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发帖数: 5754 | 1 Chapter 6.1 The Third Step: “Present Yourselves...”
Let us observe that this ‘presenting’ relates to the members of my body—
that body which, as we said earlier, is now unemployed in respect to sin. “
Present yourselves... and your members”, says Paul, and again: “Present
your members” (Romans 6:13, 19). God requires of me that I now regard all
my members, all my faculties, as belonging wholly to Him.
It is a great thing when I discover I am no longer my own but His. If the
ten shillings in my p... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 2 Chapter 6.2 Separated Unto The Lord
What is holiness? Many people think we become holy by the eradication of
something evil within. No, we become holy by being separated unto God. In
Old Testament times, it was when a man was chosen by God to be altogether
His that he was publicly anointed with oil and was then said to be ‘
sanctified’. Thereafter he was regarded as set apart to God. In the same
manner even animals or material things—a lamb, or the gold of the temple—
could be sanctified, not by... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 3 chapter 6.3 Servant Or Slave?
If we give ourselves unreservedly to God, many adjustments may have to be
made: in family, or business, or church relationships, or in the matter of
our personal views. God will not let anything of ourselves remain. His
finger will touch, point by point, everything that is not of Him, and He
will say: ‘This must go’. Are you willing? It is foolish to resist God,
and always wise to submit to Him. We admit that many of us still have
controversies with the Lord. He wan... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 4 Chapter 7: The Eternal Purpose
We have spoken of the need of revelation, of faith and of consecration, if
we are to live the normal Christian life. But unless we see the end God has
in view we shall never clearly understand why these steps are necessary to
lead us to that end. Before therefore we consider further the question of
inward experience, let us first look at the great Divine goal before us.
What is God’s purpose in creation and what is His purpose in redemption? It
may be summed up in ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 5 chapter 7.1 Firstborn Among Many Brethren
This consideration takes us forward into Romans chapter 8 where the topic is
developed in verses 16 to 18 and again in verses 29 and 30. Paul says: “We
are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified with him. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us”
(Romans ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 6 chapter 7.2 The Grain Of Wheat
But how could God’s only begotten Son become His first begotten? The method
is explained in John 12:24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a
grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but
if it die, it beareth much fruit.” Who was that grain? It was the Lord
Jesus. In the whole universe God had only one ‘grain of wheat’; He had no
second grain. God put His one grain of wheat into the ground and it died,
and in resurrection the only... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 7 chapter 7.3 The Choice That Confronted Adam
God planted a great number of trees in the garden of Eden, but “in the
midst of the garden”—that is, in a place of special prominence—He planted
two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Adam was created innocent; he had no knowledge of good and evil. Think of a
grown man, say thirty years old, who has no sense of right or wrong, no
power to differentiate between the two! Would you not say such a man was
undeveloped? W... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 8 chapter 7.4 Adam’s Choice The Reason For The Cross
Adam chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thereby took up
independent ground. In doing so he became (as man is now in his own eyes) a
‘fully developed’ man. He could command a knowledge; he could decide for
himself; he could go on or stop. From then on he was “wise” (Genesis 3:6).
But the consequence for his was death rather than life, because the choice
he had made involved complicity with Satan and brought him therefore under
... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 9 chapter 7.5 He That Hath The Son Hath The Life
There are various planes of life. Human life lies between the life of the
lower animals and the life of God. We cannot bridge the gulf that divides us
from the plane above or the plane below, and the distance that separates us
from the life of God is vastly greater than that which separates us from
the life of the lower animals.
In China one day I called on a Christian leader who was sick in bed, and
whom, for the sake of this story, I shall call ‘M... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 10 chapter 7.6 They Are All Of One
God wants sons who shall be joint-heirs with Christ in glory. That is His
goal; but how can He bring that about? Turn now to Hebrews 2:10 and 11: “It
became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they that are
sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them
brethren.”
