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Free From the Curse of Sin, February 26
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye
have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Romans 6:22
.
The Lord would have His people sound in the faith—not ignorant of the
great salvation so abundantly provided for them. They are not to look forward,
thinking that at some future time a great work is to be done for them; for the
work is now complete. The believer is not called upon to make his peace with
God; he never has nor ever can do this. He is to accept Christ as his peace,
for with Christ is God and peace. Christ made an end of sin, bearing its heavy
curse in His own body on the tree, and He hath taken away the curse from
all those who believe in Him as a personal Saviour. He makes an end of the
controlling power of sin in the heart, and the life and character of the believer
testify to the genuine character of the grace of Christ.
To those that ask Him, Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit; for it is necessary
that every believer should be delivered from pollution, as well as from the
curse and condemnation of the law. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the
sanctification of the truth, the believer becomes fitted for the courts of heaven;
for Christ works within us, and His righteousness is upon us. Without this no
soul will be entitled to heaven. We would not enjoy heaven unless qualified
for its holy atmosphere by the influence of the Spirit and the righteousness of
Christ.
In order to be candidates for heaven we must meet the requirement of
the law: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour
as thyself” (
Luke 10:27
). We can do this only as we grasp by faith the
righteousness of Christ. By beholding Jesus we receive a living, expanding
principle in the heart, and the Holy Spirit carries on the work, and the believer
advances from grace to grace, from strength to strength, from character to
character. He conforms to the image of Christ, until in spiritual growth he
attains unto the measure of the full stature in Christ Jesus. Thus Christ makes
an end of the curse of sin, and sets the believing soul free from its action and
effect.—
Selected Messages 1:394, 395
.
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