Christian Self-control and Sacrifice

Ecclesiastes 10:17; Amos 5:21-24; Romans 14:19-21; II Corinthians 6:17; I Peter 4:1-5

GOLDEN TEXT: “Let judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.”—Amos 5:24

THOSE who arranged today’s study intended it as another lesson on the evils of intemperance. Although a portion of the Scriptures referred to do not bear directly upon this question, we may very profitably consider them with respect to self-control, moderation, and care for the interests and needs of others. If these instructions were observed they would quickly solve the liquor problem and the many other problems which are afflicting and distressing the world.

The reference to Amos calls attention to God’s hatred of hypocrisy. Through the prophet He says it was in vain that Israel celebrated feast days, offered sacrifices, and sang psalms to him, for at the same time they were offering sacrifices to idols. His statement of that which would gain His approval is expressed in, our golden text: “Let judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

In the passage from St. Peter’s first epistle, the apostle’s argument is that dead people cannot sin; and that the Lord’s consecrated ones, having devoted themselves even unto death, can reckon themselves sacrificially “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:11) We have become followers of Him who, realizing the sinfulness of sin, and that the whole human family was hopelessly under its control, gave Himself even unto death, that He might not only redeem us from sin and its wages, death, but also give us the privilege of being planted together in the likeness of His death.

If we appreciate our Lord and His work, His love for righteousness, and His sacrifice on our behalf; and if we desire to be truly His disciples, followers in His footsteps, it will mean that we will arm ourselves with the same mind that He had—the same opposition to sin, the same determination to lay down our lives, sacrificially, that we might assist in delivering those who are under its control.

Those who have made such a consecration unto death and are dying with Jesus as a sin-offering, certainly will not commit sin willfully, for to do so would prove that their wills had changed—that they were no longer begotten of the new will, the new mind, the Holy Spirit or disposition, but had become alive again as the servants of sin. Such a course would prove that such persons had ceased to be new creatures, and the loss of this new life to them would mean the second death. But so long as they remain willingly faithful to their vows of fellowship with Christ in His sufferings, in His opposition to sin—so long as they remain reckonedly dead to sin and reckonedly alive as new creatures—they have no sin. As the Apostle John explains it, “Whoever abides in Him sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him; … whosoever is born [begotten] of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him; he cannot sin because he is born [begotten] of God.”—I John 3:6-9

The thought here is not that any of the Lord’s people become perfect in the flesh, so that they never err in thought or word or deed. The thought is that the new will is counted the new creature, so, that while the will, the heart, is fully loyal to the Lord, in opposition to sin, the flesh, covered by the blood of Jesus, is reckoned dead as a sin-offering, hence any of its weaknesses, imperfections, which are unintentional, not assented to by the new will, the new creature, are not charged against us by the Lord, who deals with us as new creatures.

The “time past” of our lives referred to in verses three and four was the time when we were natural men, before we became new creatures, begotten of the Lord’s Spirit. That time past, that unhappy experience of life, sufficeth us, yes, we want no more of it; we have found a better life. We would not return to the former condition of natural-mindedness and alienation from God for any consideration.

The idolatrous companions of those who once lived in sin doubtless spoke of the latter as hypocrites, when they turned from these things, becoming dead to them and alive toward the Lord and His service. Their disposition would be to attribute such a change to some ignoble motive. It would be beyond their comprehension that anyone should voluntarily make such a change, for truly they would say that such a course was “unnatural”!

The fifth verse, according to our Common Version, seems to refer to those who speak evil, and to say that they will be obliged to give an account in the day of judgment—in the Millennial Day, when they will be on trial. This is undoubtedly true. As our Lord declared, every act and word in injury to the Lord and His faithful will receive a just recompense of reward—in proportion to the amount of willfulness in the matter.

QUESTIONS:

Would a universal observance of the principles of temperance set forth in the Scriptures solve the liquor problem of mankind?

What should be the Christian’s attitude toward sin of all kinds?

In what sense is it impossible for a Christian to sin?

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