For the death of Christ is nothing else than a dying to sin, and we are admonished to become like Him in His death: “For you have died and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Yes, Jacob’s hip has dried up, death is swallowed in victory; for if we have died to sin (which is a power of death), we have become God-fearing and righteous through the resurrection of Christ, for we are also walking in a new life; that is, we are found in the spiritual resurrection.
For on the cross He bore our sins in His body that we may be released from sin and live unto righteousness. It is therefore no trifle to boast of Christ’s death; for how can one who is still in sin say that Christ has died for him?
Since Christ died once for all to sin, the life he [the Christian] lives, he lives to God; and the life of Christ, which alone is righteousness, is completely reflected in him. I therefore faithfully admonish that we always keep the Lord Jesus in mind and adapt ourselves according to the example of the healing words that came from His mouth; for His word is eternal life. And we should put to death our old self.

-Thomas von Imbroich, taken from one of the letters to his wife, which he wrote to her in prison- mid 1500s. (From the book, Golden Apples in Silver Bowls)

Fruit or Doctrine? Which will be judged by?

Click the link for a
Book review of Will the Theologians Please Sit Down, by David Bercot.

1. Think about yourself.
2. Talk about yourself.
3. Use “I” as often as possible.
4. Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others.
5. Listen greedily to what people have to say about you.
6. Expect to be appreciated.
7. Be suspicious.
8. Be jealous and envious.
9. Be sensitive to slights.
10. Never forgive a criticism.
11. Trust no one but yourself.
12. Insist on consideration and respect.
13. Demand agreement with your own views on everything.
14. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favors shown them.
15. Never forget a service you may have rendered.
16. Be on the lookout for a good time for yourself.
17. Shirk your duties if you can.
18. Do as little as possible for others.
19. Love yourself supremely.
20. Be selfish.
This recipe is guaranteed to be infallible.
—Author unknown

The following quote jumped out at me from a little book someone sent me:

“Christianity is a crime which the world can never forgive.”

Get ready to get hammered if you preach that Christians will overcome sin in their life!

John Nelson–who wrote the above quote–was one of the first laymen to preach with John and Charles Wesley. He was forced into the army by people angry at his preaching and open rebuking.  It seems in those day that vagrants and other unwanted folks in a community were taken care of by simply forcing them into military service.  It would seem to me that an army of outlaws would not be very trustworthy, but we’ll leave that for now…

John Nelson was considered an evil man in his day.  His crime?  Tell folks they can know their sins are forgiven, and tell them they can, and should, live above sin.  He had bricks, eggs, potatoes and other objects hurled at him, and the house he was preaching at had all the windows busted out on one occasion by an angry mob.  His wife was beaten so severely by other women angry at John’s preaching, that the baby she was carrying in her womb was killed.

The crime?  Telling people that real Christians do not sin willfully.

While I do not agree with all of John Nelson’s theological points, the little book has proven to be thought-provoking and convicting…or at least challenging.  As mentioned, John reproved everyone he met for sins like swearing.  If you can imaging getting abducted into the army (by the way, he refused to kill anyone, according to Jesus’ command) with a bunch of godless outlaws as your companions, and then faithfully reproving them for every swear word–yes, EVERY swear word–then you can imagine John’s situation.  But it had its rewards.  On one occasion, within 24 hours all the soldiers around him quit cursing in his presence because of his rebukes.  And others people fell under conviction of sin at one of his reproofs.

The early Methodists were known for their reproving of sin.  You can read more about them in my book How the Circuit Riders Saved America.

Whether you read the book or not, just remember that Christianity–the real Christianity–is a crime the world cannot forgive.  And if the world is forgiving us and not persecuting us, then maybe we had better look to see if our walk with God is real.

After that Jesus adds the words, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is
coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God;
and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath
He given to the Son to have life in Himself.”

As yet He does not speak of the second resurrection, that is, the resurrection of the body, which shall be in the end, but of the first, which now is. It is for the sake of making this distinction that He says, “The hour is coming, and now is.” Now this resurrection regards not the body, but the soul. For souls, too, have a death of their own in wickedness and sins, whereby they are the dead of whom the same lips say, “Suffer the dead to bury their dead,” — that is, let those who are dead in soul bury them that are dead in body.

It is of these dead,
then — the dead in ungodliness and wickedness — that He says, “The
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God; and they that hear shall live.” “They that hear,” that is, they who
obey, believe, and persevere to the end. Here no difference is made between the good and the bad. For it is good for all men to hear His voice
and live, by passing to the life of godliness from the death of ungodliness.
Of this death the Apostle Paul says, “Therefore all are dead, and He died
for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto Him which died for them and rose again.”

