Vol 01 - As Christ Is, So Are We; Part 2

As Christ Is, So Are We; Part 2 Read John 1:1-51 IN the third place, our Scripture presents this blessed Person as One who is full of grace and truth. "The Law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (5: 17.) This, too, is connected with His title, the " Word of God." For as such He is the image of the invisible God, the express image of the Person of Him who is love, the God of all grace, whose purpose was to make Himself known as such. His purpose, moreover, was to display it to the full, for those who are saved in this day of grace have been predestinated to the praise of the glory of His grace. The question arises then-How is this to be accomplished? And where are they who are so bad that He can show forth all His grace, and reveal Himself in a practical manner, as love, according to His own fullness and perfection? The vilest of the vile, the poorest of the poor, the emptiest of the empty He seeks, in order to pour into them a full and unlimited measure of His love, which now through Christ knows no let. The law displayed no grace. It could not do so, for law and grace are opposite. The law demanded strict obedience to all its requirements, it admitted of no compromise, It demanded from man what he could not give, and it gave not power whereby to fulfill its demands. Man is dead by nature, and the law required from such that which only a living man could do. The law gives no life, but, on the contrary, it kills. The law then failed to produce holiness in man; it brought out his evil nature in bolder relief: By Jesus Christ, however, grace and truth came in contrast to the law; He came to manifest God’s favor, and to make known God, who is love, the God of all grace. Grace looks for a higher walk than the law ever did; but then grace gives a nature and power, a life whereby the recipient can keep the law. By nature he is dead, under condemnation, but by grace he is alive in Christ to God, "for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set him free from the law of sin and death," in order that the righteousness of the law, in all its integrity, might be fulfilled in such, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. The law made the offense abound, and sin exceeding sinful; but grace has put all away, and makes those who are washed in the blood of Christ "as white as snow," " clean every whit." Thus Jesus, full of grace and truth, came to save the poor, ruined, helpless sinner. His joy was to receive publicans and sinners, and to eat with them. Grace has nothing for the self-righteous. It does not suit such; they do not need it. It is only the poor sinner who can value grace, and it is that which will alone suit his need. And now by means of the cross, which met the claims of God’s righteousness, He is able to pour out with full and unlimited measure His love and His grace. And now that the victory is won over all enemies, His work well done, and righteousness completed, God delights to manifest Himself as love to the chief of sinners, and blesses such fully and freely. " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting." (1 Timothy 1:15-16.) God is, as has been so often already said, love, and nothing but a full revelation of Himself will satisfy Him. This was His purpose, and He will carry it out. Hence we find that, on the ascension and glorification of Christ to the right hand of the majesty on high, having received the promise of the Father, He sent forth the Holy Ghost to take up His abode no longer in temples made with hands, but in the bodies of those who have been saved by grace, and to be to, and with them an abiding Comforter; and the promise is, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Where sin hath abounded grace did much more abound, and God is now revealed in Christ. Those who believe He could not make more perfect than He has done, He has made them as white as snow, though their sins were as scarlet. By His own power and workmanship He has made them " a new creation " in Christ, so that as Christ is so are they in this world. Not only so, but He has blessed them to the full, for He has given the Holy Ghost to dwell in them, and all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. Thus, I say, God has proved and showed Himself to be love, and that in the most practical way. A higher and better position He could not have given, or make us more perfect than He has He could not. To give us a richer portion than He has were impossible, for He could not make us more perfect than • Christ. He could not give us more than " all things." And, more than all, He could not have brought us into a better association; for oh! the wonders of His grace, He has brought us to have and enjoy fellowship with Himself. Would that we abode in such communion by the power of the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in us! From all eternity, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, we have been predestinated to the praise of the glory of God’s grace. Has He not been displaying it in all its fullness and glory? He could do no more than He has done. We are, alas! such fools, and so slow of heart to believe all that He has told us, and has done for and to us. The Holy Ghost, is, however, but the earnest of that which is to come, for by-and-bye this grace will be more fully manifested when the Lord Jesus comes and takes us all away. When He will conduct us to the Father’s house, where He has prepared a place for us in glory, and then He will, to the profound astonishment of the countless myriads of the heavenly host, show " the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus " our Lord. Then shall we be with Him, and see Him face to face, and know Him even as we are known by Him. ’Tis true, and He has fully proved in all His ways and acts towards us, that " God is love," the " God of all grace." ’Tis true Jesus has come, the image of the invisible God, full of grace and truth; and it is also true that " of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." We have received of His saving grace, His restoring grace; His restraining, His constraining, His sympathizing, His saving grace; yea, we have received of all the various aspects of His grace, for of His fullness have we received.

