Not only do we see sins suffered for under divine judgment in the death of Christ, but our "old man"—the nature that did the sins—is also seen there "crucified with him." What usually alarms an awakened conscience first, is the knowledge of sins committed; the consciousness of having done those things which are evil in God's sight. And it is usually after souls have known forgiveness of sins that they become aware of having a nature in which nothing good dwells; so that the cry of such is, "In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing."
Those who have tasted divine grace, and know from the testimony of God's word that their sins are forgiven, desire to live without sinning, and are taught to hate every budding of evil within. Though they have been comforted by the assurance of forgiveness of sins, they are painfully conscious of self-will, pride, and lust stirring within them, and threatening to come out, if not, in unguarded moments, doing so. But even if it has not been manifest to others, they are painfully aware of unclean and unholy workings within; so that, at times, they are almost ready to fear whether they are saved or not; and like one of old they cry out in deep distress, " Ο wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:2424O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24).)
Now it is evident this painful condition of soul is not on account of sins committed, but from the experience he has of himself; he does not therefore thus exclaim about his sins, but about himself; not about what he has done, but what he is. "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Not who shall deliver me from my sins, but from "the body of this death," or "this body of death." So loathsome is it to the child of God (and only those who are born of God have the consciousness of it), that it seems here to be likened to the ancient practice of a criminal having a dead body chained to him, till, from putrefaction, it dropped off piece by piece. Besides, we do not speak of deliverance from our sins, but of "forgiveness of sins;" neither can we reasonably speak of an evil nature being forgiven, but of our being delivered from it; hence the cry, "Who shall deliver me!"
Many who have forgiveness of sins and peace with God through the blood of the cross, have not the comfort of deliverance from "the body of this death." This is brought to us by the death of the cross. There He who knew no sin was made sin for us; there He was our Substitute before God; there God condemned sin in the flesh, condemned judicially the nature which did the sin; there our old man has been crucified with him. Precious grace to us! There, as before God, we died with Christ, and in Him risen, God hath given to us eternal life; hence we read, " Ye are dead [or have died], and your life is hid with Christ in God." (Col. 3:33For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3).) The one, therefore, who feels the sadness and misery of bearing about such an evil nature, looks out of himself in simple faith, and finds deliverance wrought for him by the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus distress is turned into thanksgiving, for he says, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord." He has deliverance from the burden he had on his soul of a corrupt and evil nature. He sees that his old man has been crucified with Christ; we say he sees it, for faith always sees things from God's stand-point; and he finds three things necessarily result. 1St, That he has a new nature which is born of God, which cannot sin, but serves the law of God; this he calls, "I myself;" and he also carries about with him, as to fact, an evil and loathsome nature, and incapable of improvement, which he calls " the flesh." 2dly, He has given him by divine grace a new standing; the "old man" so completely gone for faith in the judgment of the cross, a new position given him, life in the Spirit, so that he is spoken of as in the Spirit, or in Christ Jesus. 3rdly, His old Adam-standing so gone, that the Holy Ghost says, " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." (See Rom, vii. 25; τϋί. 19.) This new standing is so constantly recognized in scripture, that many of the epistles are addressed to those who are "in Christ Jesus."
It is then by the death of the cross that we have deliverance from the nature which did the sins, as well as purgation of the sins themselves; because there in the person of the Son of God, the judgment of sin and sins was fully poured out, and the whole question forever settled for the glory of God. Hence "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." The sacrifice offered being so perfect, and the work so completely finished, that nothing more will ever be done to atone for sin to God, or to remove guilt from the conscience of the sinner who believes; for God declares that " the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." It is well then to receive the divine testimony to the work of Jesus in the death of the cross, not only as to His having borne our sins, suffered for sins, and died for our sins as a sacrifice offered to God; but that also in His crucifixion our old man was crucified, and consequently, in His resurrection from the dead, we are associated in life with Him. "We are told therefore, " In whom also ye are [or have been] circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the flesh [not sins of] by the circumcision of Christ." Thus, as to standing our old man is gone, so that we are not in the flesh, but in Christ Jesus; and yet, as to fact, the "old man" is in us, and we are now enjoined to so judge of ourselves according to God, as to "reckon ourselves to be dead (or to have died) indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Horn. vi. 11.)
