“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings (the gospel), that proclaimeth Peace; that bringeth Glad Tidings of good, that proclaimeth Salvation (deliverance, freedom, victory, healing and restoration) . . . That saith unto Zion, Thy God Reigneth !”
Isaiah 52:7
It can never be repeated too often, that under the Reign of grace it is just as easy to do right, as under the reign of sin it is easy to do wrong. This must be so, for if there is not more power in Grace* (G5485, the Divine Influence, Spirit), than there is in sin, then there can be no Salvation from sin. But there is Salvation from sin. This no one who believes Christianity can deny!
“For He came to set the captives free . . . And to set at liberty them that are bruised !” ref: Luke 4:18
For Jesus says unto us, “Verily, verily . . . Whosoever committeth (continues in) sin, is the slave of sin . . . But if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed !” John 8:34-36
“And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS (Yehushua): for He shall save (deliver, protect, free, heal) His people from their sins . . . !” Matthew 1:21
And sin is the faithless transgression of God’s holy law and character ! ref: Romans 14:23 & I John 3:4
Yet Salvation from sin certainly depends upon there being more power in Grace than there is in sin. Then, there being more power in Grace than there is in sin, it cannot possibly be otherwise than that wherever the power of Grace can have control, it will be just as easy to do right as without this it is easy to do wrong.
No man ever yet naturally found it difficult to do wrong. His great difficulty has always been to do right. But this is because man naturally (from birth) is enslaved to a power —the power of sin –that is absolute in its reign. And so long as that power has sway, it is not only difficult but impossible to do the good that he knows and that he would. But let a mightier power than that have sway, then is it not plain enough that it will be just as easy to serve the will of the mightier power, when it Reigns, as it was to serve the will of the other power, when it reigned?
“Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a Man shall be as an hiding place (sanctuary) from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as Rivers of Water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land . . . !” Isaiah 32:1-2
“Behold the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper . . . And this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS!” Jeremiah 23:5-6
“Behold the Man Whose name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the LORD . . . which temple we are ! . . . And He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule (reign) upon His throne; and He shall be a Priest upon His throne: and the Counsel of peace shall be between Them Both !” Zechariah 6:12-13, I Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20 & II Corinthians 6:14-7:1
But Grace is not simply more powerful than is sin. If this were indeed all, even then there would be fullness of hope and good cheer to every sinner in the world. But this, good as it would be, is not all. It is not nearly all. There is much more power in Grace* than there is in sin. For “where sin abounded, Grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:17-21 & 6:1-6. And just as much more power in Grace than there is in sin, just so much more hope and good cheer there are for every sinner in the world.
How much more power, then, is there in Grace than there is in sin? Let me think a moment. Let me ask myself a question or two. Whence comes Grace? From God, to be sure. “Grace be unto you, and peace, from
God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Whence comes sin? From the devil, of course. Sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. Well, then, how much more power is there in Grace than there is in sin?
It is as plain as ABC that there is just as much more power in Grace than there is in sin, as there is more power in God than there is in the devil. It is therefore also perfectly plain that the reign of Grace is the reign of God, and that the reign of sin is the reign of Satan. And is it not therefore perfectly plain also that it is just as easy to serve God by the power of God as it is to serve Satan with the power of Satan?
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, so that Grace may abound? God forbid ! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death ?
