It only remains for us now to ponder the last clause of the fruitful passage of Scripture which has been under consideration (John 3:16). It sets forth the positive result, in every case, of simple faith in the Son of God. It declares, in the simplest and clearest way, the fact that everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is a possessor of everlasting life. It is not merely that his sins are blotted out; that is blessedly true. It is not merely that he is saved from the consequences of his guilt, which is equally true. But there is more. The believer in Jesus has a new life, and that life is in the Son of God. He is placed upon a new footing altogether. He is no longer looked at in the old Adam condition but in a risen Christ.
This is an immense truth, and one of deepest possible moment. We earnestly pray your calm and prayerful attention while we seek, in some feeble way, to present to you what we believe to be wrapped up in the last clause of John 3:16.
There is in the minds of many a very imperfect sense of what we get by faith in Christ. Some seem to view the atoning work of Christ merely as a remedial measure for the sins of our old nature — the payment of debts contracted in our old condition. That it is all this we need not say; blessed be God for the precious truth. But it is much more. It is not merely that the sins are atoned for, but the nature which committed them is condemned and set aside by the cross of Christ and is to be “reckoned” dead by the believer. It is not merely that the debts contracted in the old condition are canceled, but the old condition itself is completely ignored by God and is to be so accounted by the believer.
This great truth is doctrinally unfolded in 2 Corinthians 5, where we read, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (vs. 17). The Apostle does not say, “If any man be in Christ he is pardoned — his sins are forgiven — his debts paid.” All this is divinely true, but the statement just quoted goes very much farther. It declares that a man in Christ is a new creation altogether. It is not the old nature pardoned, but completely set aside, with all its belongings, and a new creation introduced in which there is not a single shred of the old. “All things are become new. And all things are of God.”
Now this gives immense relief to the heart. Indeed, we question if any soul can enter into the full liberty of the gospel of Christ until he lays hold, in some measure, of the truth of the “new creation.” There may be a looking to Christ for pardon, a vague hope of getting to heaven at the last, a measure of reliance on the goodness and mercy of God — there may be all this and yet no just sense of the meaning of “everlasting life,” no happy consciousness of being “a new creation,” no understanding of the grand fact that the old Adam nature is entirely set aside — the old condition in which we stood is done away in God’s sight.
But it is more than probable that you may be at a loss to know what is meant by such terms as “the old Adam nature,” “the old condition,” “the flesh,” “the old man” and such like. These expressions may fall strangely on your ears, and we certainly wish to avoid writing over your head. As God is our witness, there is one thing we earnestly desire — one object which we would ever keep before our minds — and that is your instruction and edification, and therefore we would rather run the risk of being tedious than make use of phrases which convey no clear or intelligible idea to the mind. Such terms as “the old man,” “the flesh” and the like are used in Scripture in manifold places. For example, in Romans 6 we read, “Our old man is crucified with Him [Christ], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (vs. 6).
Now what does the Apostle mean by the “old man”? We believe he means man as in that Adam nature which we inherited from our first parents. And what does he mean by “the body of sin”? We believe he means the whole system or condition in which we stood in our unregenerate, unrenewed, unconverted state. The old Adam, then, is declared to be crucified — the old condition of sin is said to be destroyed (annulled)—by the death of Christ. Hence, the soul that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is privileged to know that he — his sinful, guilty self —is looked upon by God as dead and set aside completely. He has no more existence as such before God. He is dead and buried.
Observe, it is not merely that our sins are forgiven, our debts paid and our guilt atoned for, but the man in the nature that committed the sins, contracted the debts and incurred the guilt is put forever out of God’s sight. It is not God’s way to forgive us our sins and yet leave us in the same relations in which we committed them. No; He has, in His marvelous grace and vast plan, condemned and abolished forever, for the believer, the old Adam relationship, with all its belongings, so that it is no longer recognized by Him. We are declared, by the voice of holy Scripture, to be “crucified,” “dead,” “buried” and “risen” with Christ. God tells us we are so, and we are to “reckon” ourselves to be so. It is a matter of faith and not of feeling. If I look at myself from my standpoint or judge by my feelings, I shall never — can never — understand this truth. And why? Because I feel myself to be just the same sinful creature as ever. I feel that there is sin in me, that in my flesh there dwells no good thing, that my old nature is in no wise changed or improved, and that it has the same evil tendencies as ever, which, if not mortified and kept down by the gracious energy of the Holy Spirit, will break out in its true character.
And it is just here, we doubt not, that so many sincere souls are perplexed and troubled. They are looking at themselves and reasoning upon what they see and feel, instead of resting in the truth of God and reckoning themselves to be what God tells them they are. They find it difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile what they feel in themselves with what they read in the Word of God — to make their inward self-consciousness harmonize with God’s revelation. But we must remember that faith takes God at His word. It ever thinks with Him on all points. It believes what He says because He says it. Hence, if God tells me that my old man is crucified and that He no longer sees me as in the old Adam state but in a risen Christ, I am to believe, like a little child, what He tells me and walk in the faith of it from day to day. If I look in at myself for evidences of the truth of what God says, it is not faith at all. Abraham “considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old; neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Rom. 4:19-20).
This is the great principle which underlies the whole Christian system. “Abraham believed God” — not something about God, but God Himself. This is faith. It is taking God’s thoughts in place of our own. It is, in short, allowing God to think for us.
