The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-06-28

of His flesh through death, to present
you holy and unbameable and unre-
provabe in His sight. if We continue in
the faith" etc.-Colossians /. 21-23.
Our text is a wonderfully condensed
statement of the grace and power of
the Lord operating in His Church-His
faithful footstep followers. The more
we ponder our text and its context the
more we must admire the lengths,
breadths. depths and heights of the
Divine Power enlisted on our behalf,
ability of the Apostle as the Divine
mouthpiece. 1t is really too wonderful
for the natural man to believe that the
grace of God could ever present before
the Divine presence and glory, perfect
ed, holy, faultless, irreprovable, such
imperfect. unworthy creatures as we
by nature are! Well did the poet ex-
press our sentiments in the words: Pm
a miracle of grace''
The Apostle is not speaking of a
Power Divine working in the heart Of
a perfect man, fitting him for glory,
ly plane He declares, on the contrary.
that His words apply to those who
were at one time alienated from God,
opposed to Him in their minds as re-
suit Of wicked works. Such even Di-
vine power is able to transform. The
key to this transformation lies in the
human will. If it be fully surrendered
to the great Redeemer He undertakes
to bring about the grand results de-
clared in our text. Force indeed could
be used. and the Scriptures assure US
that force to some extent will be used
during the period of Messiah's reign,
but now in selecting those who will
be Jesus companions in glory, none
are dealt with except such as give to
the Lord their hearts, their wills, de-
string Him ito work in them to will
and to do of His good pleasure"
,. Reconciliation the First Step.
The great Apostle did not neglect to
here reiterate the fact that before any
thing could be done by way of recon
CLING sinners to God sacrificial work
II
sentence of death upon the race could
neither be ignored by Himself nor by
any other No reconciliation to God
could possibly be accomplished which
would bring the sinner back into full
fellowship and the enjoyment Of Di-
vine favor and everlasting life except
as the penalty for original sin should
first be met. So the Apostle reminds
us that the One who is able to pre-
sent US holy and blameless and unre-
provable is He who has already made
reconciliation for us lin the body OF
His flesh through death"
Let us pause here long enough to i'm
press upon our minds this great Bib
lical fact, that it was the death of
Jesus which secures for Father Adam
land incidentally for all of his race con-
demned in HIM release from the
death sentence which came upon him
as a violator of the Divine Law. And
d let US not forget that there is an in
finite difference between a death SEN
tence which God did infiict and an eter
nal torment sentence which the creeds
Of the Dark Ages mised us into be-
lieving was the Divine penalty pro-
nOunced against the sinner.
1t was because the sentence. dying,
thou shalt die" was pronounced
against Father Adam that the death
Of Jesus was Ransom-price sufficient
to secure the sinners release-and the
release from death by resurrection of
all of Adams posterity who shared
the results of his sentence. Thus we
see the force of the Scriptural declara
ton that las by a man came death. by
Man also came the resurrection from
the dead; for as all in Adam die. even
so all in Christ shall be made alive
every man in his own Order."-I Co
rinthians XIV, 21-23.
But the Fathers grace operating in
Christ Jesus designs more than merely
the adjustment Of the death sentence.
To merely redeem US and merely bring
rs back into the condition in which
death overlook us is not the Divine
Program. 1t is further reaching; it
aims at our complete uplift out Of sin.
as we'll as out of death. it's penalty
out Of weakness and out Of Imperfect
ton of every kind. 1t aims to make
us holy. righteous: and the Apostle
leaves no room for any misunderstood.
ing respecting the degree Of righteous
ness. The result is not to be merely
ighteous will. or righteous purpose.
with an tnperfection of accomplish
ment, but SO thorough a work that
when it is finished we will be faultless
and unreprovable. not only in the sight
Of our Redeemer, but also in the sight
of our Heavenly Father. All, no won
der If we are astonished at the Won
derful power and grace of God which
this declaration reveals.
Ys Are Gods Workmanship.
The same inspired pen explains else
where to us: "Ye are Gods husban-
dry" We are Gods workmanship. II
Corinthians iii. o. Let us not lose
sight of the thought that ut is God
that worketh in US. both to will and
to do of His good pleasure" philip
plans ii, 49, While the Lord Jesus
Christ. as our Elder Brother and the
Captain Of our Salvation and the active
Agent in our redemption through His
death, is associated with the Father in
all of this work Of our perfecting, new
ertheless we are not to lose sight of
the fact that all things are of the Fa-