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should rise to walk in newness of Life ! . . . Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin !” Romans 6:1-6
“For as ye have yielded your members (bodies) servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so Now yield your members to righteousness unto holiness !” Romans 6:19-23
“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members (bodies) as instruments of righteousness unto God !” Romans 6:13
“And this is the name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS !” Jeremiah 23:6
“Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done ! . . . For, I delight to do Thy will, yea, Thy law is within My heart !” Luke 22:42 & Psalm 40:8
“For this is the Covenant that I will make with them, after those days, saith the LORD; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts . . . !” Hebrews 8:10, 10:16-17 & Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart . . . !” II Corinthians 3:3-17
Where the difficulty comes in, in all this, is that so many people try to serve God with the power of Satan. (with their own flesh, and their own will power), But that can never be done. “Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt.” Matthew 12:33. Men cannot gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles. The tree must be made good, root and branch. It must be made new. “Ye must be born again.” John 3:3-7
“For as many as received Him (accepted Him as Sovereign Lord, and King), to them gave He power (grace) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Which were born (begotten again), not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, But of God !” John 1:12-13
“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness . . . That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified !” Isaiah 61:1-3
“To whom God would make known what is the riches of this mystery among you Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory !” Colossians 1:27
For “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature (creation).” Let no one ever attempt to serve God with anything but the present, living power of God that makes him a new creature, with nothing but the much more abundant Grace (Divine Influence) that condemns sin in the flesh and Reigns through righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Then the service of God will indeed be in “newness of Life.” Then it will be found that His yoke is indeed “easy” and His burden “light.” Then His service will be found indeed to be with “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
Did Jesus ever find it difficult to do right? Every one will instantly say, No. But why? He was just as human as we are. He took flesh and blood the same as ours. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14. And the kind of flesh that He was made in this world was precisely such as was in this world.
“In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.” Hebrews 2:17. “In all things!” It does not say, In all things but one. There is no exception. He was made in all things like as we are. He was of Himself as weak as we are, for He said, “I can of mine own self do nothing.” John 5:30 & John 14:10
“For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His Own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh . . . That the righteousness of the law might be filled full in us, who walk (live) not after (by the power of) the flesh, but after the Spirit !” Romans 8:2-4
Why, then, being in all things like as we are, did He find it always easy to do right? Because He never trusted to Himself, but His trust was always in God alone. All His dependence was upon the Grace (Divine Influence) of God. He always sought to serve God, only with the power of God. And therefore the Father dwelt in Him, and did the works of righteousness.
Therefore it was always easy for Him to do right. Because, as He is, so are we in this world. I John 4:17. He has left us an example, that we should follow His steps. For “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure,” as well as in Him. I Peter 2:21 & Colossians 1:11
All power in heaven and in earth is given unto Him (Matthew 28:18), and He desires that you also may be strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power. For “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the God-head bodily,” and He strengthens you with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith, that you may be “filled with all the fullness of God !” ref: Ephesians 3:16-17
True, Christ partook of the Divine nature (Hebrews 1:5) and so do you if you are a child of Promise and not of the flesh, for by the Promises ye are partakers of the divine nature. II Peter I:4.
“For the Promise that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith . . . Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by Grace; to the end (that) the Promise might be sure to all the seed . . . As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before Him Whom he believed, even God, Who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not yet, as though they already were !” Romans 4:13-18
“And not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of (begotten by) Israel. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: But in Isaac shall thy Seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of Promise are counted as the seed . . . !” Romans 9:6-8
“That the Blessing of Abraham might come on (generate, bring into being) the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the Promise of the Spirit through Faith . . . Now to Abraham and his seed were the Promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of One, And to thy Seed, which is Christ (the Anointed) . . . !” Galatians 3:13-16
“For the Promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call . . . !” Acts 2:30-39
“And the Anointing which ye have received of Him, abideth in you . . . !” I John 2:27
There was nothing given to Him in this world and He had nothing in this world that is not freely given to you or that you may not have. All this is in order that you may walk in newness of Life, that henceforth you may not serve sin, that you may be the servant of righteousness only, that you may be freed from sin . . .
That sin may not have dominion over you, that you may glorify God on the earth, and that you may be like Jesus. And therefore “unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. . . . Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge (knowing) of the Son of God . . . For this is Life Eternal ! . . . unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” And I “beseech you also that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain . . . !”
– Review & Herald Sept. 1, 1896
A.T. Jones
Scripture references added in italics
Please feel free to contact Eric and Sarah Wilson at Isaiah Ministries if you have any questions of would like someone to pray with you !