( Continued from page 177.) ( To be continued, if the Lord will.) Thoughts On The Similitudes Of The Kingdom, As Presented In The Parables In The Gospel Of Matthew: No. 4.

HERE, in 13 chapter, a new scene opens before us, and the new thing which was ever present with the Lord, and which was the eternal purpose of God, now commences. The Lord proceeds to give an account or description of His work under the similitude of a Sower sowing good seed. There is no more heralding the advent of the kingdom. Jesus no longer presents Himself as the Messiah; but now, on an entirely new principle, He manifests the grace of God.

Up to this time God had patiently waited for the performance of these righteous demands He had upon Israel, which had their foundation not only in that He was Creator and Giver of all good-the Gentiles in this respect owed obedience as well as Israel, but there was the additional claim peculiar to Israel. God was their King, and had made Himself known to them as such. And He had taken special care of them, a special interest in them, and had done for them all that could be done. But it was all in vain. The more they were blessed in outward privilege, the more they sinned and rebelled against Jehovah. All the fruit that the vine, on which God had bestowed so much care and attention, ever brought forth, was wild grapes. The Lord God was merciful and gracious, while visiting the sins of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation, and showing mercy to thousands of them that feared Him. Now His grace takes an unlimited form, is unconditional, seeks for nothing in man, looks not for worthy persons, but His grace is unto all without distinction. The Sower scatters his seed upon the earth, as well upon the stony or thorny, as upon the good. The grace of God, the new dealing of God with man, would be not the enforcing of His just demands, even though merciful and gracious, but, on the contrary, God giving to man everything from the pure sovereign grace of His own heart. That is, the old thing and the new thing are essentially different. In reality, the Lord was preparing the way for the sowing of the seed from the first. The whole history, as given by Matthew in the previous chapters, could have no other termination than Chapter 13 gives. As we have seen, from the first indication of rejection, the kingdom was presented in a different way. At first it was the privilege of the Jew by birth, then that was set aside through their carnality and fleshy apprehension of it, and the kingdom was shown to be elective, and to entail suffering and oppression upon the heirs. And now it was altogether a new thing, and the very purpose for which the Lord came into the world, stands out clear and distinct. It is our privilege to see, in some degree, the wisdom of God in delaying the announcement, that it was an entirely new thing the Lord was about to do, until His rejection as Messiah, and His consequent break with the nation, was an accomplished fact.

Now Jesus tells openly to the multitude the character of His mission, and how it would be received. In fact, He speaks of His work while here on the earth, the effect of it upon man, where the good seed took permanent root, and the condition of those who, in any case, brought not forth good fruit; then, in a series of prophetic parables, what would become of the kingdom He was about to establish, and what would be the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. The first parable in 13 chapter is not illustrative of the kingdom, but the preparatory work necessary for its establishment. While it was a mere question of birthright, no such work was needed. But when Israel, like Esau of old, sold their birthright, everything was changed; and if the Lord was to have a kingdom at all here below, it was necessary to begin from a fresh point, and on altogether a new principle. We say necessary. But it was the necessity of Divine grace, of His boundless love. It was Love that sent, Love that came, Love that died. It is Love supreme, Love that now calls sinners, and applies the precious blood to the guilty and stained conscience, purges it, and gives the believer a title to stand free of all accusation in the presence of Light. The parable of the Sower is the preaching of the Word, to which Israel, as a nation, is judicially deaf. This is different from the preaching of the kingdom, in the former chapters. The preaching of the kingdom, is to a nation owned of God, but rebellious, and calling upon them to repent, in view of the blessing and glory of the coming kingdom. The preaching of the word, is God proclaiming grace to every one without distinction of condition, or state, or character. The six following parables do not apply to the time of our Lord’s sojourn here, but to the time after His going away, and before His return in power and glory. Then the mysteries of the kingdom will cease, and the authority of the King will be enforced in all the world. Now it is moral, and spiritually appreciated and submitted to only by faith. Then power will be in exercise, and his authority will make itself felt and feared. His first act will be the slaying of those who said they would not have the man Christ Jesus to reign over them.

