Good fight
„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.”
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Rom. 6:6
They that are Christ’s not only take a deep interest in this arrangement, joyfully acquiesce in it and habitually increase it by faith, but they do actually find and verify its sufficiency, so that in point of fact they do not serve sin. The flesh is in them, for the old man, though crucified, is destroyed only in commencement, in design and in prospect. But though the flesh is in them, they are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
Sin is in them, yea, a body of sin, a sadly complete and well-organized system of many mutually-supporting lusts, the desires of the yet undestroyed old man which is corrupt. Nevertheless they fight a good fight of faith, and this is the victory by which they overcome, even their faith. Much hampered, sorely pressed, often in heaviness through manifold temptations, they are yet not the followers of sin, but of God, not the servants of sin, but of righteousness.
They have to work with fear and trembling. Sin is their trial, their burden, their sorrow. But repentance is their choice, and a contrite spirit is sweet to them. Their delight is in the law of the Lord, and His communion and service are better to them than all that this world can give. A day in His courts is better than a thousand. They love the habitation of His house. His precepts are their heritage and their song in the house of their pilgrimage. His children are their friends, and the advancement of His kingdom gladdens them.
The perplexities and pains which their remaining sin occasions they hide not from their Father. They take broken-hearted and believing counsel with Him concerning them. They find cleansing from the guilt and shame of them in the blood of Jesus. And always, when anew they are so washed and purified, humbled, chastened and refreshed in spirit, they serve the living God with reinvigorated ardour, with lowlier self-renunciation, with a deeper sense of what the holiness of their God requires, and hence with appreciation of what His combined authority and love demand of a believing and guileless walk with Him.
The difficulties to which they are subjected and their experiences of sin’s malignity all constrain them to a distrust of self. They confess: „In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” These things simplify, strengthen and establish their faith in Christ alone, and shut them up more and more to Him as made of God unto them wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
Hugh Martin (1822-1885), minister in Edinburgh, Scotland
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