Text: Galatians 5:1-5

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.   2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.   3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.   4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law;  ye are fallen from grace.   5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.    

Wednesday, 22^nd May 2024        

THE HOLY SPIRIT SETS US FREE FROM SIN AND DEATH

Text: Galatians 5:1-5

Memory verse: Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Sanctification is the process of the Holy Spirit stripping away our sinful habits and bringing us into holiness. Think of it like peeling back an onion. There are layers. The Holy Spirit works in us by peeling away our sinful characteristics and replacing them with godly characteristics. His work in us makes us more and more like Jesus.

The Gospel of the grace of Christ, which is not only a law or rule of life but affords that sovereign energy that removed guilt from the conscience, the power of sin broken, and its polluting influence removed from the heart.  The law was a spirit of death, by which those who were under it were bound down, because of their sin, to condemnation and death.  The Gospel proclaims Jesus as the Saviour; and what the law bound unto death; IT loses unto life eternal. Apostle Paul said whether of himself or the man whom he is still personating, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  No creature could possibly be carnal, sold under sin, brought into captivity to the law of sin and death; and at the same time be made free from that law of sin and death, by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Until the most physical irrationalities and contradictions can be reconciled, these two opposite states can never exist in the same person at the same time.

The power of the Spirit in us is so soft, how may we gather by this that there is no condemnation for those that have that power?  Because, he says, power of the life-giving Spirit, which is so weak in us, is most perfect and most mighty in Christ, and being imputed to us who believe, causes us to be thought of as though there were no relics of corruption and death in us. Our sins are destroyed by the blood of Christ, and the responsibility of our corruption is covered with the imputation of Christ's obedience, and the corruption itself, which the apostle calls sinful sin, is healed in us little by little, by the gift of sanctification: but yet it is not complete, because it still lacks another remedy, that is, the perfect sanctification of Christ's own flesh, which is also imputed to us. The power and authority of the Spirit, against which is set against the oppression of sin. It kills the old man and brings the new man to life absolutely and perfectly. For Christ's sanctification being imputed to us perfects our sanctification which has started in us.

CGDS HYMN 20; SS&S 134:

JESUS, KEEP ME NEAR THE CROSS

1. Jesus, keep me near the cross,

there a precious fountain,

free to all, a healing stream,

flows from Calvary's mountain.

Refrain

In the cross, in the cross,

be my glory ever;

'til my raptured soul shall find,

rest beyond the river.

2. Near the cross, a trembling soul,

love and mercy found me;

there the bright and morning star

sheds its beams around me.

3. Near the cross! O Lamb of God,

bring its scenes before me;

help me walk from day to day,

with its shadows over me.

4. Near the cross I'll watch and wait,

hoping, trusting ever,

'til I reach the golden strand,

just beyond the river.

 Prayers: 

1.  Holy Spirit, strip away every sinful habit that can destroy me in Jesus’ name Amen.

2.  LORD God Almighty, I stand on Your word that the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death in Jesus’ name. Amen.    

3.  Pray for others in this regard.