THE SPIRIT AND THE SINNER.
By Wm. Covert
Sin is contrary to all life and righteousness, but so deceitful that its presence is scarcely recognized by the sinner himself. His condition is one which is described as “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1), or “alienated from the life of God” (Eph. 4:18), and “strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). This condition is a heedless, careless, indifferent one, with no convictions of sin, listless and benumbed to all claims of righteousness. In this condition the sinner yields almost unquestioned obedience to sin. As Paul, speaking to them, says, “Ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity.” While this was their attitude toward sin, he remarks, “Ye were free from righteousness.” Rom. 6:20. In this dead state they heeded not the demands of righteousness. There was then no life in their natures which responded to the Life which is the Source of all righteousness. Sin is negative in its kind to all that is good. It is repellant to righteousness. Therefore, in the situation as seen from the above description, the sinner is a living organism, whom God says he has created for his glory, and yet that organism is prostituted to the service of Satan. In this case God is giving the sinner life physically and caressing him with countless blessings and tender mercies; and yet his service is given to the enemy. To bring about a change in the condition of the sinner which will enable him to see his danger, is what is needed. The Lord is continually working by his Spirit to accomplish this change. The Saviour said of the Spirit, “When he is come, he will convince the world of sin.” John 16:8, margin and R. V. Notwithstanding the dormant condition of the sinner, yet it may not be said that he is totally depraved in the sense that he has no conscience. Sin has dulled and benumbed the spiritual attributes, and kept them from developing. Man has yielded to the calls of the flesh, and obeyed the demands of a spirit which will call into action only the grosser propensities, until in many cases the call of God’s Spirit is never heeded. Often he can see enough to know that he is a sinner, and yet not have quickness of touch which will beget an action and produce a change. With such there is no conviction. There is then no calling upon God to remove guilt and save from condemnation. Those who reject the pleading of the Spirit are then left to perish in their own corruptions. The sin must be destroyed, and if the transgressor has chosen to remain with his sins, he can hope for nothing but to perish with them. It is of these that the Lord says, “All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” He urges them to choose life, saying, “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” Eze. 18:30. But the sinner should never try in the strength of himself to overcome. This would only be self against self, flesh against flesh— sin endeavoring to overcome sin. In this case the result is only lost effort. Jesus says, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” John 6:63. The flesh must yield the ground to the Spirit, and let the Lord work in his own way. There is such a thing as man yielding his will or spirit unto the will of God, and letting God work. In that case man still has a will, but it is controlled by God’s will, enveloped in the strength and Spirit of the Infinite One. It was when the apostle was speaking to this point that he said, “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Rom. 8:9. And again, “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Verse 10. Because of sin the flesh should not be permitted to rule in our own bodies. The tendencies of the flesh are such, because of sin, that they would even destroy our bodies. Therefore the Spirit must rule the whole being. Body, intellect, and will, must all be under the control of the Spirit of God. From these considerations the apostle further writes: “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” The Spirit imparts ability to do, and a mind to love the works of righteousness, while man abides in its embrace; “for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Here is life emanating from the very Spirit of all life; and by the power of this life the sinner is liberated from the thraldom of Satan, and made free in Christ. It is when this is done that the believer enters upon that sonship relation by which he becomes an heir of God. Having yielded to the Spirit, and accepted the conditions of sonship, he is ready to be guided by the Spirit into all truth. Christ says it is the office of the Spirit to take the things of God and show them to his children. John 16:13–15. But we should be certain that the things which are shown are of God. Therefore the best possible help rendered to the believer by the Spirit of God is through the devout study of the word of God.