There are two pa... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 11 Chapter 8: The Holy Spirit
We have spoken of the eternal purpose of God as the motive and explanation
of all His dealings with us. Now, before we return to our study of the
phases of Christian experience as set forth in Romans, we must digress yet
again in order to consider something which lies at the heart of all our
experience as the vitalizing power of effective life and service. I refer to
the personal presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit of God.
And here, too, let us take as our startin... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 12 Chapter 8.1 The Spirit Outpoured
Let us turn first to Acts chapter 2 verses 32 to 36: ”(32) This Jesus did
God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. (33) Being therefore by the
right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear. (34) For
David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, (35) Till I make thine enemies the
footstool of thy feet... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 13 chapter 8.2 Faith Is Again The Key
As for forgiveness, so equally for the coming upon us of the Holy Spirit,
the whole question is one of faith. As soon as we see the Lord Jesus on the
Cross, we know our sins are forgiven; and as soon as we see the Lord Jesus
on the Throne, we know the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us. The
basis upon which we receive the enduement of the Holy Spirit is not our
praying and fasting and waiting, but the exaltation of Christ. Those who
emphasize tarrying and ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 14 chapter 8.3 The Diversity Of The Experience
But you ask: How shall I know that the Holy Spirit is come upon me?' I
cannot tell how you will know, but you will know. No description has
been given us of the personal sensations and emotions of the disciples
at Pentecost. We do not know exactly how they felt, but we do know that
their feelings and behaviour were somewhat abnormal, because people
seeing them said they were intoxicated. When the Holy Spirit falls upon
God's people... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 15 chapter 8.4 The Spirit Indwelling
We move on now to the second aspect of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which,
as we shall see in our next chapter, is more particularly the subject of
Romans 8. It is that which we have spoken of as the Spirit indwelling. “If
so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you...” (Romans 8:9). As with the
Spirit outpoured, so with the Spirit indwelling, if we are to know in
experience that which is ours in fact, our first need is of Divine
revelation. When we see Christ ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 16 chapter 8.5 The Treasure In The Vessel
Do you know, my friends, that the Spirit within you is very God? Oh that our
eyes were opened to see the greatness of God’s gift! Oh that we might
realize the vastness of the resources secreted in our own hearts! I could
shout with joy as I think, ‘The Spirit who dwells within me is no mere
influence, but a living Person; He is very God. The infinite God is within
my heart!’ I am at a loss to convey to you the blessedness of this
discovery, that the Holy Sp... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 17 chapter 8.6 The Absolute Lordship Of Christ
“Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a
price: glorify God therefore in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).
This verse now takes us a stage further, for, when once we have made the
discovery of the fact that we are the dwelling place of God, then a full
surrender of ourselves to God must follow. When we see that we are the
temple of God we shall imm... 阅读全帖 |
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R*o
发帖数: 3781 | 18 thanks for posting this good article
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发帖数: 5754 | 19 Chapter 9: The Meaning and Value of Romans Seven
We must return now to our study of Romans. We broke off at the end of
chapter 6 in order to consider two related subjects, namely, God’s eternal
purpose, which is the motive and goal of our walk with Him, and the Holy
Spirit, who supplies the power and resource to bring us to that goal. We
come now to Romans 7, a chapter which many have felt to be almost
superfluous. Perhaps indeed it would be so if Christians really saw that the
old creation has ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 20 chapter 9.1 The Flesh And Man’s Breakdown
Romans 7 has a new lesson to teach us. It is found in the discovery that I
am “in the flesh” (Rom. 7:5), that “I am carnal” (7:18). This goes
beyond the question of sin, for it relates also the matter of pleasing God.
We are dealing here not with sin in its forms but with man in his carnal
state. The latter includes the former but it takes us a stage further, for
it leads to the discovery that in this realm too we are totally impotent,
and that “they tha... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 22 chapter 9.2 What The Law Teaches
Many Christians are suddenly launched into the experience of Romans 7 and
they do not know why. They fancy Romans 6 is quite enough. Having grasped
that, they think there can be no more question of failure, and then to their
utmost surprise they suddenly find themselves in Romans 7. What is the
explanation?
