forgiven, so long
as you continue in striving with
God's help to live a life of obedi–
ence to Him.
Why do sorne religious people
today teach tha t it is a ll right for
Christians to go right on breaking
the law? Why do they say that grace
means license to disobey God's law?
No wonder God found it necessary,
through Jude, to warn us to contend
earnestly for the faith once deliv–
ered to the saints by Jesus Christ–
for, as you'll read in Jude 3-4, there
are certain meo crept in unawares–
deceiving people, turning grace into
license!
Would a governor pardon a man
convicted of murder so he could
· continue murdering more and more
people? God's merciful pardon- His
grace- is bestowed on us because we
have repented, with a sincere desire
to turn from our wicked ways of
lawlessness.
So, from here on, we must obey–
unto righteousness! (Rom. 6: 16.)
Yet you cannot, of your own
strength, keep the spiritual law spir–
itually.
Now let's really understand that!
How You Get Etemal Llfe
You have now gained contact with
God. You are mortal , possessing
only a temporary chemical exis–
tence. God only has eternallife. Life
can come only from li fe- not from
death. Now wha t?
You now need to receive God's
gift of e ternallife. But how?
Jesus Christ said it was necessary
for us mortal humans that He go to
the Father's throne in heaven (John
16:7) in order to send the Holy
Spirit ofGod for us.
This required the resurrected liv–
ing Christ. So after His resurrection,
Jesus ascended to the throne of God
that rules the entire universe (Rev.
3:2 1). Then, sorne ten days later. on
the ann ual day of Pentecost, the
Holy Spirit carne to enter into the
very minds of all who had sincere!y
repented of their rebellion against
God and His way, and who had
The
PLAIN TRUTH June/July 1978
been reconciled to God and had
gained access to Him by faith in
Christ's shed blood for the remission
of past sins (Acts 2: 1-4).
These first disciples received
God's Spirit through the work of the
resurrected, glorified, living Christ.
The Spirit of
t~e
Fa ther is also the
Spiri t of Christ. Thus it actually was
the living Christ, Himself, entering
into them- not in Person, but in
Spirit! Christ is a living Savior who
does His saving work from within!
Now let's get the connection.
On that annual day of Pentecost
at Jerusalem, thousands of people
looking on were amazed when the
disciples received the Holy Spiri t.
Peter preached an explanatory ser–
mon (Acts 2: 14-36). The multitude
was emotionally convicted and cried
out, "Wbat shall we do?" Peter gave
the answer-for you and me today
as much as for them of that day:
Repent, be baptized, showing your
fai th in Christ, and you shall receive
the gift ofthe Holy Spirit.
God imparts eterna! life to us by
His Spirit.
lt
is the impregnation–
the begetta1 of eternallife.
If the Holy Spirit of God actually
dwells wi thin you, then, as God
raised Christ from the dead, He
shall- at the time of the resurrec–
ti o n - a lso mak e
immortal
("quicken'' means energize-make
eternally alive) your mortal body by
His Spirit dwelling in you (Romans
8: 11 ). But (verse 9), unless His Spirit
is actualJy in you, you are not a
Christian-no matte r how many
ch urches you join!
God's Holy Spirit is His life.
lt
imparts His life to you!
lt
imparts
more, as we shall now see!
God Ooesn't "Kid Hlmself"
One thing more: The Holy Spirit is
divine, spiri tua l love- the !ove of
God ftowing into you through the
living Christ! (Rom. 5:5.) Jesus ex–
plained how we should come to
Him and drink in of His Spirit, like
drinking in living water- and how
this same Holy Spirit would flow,
like a river of living water, out from
us (John 7:37-39) in !ove to God
and to fellowman. Now let's make
all that p1ain and clear.
God's law is a law of love-love to
God in reverence, worship and obe–
dience; !ove
lo
neighbor in service,
kindness, sha ring.
lt
takes !ove to
fulfill- to perform- the law. You
will read that in Romans 13:
JO.
But we see in Romans 7:14 that
this law is a spiri tual law. This spi ri–
tual law can be fulfilled , performed ,
spi ritua lly kept and obeyed only by
spiritual !ove! You were not born
with that kind of !ove. You do not
have, naturally, the kind of !ove re–
quired to truly keep this great spiri–
tuallaw!
You must go to God to obtain
that kind of !ove. That is a !ove He
gives you through the living Christ.
Tha t is His own !ove. It emanates
directly from Him.
Now understand! True righteous–
ness is keeping "all thy command–
ments" (Ps . 119 : 172). lt is
performing God's spiritual 1aw with
the spiritual !ove which only God
can supply.
You drink it in from Him- once
the contact is established. It pours
out from you like rivers of living
water. Water in a river ftows in a
certain direction, guided by the riv–
erbed or channel. God's law is tha t
riverbed which guides the ftow- the
expression- the direction in which
the divine !ove flows ! God's law is
the way of perfect spi ritual charac–
ter- the very character ofGod.
So, the very spirit by which God
imparts to you His life- His salva–
tion- is also His own !ove which im–
pa rts to you His righteousness!
It
is
no longer just you, in your own
power and strength, "keeping the
commandments"- it is, spiritually
speaking, the living Christ in you
keeping His Father's command–
ments- even as He kept them by
this same di vine !ove while He was
human here on earth!
Can you brag, or boast, then,
about your righteousness? No- it is
not your righteousness- it is God's!
If Christ, by His grace, erased your
guilty past, gave you access to God.
a nd now po urs forth into a nd
through you the spiritual !ove tha t
keeps the law, this is not your righ–
teousness, but God's.
And this is not your "works" !
lt
is
nothing you earn!
God does not "kid Himself."
Sorne religious teachers tell you
Ch rist lived a righteous life for you
more than 1900 years ago, and since
you "can't keep the law," as they
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