POSSIBILITIES UNDER THE GOSPEL by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Dec 13, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 50.

POSSIBILITIES UNDER THE GOSPEL.

By G.

THE Son of God came down from heaven to do the Father's will on earth. John 6:38. That was His sole purpose. John 4:34; 5:30.

The Father's will in this connection was the salvation of them who should believe on the Son. John 3:16; 6:40.

Certain qualifications were necessary to this end, and by the Spirit of prophecy He foretells one of these: "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart." Ps. 40:7, 8.

The transgression of the law being sin (1 John 3:4), it was necessary that Christ have the law in His heart in order to have the qualification of being "without sin," altho sorely tempted. Heb. 4:15.

In order to be a complete Saviour, it was necessary for Christ to take our nature and go through our experience, even going down into the tomb, the Just suffering for the unjust. Heb. 2:14-18.

Christ having "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9), and God having sent Him for that very purpose, the Father is pledged to the utmost of His power to save all that comply with the conditions. His promise being "yea and amen" in Christ, and Christ having fulfilled all the requirements, God is bound to accept Him as the propitiation for sins that are past. Rom. 3:25, 26.

Christ having risen from the dead by the power of God (Eph. 1:19), He has proved His ability to overcome him who has the power of death (Heb. 2:14), and to deliver us from the power of darkness. By this deliverance believers are translated into the kingdom of God. Col. 1:12-14; Rom. 5:18-21.

Christ having come into the world in the weakness of human flesh, and having overcome the world (John 16:33), and overcome sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3, 4), He has made it possible for all who come unto God by Him to do likewise. Heb. 7:25.

In order to do this it is essential to follow Him. And in order to attain this standard, one must have the law of God in his heart, according to the new covenant. Having this law in the heart, as Christ did, it is possible in His strength to conform the life to it. As Paul declares, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phil. 4:13.

This was Paul's supreme aim in life. Phil. 3:7-14. May it be ours also. In 2 Peter 1:1-11 are the steps by which one may never fall.