Studies in the Gospel Message
THE subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for Sabbath, July 12, is Ceremonialism Leads to Bondage. Lucifer was the first one to introduce slavery into this world. He did this when he introduced sin into the world. The mission of Christ is to restore liberty. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” “Jesus Christ came into the world to set men free, and to plant in their souls the genuine principle of liberty,—liberty actuated by love,—liberty too honorable to allow itself to be used as an occasion to the flesh, or for a cloak of maliciousness,—liberty led by a conscience enlightened by the Spirit of God,—liberty in which a man may be free from all men, yet made so gentle by love that he would willingly become the servant of all, in order to bring them to the enjoyment of the same liberty. This is freedom indeed. This is the freedom which Christ gave to man; for whom the Son makes free is free indeed.” The gospel is the good news of deliverance from sin, and therefore of deliverance from bondage; for “whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” He who “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,” also “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.” In giving himself for us, in order that he might accomplish this deliverance it became necessary for him to take our flesh. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Infinite wisdom could devise no other plan. The mind, the citadel of man, had been captured by Satan. Man had thus been brought into captivity. He was the slave of sin. Listen to a description of his experience. “What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. . . . How to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do, . . . I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. . . . I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. . . . For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” From this scripture it is evident that it is the life of Christ, manifested in the flesh and controlling the flesh, which brings deliverance from the bondage of sin, and reveals the righteousness of the law in us. This is the very essence of the true gospel. “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. . . . Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” Such an experience as this is possible only through a personal faith in the gift of Christ to the flesh,—a faith which unites one with Christ in his experiences. It was for this personal faith, this personal appropriation of Christ, that the apostle Paul earnestly contended in his letter to the Galatians, as against any mere outward form, which had no power to deliver from bondage. He described his own experience in these words: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Those who stood for ceremony, any work of the flesh, as opposed to, or in addition to, the simple faith in an indwelling Christ, were mentioned by the apostle Paul as “false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.” It is from this bondage which always results from turning religion into a mere ceremonial that the apostle Paul tries so hard to save the Galatians, and all others who have fallen into the same error. And his earnest exhortation is, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” The result of changing the reality of religion into a mere form has been shown over and over again in the history of God’s people. In every instance it has been apparent that ceremonialism has no power to save from sin, and that a form of godliness which denies the power is in no respect essentially different from heathenism. This is the lesson which we need to learn to-day. The form of knowledge and of the truth in the law will not be sufficient to save from sin. Mere mental assent to a perfect creed will not deliver one in the hour of temptation. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” “Christianity has a much broader meaning than many have hitherto given to it. It is not a creed. It is the word of him who liveth and abideth forever. It is a living, animating principle, that takes possession of mind, heart, motives, and the entire man. Christianity—O that we might experience its operations! It is a vital, personal experience, which elevates and ennobles the whole man.” It is this power of vital godliness, wrought into the experience through personal faith in Jesus the Saviour from sin, which should be revealed to the world in this last gospel message. Anything short of this is not the proclamation of the genuine message. Have we been delivered from the ceremonialism which leads to bondage, and are we giving the real message to the world? “I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within,
There at the cross where he took me in,
Glory to his name.”