Transcribed from an old tape by CIAS
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God loves you so that you may love one another. Those who would be anointed by the Holy Spirit have learned a very valuable lesson in this respect. First of all they learned that their relationship to Jesus gives them comfort not to trust in feelings, when it comes to salvation. You may feel, of all men most wretched, but if you are looking to calvary you can say, be my feelings what they will, Jesus is my Savior still.

Feelings vary from time to time but we should never believe that on the days when you are down you lost salvation, and on the days when you are up you have it, because that is in a very subtle way another form of righteousness by works, because then salvation is still dependent upon me. Salvation is not dependent upon how I feel. Emotions are not sin. [He must mean as long as emotions are are reigned in under the spirit of God.]

And even though we feel down at times, we can continue by faith to trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Let us look at Romans chapter seven. Here Paul illustrates what it means to keep on walking with Jesus. He gives us a little blue print in this chapter as to how, on a daily basis, that relationship can grow sweater and deeper every day. Look at verse 1.

"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?"

Who do you think he is speaking to? To us?

Of all people on earth we know the law very well, don't we?

It is not an area where we have ignorance about at all.

We certainly know how the law has dominion over man for as long as he liveth.

As long as you are alive the law has dominion over you.

Then he gives a practical illustration.

He says, a woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband for how long?

As long as he lives.

Paul is using this illustration to teach us a very beautiful spiritual truth.

Though a woman who has a husband is bound to that husband as long as he lives, if the husband dies - what happens then? She is loosed from the law of her husband.

`So then if while her husband is still alive she goes and marries another man, what shall she be called? An adultress.' Rom. 7:3.

`But, if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adultress, even though she be married to another man.'

Paul chose to use an interesting illustration.

Two questions:

1. Who is this woman described in this experience?

Find the answer in chapter 7.

When it says in verse 4, "my brethren", who is he speaking to? He is speaking to those who know the law. `You are become dead to the law.' He is indeed referring to those who are his brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who is the woman? We can safely substitute ourselves for her.

What about the first husband in this story?

2. Who is the first husband that the woman was married to originally?

According to verse 6 it is the old church. It says "in the oldness of the letter."

So who was the first husband that the woman was married to?

She was married to works, the letter of the law.

What does it do to people? Indeed, if you are married to the first husband, you are bound by the law, you are caught up in a system of works. Exactly.

And what happens to people who are caught up in that system?

How would you describe a person like that? How does Paul describe such a person?

He says, they are "in the flesh." v. 5.

The first husband in this illustration represents the old man of sin who has a grip on people's lives. It is the person who is not liberated by the Holy Spirit. It is the person who is controlled by elements of sin and no matter how hard they may try to get away from it, they are bound by the very law that they try to keep.

But we should also know that, when you are in the spirit, that does not mean that your standards drop, does it? Shall we sin that grace may abound?

What is the difference between a person who is bound by the law and one who is in the spirit, serving in the spirit. The difference is not that your standards change. The difference is that your attitude changes and you no longer keep the letter of the law to try and impress God with your obedience.

Why don't you need to do that? Why not?

Because you have already been saved by His grace on calvary.

Since some people have still the strange notion that it is their obedience to the requirements that indicate whether they are saved in the sight of God or not.

The truth is, your obedience to the requirements is the fruit of having been saved.

But your standards will not drop. The law, however, instead of being observed by the letter, is going to be observed where? In your heart.

3. Who then is the second husband in Paul's illustration?

It says, you can be married to another husband, even to who? To Him who is raised from the dead.

Question: `How is it possible for the sinner with a daily battle against self and sin to be married to Jesus Christ, and to remain married to Jesus Christ?

4. What is the key factor in this illustration?

Something must happen before that woman can be married to Jesus.

It says, what has to happen is, that the first husband has to die in order to be married to Jesus.

Did you know that a lot of good people have never been truly married to Jesus?

They know about Jesus. They may have even been courting Jesus. They are constantly present whenever Jesus is being talked about but have never actually entered into a marriage relationship with Jesus. And marriage is a very intimate relationship, isn't it?

Have you been married to Jesus? And if so, are you still married to Jesus?

Or has there been a period of separation, an estrangement in legal terminology?

Sometimes a disruption. Sometimes even a divorce.