First let us be quite clear that the death with Christ described in Romans 6
is fully adequate to cover all our need. It is the explanation of that
death, wit... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 23 chapter 9.3 Christ The End Of The Law
In Romans 6 we saw how God delivered us from sin; in Romans 7 we see how He
delivers us from the Law. In chapter 6 we were shown the way of deliverance
from sin in the picture of a master and his slave; in chapter 7 we are shown
the way of deliverance from the Law in the picture of two husbands and a
wife. The relation between sin and the sinner is that of master to slave;
the relation between the Law and the sinner is that of husband to wife.
Notice first t... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 24 chapter 9.4 Our End Is God’s Beginning
Now that we have settled the doctrinal side of the question we must come
down to practical issues, staying a little longer with the negative aspect
and keeping the positive for our next chapter. What does it mean in everyday
life to be delivered from the Law? At the risk of a little overstatement, I
reply, “It means that from henceforth I am going to do nothing whatever
for God: I am never again going to try to please Him.” ‘What a doctrine!’
you exclaim. ‘... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 25 chapter 9.5 I Thank God!
Romans 6 deals with “the body of sin”, Romans 7 with “the body of this
death” (6:6; 7:24). In chapter 6 the whole question before us is sin; in
chapter 7 the whole question before us is death. What is the difference
between the body of sin and the body of death? In regard to sin (that is, to
whatever displeases God) I have a body of sin—a body, that is to say,
which is actively engaged in sin. But in regard to the Law of God (that is,
to that which expresses the will of ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 27 Chapter 10: The Path of Progress: Walking In The Spirit
Coming now to Romans 8 we may first summarize the argument of our second
section of the letter from chapter 5:12 to chapter 8:39 in two phrases, each
containing a contrast and each marking an aspect of Christian experience.
The are: Romans 5:12 to 6:23: ‘In Adam’ and ‘in Christ’. Romans 7:1 to 8
:39: ‘In the flesh’ and ‘in the Spirit’.
We need to understand the relationship of these four things. The former two
are ‘objective’ and set forth ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 28 Chapter 10.1 The Flesh And The Spirit
The flesh is linked with Adam; the Spirit with Christ. Leaving aside
now as settled the question of whether we are in Adam or in Christ, we
must ask ourselves: Am I living in the flesh or in the Spirit?
To live in the flesh is to do something out from' [13] myself as in
Adam. It is to derive strength from the old natural source of life that
I inherited from him, so that I enjoy in experience all Adam's very
complete provision for sinning... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 29 chapter 10.2 Christ Our Life
“I thank God through Jesus Christ”! That exclamation of Paul’s is
fundamentally the same as his other words in Galatians 2:20 which we have
taken as the key to our study: “I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ“.
We saw how prominent is the word ‘I’ throughout his argument in Romans 7,
culminating in the agonized cry: “O wretched man that I am!” Then follows
the shout of deliverance: “Thank God... Jesus Christ”! and it is clear
that the discovery Paul has made is th... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 30 chapter 10.3 The Law Of This Spirit Of Life
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made free from the law of sin and death
” (Rom. 8:1, 2, A.V.).
It is in chapter 8 that Paul presents to us in detail the positive side of
life in the Spirit. “There is therefore now no condemnation”, he begins,
and this statement may at first seem out of place here. Surely c... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 31 chapter 10.4 The Manifestation Of The Law Of Life
Let us seek to make this practical. We touched earlier on the matter of our
will in relation to the things of God. Even older Christians do not realize
how great a part will-power plays in their lives. That was part of Paul’s
trouble in Romans 7. His will was good, but all his actions contradicted it,
and however much he made up his mind and set himself to please God, it led
him only into worse darkness. ‘I would do good’, but “I am carnal, sold
... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 32 chapter 10.5 The Fourth Step: “Walk... After The Spirit”
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God,
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering
for
sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”
(Rom.
