Often as Christians we believe that we are helpless to do anything about justification, thinking that God does all of that for us. But after we are justified and converted, then we often assume that we are now able of ourselves to do those things the law requires of us. God does everything in justification, but we must do much of what is required in sanctification. We assume that conversion is some kind of an empowering or enabling act that puts us in the position where now we can perform, where before we could not perform. This causes many problems.
We want to find out specifically what it is that the converted, truly justified Christian can do of himself and by himself. We know the unjustified cannot keep the law because of “what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” Roman 8:3.
Apparently the justified Christian has at least the potential of doing this because “the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Verse 4. The righteousness of the law could not be fulfilled in the unjustified person, but when Christ comes to abide in us, He makes it possible for it to be fulfilled in us.
The question before us is this: Has the flesh been made strong where before it was weak? Do we now have a capability that we lacked before? Can we now do right when before we could not?
Paul asked the question: “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3. God gives us new life in the Spirit; but do we then accomplish perfection or sanctification by the flesh, by our own works in and of ourselves? The confusion about this arises out of the strong assertions in the Bible concerning the freedom that is ours in justification and conversion.
Christ talks about this freedom in the context of sin, and because of these strong, almost violent statements about it, we make strong assumptions, and sometimes we go too far (while some do not go far enough). “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin…If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:34,36. You are no longer a servant. You are “free indeed,” and this is surely a strong statement.
Paul has much to say about this. His life was such an interesting one, so I suppose he could write about this at great length because of his experience and divine inspiration. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness…But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” Romans 6:16-18,20,22. Paul says over and over again that you have been made free from sin.
As we progress through Romans, Paul comes back to the sum of these thoughts in a little different way. “But 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?” Roman 7:23,24. Then he answers in verse 25, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He goes on with this thought in verse 2 of the next chapter: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
How free are we? I suppose many have discussed this for years, and the discussion will not stop here. What does Paul mean by this freedom? Why does he make these strong statements? Right here is where we get into problems after conversion and justification. What do I have in this freedom from sin?
The conclusion of some people is that, since I am free from captivity, from the law of sin and death, then I can live a life without sin by my own efforts. We ask the question: Are we free? Yes! As Jesus said, “free indeed.” Then what do you conclude that we can and cannot do? Can we live without sin? It says free indeed—no captivity. The law of sin has been broken in your life, but now you do not have to be subject to sin at all. Many arguments could be presented here. No captivity, no bondage, the law of death no longer controls us. Aren’t you free? Jesus said so! Then why sin? Has not the weakness of the flesh now been changed? And are we not now strong where before we were weak? What can the genuinely converted person do? How strong is he, and therefore, how able is he? We arrive at many conclusions, or at least raise many questions. Our conclusions and our answers to these questions determine what we will attempt to do in the sanctified life.
This freedom from sin is good; and you must in no way diminish the freedom that the Bible talks about. We need that freedom! We must have that. But we must not make some conclusions about that freedom that are unwarranted.
Let’s add another piece to the picture. It appears that the apostle Paul, after his conversion, had some problems with his body in that it did not seem to be strong. Paul said concerning himself: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” 1 Corinthians 9:27. Another word for castaway is backslider. He found it necessary to keep under his body and to keep bringing it into subjection. Somehow my body keeps rising up, seeking to dominate, to rule, and I have to keep it down. Was Paul able to do this by himself? As we continue, we will answer that in a very obvious way. What did he mean that he had to keep his body under?
Here is another statement that Paul made about his body: “For we are the circumcision [meaning the true Christians] which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Philippians 3:3. We have no confidence in our bodies in its attempts to do right. He is talking here, I believe, about the Christian after conversion, after justification.
Why did Paul not have confidence in the flesh? “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Galatians 5:17. The flesh and the Spirit do not get along. Paul, who wished to be led by the Spirit, said he finds his flesh at war with the Spirit of God in him. He did not like that, and because he had no confidence in the flesh, he said he had to keep under his body and bring it into subjection. The flesh is an enemy that can do damage to me and keep God out of my life. He did not want that to happen to him.
The apostle John also talked about this, though far more briefly than Paul. John stated it succinctly and yet strongly when he wrote about drinking the blood and eating the flesh of Christ. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” John 6:63. These bodies of ours are of no profit, spiritually speaking. This is in total agreement with what Paul said about having no confidence in our flesh. The flesh cannot produce what God wants us to produce.