Here, in this chapter, for the first time, we have the expression, " Mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." It would assume a form unknown to prophecy. The prophets fully described Messiah as a rejected one, and that He would be put to death; but not the peculiar and exceptional form His kingdom would take consequent upon His rejection. They depict the sufferings and future glory of the Messiah. The Jewish remnant, suffering, then triumphant, and the Gentiles receiving blessing through them. Christ, the Messiah, reigning over all. But the mysteries of the time of the suffering, (when God would accomplish His hidden purpose, never revealed to any prophet, of calling out from Jew and Gentile, and forming His church,) are for the first time found here. The abnormal state of the kingdom, the fearful prevalence of evil, and yet the existence of a small but highly prized remnant are given; but only now in parable. The instructed eye may discern the Church in the treasure, and the pearl. But all that we read of, are the similitudes of the kingdom of heaven. For it was not necessary in the wisdom of the Holy Ghost to delineate the Church in its higher and more special character, but this which was common to it and the kingdom, then about to be set up. The earthly kingdom, the subject of prophecy, is for the present, in abeyance. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, in their description of the Messiah’s reign, picture to us the earthly scene of His glory. Isaiah gives the moral picture in 11: and 12: chapters. Ezekiel in the latter chapters of his prophecy gives the ecclesiastical, or the metropolitan relations of Jerusalem, the name of which will be, " The Lord is there." Daniel gives the external relation, the Gentile powers, all that remain of them (the toes of the image) is broken and destroyed. One might call this the political aspect. But all this, for the present, is postponed. Meantime heirs are gathered for heavenly glory.

"A sower went forth to sow, &c." This is now the work of Jesus. He has the seed. He scatters it on the earth al I around Him There is no looking for the best land, or most fertile spot. The grace of God is "unto all." This seed is called the word of the kingdom. The parable simply gives us facts. Good seed was sown. Some fell by the way side, and the birds picked it up. Some fell on stony ground, it soon sprung up, and as soon withered, there being no depth of earth, the sun Soon scorched and dried it up. Some fell upon ground filled with thorns, and the good seed was choked. Some again fell upon good ground, and here alone became fruitful. It is not a question here as to why men are likened to this or that, but merely such is the fact. The way in which the word would be received by different classes of men is beautifully-, and, of course, truly set forth by these similitudes. The ground cannot be intended to give the natural condition of men, for then we should have good men before they received the word, which is solemnly denied by the word of God. No, we repeat it is simply the fact that seed was sown, and in one case it was productive, when men received the word, and were newly-born by it, it was like good seed sown in good ground, there was fruit. But the Lord explains His own parable. And we have only to look around us now to see instances-alas! how many-of the same things.

We learn from the word of God, that there ’are three great enemies which oppose the true reception of the word into the heart. And in every case where the word when heard is unproductive of good fruit, the cause is sure to be found in one of these three. They are the devil, the flesh, and the world. Of course, there may be differences in the development of the opposition manifested in different individuals, but the source of every failure in producing good fruit, is traceable to one or other of the antagonistic principles. So here. The Lord tells us that the birds are the wicked ones, " when any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he that received seed by the way side." No case more desperate than this. None so far, apparently, removed from the life-giving power of the word No apprehension, no feeling, no understanding, like the beasts that perish, the complete stupor of death, the complete dominion of the devil. Now when we see individuals who come time after time, and regularly hear the gospel, and go away again as careless and as unconcerned as before, need we ask, who it is that so enthralls them? who it is that has made their hearts and consciences hard and impenetrable like the ground that is constantly trodden upon, so that the seed lies on the surface? They hear the word, and instantly forget. The devil catcheth away the seed sown. How little such are aware who it is that is so indefatigable. Not a single grain does he leave. Oh! if such a one reads these words, let him awake to the awful condition in which he is. There is one who is stronger, and who can deliver him from the power of the evil one.

( To be continued, if the Lord will.) "O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! WHO SHALL DELIVER ME?" Romans 7:1-25.

