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Show ( METHODIST CHURCH ! PASSIOI WEEK " SERIES I I The first of the series of Passion , t Week services was held in the First ; Methodist Episcopal church, Tuesday evening, Rev. Itassweiler preached from the text: ; "Knowing this that our old man is I I crucified with him. that the body of ', sin might be destroyed that hence- I forth wo should not serve sin," ; ;. Horn. 6:6. y "The atonement is not merely a ) matter of substitution, but also of ' identification. It Is not merely that ; i . Christ in some way became our sub- . ' stitute in punishment to deliver us 5 from the consequences of our sin, ; t but Ho identifies Himself with us in :. f His sacrificial death that we die unto sin and live unto God. The atone- : ' ment is not something that trans- ; - pired outside of us between God as ; judge and Christ as our advocate, but j; it is something that transpires with- 1 in us. Thus Christ dies In our place I by bringing His sacrificial life Into the place of our lives. It is not only j a vicarious sacrifice but a vital re- newal of the same. J "So salvation is not an antlnoraian affair. It is not merely a scheme r for escaping the consequences of sin, 'j 1 but" a means of our escaping sin it- i self." We" aro to be saved not only if from the punishment of sin but from j t the love of sin and from the power ; I of sin, as well as from the fact of sin. The atonement is a highly eth- I j ical force. The tendency of the old il , carnal life within us is. to dodge the U l moral demands of religion and take up with some form which promises escape from the guilt of sin and its I 4 mm puulshmcnt or consequences, without putting the knife Into "sin Itself. The history of religions and religious fads and degeneracies has Bhown that the tendency to evade the ethical demands de-mands of God is a disease of religion. reli-gion. It is not Christian. Paul declares de-clares over and over that the death of Christ must not be something that transpired outside of ourselves, but rather is experienced within us here and now. Wo enter Into His death as well as into His life. Wo are burled with Him in order to rise with Him. Wo are crucified with Him into sin and self. The Old Man Is crucified with his deeds. "Christ always demands that we take up our cross to follow Him. And what is It to take .up our cross? Why, to follow Christ to a spiritual Golgotha Gol-gotha and .rile thereon to sin. 'We wear the cross as jewelry, fashion It Into church architecture, erect It upon up-on church towers, carve it upon church altars, cmbroidler it upon the altar trimmings, decorate it with east-er east-er lilies, do everything with it but the right thing die upon it to sin. It is not in a physical way like with the flagillentes of the middle ages who went down the streets lashing their backs with whips, or like their modern prototypes of Mexico who crucify themselves physically at least in pantomime, but It is a moral breaking away from a life of sin into a new real existence. The cross thus becomes the sword "of the spirit wherewith we slay the monster sin. It is God's hammer whereby we strike down evil. It Is God's bulwark behind which we can find refuge In times of temptation." There will be no meeting this evening eve-ning owing to the union meeting at the Presbyterian church. But meetings meet-ings will be continued Thursday and Friday nights and all next week. |