DELIVERANCE FROM THE POWER Of SIN
“Our old man has been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin”. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”. What was presented to the faith of the dying Israelites (Num 21) was sin, condemned in the figure of the brazen serpent (see John 3: 14; Rom 8: 3), and in the one who looked the power of the deadly venom of the serpent was annulled, so that he lived.
In Romans 7, sin is known in two ways —in its death dealing and dominating power. “Sin revived, but I died”. “It slew me”. “But sin ... working death to me by that which is good”. And again, “I see another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members”, Rom 7: 23. In both of these senses sin should be annulled in the saint. Sin is the virus of the serpent, it was instilled into man from the devil. When man received into his mind the insinuation of the devil, it killed him in a moral sense—it separated him from God. He lost the sense of God’s favour and hence died; he also came under the fear of death as the judgment of God upon him. At the same time he fell under the power of sin, so that sin became a law to him; that is a dominating principle, he became a slave to sin, as the apostle says, “Ye were bondmen [or slaves] of sin”, Rom 6: 17. “He that practises sin is the bondman of sin”, John 8: 34.
Now all this has to be learnt experimentally in order that we may appreciate the means of deliverance which God has provided for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has condemned sin in Christ dying for us, in order that it may be annulled in us, so that we may be delivered from its killing and dominating power. It is not only that sin brings man to death in the future, but morally it does so now. “Sin revived, and I died” not ‘I shall die’. In separating the soul from God, it brings in the sense of present death; of course it involves the final judgment also. Now when the soul is brought to realise this experimentally, the relief comes by looking at the uplifted Son of man. There we see the judgment of sin and the manifestation of the love of God. In Him we see how God, having sent His own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh. The appreciation of this blessed fact delivers the soul from the condemning power of sin, he no longer lives in the fear of death. But more than this, the believer receives the Holy Spirit, and the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. All sense of distance is removed, and the soul begins to live in the favour of God. Thus it is that in the one sense sin is annulled in the believer.
Then we have to consider sin as a principle or law which maintains its mastery over man, so that while hating evil he still practises it, and while approving what is good he finds himself unable to do it, as it says, “I see another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members”. So that the soul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of this body of death?” It is the cry of one born again, one in whom there has been implanted the germ of a new being, that which is of the Spirit, a new spring of desire and motive, so that he hates what he once loved, and loves what he once hated; but still no power, he is still under the law of sin. Sin is active still and gets the mastery over him. If a man tries to master sin, he will very soon find that sin masters him. This is a sore trial to a pious soul. When a man has found out that he cannot deliver himself, then he wants a deliverer. He finds that there is One near at hand, he looks up and says, “thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, Rom 10: 13. The answer to the cry for deliverance is the gift of the Spirit. The believer is endued with power from on high, the Spirit becomes law to him. He has received a power which is greater than the power of sin. If he allows the Spirit to control him, he will not be under the control of sin. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”. The Spirit is the power of life and the power for walk. It is well to remember that this power of the Spirit is realised in connection with dependence upon the Lord, in the sense of our weakness, we call upon the Lord and He answers by the support of the Spirit. Thus we learn daily to walk by faith, or in other words, to walk by the Spirit. There may be those who have received the Spirit, who do not realise this deliverance from the power of sin, that is because they have not learned to walk in the Spirit, they are still trying to walk in their natural power or will, that is by the flesh. It is one thing to have the power, it is another thing to use the power in dependence upon the Lord. This sense of dependence has to be maintained continually, then we prove what the apostle says, “When I am weak, then am I strong”, 2 Cor 12: 10. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”, Phil 4: 13.
In this way the power of sin is annulled in the believer. Then he can say, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”. The heart once characterised by hatred of God is now brought under the power of the love of God, and in the power of the Spirit he delights to yield his body a living sacrifice to God, and to prove how good and acceptable His will is; having come under the royal law of love, he finds liberty in obedience.
We have seen then that the annulling of sin involves:
1. the death of Christ;
2. the appreciation of the Lord Jesus as Deliverer;
3. the gift of the Spirit as the power of life and obedience in the believer, bringing him under the influence of the love of God, and enabling him to practise righteousness.
From Helps for the Poor of the Flock vol 19 (1914)