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IN TOUCH WITH GOD    by Edward Heppenstall

 
Christian Obedience JULY 9

OBEDIENCE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT—1

The commandment of the law may find fulfilment in us, whose conduct, no longer under the control of our lower nature, is directed by the Spirit. Rom. 8:4, N.E.B.

In our day the moral condition of the world is ominous. Morality has become a matter of expedient's. Sharp-witted fraud has taken the place of sterling integrity. Self-interest has supplanted allegiance to moral principles. We now face the dread possibility of living in a pagan society.

The morality or immorality of our nation determines its destiny. It reveals whether we have chosen to live under the Lordship of Christ or under the dominion of sin and Satan. So long as we do the first, there remains in the world a people that constitute the church of God. The need in every area of life is obedience to the law of God by the power of the gospel.

Jesus Christ did not come to this earth to release anyone from the obligation to keep His commandments. He came to bring salvation from sin. He sends His Holy Spirit to renew us, so that the law is truly fulfilled in our lives. If this transforming work by the power of the Holy Spirit is denied or rejected, there can be no such fulfillment as is promised by our lord.

There are two roads we can take. We can let this virus of disobedience and lawlessness infect us. We can let the immorality of the world deceptively invade our lives and our homes, until we are no longer alarmed at the license taken with the moral principles of God. We can then regard sin in a softer light than God does.

Or we can, by our personal commitment, let the Holy Spirit impart moral excellence in us. Jesus is perfect love, perfect honesty, perfect unselfishness, perfect obedience to the law of God. God gave His Son that through Him He could communicate His own character of righteousness to us. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ provides us with the power and the motivation to keep His commandments in the same way that He kept them. This is the proof that we have the Holy Spirit who fulfills the law of God in us. This is one of the great blessings of the gospel.

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