The Daily Word of Righteousness

Laying Hold on Eternal Life, continued

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (II Corinthians 7:1)

If we would have eternal life we must cleanse ourselves from all death.

Deliverance from the bondages of the world, sin, and self-will.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)

Whoever commits sin is the slave of sin. All sin came originally from Satan and his angels and demons. Sin entered the Garden as an intelligent personality. We struggle against the lords of darkness presently residing in the heavens.

All sin is darkness and death. As long as there is sin in us there is death in us. Every day death and life compete for our allegiance. When we yield to sin we live in spiritual death. When we resist sin and choose the way of the Lord we live in eternal life.

The individual, Christian or not, who is bound by the world or the lusts of the flesh or by self-will is the victim of evil forces. The compulsions of sin are a form of death. To overcome sin through Christ is to gain eternal life.

Fruitfulness—the forming of Christ in us and the ability to form Christ in others.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (John 15:2)

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16)

The fruit that the Christian is to bear is the moral image of Christ. Christ is grafted on human stock and the result is Christ's substance and likeness. Christ's substance and likeness are Divine in origin and righteous, holy, and obedient to God in behavior.

It is God's will that the fruit that is borne by the Body of Christ, the Israel of God, is to fill the whole earth so that the substance and likeness of Christ are found to some degree in every saved individual.

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6)

The good works of Christians, the works of righteousness that proceed from the life that dwells in them, cause people to glorify God.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

The fruit of Christ that is produced as the saint lives a crucified life results in eternal life in other people.

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. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. (II Corinthians 4:11,12)

To be continued.