We all know that a marriage relationship is not all moonlight and roses. There is a lot of daylight and dishes.

But the secret of the coming and effective channel that we are talking about is not only to enter into a marriage relationship with Jesus, but to remain married with Him.

Have you ever had a time when you did misunderstand one another? Have you ever had a time with not talking to one another?

5. How is it in the marriage relationship with Jesus?

He is very constant. He never refuses to communicate. He is never unwilling to say `I love you.'

The only inconstant factor about entering into a marriage relationship with Jesus is us, because He is remarkably constant.

6. What does Paul mean here when he says, `If you want to enter into and remain married to Jesus Christ the first husband has to die?'

What is he trying to tell us?

The old nature has to die.

We all have an old nature. Does that mean we are married to two husbands?

We cannot be married to the first husband and enter into a relationship with the second. We cannot do that.

If you do it, the Bible says, you have committed spiritual adultery.

So, if you are married to Jesus today,

7. what happened to the old nature?

It is dead.

But how does the old nature die?

Sometimes you can meet people who kneel down to pray and then get up and say, I am still the same old person. That means you are indeed the same old person.

If that is what you believe, Paul tells us in beautiful words, how the old nature can die.

8. What kind of death do you think it needs to suffer?

It needs to be crucified.

Let us look at how Paul says it,

"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." Romans 6:6.

What is it about crucifixion? If you want to kill yourself, I pray you will never even consider it, you cannot do it by crucifixion. That takes another person to do it for you.

You cannot crucify yourself.

It takes someone other then yourself to crucify the old nature.

That is why we read,

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:11.

We only die to self by faith.[110] If you do not believe that, you have entered into an adulterous relationship.

So we wonder what it means to be crucified. Does it mean that we will never again feel the impulse of sin?

Who can say that of himself?

9. What does it mean then to be crucified?

It means a willingness to allow God to put to death sin in all its horrible forms within us. Even our secret darling sins.

So, what does crucifixion mean?

Crucifixion is not resisting what the Lord wants to put to death in your life and in mine, but crucifixion comes about when we with all seriousness open up our life and we give God the privilege of crucifying even the sins that are the sweetest to us, that we have been practicing for years. It is so easy to give Him the major issues; but then on top of it we hold on to something that we are reluctant to have removed.

Our challenge then is to want to wholeheartedly enter into a marriage relationship with Jesus Christ.

Won't you?

But the intimacies of that relationship there are no hold backs. There are no secret sins. There is a willingness on our part to enter whole heartedly into this relationship because of the love that we feel in our hearts for the one who through calvary has made it possible for us to find salvation full and free. We are not leaving anything in our house and life that can serve as hooks for Satan to return to.

So, like many of us, I was not really married to Jesus. I called myself His friend. I called Him my friend, but for some reason there were things in my life that I was unwilling to give the Holy Spirit the privilege of not only putting to death in me, but replacing them with so much better qualities and habits from the Lord.

You too ought to be married to Jesus today.

10. Have you ever in all sincerity come to Him and allowed Him to put to death the first husband?

Have you?

And then, by His grace, on a daily continuing basis continue to yield those same desires, those same habits, which have a nasty habit of wanting to come back again ... on a daily basis continue to yield to Him, thus giving the Holy Spirit an opportunity to get those connections to the old life unclogged. It is not enough to look to calvary and to praise God for the free gift of eternal life and then to only be a friend to Jesus.

He wants to be married to you. He wants the love relationship to have no barriers. ... No secrets. ... No hidden sins that would prevent Him from enjoying that closeness of a relationship with you. All He wants you to do is for you to trust Him, even with habits that you may have felt were impossible to change.

I thought some habits were impossible to change, because I was trying to change them myself. But the day that I realized I was privileged to marry Jesus, that I no longer had to make those changes, but by yielding to Him, He made them in me.

Is He doing that for you?

Christ wants us to say, I am giving His Holy Spirit unlimited opportunity to shape you into the kind of person who will be recognized as the marriage partner of Jesus Christ. He supplies the motivation. He supplies the conviction. He supplies the victory. - Yes he does.

But the one thing He cannot force is the opening of our heart and our lives to Him. We are privileged to make that response to Him. That is our privilege. God is a much greater respecter of the human will and conscience than we often are toward one another. He will urge, He will woo, He will convict, He will point out sin, He will tell you that it was sin that killed Jesus ... but He will never force you to give him the privilege of putting it to death. You have that choice.

