THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THE DEAD
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1 PET. 4:1-11, SEPTEMBER 20 -
“Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.”-Eph. 5:-18.
THE Apostle’s
argument is that dead people cannot sin; and that the Lord’s consecrated ones,
having devoted themselves even unto death, already reckon themselves “dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom.
6:11) We have become followers of him who, realizing the sinfulness of
sin, and that the whole human family was hopelessly under its control, gave
himself even unto death, that he might redeem us from sin and its wages-death.
If we appreciate our Lord and his work, his love for righteousness, and his
sacrifice on our be-half; and if we desire to be truly his disciples, followers
in his footsteps, it will mean that we will “arm ourselves with the same mind”
that he had-the same opposition to sin, the same determination to lay down our
lives in opposition to it, and in endeavors to assist in delivering those who
are under its control. Not that any sacrifice of ours could effect the
cancellation of the divine sentence, but that our Lord’s sacrifice, being quite
sufficient to accomplish this, we are privileged to show our devotion to him
and to the principles govern-ing his conduct: the inducement being held out to
us that those who suffer with him shall share also his glory, his Kingdom, his
immortality.
Those who have made such a consecration unto death, in opposition to sin,
will certainly not commit sin willfully, for to do so would prove
that their wills had changed-that they were no longer begotten of the new
will, the new mind, the holy Spirit or disposition, but had become alive again
as the servants of sin. Such a course would prove that such persons had ceased
to be New Creatures, and the loss of this new life to them would mean the
Second Death. But so long as they remain willingly faithful to their vows of
fel-lowship with Christ in his sufferings, in his opposition to sin-so long as
they remain thus reckonedly dead to sin and reckonedly alive as New Creatures,
they have no sin. As the Apostle John expresses it, “Whosoever abideth in him
sinneth not; whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him; . . .
whoso-ever is born [begotten] of God doth not commit sin, for his seed
remaineth in him; he cannot sin because he is born [begotten] of God.”-I John
3:6, 9.
The thought here is not that any of the Lord’s people become perfect in
the flesh, so that they never err in thought, word or deed. The thought is
that the new will is counted the New Creature, separate and dis-tinct
from the flesh, so that while the will, the heart, is fully loyal to the
Lord, in opposition to sin, the flesh is reckoned dead to sin, and hence any of
its weak-nesses and imperfections which are unintentional, not assented to by
the new will, the New Creature, are not counted by the Lord, who knows us not
after the flesh, but after the spirit. Thus, as the Apostle Paul declares, “The
righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
[desiring to serve it], but after the spirit [endeavoring to do the Lord’s
will].”
The “time past of our lives,” referred to in vss. 3 and 4, was the time
when we were natural men, before we became New Creatures, begotten of the
Lord’s Spirit. That time past, and that past experience of life, sufficeth
us-we want no more of it, we have found a better life. We would not return to
the former condi-tion of natural-mindedness and alienation from God under any consideration.
The list of excesses men-tioned by the Apostle-lasciviousness, lusts, excess of
wine, revelries, carousings and abominable idolatries-were not the same with
all of us; and yet there is a cer-tain amount of correspondency in every case.
Some of the early Christians were lifted by the Lord’s grace out of very deep
degradation of mind and body, and some of the Lord’s people of today have been
similarly lifted from the depths of Satan and sin, while still others, never
having been so deeply degraded, were not lifted from such great depths.
However, all who have the new mind of full consecration to the Lord can realize
a great change from the mind or disposition which was theirs naturally.
Even those born of Christian parents, who there-fore were born on the
plane of justification, realize that their natural hearts had more or less
affinity for the things of sin, even including idolatries-idolizing them-selves
or others or money or fame or influence or what-not. A change takes place in
all, but the degree of change is necessarily marked by the degree of
degrada-tion preceding our consecration. How thankful some of us should be
that in the Lord’s providence we were born of Christian parents and under
Christian influ-ences! How careful all of the Lord’s people should be that any
children which they have brought into the world, or may yet bring, shall come
under the most favorable influences to make them the more amenable to the
“reasonable service” of a full consecration of their all to the Lord!
