(1760)

William Otterbein stresses repentance in a sermon at a conference of German Reformed preachers in Philadelphia

Source: William Otterbein, Die Heilbringende Menschwerdung und der Herrliche Sieg Jesu Christi ueber den Teufel und Tod. Germantown (Philadelphia): Printed by Christoph Sauer, 1763. English translation in J. Steven O'Malley, Early German-American Evangelicalism: Pietist Sources on Discipleship and Sanctification (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1995), 19, 25-28. Excerpts; footnotes omitted.

THE SALVATION-BRINGING INCARNATION AND THE GLORIOUS VICTORY OF JESUS CHRIST OVER THE DEVIL AND DEATH

Text: Hebrews 2:14-15

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.

The doctrine of the redemption of the poor sinner through Jesus Christ is rightly called a gospel and a message that brings salvation and joy. By nature we are in a completely desperate condition. We are without God, and children of wrath. What a pity! So we go astray, like a sheep without a shepherd, who locate no pasture, and stand exposed to the power of Satan and sin. How amazing, that most people live totally secure and hardened in this desperate condition! Are we not destitute of all godly light and life, and without hope? Truly, this is a condition that—if we think about it—rightly drives us into a tight spot....

The gospels give us a detailed account of the death of Jesus Christ. Christ died a violent and agonizing death on the cross. He has already guaranteed from eternity that this would happen for poor sinners. This death was not only prophesied through the prophets, but it was also prefigured through the sacrifices and the other ceremonies of the law. And all of this happened for our good. It was for the sake of our sins that Christ sweated blood, and out of love for us He offered His soul as a guilt offering. What a work our sins made for him! We are expensively purchased. As painful as this suffering was to the Lord Jesus, so great was the salvation that occurred from this for the poor sinner.

Paul says, "That through death He might destroy him who has the power...." That was the purpose of the suffering of Jesus Christ (I John 3:8). The promise in paradise was directed toward this (Genesis 3:15). And Christ has actually carried out this promise through His death (II Timothy 1:10). That happened above all on the cross (Colossians 2:14-15). Christ here became a poison for death and destruction for hell (Hosea 13:14). Hence Paul joyfully cries out (I Corinthians 15:55-57), "Death, where is your sting?" O costly death! (Daniel 9:24). This death brings a laudable salvation. Now God is reconciled, and the way into the inner holiness is prepared, that Paul so simply expressed in his words of praise (Ephesians 1:3), "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Meanwhile, with all that, the matter of our salvation is not yet fully completed. What a pity it is that people almost without exception seek a salvation that lies outside themselves. People imagine that Christ has completed all things on the cross and He has made us holy just as we are. Christ has paid, they think, and sin will be fully put away at death. Those are erroneous thoughts about Jesus' death and redemption. Almost any perverse thinker can conclude this. It is certainly more on the order of a hellish doctrine, that merely makes Christ to be a covering for sin, that also builds the devil's kingdom....

Pay attention to see if you comprehend this. Through what He has done outside of us, Christ has only laid the groundwork for our salvation. He has freely reconciled His heavenly Father to us through His death. However, He has at the same time given us a picture of what He must do within us—how He must destroy the kingdom of Satan within us, even as He has destroyed this kingdom outside of us. Christ has set an example for us by His suffering (I Peter 2:21), and Paul speaks clearly about conformity with His death (Philippians 3:10). Thus, the Savior Himself urges the bearing of His cross after Him, and that is the great secret, Christ in us (II Corinthians 13:5). Here it becomes apparent that what Christ has done outside of us, He also completes within us. He also crushes the head of the serpent within us and with it the sin that leads to death. Paul rejoices in this (Galatians 2:19). This is true of all believers (Galatians 5:24). Christ and His death only become beneficial to us when He comes home to us in this way. On the basis of conformity with the death of Jesus Christ we receive the crown (James 1:12). Life depends on this (Romans 6:8). Upon the same agony with Jesus, there follows the same glory (Romans 2:17).

But may a person know whether Christ has killed the sin in him? Certainly, as surely as he lives. An unbroken heart, security, a worldly outlook are all genuine works of darkness, of Satan's kingdom within us. Wherever a man walks according to the lusts of his heart, while boasting that he is redeemed through Christ, he remains horribly blind, if not completely obstinate. Even the devil shudders when he thinks of God. What help is it if a man has great sorrow for his sins and yet he repeats them a hundred times? Peter describes this sort of repentance in II Peter 2:22. Where there is no true change of heart there is also no deliverance.

How, then, does a person arrive at this point of deliverance? That is God's work. No one comes to the Son until the Father draws him. As soon as God's Spirit opens a person's eyes, so that he recognizes and feels his misery, then he gets up with the prodigal son and says, "Father, I have sinned" (Luke 15:18). A person will not become disgusted with the world and sin until he recognizes in God's light that these things have brought him unhappiness. If a person comes this far by God's grace, that he despairs of himself and his efforts, he then sits down with Mary at Jesus' feet and cries.

In this way a person can easily know whether the Holy Spirit has His work in a person; it is when he knows and feels with agony his inner corruption of heart, and where this knowledge breaks, shames, and makes the heart humble before God. It is wherever a person becomes an enemy of sin, turns his back to the world, and hungers after Jesus. It is where all of this continues and grows (Hebrews 3:14). Whoever struggles here, under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, will finally be led by grace to victory. And that is the work of deliverance, Christ in us. The marks by which it can be recognized are where lusts and a tendency to sin are lost, where sin ceases (Romans 6:6 and verse 18). The fruit of this is holiness (Romans 6:22), the new man (Colossians 3:10-14), and a step-by-step progression toward perfection (II Corinthians 3:18).

And that is the purpose of redemption (Titus 2:14). If nothing impure can enter into the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:27), then an impure, unregenerated sinner has no hope. God is reconciled on His side through Jesus, and where grace puts to death the carnal mind that lives in us by nature, then will we also be reconciled to God on our side. Furthermore, just as it is impossible for a doctor to cure a sick person if he has...