You know what gives us courage in this matter? As I look to calvary I see my Savior in my place. The Holy Spirit touches my heart and I am forced to exclaim, `I want to respond to that love.'

The best response we can ever give to Jesus is for Him to give you the privilege of putting in those nails, of cleansing you from sin and unrighteousness and in its place creating within you such a newness in His likeness that you will praise Him, because He not only saves you while you were still a sinner, He is saving you from your sin so you can became much "thinner" to fit through the gates of heaven and be redeemed to live eternally in peace in the surpreme university in the kingdom of God.

Such a beautiful God we have. He offers you eternal life freely and then He turns around and says,

`How would you enjoy eternal life enslaved by sin? Jesus is saying, I am not only offering you salvation, I am offering you the change now, to become like me, and have the old nature crucified not just once, but daily! - What a privilege it is to serve that kind of God.

And when you are married to God, we know that He cares even about the little things in our life.

Do you care about the little things in the life of your spouse?

Most of us do. What effects your marriage partner, ultimately affects you.

So we care about the little things and the big things. And so, when you enter into the marriage relationship with Jesus, it is the greatest experience, because whatever you do, wherever you go, that intimacy is present. He never leaves you. He is very sympathetic. He never harshly condemns you. He always responds in love, and even if you slip, He reaches out and says, `Hey, I am married to you. I care about you. If you slip, that affects me, and He reaches out and He helps you, doesn't He?

That is the kind of person Jesus is when you enter into a marriage relationship with Him. - He cares even about the small issues in your life.

What about something as small as losing your wallet or your keys?

It happens many times. What should we remember then? We should remember that we are married to Jesus and this is affecting Him.

One day I was at an airport and somehow put my billfold by the phone without realizing and left. I got my car and drove out to the gate where I was presented the bill. I felt for my wallet and couldn't find it. I was embarrassed and said to the young lady, `I can't find my wallet. I must have left it at the airport. Can you just open the gate and let me out so I can make a U-turn and go back to the airport and get my wallet so I can pay you?

`Oh no,' she said, `you have to pay to get out.'

`Well,' I said, `can I back up and then return to the airport?

`Oh no,' she said, `that is illegal.'

Then I remembered that I was married to Jesus and what affected me, affected Him.

So I said, `There is something I haven't told you.'

`Oh,' she said, `and what is that?'

I said, `I am a believer in the true God of heaven. His Son Jesus Christ is my friend. If you would be kind enough to let me drive through, and around, and back to the airport, I can promise you, I will be back here and pay my bill, because He cares about me.'

Her eyes were almost popping out of their sockets by this time... She seemed to say, is this some kind of crank here?

And I said, `What's more, when I come back, I am going to spend the time and tell what it is like to have that kind of God. Please let me go through.'

She looked at her watch and said, `We have wasted 45 minutes. Do you think that your wallet is still going to be sitting at the airport 45 minutes later?'

I said, `Yes, I certainly do. It's going to be there. And when I come back I am coming right back to this gate and I tell you personally about the kind of God that gives me the courage to say that.'

`I have courage, because He cares for me.'

Well, she couldn't handle this. She said, `All right, go through.'

So I drove back to the airport. - And when you are married to Jesus, I want to tell you something, you don't have to let your anxiety take control.

I got out of the car and I decided, in order to demonstrate to God how much I appreciated Him reminding me that I am married to Him, I would not panic, I would not show anxiety.

I got out of the car. I put my hands in my pocket. I started to whistle. There was a little something inside me saying, `Get in there quick.'

I said, `No! I am married to Jesus, He cares, He is looking after this situation. Anybody looking at me said, well, there is a fellow with not a care in the world.

And I strolled over very casually to the telephone ... nothing there.

And the old urge to panic again started building up, and I had to remind myself again, He does care.

Well, there was only one other place where I knew that it could be.

So I walked into the Men's Restroom ... how many hundreds of people had been in there in the last over 45 minutes ... and as it would happen ... the little cubicle was occupied.

My courage was starting to sag just a little.

And I said to myself, `You are married to Jesus. He does care.'