It is because we have died with Christ, have been -crucified with Him, that we are never told in scripture to crucify the flesh, or, to crucify ourselves, as is sometimes stated. We do read that "they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts" (Gal. 5:2424And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24)); that is, they have accepted Christ crucified as their Substitute, they have put off the old man, and put on the new. But though we are never instructed in the word of God to crucify the flesh, yet, because " the flesh" is in us, we are not only enjoined to have no confidence in it, and to reckon ourselves to have died unto sin, but to mortify, or put to death every budding of evil from this evil source. Because "the flesh" is in us, we are told to "walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." We are to " mortify [or put to death] our members which are upon the earth" such as vile passions, evil lusts, &c, and to "mortify [or put to death] the deeds of the body." Peter (putting it in another form) speaks of " laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies," &c. (See Col. 3:55Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5); Rom. 8:1313For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13); 1 Pet. 2:11Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, (1 Peter 2:1).) It is well, then, whenever we look back and remember the death of the cross, to accept thankfully all that God has revealed concerning the marvelous way in which "perfect love" met our need there, in judging and setting aside forever the nature that did the sins as well as the sins themselves—the corrupt tree, as well as its corrupt fruit. It is when the soul has received Christ as his Savior, he is entitled to know that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from the law of sin and death. There is liberty here. He is now set free from the dominion of sin as well as the guilt of it; he is in Christ Jesus. All is of divine grace.
Again, it is by the death of the cross that the links which tied us to the world are forever snapped. The hatred to Christ manifested in His rejection, and its prevailing cry, "Not this man, but Barabbas," have disclosed its real state of enmity against God. We cannot now love that great sys-tern of men's and Satan's building called "the world," because men hated without a cause our best and dearest Friend; yea, a friend that loveth at all times, and that sticketh closer than a brother. The more the child of God meditates on the Lord's death, the more he enters into the righteous utterances of Jesus, "0 righteous Father, the world hath not known thee." "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." What a world it must be to have cast out and cruelly and unjustly put to death the sinner-loving Son of God, its rightful Prince, and to have gone on quietly crying " progress" and "advancement" ever since, with such a prince as Satan; for when Christ was wickedly rejected, Satan was rightly called "the prince of this world." And not only in this view of " the world" in relation to the Savior's death do we realize that we cannot love that which has thus put such shameful ignominy, and cruel rejection and death on our precious Savior, but still dwelling on the death of the cross, we are made to feel the awful truth, that it must also hate all those who have really identified themselves and their interests with Him. How can it be otherwise? While we boast therefore in the eternal redemption which He has accomplished for us at such a cost, we cannot but feel that, from the first moment we really took sides with Christ, we had new interests, new delights, and new prospects; and that the world, whether looked at politically, commercially, or religiously, died away from our hearts with the divinely-given view we had of a the death of the cross." Is it any wonder then that one like Paul should have so solemnly exclaimed, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal. 6:1414But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14).)
And further, it is also by the death of the cross that those who have been entangled by the law have died to it, and therefore been delivered from it. Law has nothing to say to a dead man, but it has dominion over a man as long as he liveth. And however he may try to use it as he judges most agreeable or convenient to his own ideas, and call it a rule of life or anything else, it has nothing less to say to any transgressor than curse and death. Hence it is written that as many a as are of the works of the law, are under the curse." As the law then brings all who are of its works guilty of transgression, and under the curse, how can any be delivered from its just judgment? A man cannot be to Christ sometimes and to the law at others, for it would be like a woman having two husbands, and thus be an adulteress. She must be delivered from the first by death, before she can really be in happy association with Christ the second husband. But the law does not die? This is most true. But you have died to it, and thus deliverance is wrought. In the death of the cross, such see that Christ has redeemed them from the curse of the law being made a curse for them. In the death of Christ their Substitute they died, and thus are delivered from the law. As the apostle further saith, " I, through the law am dead [have died] to the law, that I might live unto God." The law is not dead, but the believer has died with Christ. And to return to the figure of two husbands, being thus freed from the first by death, we can now be married to another. Who is that? Christ risen, One who is on the other side of death, outside the region of sin, or flesh, or law, or the world. Hence we are sweetly taught, " Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Rom. 7:44Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4).)
How strange that in the face of such plain scripture testimony that many should think that Christ came to help them to save themselves, instead of to save them Himself with such a great and eternal salvation! Many speak of making themselves better, instead of bowing to the divine verdict that "they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Others speak of the world's progress and improvement, as if it were gradually becoming fit for God, instead of owning the righteous testimony of Jesus of its being under sentence of judgment; while not a few are flattering themselves that they keep some parts at least of the law, and thus meriting something toward their everlasting security. May God deliver people from these soul-destroying delusions, and, being convicted of their utterly unclean, and thoroughly undone state, may they turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, the alone Savior of sinners, who has made peace through the blood of His cross, and casts out none who come to Him. Ο to know more of the infinite glory and everlasting value of the death of the cross!