8:3).
Every careful reader of these two verses will see that there are two
things
presented here. They are, firstly, what the Lord Jesus has done... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 33 Chapter 11: One Body in Christ
Before we pass on to our last important subject we will review some of the
ground we have covered and summarize the steps taken. We have sought to make
things simple, and to explain clearly some of the experiences which
Christians commonly pass through. But it is clear that the new discoveries
that we make as we walk with the Lord are many, and we must be careful to
avoid the temptation to over-simplify the work of God. To do so may lead us
into serious confusion.
... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 34 chapter 11.1 A Gate And A Path
Recognizing a number of such phases in the life and experience of a believer
, we note now a further fact, namely that, though these phases do not
necessarily occur always in a fixed and precise order, they seem to be
marked by certain recurring steps or features. What are these steps? First
there is revelation. As we have seen, this always precedes faith and
experience. Through His Word God opens our eyes to the truth of some fact
concerning His Son, and then only... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 35 chapter 11.2 The Fourfold Work Of Christ In His Cross
We are now in a position to go a step further still and to consider how
great a range is compassed by the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
light of Christian experience and for the purpose of analysis, it may help
us if we recognize four aspects of God’s redemptive work. But in doing so
it is essential to keep in mind that the Cross of Christ is one Divine work
—not many. Once in Judaea two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus died and
ros... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 36 chapter 11.3 The Love Of Christ
Now we must have before us two passages of the Word, one from Genesis 2 and
one from Ephesians 5, which are of great importance in this connection.
“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept;
and he took one of his ribs, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made
he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man said, This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman (Heb.
ishshah), because she wa... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 37 chapter 11.4 One Living Sacrifice
We have said that there is an aspect of the death of Christ presented to us
in Ephesians 5 which is to some extent different from that which we have
been studying in Romans. Yet in fact this aspect is the very end to which
our study of Romans has been moving, and it is into this that the letter is
leading us as we shall now see, for redemption leads us back into God’s
original line of purpose.
In chapter 8 Paul speaks to us of Christ as the firstborn Son among m... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 38 chapter 11.5 More Than Conquerors Through Him
We only see history back to the Fall. God sees it from the beginning. There
was something in God’s mind before the Fall, and in the ages to come that
thing is to be fully realized. God knew all about sin and redemption; yet in
His great purpose for the Church set forth in Genesis 2 there is no view of
sin. It is as though (to speak in finite terms) He leaps in thought right
over the whole story of redemption and sees the Church in future eternity,
ha... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 39 Chapter 12: The Cross and the Soul Life
God has made full provision for our redemption in the Cross of Christ, but
He has not stopped there. In that Cross He has also made secure beyond
possibility of failure that eternal plan which Paul speaks of as having been
from all the ages “hid in God who created all things”. That plan He has
now proclaimed “to the intent that now unto the principalities and the
powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the
manifold wisdom of Go... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 40 Chapter 12.1 The True Nature Of The Fall
If we have even a little revelation of the plan of God we shall always think
much of the word ‘man’. We shall say with the Psalmist, “What is man,
that thou art mindful of him?” The Bible makes it clear that what God
desires above all things is a man—a man who will be after His own heart.
So God created a man. In Genesis 2:7 we learn that Adam was created a living
soul, with a spirit inside to commune with God and with a body outside to
have contact with ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 41 chapter 12.2
The Root Question: The Human Soul
Now we know the course that Adam chose. Standing between the two trees, he
yielded to Satan and took of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. This
determined the lines of his development. From then on he could command a
knowledge; he ‘knew’. But—and here we come to the point—the fruit of the
tree of knowledge made the first man over-developed in his soul. The
emotion was touched, because the fruit was pleasant to the eyes, making him
‘desire’; the min... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 42 chapter 12.3
Natural Energy In The Work Of God
The power, the energy of the soul is present with us all. Those who have
been taught by the Lord repudiate that principle as a life principle; they
refuse to live by it; they will not let it reign, nor allow it to be the
power-spring of the work of God. But those who have not been taught of God
rely upon it; they utilize it; they think it is the power.
