CHAPTER VIII.

JOSHUA.

THE REDEEMED IN HEAVENLY PLACES.

Keynote: Rom. viii. 1-4.

THE book of Joshua gives us the redeemed in heavenly places. It is the story of the entrance of God's chosen people into the land of their possession, and their victories and rest there. It answers to the book of Ephesians, where we are shown the believer as "blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places," made to "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," and wrestling there against spiritual wickedness, or as the margin has it "against wicked spirits in heavenly places." Eph. i. 3; ii. 6; vi. 12.

God's redeemed people in this book come out of the wilderness, and enter at last into possession of the land which He had promised them, the land from which they had been turned back forty years before by their unbelief. They conquer the very cities, great and walled up to heaven, which had frightened them so then, and 113 overcome the giants of whom they had said, "We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." In this book the Christian, in type, comes out of the wilderness of the seventh chapter of Romans, where his language is, "Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death," into the promised land of the eighth chapter, where he can triumphantly exclaim, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."

The land of Canaan is often taken as being intended for a type of heaven, and crossing the Jordan as a type of death. But this can hardly be, since in heaven we shall have no foes to conquer, and there will be no danger of failure there, while in Canaan there were enemies on every hand, and many instances of grievous defeat. In Hebrews iii. and iv. the Holy Ghost takes up the story of Israel's failure to enter into the land of Canaan, and applies it to the consciences of Christians, as a warning to them not to make a similar failure. "Let us therefore fear," he says, "lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest." This rest is plainly a present possession of the trusting soul; something that can be enjoyed in this life; for we are told that those who believe do now and here "enter into rest." And I think therefore 114 that we must look upon the land of promise then, as a type of the land of promise now, and the victories and rest there, as pictures of the victories and rest the soul finds in the present day, when it has fully taken possession of God's promises, and is dwelling in the enjoyment of them.

I was once taught a very striking lesson on this point by a dear old colored saint, who was attending a Bible class of which I was the teacher. The portion of Scripture we were considering was the book of Romans, and I was expounding especially the seventh and eighth chapters. I thought the dear old sister seemed rather puzzled by my explanations, but put this down to her want of intelligence, when suddenly she burst out with, "Why, honey, it 'pears like you don't understand dem chapters. You talk just as if you thought we was to live all de time in de seventh of Romans, and only pay little visits now and then to de eighth." "Certainly," I replied, "that is just what I do think, do not you?" "Oh honey," she said with infinite pity and surprise in her tone, "I'se afeard you don't know much. Why I lives in de eighth!" And the old face shone through all its blackness with what Joseph Cook calls the "solar light," as she said the words, and I felt they were true; but I was actually so ignorant as to think that it must be because she was colored and poor, that God had given her such peculiar blessings, in order to make up to her for these misfortunes! And I almost wished I too was colored and poor, that I might have a chance for similar 115 blessing! But I could never forget the impression made upon me, and from that time onward sought continually for the secret of her joy. Until at last the path across from the seventh to the eighth of Romans was revealed to me, and I saw that people who were not old, nor poor, nor colored, might yet also take up their abode in the blessed land of promise there revealed.

The book of Joshua opens on the children of Israel encamped in the plains of Moab "on this side Jordan, in the wilderness." Their long weary wanderings, since they had refused to enter the land forty years before, had not brought them any nearer Canaan than they were when they set out. They were on the borders then, and they were only on the borders now. They had been moving, certainly, during all these forty years, but like a great deal of what is called "religious growth," their course had not been "upward and onward." They had gone round and round in that dreary wilderness, doubling on their track continually, and journeying onward, only to journey back again. And now a river lay between them and the land of their possession. Had they gone in at first, at Kadesh-barnea, they would have had only an unseen boundary to cross, and the transition would not have been so strongly marked. And so I believe that in the experience of the Christian, there need not be that definite step, to which so many object, in entering into the more full enjoyment of the promises of the gospel, if only at our conversion we were taught that we were well able to overcome the land, and were 116 urged to go in at once and possess it. Doubtless some do thus enter in at Kadesh-barnea. But the majority of Christians, like the Israelites, fail to enter in at first, because of unbelief, and are turned back like them to wander in the wilderness of the seventh of Romans.

But there comes a time to all such, sooner or later, I believe, when they are brought a second time to the borders of the land; and to them this book is full of most blessed teaching.

