(3) But if man is to be saved, he must be saved not only from sin's guilt, and sin's defilement, but from sin's power. If man is to be fully saved, not only must he, in the infinite mercy of God, be treated as righteous, he must become actually righteous and holy and good. This is the ultimate purpose of God. He removes man's condemnation, He forgives man's sin, in order that he may become holy. Forgiveness and justification arc in order to holiness. But man cannot be personally holy until he is set free from the enslaving power of sin. He, therefore, who would be the Saviour of man must deal with this. How does Jesus deal with it ? He deals with it as our Lord and King, dwelling and reigning within us by the Holy Ghost. Eemembcr, the Jesus
1 J. Col well.
ST. MATTHEW i. 21 ti
who shall save His people from their sins is One who lives. He is One who is possessed of all power. He takes men so into union with Himself that they are within the circle of His life. They are in Him as the branch is in the vine. So their weakness is turned into might, by the advent of His strength into their lives. The sin which strives to enslave the believer finds that it has to deal with the believer's Lord. And by that Lord it is defeated ; its power is broken and its dominion for ever overthrown. The dis- ease which we cannot shake off flies before Him ; the fire which we could not quench is by Him put out ; the evil root is eradi- cated, the mighty current stemmed. The strong man armed meets the stronger than he, and is despoiled. In Him we conquer sin. His power turns the scale of battle in our favour. Sin has not dominion over us. The law of the spirit of life makes us free from the law of sin and death. So we not only will the will of God, but also do it. He makes us perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ our Lord.
T{ The one cure for any organism is to be set right — to have all its parts brought into harmony with each other; the one comfort is to know this cure in process. Kightness alone is cure. The return of the organism to its true self is its only possible ease. To free a man from suffering, he must be set right, put in health ; and the health at the root of man's being, his rightness, is to be free from wrongness, that is, from sin. A man is right when there is no wrong in him. The wrong, the evil, is in him ; he must be set free from it. I do not mean set free from the sins he has done ; that will follow ; I mean the sins he is doing, or is capable of doing ; the sins in his being which spoil his nature, the wrongness in him, the evil he consents to; the sin he is, which makes him do the sin he does. To save a man from his sins is to say to him, in sense perfect and eternal, " Eise up and walk. Be at liberty in thy essential being. Be free as the Son of God is free." To do this for us Jesus was born and remaine born to all the ages.1
1 George MacDonald, Tlie Hope of the Gospel, 5.
i2 THE NAME OF JESUS
III.
Thk Power of the Name.
1. The angel said to Joseph, " Thou shalt call his name Jesus," and to-day what name is there so great as this ? What other so enduring? It has lived through anarchy and revolution, through storm and change, decay and death. Other names since then, and many of them accounted great — names which held the world in awe, which blanched the cheek, and made men tremble — have passed into oblivion ; but this name is as fresh as ever, and far more powerful than it was of old. It is the earliest name that Christian parents breathe into their children's ears ; the first they teach them to lisp, as they lie in their lap, or stand at their knee. It is the gracious name woven into all our prayers and mingling with all our praises.
It is the great name which many a learned and holy man has felt it his highest privilege, his most sacred duty, to proclaim. It is the precious name which the evangelist takes to the poorest and most wretched alleys of our cities and towns, knowing that it can lift the burden of sin and sorrow from the soul, and fill it with peace and purity and strength. It is the all-powerful name which the Church is occupied in sending to the farthest places of the earth, that the nations may be turned " from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." It is the hallowed name in which the civilized peoples of the globe enact their laws, crown their kings, fight their battles, and celebrate their vic- tories. It is the Divine name on whose authority we sanctify the dearest relationships of life, baptize the child at the font, bless the union at the marriage altar, and commit our dead to the grave. And wherever this name is proclaimed, it is inspiring faith, hope, and love. Many who hear it place their trust in the Saviour, and look to Him as the Source of all blessing, the Well-spring of all joy.