As Christians, we often believe that once we are converted and have a good experience with the Lord, then we have good bodies. There is no place in the Bible where it says that. That is merely an assumption on our part—that a good experience brings a good body. The mind can help to do some things about the body when we have a new heart in Christ, but we do not get good bodies at conversion. We get new hearts, or new minds, but not new bodies. New bodies come later.
Paul wrote that “our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:20. At the time of His return, Jesus “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.” Verse 21. At the second coming of Jesus, the righteous will be given new bodies. But the wicked are not going to be changed, are they? All changes in the body are only for the righteous. They still have vile bodies right up to the second coming of Jesus. Some people do not like that. Paul taught that having these vile bodies is a problem.
Paul wrote: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:53. In the twinkling of an eye this will happen. Up to the time when we are either resurrected or translated, we will have vile, corrupt, bodies bringing death upon us. Paul often wrote about the difficulty of living in this kind of body that has all these problems. This he terms vileness. He recognized that he had that kind of body. He had to live in it, and so he had some problems. He said he had to keep it under subjection; and he looked with all his heart for the time when it was going to be changed. But until that change came, he knew that his vile body would cause problems.
The recognition of the sinfulness of our bodies causes us to undergo a certain transformation. This happens to all Christians. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Galatians 5:24. If I belong to Him, I have crucified the flesh. Not only am I crucified, but I die. I have died to self with the affections and lusts of my flesh. This is what we call the death of the old man of sin that normally takes place at conversion. Now we have a crucified flesh.
Paul puts this in the context of future obedience, or future sin if you want to call it that. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:6,7. Back in verse 2 he reasons: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” How can a dead man sin? I look at these strong texts and say that this freedom has come to me, and I have been liberated. I am no longer a captive. I am a new man in Jesus. I am free; therefore, I do not have to sin. Paul, in these different texts, has been speaking about his life after conversion, and not about the death in conversion.
In Romans 6, Paul is talking largely about the death of the old man and about conversion, which is the new man. But he also talks about the future life after conversion. He said that, even after he was converted, he had to keep that old man under subjection, having no confidence in him. We have some problems about this crucifixion of the old man, for Paul acts sometimes like the old man is not dead after conversion. Yet we know that Paul had a good Christian experience. He said that, after his conversion, he found the flesh still warring against the Spirit. He said that he had crucified the flesh, which means that it was dead; yet he found his vile flesh warring against the Spirit, and he had to keep it down. His flesh always wanted to rise up and bring his mind into captivity.
So in some of Paul’s writings, the flesh does not seem to be dead even after conversion. You might reason it out various ways, but can it be possible that the flesh is crucified and yet is still alive? How do you explain that strange enigma if it really is true? Can I be truly justified and converted and yet my vile flesh is not dead? This is what causes many theological arguments about this subject. To find the answer, we must put all the pieces together.
Can the flesh be crucified and yet still be alive? I want to give you a few more texts about Paul’s life and the life of other Biblical characters in order to help us derive the answer. In this first text by Paul, I want you to notice the idea of dying to self. “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” 1 Corinthians 15:31. Paul elsewhere talked about having been crucified with Christ. Here he said he dies every day. Why?
Let’s put another text with it where Paul said he was “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus [not the death, but the dying], that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” 2 Corinthians 4:10. It is important to note that he used the expression “the dying of the Lord Jesus.” He said he was always dying with Jesus. You can find similar thoughts in verse 11. “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” I am delivered unto death all the time. I am always dying but never seeming to be dead. These are the thoughts expressed here.
Here is another similar thought: “As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed.” 2 Corinthians 6:9. “Chastened” is a system of beating a person to death; therefore, he said he has been beaten until he ought to be dead, but he is not killed, which is the same as dying and still living.
These are the peculiar contradictions we find here that make us think. People read this and say they do not understand. Crucified but not dead? How can that be? How can it be that you die every day? What is wrong here? If you are dead, are you not dead? Does the old man get resurrected every day? How does he have new life when I killed him the day before by my own choice? It seems like the cat with more than nine lives, doesn’t it? How can you explain this? Crucified, yet still dying, but not dead, and having to die daily?
The answer is found in two definite facts that you must always remember in the sanctified life. If you omit these, you will never understand this idea of being crucified with Christ, and this dying daily. “Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, or a day. It is a continual growth in grace. We know not one day how strong will be our conflict the next. Satan lives, and is active, and every day we need to earnestly cry to God for help and strength to resist him. As long as Satan reigns we shall have self to subdue, besetments to overcome, and there is no stopping place. There is no point to which we can come and say we have fully attained.” 7BC 947. The two facts are: sanctification is not the work of a moment but of a lifetime; and there is no plateau where we can stop and say we have arrived.
