The Ohio Independent Baptist, April 1963

fe t i not natural beauty but that ,vhich come from allowing Chri t to live out Hi re urrected life in u . In thi light. no wonder we are able to do uch great feat in ervice! One of our Lord' la t promi e to Hi di ciple before He went out to Gethsemane and Calvary was, 'Verily, erily. I say unto you he that be– lieveth on me the work that I do hall he do al o ; and greater work than the e hall he do; because I go unto my Father. ' The great commis ion in which Chri t commanded Hi disciple to evangelize all nation , was ha ed upon His declaration in the ,previou verse, · All power i given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28: 18). The 'go" of ver e 19 rests entirely upon the 'all power' ' of verse 18. D o )'OU realize what tlzis truth actually t eac/1 es? By yielding to the Son of God He is able to live Hi life and evidence His power through you. Apart from that you would be a complete and total failure. Let me illustrate. Apparently there i not a single mu ical bone in my body. Out of the seven members of our immediate family all play the piano to some extent except me. I cannot even play "Chopstick ." Yet suppose I had been commanded to live the Jjfe of a Paderew ki ! H ow could I do it? It would be ab olutely impo sible unles in ome way Paderewski could come and dwell within me an<l make hi s lovely mu ic through me. If that wer e po sible ther e would be no finer musician than my elf in the state of Ohio or in the Unjted State of America. It 1s even o with r egard to the hrist1 an life. You and I would be compl ete failures trying to live the C hrist-Iife alone. Our only hope of succeeding 1s for the r e urrected hrist to li ve out His ]ife in us and thro ugh us. A~ we pcrrntl Him to <l o this the possibiJ ities and potenti aliti es in our ser vice beco11c uni 11ni led . onscq ucn tJ~,, the rcsur1 cc tion of hrist n1ca1 s tl1a l there is noth ing we ct11111<JI do! J 1 at1l was cr11pl1a~iL.1ng tl11~ tru th vt1hen lie wro te in ll h1l1ppia11s 4: 13, ·•1 ('t,11 tlu all 1/1i11g~· 1/1ro1,g /1 l 1ri.\'t lvl1ic·/1 s t re11gtl1e11, 1 t l 1 111e." All our cxct1ses and alibis for s tr ik– i11g OL1r dL1 tie or fai lir1g i11 wl1at 'A'e do a t te111 1 t to11,lc.:: l)efore tl1i i\ 1 inc declaration. l1a11k C1od, tl1ert;; is 11,Jt /1i11g V.'c 111u t (10 ll}' ,,,,rselve.\'! l1ris t li, 1 t: i11 us and t l1c: lift; \Ve 11 \\' li,,e ca11 b I)\' t l1c: ~ on o t Jt t i! " 1~,,er)' de c:at i11 tl1e l1ri tia11 li J tc:11 f101 11ot )' ic:ldi11g t H i111 . It • s11a)' be tllal \\' 1.: fail tl1r t1gl1 trt1 t111g The OHIO IND PENDEN BAPTIST Rev. R. L. Sumner in elf, a Peter did in Mark 14: 29-31. It may be that defeat ri e with re– bellion again t God's revealed will a in the case of Jonah. Or it may be from going beyond God 's reveale(I will, as Mo es did when God had commanded him to im,ply speak to the once- mitten rock (Num. 20 :7- 12). What a clasic illu tration of thi . truth i found in the wandering of the children of I rael in the wilderne for 40 year , then being fru trated in their attempt to completely po e the promi ed land even after enter– ing - all becau e of failure in yield– ing to Him! On, that we might know Hjm and the power of Hi re urrection for ervice! Included, too, in the power of Hi r esurrenction i II . Power for Victory! That the child of God i expected to have victory in hi daily life through the power of hri t' r e ur– r ection i , clearly outlinc<l in Roman 6 :4- J 3. Ther e we read : "Therefor e we are buried with hi111 