It opens with the Lord's command to His people. "Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them." (i. 2.) It was not only a privilege He offered them, but a command He made. His object in redeeming them out of Egypt had been to bring them into this land. "I am come down," He said in Exodus, "to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto," --what? the wilderness, to wander there forty years? --no, -- "unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." And unless they should actually be brought into this land, the nations round about, who knew of their going out of Egypt, and who had heard that the Lord was among them and "was seen face to face," and that He went "before them, by day time in a pillar of cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night," might well say, as Moses feared they would, that it was "because the Lord 117 was not able to bring this people into the land which He sware unto them. "Numbers xiv. 14-16. Therefore, for His own glory's sake, it was necessary that His people should go in and be planted in the land of their inheritance. And with us also it is not a privilege only, but the commandment of our Lord, that we shall enter into possession of the promises, into that land of blessing and of rest which corresponds spiritually to the Canaan of the Israelites. "Abide in me." "Be filled with the Spirit." "Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin." "Be careful for nothing." "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." All these are glorious privileges, but they are positive commands also. And unless Christians do as a fact enter into this blessed fullness of their salvation, they will surely give occasion to the world to say; that it is because God is not able to bring them into the land which He sware unto them. For as we read in Luke i. 69-75, the declaration concerning the Lord Jesus by the Holy Ghost was, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us, in the house of his servant David: As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the 118 hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life." If we then as Christians, say this is impossible, we in effect declare that what God has promised He is not able to perform; and thus bring dishonor on His great name.

It is the Lord's command to us, therefore, that we go in and possess the land of our inheritance. And to me God's commands are even more comforting than His promises; for if He commands me to do a thing, I am sure He will give me the power of His Spirit to do it. His commands are not grievous, we are told, but surely they would be grievous, if we were utterly unable to obey them. It would have been a grievous thing indeed had He commanded the children of Israel to go in and possess the land of Canaan, and yet, knowing that they were utterly unable to do it, had not Himself intended to supply them with the power. And, in fact, He uses His very command as the reason why they should have no fear. "Have not I commanded thee?" He asks. "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest," i. 9. As much as to say, "Thou needst have no fear in undertaking to do what I have commanded thee to do, for I am in every command I give, and will always bestow the necessary power to obey it."

Another thing is to be noticed in this opening proclamation of the Lord to His people. "Every place that the soles of your feet shall tread upon that have I given unto 119 you," i. 3. Not "that will I give," but of "that have I given." It was all theirs in the purpose and mind of God, but unless they actually went there and set their feet upon it, it did not become theirs practically and experimentally. This is necessarily true of any gift. The giver may give it with all the sincerity and good-will possible, but unless the one to whom he gives it, actually receives it, and appropriates it, and calls it his own, it never comes really into his possession at all. Even though a gift should be laid on the table, or put in the pocket of a friend, unless that friend closes the hand of acceptance over it, and says mentally, "It is mine," he will not after all possess it.

The children of Israel were going in to take possession of their own land. The Lord had given it to them centuries before, and it was theirs all the while, only waiting for their coming. And so of ourselves we read that God "hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," although we very well know that until the hand of faith really closes over and appropriates these blessings, and we begin to say "they are mine," we do not actually and experimentally come into their enjoyment at all.

This land of promise seems to me to typify, as I have said, that experience in the Christian life which is called variously sanctification, perfect love, the rest of faith, the interior life, full salvation, the higher Christian life, and many other names, which all however I believe mean one and the same thing. And what they mean is 120 according to my understanding of it, that at some certain time in its experience the soul finds in the Lord Jesus Christ not only a deliverer from the guilt of sin, but also a deliverer from its power; and comes into a life of victory, and rest, and liberty, and peace. and joy in the Holy Ghost. The Christian who has entered into this experience finds himself in possession of the promises at which he has hitherto looked with longing but hopeless eyes. His will is in harmony with God's will. Obedience becomes a delight, and service sweet. Cares, and fears, and anxieties are all lost in the infiniteness of God's love. And the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is found experimentally to set the soul free from the law of sin and death. Romans vi. and viii. are perhaps the best expressions of this life; though the whole New Testament is one long declaration and description of it.