The reason why sanctification must be the work of a lifetime is that, no matter how long or short your life may be, you never come to a stopping place. As long as Satan reigns, we have self to subdue and besetments to overcome. It is poorly understood among Christians that many of the problems we have with self are because of someone outside of self. The victories we have over self are because of a power—a Person— outside of self; and many of the problems we have with self are because of some other power outside of self. My problems are not all internal. And for this reason, one death is not sufficient. There is always someone to prod the corpse; although do not misunderstand me for I would not give the devil the power of resurrection.
How is it that the devil is still able to tempt us and bring us back to trusting in self? “When Christ took human nature upon Him, He bound Himself to humanity by a tie of love that can never be broken by any power save the choice of man himself.” SC 72. Jesus bound Himself to us with a tie never to be broken by any power except the choice of man himself. That is a power you have, but not the devil. We can make the choice every day whether to stay bound to Christ, or to be free from Christ. Only the choice of man himself can sever that relationship.
Continuing on with the quote: “Satan will constantly present allurements to induce us to break this tie, to choose to separate ourselves from Christ. Here is where we need to watch, to strive, to pray, that nothing may entice us to choose another master; for we are always free to do this. But let us keep our eyes fixed upon Christ, and He will preserve us. Looking unto Jesus, we are safe. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand.”
There is something in us that remains there as long as we live. Even though self is crucified, choice is not. Choice always lives as long as man lives. When I have crucified self, I have not crucified choice; and that is a good thing. We do not make a single choice once and for all. The power of choice lives on. It is a freedom given through the grace of Jesus that every one of us has. When you talk about freedom, there is nothing like the freedom of choice.
Sometimes in our Bible studies and sermons we want to deprive people of the freedom of choice. We want to drag them into church by brute force instead of by their own choice. Sometimes we try to do that to children, and we wonder why they kick and scream and holler. You just cannot coerce people into being Christians. You love them into Christ. This is a love affair, and we are always able to choose. It is never removed from us for God has granted us this blessed privilege. That is how we come to Him, and that is how we stay with Him.
Therefore, Satan is able to operate on self because of that power of choice. If that choice were gone, he could not function anymore. We still have a choice and God wants us to have it. The contact with God is made through love. We love Him because He first loved us. He so loved us He came down and became a human and wooed us to His side. You remain by His side by the power of choice. You do not have to love Him. It is just like marriage. Every day it is a willing response. When you got up this morning, you could decide to stay with your spouse or leave him or her. You do not have to stay there. You can always leave in marriage. You chose to be married to that person and you can always separate.
In this marvelous love affair with Christ, we need not stay with Him if we so choose. He does not have a yolk of bondage around us saying we must stay with Him. He asks us everyday if we love Him. We may have loved Him yesterday, but do we love Him today? Wives always want to ask their husbands that. If you love them, you like to answer them. The Lord wants to know that everyday. He asks, “Do you love Me today, or do you want to leave Me today?” And when particularly attractive temptations come along, He asks, “Do you still love Me, or do you love that sin more than Me?” Every day we have that marvelous privilege, that choice, of loving Him or loving something or somebody else, including self. The choice can never be forced, for love is always a willing response with no coercion of any kind. We must choose every day to love Him in response to His love.
“In the matchless gift of His Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace as real as the air which circulates around the globe. All who choose to breathe this life-giving atmosphere will live and grow up to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus.” SC 68. Not only may we live, but we may grow to maturity—if we choose to breathe His life giving atmosphere. We have studied about the vine and the branches. Paul said it is a unique thing in the relationship with Christ that at any time we can choose to separate from Him. We do not have to follow Him. He does not drag us along behind Him.
Because of this power of choice granted by the grace of Christ, self is potentially always alive. I am crucified with Christ, but because I have that power of choice every day of my life, self still has a potential to live again by my power of choice. It was by my choice that I died, was it not? I received Him, I chose to die with Him, and at any time I can choose not to. I can choose to serve somebody else.
It is this power of choice that makes it possible for the crucified self to live again tomorrow. I can reject Jesus. I do not have to follow Him. I can indulge self. I can turn my back on Him, and I can say I have another lover. I can harden my heart against Him. Satan knows that so he is always hanging around the edges, waiting for a chance to allure us into a new love affair. He dangles out such nice things to us, and he makes Christ look so difficult to follow by portraying Him as exacting and demanding and oppressing.