Thus all, without one
exception, were dead in sins, whether original or voluntary sins, sins of
ignorance, or sins committed against knowledge; and for all the dead there
died the one only person who lived, that is, who had no sin whatever, in
order that they who live by the remission of their sins should live, not to
themselves, but to Him who died for all, for our sins, and rose again for our
justification, that we, believing in Him who justifies the ungodly, and being
justified [made just] from ungodliness or quickened from death, may be able to attain
to the first resurrection which now is. For in this first resurrection none
have a part save those who shall be eternally blessed; but in the second, of
which He goes on to speak, all, as we shall learn, have a part, both the
blessed and the wretched. The one is the resurrection of mercy, the other
of judgment. And therefore it is written in the psalm, “I will sing of mercy
and of judgment: unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing.”

-Augustine, The City of God

Jesus said:

“I am come that they might have forgiveness, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Is that really what He said?  No, of course not.

Forgiveness of committed sins does not save a man from his sins, in the same way that washing the mud off a pig does not save the pig from getting dirty again.

Only the life of Christ, His blood transfused into us, can save us from the corruption of spiritual death, which we all inherit.

The blood of Jesus gives life into the human spirit once again.  With Life Eternal now in us, we can be saved from sin.

That is why Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life!”

Saved from sin by the blood!

Deut. 12:23

This is a potent little phrase, taken out of one verse.

How is a man saved?

By the blood, of course.

What does “saved by the blood” mean?

Salvaged by the life of Christ!

Christ saves (salvages, rescues from ruin) me by putting his blood (life, Spirit) on the altar (my heart), thus cleansing it (purging, catharizing) it from sin and self.

His life conquers my death!

Ok, the picture is falling together in my mind.  As soon as the Lord opens my eyes for a few pieces that are still missing, I hope to be able to post here the complete story of redemption (purchasing back a lost possession-again by the blood, life, of Jesus) and salvation by grace (I didn’t deserve His Spirit that freed me from the power of sin, it was a free gift!)

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should not take away (remove from the heart) sins, but the blood (life of Christ poured into me) could indeed sanctify my selfish heart!

More later, God permitting.

From a letter by John Wesley to Joseph Cownley, an early Methodist  preacher.

I see a danger you are in, which, perhaps, you do not see yourself.  Is it not most pleasing to me, as well as you, to be always preaching of the love of God?  And is there not a time when we are peculiarly led thereto, and find a peculiar blessing therein?

Without doubt, so it is.  But yet it would be utterly wrong and unscriptural to preach of nothing else.

Let the law always prepare for the gospel.  I scarce ever spoke more  earnestly here [he was in Ireland at the time of writing] of the love of God in Christ than last night.  But it was after I had been tearing the unawakened in pieces. Go thou and do likewise.  It is true the love of God in Christ alone feeds His children.

But even they are to be guided, as well as fed.  Yes, and often doctored too.  And the bulk of our hearers must be purged before they are fed.  Else we only feed the disease.

Beware of all honey.  It is the best extreme; but it is an extreme.  I am your affectionate brother,

John Wesley

Eccl 7:1
A good name better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
So goes the “upside-down” kingdom of God. We are told it is better to celebrate a day of death than a day of birth!
The reason? We cannot live (be born again) until we die (to self).
Die then, and celebrate!

Now, then, “strive to enter in at the strait gate,” being penetrated with the deepest sense of the inexpressible danger your soul is in, so long as you are in a broad way, — so long as you are void of poverty of spirit, and all that inward religion, which the many, the rich, the wise, account madness. “Strive to enter in;” being pierced with sorrow and shame for having so long run on with the unthinking crowd, utterly neglecting, if not despising, that “holiness without which no man can see the Lord.”
Strive, as in an agony of holy fear, lest “a promise being made you of entering into his rest,” even that “rest which remaineth for the people of God,” you should nevertheless “come short of it.” Strive, in all the fervour of desire, with “groanings which cannot be uttered. Strive by prayer without ceasing; at all times, in all places, lifting up your heart to God, and giving him no rest, till you “awake up after his likeness” and are “satisfied with it.”
To conclude. “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” not only by this agony of soul, of conviction, of sorrow, of shame, of desire, of fear, of unceasing prayer; but likewise by ordering thy conversation aright, by walking with all thy strength in all the ways of God, the way of innocence, of piety, and of mercy.
Abstain from all appearance of evil: Do all possible good to all men: Deny thyself, thy own will, in all things, and take up thy cross daily. Be ready to cut off thy right hand, to pluck out thy right eye and cast it from thee; to suffer the loss of goods, friends, health, all things on earth, so thou mayst enter into the kingdom of heaven!
Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount- John Wesley