WE have heard from Scripture some of the victories of faith over sin in its pollution and in its guilt; but there is still a hard warfare to be maintained against dominion; for it reigneth absolutely in the children of disobedience, and it never ceaseth to strive for mastery in the children of God; who have an evil nature still an old man, who is corrupt according to tile deceitful lusts, and who is to be put off every day, denied in his desires, mortified in his affections, and crucified in his appetites. Thus the commandment runs: "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth." And the new man, who is called to this warfare, is ordered to make use of Christ's fulness for promised courage, and strength, and victory; for without Christ he can do nothing.
Sin is himself: he is a body of sin; and he has not only to fight against himself, but also against principalities and powers, hosts of foes united under the banner of the god of this world, trying all their cunning, and all their force, to bring the believer back into the bondage of corruption: and what he has of his own is on their side. His worst foe is his indwelling sin, which has a complete body, with all its members and lusts, always enticing to something unlawful, and tempting to the commission of it; every faculty is ready to become an instrument of unrighteousness unto sin; it is an absolute tyrant, who rules his slaves with the most cruel rigour, keeping them captive to Iris will, although nothing but destruction and misery be in their ways.
Thus original sin is described in the ninth article of our church; it is the fault and corruption of every man born of Adam; and, notwithstanding it still remaineth in the regenerate, yet there is a promise of daily and of complete victory over the tyrant. Thus it is written: "Sin shall not have dominion over you, because ye are not under the law, but under grace." Once sin had full dominion, but it is taken away by the Spirit of Christ; not entirely destroyed, as to its being, but as to its ruling power–dethroned in the judgment; there, seen as it is, exceeding sinful, exceeding dangerous–dethroned in the conscience; the believer, no longer under the law, but under grace, is freed from condemnation–dethroned in the will: not my will, Lord, but thine be done–dethroned in the heart; I hate all evil thoughts, but thy law do I love: O what love have I unto thy law;–dethroned in the life, crucified with its affections and lusts, by the power of the cross of Jesus, it is not quite dead, but it is put to a lingering death, kept upon the cross, dying daily. And thus the sin, which is pardoned through the blood of Christ is conquered by the arm of Christ, as it is written: "He will subdue our iniquities;" and faith in his promised help keeps them under, subdues them effectually, so that they do not reign in the mortal body to obey them in the lusts thereof.
Take an instance of this triumphant faith. Whatever the natural man can set his heart upon, or seek his happiness in–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life–Moses was enabled by the Spirit of Christ to overcome. "By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." What but almighty grace could have given him such a complete victory. He gained entire dominion over sin, even when it came to tempt him with all the pleasures, and riches, and honours of the world. He was made strong in faith; Christ ruling in his heart brought every high thought into subjection to himself; so that Moses not only resigned all his temporal advantages for Christ's sake, but what natural men account a great paradox, he chose reproach, poverty, misery, rather than give' up his interest in Christ. This is the victory which still overcometh the world, even our faith; for the Blew Testament furnishes us with such another instance of Christian heroism in the apostle of the Gentiles.
He is giving an account of his own experience, and by what means he was now no longer under the law, but under grace–a sinner saved from the sentence of the broken law, and from all hope of being made righteous by his own personal keeping of it: I, through the law, says he, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God, &c. Once he was without the law, when he thought proudly of his own good life, that concerning the law he was blameless; but when the commandment came in the power of the Spirit, then it slew him, and killed all his former legal hopes. What he had trusted in before for life, he now found to be unto death; and Christ, faith in Christ, was the only means by which he saw he could live unto God, by his grace, and to his glory.
By this faith he then experienced the power of the crucified and risen Jesus: I am in Christ, says he, crucified with him, truly and spiritually dead to sin, to self, to the world, by the virtue of his cross; nevertheless, by the same faith, in the same Jesus, I live; the spirit oŁ life in him has quickened my spirit; he has given me a new birth into the spiritual world, and has brought me $o live upon the fulness of Jesus, as really now by faith as I hope to live upon him by sense in heaven: "Yet not I,"–I neither had it of myself, nor do I continue it by any act of my own,–but Christ liveth in me; and although I seem to live outwardly like other men, yet the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, depending upon him every moment for fresh supplies of his Spirit, to keep me in union and communion with the Father and the Son; and thereby he gives me to feel in my heart some of the blessings of that love of God in Christ which surpasseth knowledge. It is this that purifies my soul, and sanctifies my life: blessed, for ever blessed be his name, who thus loved me and gave himself for me.
Such were the heroes of Christianity. They fought the Lord's battles, and in the power of his might they subdued sin; they obtained dominion over it through faith in Jesus; and the same faith in the same Jesus is still mighty through him to obtain as great victories. The truth of his promise, the faithfulness of the promiser, the strength of his arm to fulfil his promise, these did not fail Moses, nor Paul–never did, never can, fail any believer. Thus speaketh the Lord unto them–"Sin shall not have dominion over you. "Having pardoned it by my blood, I will subdue it by my Spirit: trust me, you shall find strong faith an over-match for strong sin; because it fights in the strength of Jesus, to whom all things are possible, and who must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet; and sin and death shall be no more. Say it is a besetting sin, this only gives more employment for faith, and for the power of Jesus.
It may be a sin of constitution, breaking out into wrath and passion, that the man has no government of himself; but the Spirit of Christ can make him a new creature, and can enable him to put off the old man with his deeds, and to put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It may be a long habit of' sin; but is anything too hard for the Lord? Has he not promised–" A new heart will I give you, and I will put my Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my commandments and practise them!" Wherever grace reigns, this scripture is fulfilled. The armies of the Lord of hosts fight under his banner, and no weapon formed against them can prosper. Kept by his mighty power, they are daily more than conquerors, marching on triumphant over all opposition; for he enables them to hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of hope, firm unto the end.
Thus they were commanded to pray:–"Order my steps, O Lord, according to thy word, and let not any' iniquity have dominion over me." They looked to his word and to his arm for the right ordering of their steps, believing that he would keep the steps of his saints, and sin should not have dominion over them, now they were no longer under the law but under the kingdom of his grace. The victory which he had promised, they expected; and he did put forth his power, according to that good word wherein he had caused them to place their trust. They found his grace sufficient to subdue the tyranny of iniquity; yea, where sin had abounded, grace did much more abound, in daily victory over its wiles and its assaults. And the power of Christ resting upon them, they were kept in this spirit of prayer.
O thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! strengthen me mightily by thy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith, and I may have his strength to set against the power of my sins, and mine enemies. For orders, for courage, for perseverance, for victory, for eternal triumph, I look unto thee for all. Blessed be thy name, that thou hast chosen me to be a soldier, and to fight under the banner of Jesus. I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. He made all mine enemies his own, and they are now under his feet; and I believe according to thy good word, that thou wilt put them under mine. Thou hast conquered them for me, and hast engaged to conquer them in me, and by me. It is of' thy mere grace, almighty Jesus, that I am enabled to deny myself, to take up my cross, and to follow thee in this holy war. All my sufficiency is from the fresh supplies of thy Spirit. O grant me them abundantly, to the increase of my faith, and to the praise of thy promised help. Cause me to depend every moment upon it; let me experience, that when I am weakest in myself, I may be made strongest in the Lord; and when I have nothing left me to glory in of mine own, then my soul may magnify the Lord, and my spirit may rejoice in God my Saviour. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid, because the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song: he also is become my salvation. To his grace and power, be all the glory, for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.