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THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT.
Romans 8: 2: “For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of
sin and of death.’’
HE Apostle Paul, in passing through
the seventh chapter of his Epistle to
the Romans, seems to be passing through
a. kind of tunnel, in which there is noth
ing but thick darkness. He, somehow,
seems to have bis eye turned upon him
self, and, as is always the case, so
long as a man looks at himself, never
mind how good he is, he has the spir-
T
itual “dumps,” for there is nothing in man, even
the best of men, that can give any encouragement to
him in spiritual things. Thus, while in this tunnel
or darkness and doubt, we hear the apostle describe
himself in such despondent terms as: “Wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me out of this
body of death?” Now, we would say that the man is
in a very despondent and almost hopeless condit'on
who describes his feelings in such language; but
thanks to God, there comes a time in his experience
when he gets his eye off to himself; when the period
of introspection is over, he gets his eye on God,
and, with his eye fixed on God, comes into a new
experience. He emerges, as it were, from the tun
nel, out into the clear, bracing and brilliant light
of a happy experience; and we hear him, after he
emerges, describing his feelings in this language:
“Therefore there is now no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus.” Then he proceeds at
once to give the reason for this changed state of
feelings, by giving the text which we use this
morning, “For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin
and of death.”
THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT.
Now, I propose speaking to you on the Law of
the Spirit. Every force under the sun has its law
that regulates and governs it, and makes it pos
sible to distribute its blessing. There was just
as much steam in the days of Adam and Eve,
proportionate to the people that lived, as there
is today, and in that steam there was just as much
power, proportionately, as there is today. But
Adam and Eve were ignorant of the laws that
govern and control steam. They were ignorant of
the means by which and through which steam dis
tributes its blessing. There was just as much
electricity in the world when Adam and Eve to
gether lived in the Garden of Eden as there is to
day. Adam and Eve were ignorant of the laws that
governed it and made its application possible.
Adam and Eve, had they known what they really
had, might have been riding in electric railway
trains and reading by electric lamps. So, with re
spect to other arts and sciences. Psychology wasl
just as much a reality in olden times as it is today.
I believe that the time will come when we will
understand things in the thought world, when we
will be able to hold communication with people who
are so far away that we cannot see them nor can
we come into telegraphic or telephonic communi
cation with them. And just how far this thought
power, when it is properly apprehended, will pene
trate the world of spirits, is a question that at
present I do not even give expression to my own
views concerning. I simply say this, that when
we come to deal with the soul sweep, there is abso
lutely no limit to it. The only thing that can
possibly limit it is the lack of the proper know
ledge concerning the laws that govern it.
Just as it is true in matters of which I have
been speaking, it is true with respect to the law
of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul saw it. He had
discovered the force which lifted him from the
bondage of that seventh chapter of the Epistle, outi
into the glorious light and liberty of the eighth.
He had not only seen the law, but he had, by seeing
it, brought himself into the proper harmony with
it, and, bringing himself into proper harmony with
it, he was in position to receive the force and poweg
of it. So it seems to me that this is what the
church needs, and what each and every one needs
The Golden Age for January 24, 1907.
Tabernacle Sermon by Rev. Len. G. Broughton.
who knows Jesus Christ in the forgiveness of sin;
to find out what the law is, and then how we
to bring ourselves into perfect harmony with the
operation of the law, that we may receive all of
the force and power of the Spirit that God ever
intended His people to have.
Now, I believe that one reason why the church
has made such slow progress is because we have
failed thus far to comprehend the law of the Spirit,
and, of course, failing to comprehend the law of
the Spirit, we have failed to come into harmony
with the law.
NATURE AND CHARACTERISTIC.
When Jesus Christ left this world, the Holy
Spirit came to take His place. He came to convict*
the world of sin, to regenerate the convicted, to
give assurance to the regenerated, to sanctify the
assured, to grow in grace the sanctified, to inter
pret the word of God, to direct the workers, and
to give power in the work. Now, these things com
pass the general purpose of the Spirit of God at
work in the world as the representative of the
Trinity. May I say again, the reason why thcj
church has had such slow progress; the reason
why it has made such slow progress, for example,
in convicting the world of sin, is because the church
has not brought itself into harmony with the Spirit.
The reason why it has not succeeded more in re
generating, sanctifying, assuring, growing in grace,
interpreting the Word, directing the work of the
kingdom, and empowering men and women for the
work; the reason why we have made such slow
progress in carrying out the provisions for which
the Spirit of God came into the world, is because,
we have not brought ourselves into harmony with
the Spirit. He has been here all the time; He
has had these things upon His mind to do all the
time. But His instrument, which is the church;
His instrument, which is the individual believer,
through which He has to do this work of carrying
out His divine purpose, has not been in sufficient
harmony with Himself as to enable Him to do the
things that He came here to do. So, God helping
us, I want us to see what the law of the Spirit is,
that He may through us, when we have brought
ourselves into conformity with Him, do the things
which He came here to do; and let them be done
now, and not wait forever to see the thing done)
that God the Spirit has come here to do.
