<TITLE>05. Par 36-44</TITLE>L-36   Now, a man, when he is released from sin, man or a woman, there's no more desire in their heart to walk after the things of the world. He is freely pardoned and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. And his affections are set on the things that are above, where Christ sets at the right hand of God. He's freely released. He doesn't have to have some priest to tell him or some minister to tell him. He knows in himself that he is pardoned, because he has accepted it upon the grounds that God sent it to him, through Jesus Christ. What a feeling it is to be free from sin!

L-37   I was told, when the Emancipation of the Proclamation was signed for the slaves in the South, many years ago, that the set time that they were free was at sunup on a certain morning. And they all got out from the old plantation. And many of the young men climbed way to the top of the mountain, because they could see the sun come up first, and then the older men, a little beneath that, then the women and children at the bottom. And they were waiting a long time before daylight. Cause, slave belts, hard trials had marked their life with sorrow, and they longed for that day that when they knowed that they were pardoned. And the Emancipation Proclamation said "At this certain day, at sunup, they are free." And they were longing to see that hour when the sun come up, so anxious till they climbed the mountains.

L-38 Oh, if sinners tonight could only be that anxious to know that you're pardoned. You're pardoned the minute that you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Then you are pardoned.

L-39 They said that the young men waited. And as soon as the sun begin to shine in the east, they screamed down to the older, "We are free!" And the older down, to the women and children, "We are free! We are free!" Because the sun was up.

L-40   Oh, when man had sold out to sin, and when the Son of God came up out of the grave that morning, for our justification, I think it ought to be a scream across the nations, "We are free from sin and shame, freely pardoned by the bonds of Calvary." No greater thing could be given to the human race.

L-41 When man sinned in the garden of Eden, he crossed a great chasm, separating himself from the Eternal One. Man at that time was Eternal with God. He had no sickness, sorrow, or death. Man was not made to die. Hell was not made for man. Hell was created for the Devil and his angels, and not for mankind. Because, they were created on earth to be sons and daughters of God. But when man sinned and stepped across the boundary line between right and wrong, he separated himself from God, leaving himself no way back. He was totally lost. He could not come back, because he had sinned.

L-42 But, God, rich in mercy, accepted a substitute. Because He had said, "The day you eat thereof, that day you die." And God's justice and His holiness requires death, because it's His Word. And He must keep His Word, in order to be God.

L-43   And now, the love that He had for the human race, and yet had to see them separated from Him, and the fellowship that He had with His children in the garden of Eden, in that heartbroken condition that He's had to be in all that time, because His Word said, "The day you eat thereof, that day you die."

L-44 Then, we can rely upon this, whatever God says is true. It must come to pass. God cannot take His Word back, see, because He's infinite, and He's Eternal. And His first decision is all-time decision. He doesn't have to--to take it back because He learned more about it. He's infinite, to begin with. And therefore, when God says anything, it's perfectly that way. It can never be changed, because it's the perfect decision.


<A HREF="P6">Next Page</A>