FAITH in the blood of Christ shelters me from the judgment, as Israel was safe from the destroyer because of the blood sprinkled on the lintel and the door-post. The worshipper, once purged, has no more conscience of sins. Judgment because of sins is passed over forever. The blood has acquired for us this new looting: " Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more;" therefore there is no more offering for sin. Israel left Egypt under the shelter of the blood. That shelter could never cease; they are a redeemed people. The believer now is placed in an entirely new standing, because of the blood of Christ. He is our mercy-seat, in whom is concentrated the full revelation of God, according to His power and glory. He is that ever for us, through faith in His blood. There is no more shedding of blood. By one offering He has perfected forever them, that are sanctified.
This being accepted and held to in faith, there comes the question, What about the sins after conversion? It will not be asserted that there are none. True it is, that earnest souls have tried to escape from the sorrow and shame of sinning after conversion, by assuming and attempting to reach a state of sinless perfection.. In this case, always, there is a lowering of the sense of holiness, in order to relieve the conscience of the, sense of sin. It is like damaging one's sight, so as to have an excuse for not seeing.
The truth is, that, on believing in Christ, we are, through God's grace, on entirely new ground, ever under the shelter of His blood, and, once purged, " there is no ' more conscience of sins." God, in His perfect grace, has not only forgiven our sins, but He has terminated judicially in the cross the old man, from whence the sins come. In the life of Christ we are " free from the law of sin and death." If We walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, for the Spirit is stronger than the flesh. When the believer sins, he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed., "The thought of foolishness is „sin."
We have boldness for entering into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, where we enjoy the sense of being without a spot. Now, when we are defiled, when a spot occurs, however small it may be, there is a return to the flesh. We have returned to what God has set aside in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are sensible of the defilement, for communion is interrupted; there is no enjoyment of the place or the part where Christ is. I need not say here that, of course, you must have known and enjoyed this place of nearness before you could lose it, or before you would seek restoration. I am supposing the case of " the worshipper once purged;" he has tasted of the ineffable blessedness of being in the holiest; his heart was sprinkled from an evil conscience, and his body washed with, pure water. But he has lost it; he has been " drawn away of his own lust, and enticed;" he is sensible of his loss. The greater his love for the Lord, the more he feels it; for affection is not communion, but affection makes one long for what can only satisfy itself. Peter had affection, and had tasted of the Savior's love, before he was restored to communion.
The course of grace now is, as in his case, that the feet are washed. It is not merely forgiveness, though that is included or connected with the washing. The forgiveness does not refer in any way to the safety of the soul, because God does not impute sin to any one under the shelter of the blood of Christ; and yet with God, always, " the soul that sinneth, it shall die." God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; sin is of the devil. The washing is not in any sense a propitiation. The washing is to expose the root, or source, of the sin, and thus to free the believer of its working and defilement. It is the light of the word exposing the evil by substituting the good. This is done by the word, through the Spirit searching our conscience, often in much distress and confession; the latter (confession) because Jesus is our Advocate. The flesh having been judicially terminated in the cross, were it not for the advocacy of Christ, a returning to it in the believer would entail on him immediate excision from the life here.
Now, when the word has exposed to me the root of the sin which I have committed, I am in practical abhorrence of it; and the Spirit relieves me, by presenting to me what the ashes of the red heifer in the running water (see Num. 19) typify: namely, that Christ bore the judgment of God for my failure. It is not fire now, but ashes, the token of accomplished judgment. The effect on me of the washing, is, that I, am cleared of the source of, the sin; the root from which it came has been disclosed; the spot is gone, because the root is judged. " If we judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But, being judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should, not be condemned with the world." Flesh must go wherever it is; we are not to be condemned with the world; but if we do not judge ourselves, we are judged of the Lord; hence it is, " many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." That is, there are cases when the works of the flesh are not forgiven; the flesh suffers here because it has not been judged. The flesh cannot be tolerated, and the more godly we are, the less can we tolerate it, or the more quickly is it judged. Real liberty is walking in the Spirit; for if I walk by the Spirit, I mortify the deeds of the body. The true course, is, as " Marah" typifies, that I refuse everything for which Christ died; this is my real freedom. Hence, the man who has the greatest opportunity of gratifying himself, is the one who most distinctly feels that this is indeed a wilderness, where he cannot enjoy what he possesses, and what would so minister to him as a man.