The idolatrous companions of those who once lived in sin doubtless spoke
of the latter as hypocrites, when they turned from these things, becoming dead
to them and alive toward the Lord and his service. Their dis-position would be
to attribute such a change to some ignoble motive. It would be beyond their
comprehen-sion that anyone should voluntarily make such a change, for truly
they would say that the course was “unnatural”! Likewise, in our day, those
who step out of churchianity, with its forms of godliness without the power,
with its social revelry, intoxication with the spirit of this world and of
false doctrines (Rev. 17:2), and its idolatries of money, influence,
etc., are consid-ered peculiar people, and not infrequently their sanity is
questioned. The natural man understandeth not why any should seek for more
than that which would be outwardly respectable and honorable. The world
knoweth us not, even as it knew not the Lord.-Rev. 18:3.
The fifth verse according to our Common Version seems to refer to
those who speak evil, and to say that they will be obliged to give an account
in the day of judgment-in the Millennial Day, when they will be on trial. This
is undoubtedly true. As our Lord de-clared, every act and word done in injury
of the Lord and his faithful will receive a just recompense of reward-justly
proportionate to the amount of their willfulness in the matter. But there is
another way of viewing this verse, equally true, viz., by connecting it with
the preceding verse, so as to have it read, “Speaking evil of you who shall
give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”
This last thought seems more fully in accord with the entire testimony of the
Word on the sub-ject. It is we, the Church, who are expecting shortly to give
such an account. It is we who are being spe-cially tried and tested during the
present time, because to us the light and knowledge and opportunity have come
in advance of the world. This is our trial time, and the Lord’s judgment or
decision with reference to who shall constitute the very elect, and respecting
who shall be accounted worthy of joint heirship with the Lord, is the very
decision that is to be rendered.
The Apostle continues with this thought, saying that it is for this reason
(because we who are dead to the world and alive toward God are being called out
now, as the Lord’s elect class, therefore) the Gospel is preached to us
who are (thus) dead, so that while the world judges us as in the
flesh, like all other men, the Lord may judge us as in the spirit, begotten to
a new-ness of life. This is in exact accord with what we saw in the first two
paragraphs of this lesson. The world discerns not that the New Creatures are
any different from other men; hence it wonders at their devotion, calls it
folly or hypocrisy, and discerning the imperfec-tions of the flesh may not at
all times be able to see so great a difference between the New Creatures and
the world. But God, who knoweth the heart, and who has from the moment of our
consecration counted the flesh as dead, and who charges nothing against us as
New Creatures, begotten spirit beings, except that which is willfully wrong,
is the One with whom we have to do, and in whose favor and love and promises we
rejoice. God is “for us”! None can prevail against us; all things must work
together for good to us, because we are his, because he has called us according
to his pur-pose, because we are seeking to walk in his way, not after
the flesh, but after the spirit.
The end of all present things is near. Present in-stitutions, under the
supervision of “the prince of this world” (Satan), and controlled largely by
his spirit, must soon, according to the divine promise, give place to the new
conditions of God’s Kingdom, when the great Redeemer shall take to himself his
great power and reign-binding Satan and putting down all insubordination and
everything contrary to the righteous-ness which is of God. We who so believe
can look with great equanimity upon the changing conditions of this present
time; and the evil-speaking of the world and its antagonism manifested toward
us in va-rious ways, because we are New Creatures, walking after the spirit to
the extent of our ability, need not alarm us, for greater is he who is on our
part than all that be against us. Hence it behooves us to be sober-minded-to
take this reasonable and proper view, which does not overlook the future to see
the present, but rather overlooks the present to see the future, held up before
us in the Lord’s Word. It behooves us also to watch unto prayer, to remember
that we are not of ourselves sufficient for these things, that “our sufficiency
is of God.”
“Above all things,” urges the Apostle, these who are dead to the world,
and misunderstood by the world, but alive toward God and accepted through
Christ as God’s sons (despite all the blemishes of the flesh), these should be
fervent in love amongst themselves. Such as realize the true situation, such as
are standing for the principles of righteousness and truth and loy-alty to the
Lord, and enduring hardness as good sol-diers, must have a deeply sympathetic
love for all oth-ers who, like themselves, are battling for the Lord, and for
the same principles of right. Whoever has not a fervent (burning) love for his
fellows has reason to question to what extent he is one with the Lord and with
the little flock whose experiences the Apostle is here delineating.