Now, when we apply this to the subject before us, it makes it most simple. He that believes in the Son of God has everlasting life. Mark, it is not he that believes something about the Son of God. No, it is he that believes in Himself. It is a question of simple faith in the person of Christ, and everyone that has this faith is the actual possessor of everlasting life. This is the direct and positive statement of our Lord in the gospels. It is repeated over and over again. And this is not all. Not only does the believer thus possess eternal life, but by the further light which the epistles throw upon this grand question he may see that his old self — that which he was in nature — that which the Apostle designates “the old man” — is accounted by God dead and buried. This may be difficult to understand, but you must remember that you must believe, not because you understand, but because it is written in God’s Word. It is not said, “Abraham understood God.” No; he “believed God.” It is when the heart believes that light is poured in upon the understanding. If I wait till I understand in order to believe, I am leaning to my own understanding, instead of committing myself in childlike faith to God’s Word.
Ponder this! You may say you cannot understand how your sinful self can be looked upon as dead and gone while you feel its workings, its heavings, its tossings and its tendencies continually within you. We reply, or rather God’s eternal Word declares, that if your heart believes in Jesus, then all this is true for you, namely, you have eternal life, you are justified from all things, you are a new creation, old things are passed away, all things are become new, and all things are of God. In a word, you are “in Christ,” and “as He is, so are [you] in this world” (1 John 4:17).
And is not this a great deal more than the mere pardoning of your sins, the canceling of your debts, or the salvation of your soul from hell? Assuredly it is. And suppose we were to ask you on what authority you believe in the forgiveness of your sins. Is it because you feel, realize or understand? Nay, but because it is written, “To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Well, then, upon precisely the same authority you are to believe that your old man has been crucified, that you are not in the flesh, not in the old creation, not in the old Adam relation, but that, on the contrary, you are viewed by God as actually in a risen and glorified Christ — that He looks upon you as He looks upon Christ.
True it is—alas, how true! — the flesh is in you, and you are still here, as to the fact of your condition, in this old world, which is under judgment. But then, hear what your Lord says, when speaking about you to His Father: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” And again, “As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.”
Hence, therefore, if you will just bow to God’s Word, if you will not reason about what you see in yourself and feel in yourself and think of yourself, but simply believe what God says, you will enter into the blessed peace and holy liberty flowing from the fact that you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit — not in the old creation but in the new — not under law but under grace — not of the world but of God. You have passed clean off the old platform which you occupied as a child of nature and a member of the first Adam, and you have taken your place on a new platform altogether as a child of God and a member of Christ.
All this is vividly prefigured by the deluge and the ark, in the days of Noah. (See Genesis 68.) “And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Here, then, was, in type, the end of the old creation. All was to pass under the waters of judgment. What then? “Make thee an ark of gopher wood.” Here we have set forth a figure of the new thing. That ark, floating peacefully over the dark abyss of waters, was a type of Christ and the believer in Him. The old world, together with man, was buried beneath the waves of judgment, and the only object that remained was the ark — the vessel of mercy and salvation, riding in safety and triumph over the billows. Thus it is now, in truth and reality. There is nothing before the eye of God but a risen, victorious and glorified Christ and His people linked with Him. The end of all flesh has come before God. It is not a question of some very gross forms of “flesh” or of nature — of that merely which is “vile and refuse.” No; it is “the end of all.” Such is the solemn, sweeping verdict, and then — what? A risen Christ. Nothing else. All in Him are seen by God as He is seen. All out of Him are under judgment. It all hinges upon this one question, “Am I in or out of Christ?” What a question!
Are you in Christ? Do you believe in His name? Have you given Him the confidence of your heart? If so, you have “eternal life” — you are “a new creature” — “old things are passed away.” God does not see a single shred of the old thing remaining for you. “All things are become new. And all things are of God.” You may say you do not feel that old things are all passed away. We reply that God says they are, and it is your happy privilege to believe what He says and “reckon” yourself to be what He declares you are. God speaks according to that which is true of you in Christ. He does not see you in the flesh but in Christ. There is absolutely nothing before the eye of God but Christ, and the very weakest believer is viewed as part of Christ, just as your hand is a part of your body. You have no existence before God apart from Christ — no life, no righteousness, no holiness, no wisdom, no power. Apart from Him, you have nothing and can be nothing. In Him you have all and are all; you are thoroughly identified with Christ. Marvelous fact! Profound mystery! Most glorious truth! It is not a question of attainment or of progress. It is the settled and absolute standing of the feeblest member of the church of God. True, there are various measures of intelligence, experience and devotedness, but there is only one life, one standing, one position before God, and that is Christ. There is no such thing as a higher or lower Christian life. Christ is the believer’s life, and you cannot speak of a higher or a lower Christ. We can understand the higher stages of Christian life, but there is no spiritual intelligence in speaking of a higher Christian life.
This is a grand truth, and we earnestly pray that God the Spirit may open it fully to your mind. We feel assured that a clearer understanding thereof would chase away a thousand mists, answer a thousand questions and solve a thousand difficulties. It would not only have the effect of giving settled peace to the soul, but also of determining the believer’s position in the most distinct way. If Christ is my life — if I am in Him and identified with Him — then not only do I share in His acceptance with God but also in His rejection by this present world. The two things go together. They form the two sides of the one grand question. If I am in Christ and as Christ before God, then I am in Christ and as Christ before the world, and it will never do to accept the result of this union before God and refuse the result of it as regards the world. If we have the one, we must have the other likewise.
All this is fully unfolded in John 17. There we read, on the one hand, “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me” (vss. 2223). And, on the other hand, we read, “I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (vs. 14). This is as plain and positive as anything can be. And be it remembered that, in this wondrous scripture, our Lord is not speaking merely of the apostles, but, as He says, of “them also which shall believe on Me through their word,” that is, of all believers. Hence it follows that all who believe in Jesus are one with Him as accepted above and one with Him as rejected below. The two things are inseparable. The Head and the members share in one common acceptance in heaven and in one common rejection upon earth. Oh that all the Lord’s people entered more into the truth and reality of this! Would that we all knew a little more of the meaning of fellowship with a heaven-accepted, earth-rejected Christ!