The way into it is like the way out of the wilderness into the promised land. It is by the pathway of consecration and faith. Entire surrender to the will of God and perfect trust in His love, will take thee there dear seeker, whether thou clearly understandest the doctrines concerning it or not; and once in, thou wilt know more about it, than I could tell thee if I should write a book full concerning it. Let me earnestly beg of thee, therefore, to be strong and of a good courage, for has not the Lord commanded thee? Arise then, this very day, and, with Israel, go in to possess the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, to possess it. Step the foot of thy faith upon each one of His promises, and stand 121 there steadfastly, sure that they shall be every one thine. Thy part is to step, His it is to give thee possession. And His blessed Spirit, who abides in every promise, will make thee mighty through God to the pulling down of every stronghold, and the overcoming of every enemy.

In chapter second we have given us the history of Rahab, a wonderful picture of how acceptable faith is to the Lord, even when exercised in the midst of great ignorance and distance from Himself. The comment of the Holy Ghost is given us in Heb. xi. 31: "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not." And her faith so strengthened the faith of the spies that they returned to Joshua with the triumphant language, "Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land: for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us," ii. 24. How different the report of these spies from that of the spies sent out forty years before. The giants were as mighty now as then, and the cities as great, and they themselves were as weak. But then they had left out the Lord, and had measured their enemies with themselves; and now Rahab had brought Him in for she had said, "I know that THE LORD hath given you the land," ii. 9. When God is brought into the scene and our enemies are measured with Him, there can no longer be any doubt or fear remaining. And I believe, dear reader, that if we could send out spies into the land of our possession, as Israel did, we would find also, that our enemy faints because of us, and that he knows, whether we do or not, that the Lord hath delivered 122 into our hands all the land. He is an already conquered foe, and the courage of faith will soon discover this, let him bluster as he may.

In chapter third we have the wonderful scene of the crossing of Jordan,-- a crossing which, while in many respects it is similar to, was yet very different from the crossing of the Red Sea. At the Red Sea no preparation was needed to make them ready, but they crossed in haste to escape from a pursuing enemy. Here the command was, "Prepare you victuals, for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it," i. 11. And again we read in iii. 5 that Joshua said unto the people, "Sanctify yourselves; for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." There was no pursuing enemy now behind them, but instead, a glorious land lay before them, and a preparation was necessary before they could enter it. This preparation was one of consecration. The word sanctify means set apart, separate yourselves from all evil. It means just what Paul says in 2 Cor. vii. 1. "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." all that consciously defiles must be laid aside, before the soul can expect to enter into the fulness of God's promises.

Again, at the Red Sea the path was made, before the Israelites were called upon to take a single step. But here the path was only made when they stepped. "And 123 it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap." Joshua iii. 13. The priests who are types of Christians in communion with God, were to step into the brimming river, for at this time Jordan was overflowing all its banks; and as they thus stepped in, the waters stood and rose up on an heap and the path was made. iii. 15-17. And so in realizing the forgiveness of our sins, we believe in an already accomplished fact, and enter into the enjoyment of a finished work. While in sanctification we believe in a fact that is accomplished when we believe, and enter into the enjoyment of a work that is going on as we trust.

It required a far stronger faith to cross the Jordan than to cross the Red Sea; and the faith which can trust for the forgiveness of sins, needs to be greatly strengthened, in order to believe in victory over sin. To my, this stepping into a brimming river, when as yet there was no sign of a path, is one of the grandest pictures of faith on record. I can fancy the heathen nations around, if they witnessed the scene, sneering at the folly and presumption of a people who could thus act. They must have known only too well that they could not trust their gods after such a fashion. But I think their cry afterwards must have been, "Surely no people have a god like unto these people!" And could the world but see more of this sublime 124 sort of faith among Christians now, I feel sure they would be won to yield allegiance to a God who can thus be trusted, and who never fails His people's confidence.

But as this was an untrodden path to Israel, the Ark of the Covenant, which in one aspect typifies Christ, was in to precede them in this journey, "that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore," ii. 4. The path of faith is always a new and untrodden way to the soul, and it is only by "looking unto Jesus" that we can ever "know the way by which we must go."

