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  LIVE BY THE SPIRIT
  by A.W. Tozer
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Summary: The Christian's strength comes from God, not from themselves,
and it is through abiding in Christ that we can experience true
holiness.

Topics: "Abiding in Christ", "Sanctification"
Scripture References: John 15:5, Romans 7:24, Romans 8:2, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Galatians 5:16, Ephesians 3:16, Philippians 4:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:15-16

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DESCRIPTION
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A.W. Tozer emphasizes that even the most righteous believer is
inherently weak without the divine strength that comes from God. He
explains that true sanctification and holiness cannot be achieved
through human effort alone but through abiding in Christ, who provides
the necessary power. Tozer references Paul's struggle in Romans,
illustrating that while external morality can be attained, true holiness
is a gift from God that fulfills the believer's deepest longing. The
sermon highlights the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit for
strength and transformation in the Christian life.

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CONTENT
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Actually the purest saint at the moment of his greatest strength is as
weak as he was before his conversion. What has happened is that he has
switched from his little human battery to the infinite power of God. He
has quite literally exchanged weakness for strength, but the strength is
not his; it flows into him from God as long as he abides in Christ. One
of the heaviest problems in the Christian life is that of
sanctification: how to become as pure as we know we ought to be and must
be if we are to enjoy intimate communion with a holy God.

The classic expression of this problem and its solution is found in
Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapters seven and eight.

The cry, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body
of this death?" (7:24) receives the triumphant answer, "The law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death" (8:2). No one who has given attention to the facts will deny that
it is altogether possible for a man to attain to a high degree of
external morality if he sets his heart to it. Marcus Aurelius, the pagan
emperor, for instance, lived a life of such exalted morality as to make
most of us Christians ashamed, as did also the lowly slave Epictetus;
but holiness was something of which they were totally ignorant.

And it is holiness that the Christian heart yearns for above all else,
and holiness the human heart can never capture by itself.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/aw-tozer/live-by-the-spirit/
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