The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-03-04

in the Son of God. Who loved me and gave
Himself up for me-" Gal 2:20, Am. Rev.
m RUCIFIE d with
!. / !. / ! . !. !. !" ! | /. ! !. ]. !. !. /.
- Christ! The old
49, self dead! Risen
Ma with Christ (as
- Paul expresses it
in Col. BID! A new
n life begun! What
n is Paul talking
"NM go about? What ex-
:.K8GGXas;. travagantlanguage
x ,B$T4ESE9% is this which he is
:t using? Is he tell
ing of an expert
ence which is pc
culiarly his own, which was meant for
him and him alone, or is he talking
about something which should charac-
terize the life of every Christian? Is he
referring to an extreme and unreal and
rare expression of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. or is he revealing the very heart
of that Gospel, and making clear and
plain the full and deep meaning of
Christs saving and quickening and
keeping power? If the former then our
te1t, while giving an intensely interese
ing glimpse of Paul's Christian expert
ence, has no direct bearing upon the
lives of the disciples of Jesus, but if the
latter, the revelation of the Gospel to
Paul, and through Paul's experiences, is
of vital Importance to every Christian.
That Paul did have experiences which
were peculiarly his own, and for him
alone, is certain, for he tells in the
twelfth chapter of ii Corinthians Of be-
ing caught up into Paradise, and hear
ing unspeakable words, which it is not
lawful for man to utter" but that this
experience of which he tells in our text
was not one of them is clear, as we COM
pare Scripture with Scripture. In this
same letter to the Galatians, in the fifth
chapter, Paul declares that they that
are of Christ Jesus have crucifed the
flesh" And in the sixth chapter of
Romans he dwells with great fullness
upon the fact that the believer is united
with Jesus in the likeness of His death,
that our old man was crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be done
away" and that IF we died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with
Him For the death that Christ died,
He died unto sin once; but the life that
He liveth, He liveth unto God. Even
so," Paul goes on to emphasize, reckon
We yourselves to be dead unto sin, but
alive unto God in Christ Jesus"
WI HAT Paul declares then in our
w text, every Christian may say and
should be able to say. Not Paul alone
crucified with Christ, but every believer
crucified with Him. Not Paul alone risen
with Christ, but every disciple of Jesus
feeling the power of the resurrection life.
That is. theoretically every believer is
crucified with Christ, and is risen with
Him, but eXperimentally, that fact has
been realized by but comparatively few.
Similarly it is a fact that that Jesus
has made atonement for the sin of the
whole world. Theoretically every bit
of sin in the world was put upon Christ
when He hung upon the cross, but ex--
perimentally the world has not come
into a realization of that fact. During
the war many a death warrant was can
celed by President Lincoln, and the
messenger started off post haste to car
ry the news of the deliverance. and al
though it was hours or perhaps even
days before the bearer of the pardon
could reach the place where the soldier
awaited execution, and make known to
him his deliverance, from the moment
the stroke of Mr.. Lincoln's pen made
the pardon effective he was a free man.
The pardon did not date from the mo-
ment of its reaching the condemned pris-
Oner, but from the time that it came
fresh and effective from the hand of the
president. Long before he realized it,
the prisoner was free man. And the
world, though it realizes it not, has had
it's pardon signed in the blood of Jesus
Christ long, long ago back there on
Calvary. 1t is a fact that the sin of all
the world has been atoned for, but it is
sadly true that the news of that de-
liverance has not been received or be-
Iieved by the world. And of the Chris
tian, it is true that he has been cruci-
fed with Christ and has risen with Him,
but very, very many dear souls, who
know Jesus is their Saviour, have not
realized the relationship which they
sustain to Him in His death and His
resurrection.
DAUL had received the full message
| and meaning of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. He could say: Il have been
cr1cified with Christ; and it is no longer
/ that live, but Christ liveth in me-"
And in his letter TO the Galatian Chris
tians, he tries to open this truth to
them and make them realize that they,
too. have been crucified with Jesus
and have risen with Him, and that it is
their privilege to enjoy larger and
more glorious liberty than they had ever
known before. False teachers were busy
among them teaching them that they
must be circumcised and become Jews
before they could be saved. They must
do something to merit salvation. In
stead of Christ being a sufficient Saviour,
the believer must observe and keep the
law to be saved. But Paul unfolds to
them the dangerous fallacy of such
doctrine The law which convicts of sin,
and brings into judgment, surely cannot
become the medium of salvation. Nay,
to the contrary. for through the death
of Jesus was wrought deliverance from
the law and its consequences. The be-