The crossing of the Jordan, it seems to me, is a type of death and resurrection; not the death of the body, but the death to sin spoken of in Rom. vi. and elsewhere, and the resurrection to newness of life now; as declared in Rom. vi. 4. "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." It is the believer by faith reckoning himself to be "dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord." At the Red Sea, death also was the type, but our share there was more that of entering into the accomplished results of the death and resurrection of Christ, by knowing our sins to be forgiven, and by realizing our translation out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son. While here the type is our being crucified with Christ, and realizing our resurrection life of holiness and separation in Him. As Paul says, 125 "knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin," Rom. vi. 6. Here in type, it seems to me, we do what Paul exhorts us to do in Eph. iv. 22-24, "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

To look at it practically and experimentally, I mean that this crossing of the Jordan typifies the crossing of the soul out of the experience of the seventh chapter of Romans into the experience of the eighth. It is the step by which the believer who has been justified, comes to know what it is to be sanctified also. It is in short the obeying of the command, "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." It is dying with Christ by faith, in order to be raised with Him into newness of life.

In experience this is an intensely practical thing. For nothing so gives victory over sin as to reckon one's self to be dead to it, and nothing so enables the soul to walk in righteousness as to realize its resurrection life in Christ. It may be difficult to explain this theologically or doctrinally; but to my mind the great point in studying the Bible is to get at its truths experimentally; and thousands of witnesses can testify to the blessed reality of being dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ. I have known life-long besetments conquered in this 126 way, that had not yielded one iota to all the struggles and efforts of years. I knew a lady with such an irritable temper that it was almost intolerable to live with her. She was a Christian, and she grieved over it with bitter sorrow, but seemed to find it impossible to get the victory by years of struggling and agonizing. Finally when she was almost in despair, she was told by one who knew the way of faith, to reckon herself dead to it, and that if she did, God would make it real by the power of His Spirit. In her despair she grasped at the hope, and kneeling before her open Bible with her finger on Rom. vi. 11, she dared to obey the divine command and reckoned herself, on the authority of God's own word, to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ. It seemed like a step off from a fearful precipice into a sheer abyss. But the step of faith, found, as it always does, the rock beneath, and according to her faith it was unto her. She met every temptation to irritability by saying, "I am dead to sin. I am crucified with Christ. I am alive in Him," and from that hour, now for many years, not even an inward ruffle has disturbed her peace.

Take the step of faith then, dear friends, into the brimming flood, and in obedience to God, apprehend your position as dead and risen with Christ and in Christ; and henceforth walk as those ought to walk who are indeed alive from the dead.

The twelve stones left in Jordan's bed, and the twelve brought out and set up as memorials, in chapter iv. 127 both show the twelve tribes of Israel as being actual sharers in the death and resurrection, iv. 21, 22, and are a symbol of our union with Christ in these.

Chapter v. gives us the circumcision at Gilgal. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.* * Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." Col. iii. 3, 5.

If we are indeed dead to sin, it is necessary that we should practically realize it. Col. iii. 10-12 expresses this. Self must be mortified before victories can be won. The reproach of Egypt must be rolled away, ver. 9, before we can take possession of Jericho. We must always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, if we would have the life of Jesus manifested in our mortal flesh. 2 Cor. vi. 10, 11. And until this is done we cannot eat of the "old corn of the land," vers. 11, 12; which means, I think, a feeding on Christ in a far deeper sense, than was typified by the manna, even that which is set forth in John vi. 48-56, "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him." Furthermore, when we have passed through the circumcision of Gilgal, we find ourselves in a place where we can have a revelation of our Captain, and can roll upon Him all the burden and the responsibility of our warfare. Vers. 13-15.

Chapter vi. gives us the taking of Jericho, one of those very cities "great, and walled up to Heaven," which had discouraged the heart of the people forty years before. The Lord Himself arranged the plan of the capture, 128 and in it, I believe, gave us a sample of the "fight of faith." The people of Israel had no weapons of warfare with which to meet their enemies, nor any battering rams for those mighty walls. They had nothing but their God and their faith. Their part was simply to march and to shout. The Lord's part was to make the walls fall down, and to conquer their enemies. 2 Cor. x. 4. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." And therefore we read in Heb. xi. 30: "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." Prudence would have said, "Do not shout until the walls show some signs of tottering," but faith said, while yet the walls seemed as firm as ever, "Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city." vi. 16. "So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city." vi. 20.

