Romans 6:13

God can do nothing with us if we do not yield. We recall a day of sightseeing in the palace of Genoa. We entered a room seemingly empty; bare walls, floors, and tables greeted us. Presently the guide led us across the room to the wall at the farther side. There we espied a niche in the wall. It was covered with a glass case. Behind the case was a magnificent violin, in perfect preservation—Paganini’s favorite violin; the rich old Cremona upon which he loved most of all to display his marvelous skill.

We gazed intently upon the superb instrument, with its warm rich tints, sinuous curves, and perfect model. And then we tried to imagine the wondrous strains the touch of the great master would bring forth if he were there in that quiet palace chamber . . . Nay, but this could not be! He could not possibly do so! For it was locked up against him! It gave the master no chance.

One night I went to hear a sermon on consecration. Nothing special came to me from the message, but as the preacher knelt to pray, he said, “O Lord, You know we can trust the Man who died for us.” That was my message.

As I rose from my knees and walked down the street to catch the train, I deeply pondered all that consecration would mean to my life. I was afraid as I considered the personal cost, and suddenly, above the noise of the street traffic, came this message: “You can trust the Man who died for you.”

Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and . . . put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.—As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should 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. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Thou are no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Reckon ye . . . yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 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 as instruments of righteousness unto God.

I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot atone for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot make right what is wrong, pure what is impure, holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Have I faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made a perfect Atonement, am I in the habit of constantly realizing it?

The great need is not to do things, but to believe things. The Redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith upon it. If I construct my faith on my experience, I produce that most unscriptural type, an isolated life, my eyes fixed on my own whiteness.