Now it is evident that sickness may fall on us here because of sins that we have not judged; that is, that God will, in some way, silence the flesh in the activity in which it has exposed itself, unless it is judged. When it is judged, it is disallowed, and here real repentance comes in. Thus " godly sorrow works repentance." " I repent in dust and ashes." I loathe myself, and my one relief is to see myself crucified with Christ, and thus the flesh as far from me as, through grace, it is from God. Hence it is, that, when one is sick, it is said (James 5:1616Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16)), " and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." Up to that moment they had not been forgiven him, and this forgiveness related exclusively to his sickness.
I do not say that every 'sickness is because of sin, for I read about one being " sick, nigh unto death, for the work of the Lord;" again, a man may have inherited a weakly constitution; or may have shattered his health before his conversion. In this case I suffer the consequences of my unrighteousness after I am converted. The thief on the cross, though going to paradise, dies a felon's death. And constantly, in the Old Testament, the expression occurs, " and it shall be forgiven him." This does not relate to future, but to present, things. There are instances when there is not present forgiveness. This I have adduced; and again (1 John 5:1616If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. (1 John 5:16)): " There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it."
Well, now that we have seen that the flesh must be practically set aside in the believer, let us examine briefly the difference between the discipline to promote holiness, and the discipline because of unholiness. I do not see how any one can determine for another which of the two he may be passing through. It is evident that the more any one walks in self-surrender, the better he understands in himself the cross, the the more he enjoys the Lord. And it is often because saints will not deny themselves that they pass through human sufferings; as it was said to Israel, in connection with "Marah" (Ex. 15:2626And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. (Exodus 15:26)): " If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee."
We all have to learn, when it is not at all a matter of sinfulness, that the less the flesh is given a place, the more of the power of Christ we have. This Paul learned when he came down from the third heaven, so that he an say, " I take pleasure in infirmities,.. that the power of Christ may rest upon me." It is thus the apostle can say, "always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus;" nothing for which He suffered is to be allowed in me," that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body."
Then follows, "we who live are always delivered unto death, for Jesus' sake." No doubt it was persecution in that day, for it checked and cut down the flesh; but very often, now, sickness is sent to produce what persecutions effected then. I can understand how when one is suffering sickness, instead of persecution, one becomes sensible of being made more practically fit for the service that one has at heart. When a believer dreads any tendency of his nature, when he " looks not at the wine when it is red," the Lord comes in to assist him, by bringing in death, in some way. For instance, if he has a love for music, by spoiling his ear; but in such cases the heart is always, conscious of favor in the discipline, and not of rebuke. It is a very different thing when there is rebuke for self-gratification, to what it is when the self-surrender begins with oneself, and the Lord rolls in death, to confirm and establish the longing of, the true heart; like the man who determined to give up his jewelry for the Lord, and when he had done so, a burglar broke into the house, and stole it. He was not sorry for the loss, but he was kept up to his desire by the Lord.
On the other hand, if any goes on gratifying the flesh, sooner or later his sufferings will spring: from his gratification, just as Sodom became suffering to Lot. While, as with Isaac in Gerar, he not only reached Rehoboth, but, when he came to, Beer-Sheba, the Lord appeared to him that night.. The Lord not only makes me glad of the surrender, but He more than compensates in Him-self for any loss on my side: " a hundredfold more in this present time."
Thus I have endeavored to open out a -little this interesting subject, assured that we do not sufficiently seek light from the Lord as to the bodily sufferings to which we are subjected. As I have already said, I do not think that one can interpret for another, but I am sure, that, if there were more- exercise before the Lord because of our afflictions,- we all should bear them better, and derive real blessing from them. Surely, when any one is rendered thoroughly incapable here in mind or body, there must be something in it of the rebuke to Lot's wife, when turned into a pillar of salt. The Lord is full of compassion, and often one is allowed to go on in a carnal way for a long time, because one has no sense of the evil in one's conscience; but, assuredly, the day must come when all that selfishness will pass away by the stroke of His-hand: " Our God is a consuming fire."
J. B. S.
THE thought that God may be honored, transforms a human being, and human life, and everything connected with it, into value immeasurable. (G. V. W.)