Let us take first an obvious illustration of this. Far too many of us in the
past have reasoned as... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 43 chapter 12.4 The Light Of God And Knowledge
Of course, if one does not set out to serve the Lord whole-heartedly,
one does not feel the necessity for light. It is only when one has been
apprehended by God, and seeks to go forward with Him, that one finds
how necessary light is. There is a fundamental need of light in order
for us to know the mind of God; to know what is of the spirit and what
is of the soul; to know what is Divine and what is merely of man; to
discern what i... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 44 Chapter 1: The Blood of Christ
What is the normal Christian life? We do well at the outset to ponder this
question. The object of these studies is to show that it is something very
different from the life of the average Christian. Indeed a consideration of
the written Word of God—of the Sermon on the Mount for example—should lead
us to ask whether such a life has ever in fact been lived upon the earth,
save only by the Son of God Himself. But in that last saving clause lies
immediately the answe... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 45 Chapter 1.1 Our Dual Problem: Sins and Sin
We shall take now as a starting-point for our study of the normal Christian
life that great exposition of it which we find in the first eight chapters
of the Epistle to the Romans, and we shall approach our subject from a
practical and experimental point of view. It will be helpful first of all to
point out a natural division of this section of Romans into two, and to
note certain striking differences in the subject-matter of its two parts.
The first ei... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 46 Chapter 1.2 God’s Dual Remedy: The Blood and the Cross
Thus in the first eight chapters of Romans two aspects of salvation are
presented to us: firstly, the forgiveness of our sins, and secondly, our
deliverance from sin. But now, in keeping with this fact, we must notice a
further difference.
In the first part of Romans 1 to 8, we twice have reference to the Blood of
the Lord Jesus, in chapter 3:25 and in chapter 5:9. In the second, a new
idea is introduced in chapter 6:6, where we are said to ... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 47 Chpater 1.3 The Problem Of Our Sins
We begin, then, with the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and its
value to us in dealing with our sins and justifying us in the sight of God.
This is set forth for us in the following passages:
“All have sinned” (Romans 3:23). “God commendeth his own love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then,
being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God
through him” (Romans 5:8, 9). “Being justifi... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 48 Chapter 1.4 The Blood Is Primarily For God
The Blood is for atonement and has to do first with our standing before God.
We need forgiveness for the sins we have committed, lest we come under
judgment; and they are forgiven, not because God overlooks what we have done
but because He sees the Blood. The Blood is therefore not primarily for us
but for God. If I want to understand the value of the Blood I must accept
God’s valuation of it, and if I do not know something of the value set upon
the Blo... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 49 Chapter 1.5 God Is Satisfied
It is God’s holiness, God’s righteousness, which demands that a sinless
life should be given for man. There is life in the Blood, and that Blood has
to be poured out for me, for my sins. God is the One who requires it to be
so. God is the One who demands that the Blood be presented, in order to
satisfy His own righteousness, and it is He who says: ‘When I see the blood
’, I will pass over you.’ The Blood of Christ wholly satisfies God.
Now I desire to say a word at t... 阅读全帖 |
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发帖数: 5754 | 50 Chapter 1.6 The Blood And The Believer’s Access
The Blood has satisfied God; it must satisfy us also. It has therefore a
second value that is manward in the cleansing of our conscience. When we
come to the Epistle to the Hebrews we find that the Blood does this. We are
to have “hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22).
This is most important. Look carefully at what it says. The writer does not
tell us that the Blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses our hearts, and then stop
there in h... 阅读全帖 |
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