EXCERPT: "When God forgives our sin, that forgiveness is the power by which we resist sin in the future. The life that cleanses from the sin abides with us to withstand it. Christ is a merciful and faithful High Priest, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people; but His priesthood is according to “the power of an endless life.” Heb. 7:16.

Will They Do It?

At the annual meeting of the London Nonconformist Council, the president, Dr. Clifford, said in the course of his address that the business of the Free Churches is "to inform as well as to quicken the conscience of men everywhere, . . . to put into the category of sins all violations of the laws of God, though they might be sanctioned by the customs and upheld by the inherited prejudices and traditions of men."

Now the message of comfort, which God sends to His people, especially for the days immediately preceding His coming, is this, “Behold your God!” (Isa. 40:9). That means that as a necessary preparation for His coming, He wants us to know our own lack of righteousness by beholding His righteousness. 

It is not that circumstances determine one’s character, but that they reveal it. Man looks only on the outward act, but God looks at the heart; and in His eyes the man whose heart is impure is equally guilty with the one who commits the open sin.

"Let us take up these words, one by one, and go backward with them, beginning with the original idea of sin." --A. T. Jones

It is quite generally recognized that “self” is the great thing that stands in the way of Christian progress, and that it must be denied and put away.

Man has committed sin of his own free will; but since it was the life of God that was used in the commission of it, God takes the responsibility of it upon Himself, although He was not responsible for it.

Eve’s sin was in not believing and holding to God’s simple word. Her unbelief was made complete by her disobedience in eating from the tree.