How often do we find a soul in the state which is in the Apostles’ mind in the closing verses of Romans 7:1-25? And how often is it judged to be the proper healthy state in which a soul should be? To be sure the deep work which we find there is most useful to be learned in the conscience, but we should ever remember that it is not proper Christian experience at all. It is plain enough that the soul there is awakened to the sense, more or less deeply, of what it is in God’s sight, and even this is blessed. It is so blessed to see consciences searched to the very deepest depths by whatever means the Lord uses to this end. There never is a true work of God done in the soul till this is so. Many and many a "stony ground" hearer has had a thorough intellectual knowledge of the Gospel, without a single bit of conscience, or life towards God. What a solemn truth for many a heart. May such be led to see to it that they have more than an intellectual interest in the Gospel of God’s grace. Many a soul who has had views of the salvation of God in the Gospel, as clear and as correct as might be, will be found as those of whom the Lord Jesus says, " Depart from me, I never knew you." This is not the case, however, in Romans 7:1-25. There it is the feelings of a conscience which is thoroughly searched and awakened, but miserable. Occupied entirely with self, and the claims of the law upon a man alive in the flesh, and responsible before God, and not possessing any knowledge of Christ as a Savior, or enjoying the Spirit of adoption. It is not the state of-a dead sinner, but of a quickened soul before deliverance, groaning under the sense of the nature of sin within it, which is so twisted round the heart, that when it would do good, evil only is present with it.

Just picture a friend, on a bed of sickness, groaning and writhing in pain. Well, you say, " He is not dead-he is alive; but that is a poor way of showing that he is alive." So with the soul here, it is not dead. It is alive; but if alive, it should be happy to be in health: and not be showing that it is alive in such a miserable way as this.

There is an order, too, in the discovery of self which we find here. For it is really the discovery of a nature, which the soul makes It is not the fruits of that nature, or the sins which have come from the root within. It is the nature and principle-the root of sin, which we find twisted round the heart, desolating it under the thought that, while I would desire to do the good, and delight to do it, I am unable to do it, for sin is present with me. But what happiness to discover even so far as we find in verse 17, that " it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." That I have a nature apart from, and wholly distinct from the sinful principle which I find wrought into my very heart’s core. A nature which consents to the law that it is good, and hates the evil of which the other nature alone is capable. This is the first step of the soul here, but a step that is on the way to better things. How blessed for a soul that has been writhing under the sense of its own sinfulness, to make this discovery. To find out that what I thought was myself, was in truth only the workings of a bad, and hopelessly bad nature, which the possession of a good nature only brought to light. Blessed to discover that I have a better nature, which has a desire to do the right, even though I find that it has no power over the workings of the old. But if I have made this discovery of two natures, I must find out something more. I discover that even this new nature has got no power to combat with, and contend with, the evil and bad nature. And that while "to will is present with me, how to perform that which is good I find not" That even when with heart and soul I would do good, evil is present with me. That the law, or tendency, of the bad nature, " brings me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." I have discovered a new nature, but oh, desolating discovery, it has got no power-it cannot struggle successfully against the evil nature to which I am a captive. What then am I to do? Ah, there is the secret out! You want to DO You want to get victory and peace by progress over this bad nature, and thus be delivered. Well, you never will get peace thus. If you did, you would be congratulating yourself for the victory. "What then must I learn I" you would say. " I have learned that I have got two natures. I have learned that the good nature has got no power in itself. What is now to be done?" " I am a wretched man, WHO SHALL DELIVER ME?" Ah, yes, now you have come to the end of yourself: you don’t ask now "what shall I do?" You have discovered that you can do nothing-that you must have some one else to come in and deliver you-that you cannot deliver yourself. You have been like one floundering about in a quagmire-every plunge for deliverance only putting you deeper, instead of getting you out. You have now come to the end of your strength-the end of yourself; and to the conclusion when there, that you cannot deliver yourself-that you must have another to deliver you. Blessed discovery. When the soul is driven, as it were, to the cry, "O, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?-It is not now, What shall I do? but the cry of a soul that has come to the consciousness that it can do nothing to get free, and that it must have another to do for it-another to deliver! And the moment the soul is there it discovers the soul-emancipating truth that all is done; and already it is thanking God for deliverance, " I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Yes, it has found that it was when we were without strength, in due time, when this had been thoroughly proved, Christ died for the ungodly-that He had been down in the very depths in sinbearing and judgment on account of sin-that what the law could not do, 1:e., give deliverance, or bring to God. God has done. How? He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, a sacrifice for sin; and He condemned sin in the flesh! condemned what He could not pardon, 1:e., the nature of sin which was twisted and knotted round the heart of the groaner of Romans 7:24; and now, instead of the law of sin in his members, bringing him into captivity, it is the law of the spirit of life (in resurrection) in Christ Jesus, has made him free from the law of sin and death. The deliverance is complete, and he is thanking God through Jesus Christ. But the natures remain and their tendencies are unaltered-this he learns in verse 25. " So, then, with the mind, (the new nature which he alone acknowledges as himself) I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." Not that he does serve it, but the characteristic tendencies of each are discovered; and he only speaks of "the flesh" as an evil thing to be treated as an enemy, and overcome.

