X. SAVIOUR FROM SIN
`Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for it
is He that shall save His people from their sins.' -- Matt. 1:21
`Ye know that He was manifested to take away
sins; and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not.' -- 1 John
3:5,6
It is sin that is the cause of our misery. It
is sin that provoked God, and brought His curse upon man. He hates sin with a
perfect hatred, and will do everything to root it out. (Deut. 27:26; Isa.
59:1,2; Jer. 44:4; Rom. 1:18) It is to take away sin that God gave His Son,
that Jesus gave Himself. (Gal. 2:4; Eph. 5:25,27; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 3:8)
It belongs to God to set us free, not only from punishment and curse, from
disquietude and terror, but from sin itself. (Jer. 27:9; 1 Pet. 1:2,15,16;
2:14; 1 John 3:8) You know that He was manifested that He might take away our
sins. Let us receive the thought deep into our hearts: it is for God to take
away our sins from us. The better we apprehend this, the more blessed shall
our life be.
All do not receive this. They seek chiefly to
be freed from the consequences of sin, from fear and darkness, and the
punishment that sin brings. (Gen. 27:34; Isa. 58:5,6; John 6:26; Jas. 4:3)
Just on this account they do not come to the true rest of salvation. They do
not understand that to save is to free from sin. Let us hold it fast. Jesus
saves through taking away sin. Then we shall learn two things.
The first is to come to Jesus with every sin.
(Ps. 32:5; Luke 7:38; 19:7,8,10; John 8:11; 34:36) the sin that still
attacks and overmasters you, after that you have given yourself over to the
Lord, must not make you lose heart. There must also be no endeavour merely in
your own strength to take away and overcome sin. Bring every sin to Jesus. He
has been ordained by God to take away sin. He has already brought it to nought
upon the cross, and broken its power. (Heb. 9:26) It is His work, it is His
desire to set you free from it. O learn then always to come to Jesus with
every sin. Sin is your deadly foe: if you confess it to Jesus, and surrender
it to Him, you shall certainly overcome it. (Rom. 7:4,9; 8:2; 2 Cor. 7:9; 2
Thess 2:3)
Learn to believe this firmly: this is the second
point. Understand that Jesus, Jesus Himself, is the Saviour from sin. It is
not you that must overcome sin with the help of Jesus, but Jesus Himself: Jesus
in you. (Deut. 8:17,18; Ps. 44:4,8; John 16:33; 1 John 5:4,5) If you would
thus become free from sin, if you would enjoy full salvation, let it be the one
endeavour of your life to stand always in full fellowship with Jesus. Wait not
till you enter into temptation ere you have recourse to Jesus. But let your
life beforehand be always through Jesus. Let His nearness be your one desire;
Jesus saves from sin; to have Jesus is salvation from sin (1 Cor. 15:10; Gal.
2:20; Phil. 4:13; Col 3:3-5) O that we could indeed rightly understand this!
Jesus will not merely save from sin as a work that He will from time to time do
in us, but He will give it as a blessing through Himself to us and in us. (Ex.
29:43; John 15:4,5; Rom. 8:10; Eph. 3:17,18) When Jesus fills me, when
Jesus is all for me, sin has no hold on me: `He that abideth in Him sinneth
not.'
Yes: sin is driven out and kept out only through
the presence of Jesus. It is Jesus, Jesus Himself, that, through His giving
Himself to me and His living in me, is salvation from sin.
Precious Lord, let Thy light stream over me, and let it become
still clearer to my soul, that Thou, Thou Thyself, art my salvation. To have
Thee, Thee, with me, in me -- this keeps sin out. Teach me to bring every sin
to Thee; let every sin drive me into a closer alliance with Thee. Then shall
Thy Jesus-name become truly my salvation from sin. Amen.
1. See of what moment it is
that the Christian should always grow in the knowledge of sin. The sin that I
do not know, I cannot bring to Jesus. The sin that I do not bring to Him is
not taken out of me.
2. To know sin better there are required:
The constant prayer, `Examine me:' make known
to me my transgression and my sin (Job 13:23; Ps. 139:23,24);
A tender conscience that is willing to be
convinced of sin through the Spirit, as He also uses the conscience for this
end;
The very humble surrender to the word, to think
concerning sin only as God thinks.
3. The deeper knowledge of sin will be found in
these results:
That we shall see to be sin things which
previously we did not regard in this light;
That we shall perceive more the exceedingly
sinful, the detestable character of sin (Rom. 7:13);
That with the overcoming of external sins we
become all the more encouraged over the deep sinfulness of our nature, of the
enmity of our flesh against God. Then we give up all hope of being or of doing
anything good, and we are turned wholly to live in faith through the Spirit.
4. O let us thank God very heartily that Jesus
is a Saviour from sin. The power that sin has had over us, Jesus
now has. The place that sin has taken in the heart, Jesus will now take. `The
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin
and death.'