Satan always presents Christ in a wrong light, and many believe him; but Jesus said that Satan is a liar and the father of liars. Often we believe the devil more than we believe the Lord. We forget how tremendously attractive Jesus is, and how needy we are, especially when it comes to needing Him. Satan is always there presenting allurements, and we always have the power of choice. The power of choice is a part of self that lives on and on. Therefore, self must be constantly renounced, constantly crucified.
Here is perhaps the finest quotation you can find on this: “It is not only at the beginning of the Christian life that this renunciation of self is to be made. At every advance step heavenward it is to be renewed. All our good works are dependent on a power outside of ourselves; therefore there needs to be a continual reaching out of the heart after God, a constant, earnest confession of sin and humbling of the soul before Him.” MH 455. This must go on and on and on.
This is a different understanding of the sanctified life than many people have. When I first read the book The Sanctified Life by Ellen White, I thought I was going to learn everything about sanctification. I began reading the book with great zeal, but with greater discouragement as I progressed. When I finished the book, I concluded that it did not say one thing about sanctification. Why was it titled The Sanctified Life? I am explaining my ignorance to you, but it did not to seem to talk about sanctification at all. All I read about was Joseph and Daniel and others, and I could not see a thing in there about sanctification. After many years with the Lord working on my brain, I finally came around and realized that she was talking about their maintaining that condition of walking with God, and how everyday they had to keep their bodies under, having no confidence in the flesh, and every day abiding in Christ and choosing Him. That seemed a very strange concept to me concerning sanctification. But this is exactly what the book teaches.
Self always has to be surrendering. “You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him; and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure.” SC 62,63. There is that constant surrender of the will, choosing Him everyday by faith and walking with Him, making Him the King of your life.
Because of this, the Bible teaches in the words of Paul that there are some things we ought to do about the flesh. “For if ye live after the flesh [if we follow its dictates] ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Romans 8:13. Mortify means to die or to kill. We must be continually putting the deeds of the body to death. Paul made that clear when he wrote: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5.
Go back with me now and look at this power of choice again in Paul’s terminology. He does not use the term “power of choice,” but in many ways he is saying this if you become aware that this is an ongoing, living power in us. Notice what he said about it, especially there in Romans 6:6- 10 where he talked about this freedom from sin and the death of the old man. Then in verse 11, he wrote, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Reckon yourself, or think about yourself this way. Count yourself as dead, and count yourself alive unto Christ. Believe it. This is a choice. You do not have to do this. You can choose to believe it by faith, or you can choose not to believe it.
In Romans 8, Paul is talking about this choice. Remember in verse 3 he talks about “what the law cannot do, in that it is weak through the flesh.” Then he says that God sent His Son “in the likeness of human flesh,” and a change took place, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” How is this fulfilled? In verse 4, the last part, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
When you are in a building, you can walk out through one of several doors. You can even jump out the window if that is your choice. We make a choice as to how we will walk, either following after the dictates of the flesh, or following the Holy Spirit. Thus, walking the Christian walk is a choice.
Then comes verse 5. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” You can choose where you will put your interest. You can choose how you will walk and where you will walk, and who or what you will or will not mind.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14. Whom will you choose to lead you? Whom will you follow? You must always make that choice. It is not the lack of a choice that is the problem. It is usually making the wrong choice, is it not? Everyone chooses. If you neglect to choose, you have made a choice. You cannot be neutral. It is that quick and that fast.
In the Christian life we are constantly choosing, reckoning, walking, minding. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16. Paul goes on to say that if you are led by the Spirit, there is no condemnation at all. If you are lead by the Spirit, follow the Spirit. Choose that direction. The thing that does not die when the old man is crucified is our capability to choose which master we will have to rule over us.
In the sanctified life, as you begin to ask what you can and cannot do, you need to realize that it boils down to this: you can choose. You can choose one of several masters, but whomever you choose to serve, his slaves, or servants, you are; and that is the way it is. The devil would like you to serve him, or self, or sin. Christ has done everything that we might serve Him, to win our love and our esteem and our affection. All the powers are from outside, except the power of choice. But because of that power of choice, I can be crucified with Christ, or I can live apart from Him. I can follow another master and say that I will not have Jesus to rule over me.