What is the law of the Spirit? To answer this,
it becomes necessary to say first what the nature)
■of the Spirit is, for the Spirit has nature and
characteristics, just as God and Christ. The na
ture of the Spirit, to start with, let me say, is that
of holiness. We often think and speak of the holi
ness of God, and of the holy, immaculate Christ,
but we never speak of the Spirit being likewise
holy, and yet, He is called the Holy Spirit. We
have gotten so in the habit of using this term
that we use it without thinking of what the Holy
Spirit is.
Not only is He holy, but, being holy, He has
great antipathy to sin. There is nothing that the
Spirit so despises as sin. He is so antagonistic
to sin that He cannot look upon it with the least
degree of allowance, and one reason why we have
never gotten the full force and power of the Spirit
in our lives is that there is sin in our lives, un
surrendered, unyielded. Sin in our lives breaks the
law, interrupts the harmony, and destroys the pos
sibility of communication.
Then, again, we find that the Spirit is interested
in everything that pertains to the welfare of the
race of mankind; interested first in their spiritual
life, doing all that He can for the spiritual wel
fare of men. But not simply is He interested in
man’s spiritual nature. He is interested in every
thing that pertains to us. Did you see that tear
trickling down that man’s cheek this morning?
Did you see that heaving chest and that anxious
look upon that woman’s face? If you did, you saw
something that directly and positively and intiL
mately concerns the Spirit of God. Never a tear
that He is not aware of it; never a heart throb that
He does not feel it; never a sigh that He would not
check it. Never mind what the condition of life
is, let me repeat it, and repeat it over again, He
is in charge of the affairs of this world, and de
sires everything to be done that can possibly be
done for the spiritual, the physical, the material,
uplifting and elevation of the race of man. Is
there an ambitious mind today looking through a
cloud of ignorance, desiring to see the light of
knowledge? There is something that interests the
Holy Spirit; He would make away for that strug
gling young mind to be trained.
THE RENUNCIATION OF SIN.
Now, then, having seen this with respect to the
nature of the Spirit, we are prepared, I think, to
get a bit of insight into the law that governs the
■Spirit, and the first thing that I will mention is
the renunciation of all sin. Now, note, I do not
say the renunciation of all temptation. You cannot
renounce temptation. You may renounce all you
please, but the devil will Announce when he gets
ready. Sin and temptation are very different.
Temptation is a thing that has to come to man.
The Apostle, in his letter to the Corinthians, sta’es:
“There hath no temptation come to you but such
as is common to man, but He is faithful and will
not suffer you to be tempted more than you cam
bear, but will with every temptation make away
of escape.” The Apostle himself redized the work
of the tempter. Christ realized the work of the
tempter. You will realize it. I have found very
few men who have gotten beyond temptation, and
I think that they were either misguided or did not
tell the truth. No servant is greater than his mas
ter. Christ had his temptation; you will have
yours. You must not get discouraged if you have
the days of temptation and trials, for, after all,
it is the temptation that gives one strength. But
sin, actually yielding to temptation, is the thing
■that must be renounced. So long as there is any
thing, however small, that we know to be sin, we
are out of harmony with the operation of God’s
law. We will never know what God’s law of
Spirit is in realization of blessing.
Which had you rather enjoy—granted that sin
has in it real pleasure—which had you rather en
joy, the full operation of the power of the Spirit,
or the fruit of sin? That thing that you are now
thinking about, which you are holding to, even
though it can bring all that the wildest dream of
your life can possibly convey, which had you rather
have, that, or the constant, every-day companion
ship, direction, guidance and power of the infinite
and eternal, all-wise and powerful God, to walk
with you and to talk through and for you, to plan
tor you, to empower you, to give you successes and
victory, and at last to give you in heaven that
which nothing else can give—your crown? Which
of the two—sin, or Him—will you take today?
DEDICATION FOR SERVICE.
Then the next thing is dedication for service.
It is not enough simply for one to renounce sin.
1 hat is the first step toward service, for no service
v ill count so long as there is sin harbored in our
lives. lor a service to be acceptable, it must issue
from a clean heart. If the heart is not clean, not
sincere, then all the offerings of service that we
can make to God are to Him as sounding brass and
tinkling cymbal. The Apostle very beautifully ex
presses what I have in mind in .giving his testimony
of his relationship to Christ : “I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet, not I, but Christ
lixeth in me.’ In that statement he sums up the
whole experience and testimony of the law of the
Spirit. First, there is the crucified life, and that
is the i enunciation of sin, the reckoning of one
self as dead unto sin. Then, there is the positive
life; the service side of one’s spiritual nature.
Then the means by which the crucified life and the
risen life are made one, and that means is the
cross of Christ.
There are three classes of people that nsnallv are
found ,n churches. There is that class whose whole