True, there are some of the Lord’s accepted ones whom he counts dead as
respects the flesh and alive as respects their spirit, their new natures, who
are less lovely naturally (in mind and body) than some who are of the world,
less fallen naturally: but wherever the true love of the Lord prevails it will
indeed cover a multitude of sins, a multitude of blemishes, a multi-tude of
imperfections, in those whom it will recognize as fellow-pilgrims in “the
narrow way,” “brethren” of the one family of God. This proper love, the love
of God, will enable those who possess it to consider one another from the
divine standpoint, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, the
heart, the intention.
Amongst those who are dead to the world and alive as New Creatures, there
should be a special ex-ercise of hospitality, and that without grudging. It
should be hearty, and not merely because the Lord commends and commands it.
Hospitality, indeed, is, as the Apostle points out, an element of character
which should be cultivated toward all men. We should “do good unto all men as
we have opportunity, but especially to the household of faith.” There are some
who can recognize this principle of hospitality quite keenly, and who, if
hospitality be denied them, will be inclined to berate the brethren for their
lack of the proper spirit. Such and all should inquire of themselves to what
extent they have ever exercised hospitality and generosity to others; and
anyone who realizes that he has received more from the brethren than he has
given them should feel ashamed, and should seek of the Lord wisdom, that he may
know wherein is his weakness, that he has so far come short of the great
privileges of the Lord’s followers, all of whom are to be givers rather
than receivers-except un-der special conditions of distress. But let none of
us forget that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Let each of us
seek to enjoy the blessing which comes from a liberal interpretation of this
word hospitality.
The Lord’s grace and bounty are manifold; they come to us in numberless
forms, in things both spirit-ual and temporal. Some of us may receive a larger
number of these favors than others, but in that event the responsibility or
stewardship is proportionately in-creased; and the Apostle urges (vs. 10) that
we should seek to serve out to others whatever gifts we possess. He who waters
others shall himself be watered. This principle applies to everything, both
temporal and spiritual.
Still speaking of this Church class, dead to the world, and judged by the
world as though they were men, but alive toward God, and judged by God as New
Creatures, spirit beings merely sojourning in these fleshly bodies, as in a
tent, and waiting in this wilder-ness condition to learn the lessons necessary
before en-tering the land of promise, the heavenly Canaan, by sharing the First
Resurrection, the Apostle proceeds to point out that these, when they speak,
should be as “God’s oracles,” absolutely truthful, wholly reliable. If they serve
they should do it with all the ability which they possess, recognizing that
the ability is God-given as well as the talent. These exhortations to truth
and faithfulness in utterance and service are applicable first of all to
believers (the Church) amongst ourselves, but applicable also to all with whom
they come in contact. We may be evil reported of and
slandered, but all who know us, who have dealings with us, should find from
experience our loyalty to princi-ple, our endeavor that the words of our mouths
as well as the meditations of our hearts and the conduct of life should be
pleasing to the Lord and an honor to his name and cause, that God may be
glorified through Christ, to whom belongs the glory and the Kingdom forever.
His Church alone, in the present time, recognizes fully and properly the right
and do-minion of the Lord as the King. We alone have the blessing that comes
from this recognition and relation-ship, but we look forward with joy to the
time when his Kingdom shall be established amongst men; when the time shall
come for which we are praying, “Thy Kingdom come”; when the knowledge of the
Lord shall be made to reach every creature, and when many shall come to know
and to love and to obey him whom now we rejoice to honor as our Redeemer and
King.
As is indicated by the Golden Text, this lesson was designed by those who
selected it to be a Temperance Lesson. We have not dealt with it after the
manner they intended, but according to the Apostle’s meaning. It certainly is
a total abstinence lesson in one sense of the word, viz., in the sense that the
class who have become dead to sin and alive toward God will desire to abstain
from “every appearance of evil,” which cer-tainly will include intemperance,
concerning which the Lord’s Word is very explicit, in declaring that “No
drunkard shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.”-I Cor. 6:10.