Justification and conversion bring us into contact with the power that enables us. We can abide in Him or we can separate from Him. He accomplished that for us. In sanctification, by our choice we stay or depart. The power of choice is there, but we need the power found in that other Person with whom we have made contact. I am free in Christ, but not in self; and all the freedom I have has been accomplished by Jesus and not by my choice. He makes the choice possible through what He has done for us. As I cleave to Him, as I maintain the relationship, as I love Him, as I behold Him, I make this contact by faith. And because I come into contact with power, the gospel functions in my life in a powerful way. By not maintaining the contact, I find myself floundering.
All our problems center around either making contact with Christ each day, or choosing to separate from Him. It is that simple. So often we assume that once we make contact, we just stay there without another choice. But every morning the devil knows that you might assume that, and he checks to see if you have forgotten or decided not to make contact with Christ that day. If that was your choice, he knows you will be vulnerable; and just like that, he lures our affections, our interests, our attentions, and suddenly we find ourselves walking another road. Then we wonder what happened that made us pick up that old sin again. We get depressed and begin to blame ourselves for those activities instead of our not walking closely with Jesus.
But the problem is not the wrong walk. That is the symptom, not the disease. The problem is the separation! Go back and make the contact. Find the power again. He is still waiting there. He promised He would never break the tie that binds us to Him. The tie can be broken by no power except your choice. It was not your sin that was the problem, but rather your choice to not abide in Christ.
By the way, the greatest sin of all is to perpetually choose to not walk with Christ. If supreme love for God is the greatest commandment, then not to love Him is the greatest sin. Willing separation from Christ means that I do not love Him anymore. Therefore, I must everyday look at self as potentially dangerous if I choose to follow self. I am vulnerable and weak, and I must go and look for that Power outside of self and commit my life to Him again and again, and make that marvelous choice.
“For though we walk in the flesh [we live in these human bodies], we do not war after the flesh [our weapon of warfare is not our humanity for we cannot trust it]: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. The might of God, functioning in man, is that which comes through contact with Him. He even brings thoughts into captivity. People say, “I don’t know what to do with these thoughts I keep having.” Seek that contact with Jesus. Then the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, begins to function and good things happen.
“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord…Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” Jeremiah 17:5,7. I wish we more fully realized how much those two verses say. When I make myself (what I can do) or other people my trust, it is like being cursed. But when my hope is in the Lord, when I trust in Him, I am blessed; and it is obvious to me and to you and to everyone else that I am blessed.
It is all found in making the choice of whom you put your confidence in. Paul wrapped the whole thing up in this classical statement: “I am crucified with Christ [but I am still alive and free to choose]: 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.” Galatians 2:20. Paul had been crucified, even though he was not dead; but the life he lived was not of himself. It was Christ living in him, which he lived by the faith in the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him.
The sanctified life is a most unusual one, and it is not nearly as confusing as we and the devil have made it. We continue with our love affair with Jesus, not because we must, not because of duty, not because of fear, and not because of coercion or force, but because it is so delightful to love Him Who first loved me. It is just wonderful. The big question everyday is: Do you love Jesus?
We are told that when James White was dying and Ellen was at his bedside, over and over she asked him the question as he lingered there, “James, do you love Jesus? James, do you love Jesus?” Let me tell you, she knew what it was all about. And we need to learn what it is all about, and fast. Everyday the questions are: Do I love Jesus? Do I choose Him? Do I fall in love with Him all over again? Is it sweet to walk with Jesus? Is it precious? Is it wonderful to sit at the feet of Jesus? Is it hopeful? Is it blessed to trust in Him? Have I found Him, the One who is all together lovely, the Lily of the Valley, the bright and morning star? Is He good to me? Am I delighted to know Him, to be close to Him? Is there anything in this life more alluring, more precious, than being with Christ?
Friend, God has done marvelous things for us. What a privilege to choose. Wouldn’t you hate it if you had to be forced? Let’s make sure that we do not force our children and church members, pressuring them to do what we think they should do. That is not Christianity. No wonder we have such trouble with sanctification, because it depends so much on the power of choice. Liberty of conscience should be foremost within our ranks like no other people on the face of the earth. We should demonstrate to the world that tremendous security in Jesus, that wonderful hope, that glorious freedom; and it all comes by choice.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Choose this day whom you will serve. May you see the allurements of Jesus in all their splendor, looming above all the other attractions of this world, until every day and every moment He is so precious to you that you would never choose anyone else. This is my prayer for you in Jesus’ name.