And so likewise I believe the Christian is called to shout the shout of victory over his foes, even at the moment perhaps when they seem stronger than ever. I mean just this, that if we meet our enemy as an already conquered foe, and claim by faith our victory over him in Christ, we shall overcome far more quickly, than if we look upon him as an enemy who has yet to be conquered by our vigorous conflict against him. 129 "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." I John, v. 4. And I have found experimentally that the little words "Jesus saves me, Jesus saves me now," repeated over and over, in any great stress of temptation, will bring a far more speedy victory than I can gain in any other way. For our Lord Himself says, "That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things that he saith shall come to pass, be sell eve whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that you receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark xi. 23, 24.

This victory at Jericho was followed by a disastrous defeat at Ai, in chapter vii., caused by a hidden sin. In the life of faith, our only strength is in the Lord, and if any indulged evil shall cause Him to withdraw His strength, we find ourselves utterly unable to "stand before our enemies," vii. 11-13. Nothing but perfect integrity of heart before the Lord can ensure a continuous victory. This whole story of the taking of Ai contains most striking teaching, concerning the causes of failure and the way to deal with it, in this life of faith, but I cannot here enlarge on it.

From chapters ix.-xii. we have an account of the further conquest of the land, full of many deeply interesting lessons of the overcoming by faith. "So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said 130 unto Moses, and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war." xi. 23.

In chapters xiii.-xxii. we have the story of the partition of the land among the tribes of Israel, with the appointing of the cities of refuge, and the assigning of their inheritance to the Levites. All being, I doubt not, typical of that which is set before us in I Cor. xii., and elsewhere, "Now there the diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." * * * "But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will."

Chapters xxiii. and xxiv. give us Joshua's closing words to the people he was about to leave; an address which in many things reminds us forcibly of Paul's farewell address to the elders of the Ephesian church, Acts xx. Both Joshua and Paul foresaw evil days for the flocks over whom they had so faithfully watched, both warned them against the corruption of evil association and companionship, and both also assured them of the power of the Lord to deliver, if they would but trust Him. And in the case of both, I doubt not that there was already cause for much sorrow of heart. The Israelites had lost the freshness of their early zeal, and had become "slack to go up" and possess the land of their inheritance. Large portions of it remained still in possession of their enemies, and the leaven of these associations was working among them. Therefore Joshua, gathering the elders and judges and officers of the people around him in Shechem, 131 xxiv. 1, seeks to stir them up to a fresh consecration of themselves to God, before be should be called to leave them. He reminds them of all the way by which the Lord had led them, of the deliverances He had wrought, and the victories He had granted, and closes with an enumeration of the gifts He had bestowed as an incentive to a whole-hearted surrender of themselves to Him. "I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve." Won by Joshua's eloquence, and convinced in their hearts that no service could make them so happy as the service of the Lord their God, the people answered and said, "God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods." And when Joshua tried to show them the danger there was of failure, they but reiterated their promises over and over, "Nay; but we will serve the Lord." "The Lord our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey." * * * And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said unto all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us." xxiv. 14-25.

Beloved, have we not come also to a Shechem in our own experience, when with full purpose of heart we have given ourselves to the Lord our God to serve Him and Him only? And shall we not seek for a stone of witness to be raised up before our Lord, that in days to come when our enemies shall try to entice us from our allegiance, will hold us to our covenant in better fashion than Israel was held, even the witness and the seal of the indwelling Spirit, who comes to fill and possess every fully consecrated soul?

"And it came to pass after these things that Joshua died." And the significant announcement is made that Israel served the Lord "all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, which had known all the works of the Lord, that He had done for Israel;" thus preparing us somewhat for the sad story of failure that is to follow in the book of Judges.

Their Joshua died. But our Joshua never dies; and we, if we serve the Lord all our days, will serve Him forever, and need never in our experience go out of this book of triumph, nor know the sorrows and bondage of the book of failures that here succeeds it.

A chain of texts illustrating the lesson of Joshua:--  Ex. iii. 7, 8. vi. 6-8.  Deut. i. 20, 21.  Luke i. 68-75.  Acts iii. 26.  Titus ii. 14.  Rom. vi. 4, 6. viii. 1-4, 35-39.  2 Cor. ii. 14. ix. 8.  Eph. i. 3. ii. 6. iii. 14-21.  1 Thess. iv. 3, 4.  v. 23.