by bapti n1 into dea th : that a hrLt wa r a1 e<l tip from the dead by the glory of the Father , even o we a l \() ~hotild wa lk in newne ~ of life or 1f we have l1ccn plante<J toget her ir1 the likcnc~s of 1 1~ uea tl1 , \\ e '> lla ll be al~o 1n tl1c likc 11c\s ol h1 rc~t11 rcc t1 01 · Know111g th is, tha t ot1r olLl 1l1a11 1~ crt1cif1ccJ w1 tl1 hi111, lt1at the hotly o1 sin 1111gl1 t be J c'> tro} cu, tl1at hc11ce for tl1 we s l1ot1l<l 1 l1t ~ervc ')t11 . or l1e 1} 1 a t is dead i .. frect1 tr o 11 ·i11. t) \ \ ' if \\'C l)C d ad wi th \1 ri~ t ,,,e l)l'l1e,L' tha t vt1e sl1all a l,0 11, e ,vi tl1 l11n1: K 1 0 "vi 11 g t l1at 111 1 t l'lei11g rai ~<Zl l fro 111 1t1c: tll:aLl tlit:th 110 111or ; Lle~ttl1 t 1 at1 1 1 1 :1 111orc: tio111i11io11 t> er 1111~1 . t-.;,or i 11 1l1at 11 ,lied, l1c llitll t111tc) sin >11c : lJut i11 tl1at 111.: liv tl1, lit: li,,ttll tinto < .od. l ik~,, i r k 11 )' al t> ) 1 >LI r I\ , 1 t, tl t: ad i 11tic ll t1 n1 (1 in, but alive unto God through Je us Chri t our Lord. Let not in there– fore reign in your mortal body, that ye hould obey it in the lu t thereof. Neither yield ye your members as in trument of unrighteou ne unto in: but yield your elves unto God, a tho e that are alive from the dead , and your members as in trument o · righteou nes unto God." The living Christ is the only an wer to the defeated Christian' cry of Romans 7 :24 "O wretched man that l a,n! who shall deliver me fro:n the body o f tl1is d eath?" The solution offered in the next ver e in the light of Chri t's re urrection power i : ' 'I thank G od thro ugh Jesus Christ 0 1,r L ord." I am no match for the Devil alone and neither are you . But wit/1 Christ we can defeat Satan ju t a He did! Hebrew 2: 18 puts it thj way: ' For in that he him elf hath uffered being tem,pted, he i able to uccour them that are tempted." The word uccour mean 'to run to the cry of tho e in danger and bring them aid ." Je u Chri t can do thi for Hi own be– cau e He live ! Hi re urrection produced the pre– ent interce sion on our behalf de– cribed in Hebrew 7: 35 : "Wherefore he i able al o to ave them to the uttermo t that come unto God by him, eeing he ever liveth to make inter– ce ion for them," and in Hebrew" 5: 15-16 : "Seeing then that we ha,,, a great high prie t, that i pa ed into the heaven , Je u the on of od, le t u hold fa t our profe ion. For we have not an high prie t which cannol be touched with the feeling of our infirmitie : but wa · in all p int tempted like a we are, y t \ ithout in. Let u therefore come b ldly t1nto the throne of gr ace, that w 111a ) ' btain n1ercy , and find grac t h Ip i 11 ti111e of need ." he Ii, i1 g. re urre ted ( ' hri "t l1ro t1 ght vic tor) t r defeated, den)' t11g l)eter. for do t1 bting. de pa trtng tho11as. unu for a ll the other c \\ ardl) di ·– c1plc \\ 110 had for J ~ c r1 H1111 ,1nJ 1 lell 111 ct1c hour of trt1l. He- ca11 give tt1e ,\111e , 1c tor\ to , ot1 in t llt: 2()th cc11 tt1r\ tl1at He g,1 \ e to t l1 111 i1 the tir~ t ce11tt1ry. 1 l1111k1 ng o! \ 1 ic tor, b~~eJ t1i)o11 tl1c l)l)\\ ~r of H is I c,t1rrt.= ·tio11, ,ve .. a,111l,t (.)\' Cl l()Ok tht! t 111,\l vi lOf)' ,vl1i t, \\ 111 b~ ovc1 tll~ 1th . I t)ri11tl1in11s l - =- , i11 tl1~ t, ,11t f tl1a1 great r'stur~~tit>11 l,a r)l ~r sa \' s, •''l 'll last ~Ilt'lll tll 1t r " l " D l ' s l 1 a 11 l) ~ J (.;st r o~· c LI i d t , t 1. ,~ t 1 s tlt:slrlt ti n i tl1 ~ \\ ork f th r1 'll l t1rist a tlll a 11urt f fl 111 l l i r sttrr ti 11 ,, l til I 11 ver l . (Conti,1ued or1 n t page) p ge 7 , APRIL 1963