It was not easy not to attract attention to myself in there especially if you go over and knock on the door of the cubicle.

Everybody in the rest room turned to look. But Jesus has said that He was my friend.

I knocked on that door. There was an astonished grunt from the inside and I said by faith, `Excuse me, Sir. I left my wallet in this cubicle. Would you mind passing it out to me?

That was the greatest act of faith I have ever done.

By this time, the whole rest room was fascinated. ... I waited a few seconds and my wallet came flying over the top of the door. ... And the voice on the other side said, `My, your a lucky ....'

I said, `I am not lucky, I am blessed.'

I drove back to that girl with a song in my heart. I waited my turn and said, `Well, here I am and I got the money to pay my bill.'

The astonished look on the face of that girl's face.

I stayed for 15 minutes and told her what it means to be blessed by God. I wanted Him to have the glory.

How is it with you today?

Are you enjoying being married to Jesus?

Are you?

I have found there is more fun, there is more joy, there is more certainty when you are walking in that kind of relationship with Him.[500]

Prayer:

"Oh our great God and Saviour, is it possible that there is somebody out there who is still only a friend? They haven't entered into the marriage relationship with you? They just haven't felt free yet to let you put to death the old nature. It may be that it is a secret sin that's holding somebody back. It may be, Father, that it's just a habit that they don't seem to be able to brake, and they got discouraged. Oh, Lord, today, reach out and tell them that they are loved, that they are blessed, and that victory comes from knowing Jesus - not from getting stronger within yourself - overcoming is His gift, not ours. Is there anybody here who is identifying with what is presented, and you may have been holding back - the relationship may have been growing but you can't say that it is a marriage. But you want to be married to Jesus. You want to give Him the privilege of absolutely crucifying daily those old carnal urges to sin. Just reach out to Him today and God bless you. Amen.

[110] Like Elder Wieland said, "When we kneel down with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and stay awake, which Peter, James and John didn't do. But if by God's grace we can stay awake in the Garden of Gethsemane, it will become easy for us to deny self ... and follow Christ.

[500] Just as one trespass was condemnation for all men and women, so also the result of one act of salvation brings life for all. Just as bad as sin is, it is not the end of our history for God provided an escape. Even though many play down the seriousness of sin - they say, `Ah, we cannot all be perfect.' The full seriousness of sin can only become apparent once we have understood the full potentialities of human existence as created beings of God. While men has achieved some great things even during the reign of sin, eternity allows to create things which are not used for destruction. While sin does not only include wrongfully committed acts, it also includes the desire and the fantasizing about things that we know are wrong (Mt. 5:28; Rom. 8:6), just like it is sin to omit doing what we know should be done (Mt. 23:23; 25:45; 1Pt. 4:10).
But are we sinners even before we sin? Is a child a sinner even before being accountable? How important these thoughts are is demonstrated by the practice of child baptism in churches even though the Bible does not teach that. Why? Because the clamoring of sin is present in us all. We all have a bent nature. That is why attending church services where divine truths are preached is so important and we should never separate ourselves from reading and listening to the Word of God. Eventually a child matures to be accountable for his or hers own deeds. The good news found in the Word of God is the only power which can lead to break this cycle of sin which leads to death with no hope is contained in the Word of God. We human beings, growing up under the reign of sin, need to be exposed very, very often to the saving messages of the Bible so conviction can come and the child can choose life. But this world continually tries to prevent people from wanting to seek salvation with all might and power, for Satan knows, once a person knows there is hope, seeks it, and accepts it, his power is broken. Satan always takes away freedom of choice - that is why schools which indoctrinate children in acts condemned in the Word of God, take away free choice, the ability to say no to death and yes to life. Sin cannot be overcome by human determination and perseverance. It is larger than we are. The solution therefore must supersede our possibilities. It is found in Christ only. - Other errors being taught are like this one: Many claim there are many roads to salvation. The roads differ, they say, but they all lead to the same destination. But they are wrong. Jesus teaches us through His Word, saying, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." He also says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me," and "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Jh. 10:7; 14:6; Acts 4:12). Jesus Christ is the only one who can save the human race, because He is the only one who paid the price, the wages of sin. No other saint, founder of religion or venerated man has done that. They all lived and died and stayed dead. Only Christ died and rose again so we can be saved.