It is remarkable that when the soul is in this state before the knowledge of deliverance, that it is all self-I, I, I- occupies him The passage shows us the soul under the breaking-up process under law, or the pressure of God’s claims upon a man in himself, still looking upon itself as a man alive in the flesh. This condition the apostle looks upon as a bygone thing to, the Christian in ver. 5, "When we were in the flesh," that is, when we were alive as children of Adam, and responsible in such a state to God. But the
Christian is dead. He has died to, and from under, the law, by the body of Christ. Having died to that wherein he was held, (5: 6, read margin, which is correct,) in coming into a new state in Christ risen from the dead, he might be to another, even to Christ risen from the dead, and thus, and thus only, bring forth fruit unto God. He is not now in the flesh-it is a bygone state. " When we were in the flesh." Just as we would say, " When we were in such or such a place, in which we are not now." lie is now in the Spirit. " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit." (Chapter 8:9.) Ver. 1-11 of Chapter 8 is the answer, in deliverance, to the cry, " Oh! wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?" and it goes on, as 5: 11 shows, even to the deliverance of the body, or the dust of the saints, which is raised because of the Spirit of God having dwelt in their bodies. And in treating of this deliverance, notices by the way the natures concerned in it-the carnal mind and the spiritual mind. The great secret of our Christian position is, that we are not alive "in the flesh " at all. The death and blood-shedding of Christ has met our whole condition as sinners, whether as regards the nature of sin which is in us, or the fruits of that nature-sins, and has put it away. But He was not only thus delivered for our offenses-He was also raised up from the dead. God raised Him up from the dead, after He was perfectly glorified by Christ on the cross, as to sin. Every moral character of God was exhibited there. God then comes in and raises Him up from among the dead, and brings Him into a new place in resurrection, and the believer, whose case as a sinner was met in the death of Christ, passes by faith into a new place in Christ risen. Thus, as dead with Christ, he is discharged or freed, as is Christ Himself, from sin. His business then is to reckon himself dead. To act upon this, and to count himself alive unto God in Christ risen from the dead. Thus he gets power over sin, over Satan’s power, who only can deal with the old nature. The law has lost its claim over him too. It applied to his fallen nature, and to it only. It forbade the lusts of a heart which had departed from God. By the law was the knowledge of sin. It pursued its claims upon him, as a man alive in the flesh, as far as the cross; then, having died with Christ, it can pursue him no farther. He has become dead to the law by the body of Christ. He has been delivered from the law, having died to that wherein he was held. Therefore, when the apostle comes to Romans 8:1, he sees the Christian in a new place-in Christ. Therefore, he says there is no condemnation for those who are there. How could there be? Christ has been in death and sin-bearing, had fully met the judgment of God on sin and sins. The wrath of God had discharged itself fully upon His head -the justice of God had been satisfied. He had come forth out of that place in resurrection-how, then, could there be any condemnation to those who are in Him? They are in a new place, to which these things do not belong. The law of the spirit of life in Him hath set them free from that which, as children of the first Adam, fallen and estranged from God, they had been subjected-even from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do-it could condemn the sin, but without delivering the sinner. It could, and it did, discover the sin, and prohibit it-and, finding it there, it could and did establish the distance between God and the sinner-but it could not give life, or bring to God-well, what the law could not do, God has done. He has sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin. He has condemned the nature that could not be pardoned, 1:e., " Sin in the flesh." I forgive my child for its faults, but I do not forgive the nature from which it came. So with God-He forgives the sins, but not the nature from which they came. So He condemns what He could not pardon. Thus the holy requirements of the law, its righteousness, are fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; never by being under it. And thus God has brought us to Himself in Christ. The conflict, or breaking-up process, of Romans 7:1-25 is that of the flesh under law. There is no knowledge of Christ as a Deliverer, a Savior, known in the soul as such; and the Spirit of Christ is not there. It has been confounded with the conflict of Galatians 5:17, and wrongly. There, it is the conflict between the flesh and the spirit which goes on. And there we find, " If we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." And, " If we are led of the Spirit, we are not under law" at all. " The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye may not (this is the force) do the things that ye would." The whole context and teaching of the passage shows that living and walking in the Spirit, which is the proper Christian state, enables us to overcome the workings of the flesh, and walk in the liberty of grace. Therefore, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. No more the groanings of a soul under bondage, but entire and perfect liberty. A liberty for the new man to live unto God.-Ed.