MAN, in his very best estate, is unfit for the kingdom of God. He has been weighed in the divine balance, and found wanting. He has been tried and tested in every possible way, and proved to be utterly worthless. He cannot be trusted. "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man." (John 2:24, 2524But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:24‑25).) "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:88So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8).)
These are conclusive statements. There is no possibility of escaping their force and application. There is no exception to the solemn rule. When the Holy Ghost uses the term "flesh," He means the whole race, the whole human family, the first man and all his posterity. So also when He uses the term "man," He refers to the whole species. It is therefore wholly impossible for anyone (man, woman, or child) belonging to that species, that race, that family, to avoid the application of the solemn sentence: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Let the reader see well to it that he really understands the meaning and force of these words. It too often happens that we read, hear, and even quote passages of Scripture without understanding their true significance, their spiritual meaning, their proper bearing, their application to ourselves.
What, then, does the Holy Ghost mean when He says, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God"? What is the meaning of being “in the flesh"? Is it the same as being" in the body"?
Most certainly not. True Christians, children of God, genuine believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, are in the body "; but the Holy Ghost, in Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9), expressly tells such that they are not" in the flesh.”
What does this mean? It means that they are no longer viewed by God as connected with the first man, the old Adam, in the old creation. They have entered upon an entirely new footing; they belong to the second Man, the last Adam. (1 Cor. 15:45, 4745And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45)
47The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47).) They are "in the Spirit," in Christ, members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. They are a new creation. They have passed from the old platform of nature on to the new platform of grace. Hence, although they are "in the body," as to the fact of their condition, they are not "in the flesh" as to the ground or principle of their standing before God.
If we mistake not, it will immensely help the reader, in the clear understanding of this weighty subject, to bear in mind that Holy Scripture speaks of two men, the first man and the second. These two men are each presented as the head of a race. As is the head of the race, so is the race of which he is head. Every member of the race stands in the position of the head. There is no difference.
Now, if it be asked, "When did the first man become head of a race?" Was it before or after his fall? After, most surely. When the first Adam became the head of a race, he was driven out of paradise; he had lost his innocence; he was a ruined, outcast, sinful man, We speak, of course, only of Adam federally. Looked at personally, he was pardoned and saved hut he could not transmit his pardon, his salvation, or his new life, to his race, or to any single member thereof. These things are not hereditary.
They are the fruit of faith; and a father cannot believe for his son. All that belonged to the first man, personally and naturally, he could, in the way of nature, transmit to his posterity; but all that which he enjoyed by grace, through faith, was peculiar to himself, because faith is intensely individual.
It is of the very last possible importance to thoroughly understand this great foundation truth of headship. When the first man became head of a race, he was a fallen creature. Hence, if we look at Cain and Abel, we shall find in them a simple illustration of the truth that as is the head so are the members. Both these men were born in sin, and shapen in iniquity. There was no difference in their birth, their nature, or their moral condition. The apostle does not say that “by faith Abel was a better man than Cain "No; but “by faith he offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice." (Heb. 11:44By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4).) No doubt in their after history; we see the difference in the men, and the difference in their conduct; because Abel was born of God, and Cain was not. And thus it is that the apostle John presents the two men, when he says, “This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.'' (1 John 3:11, 1211For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. (1 John 3:11‑12).)
The apostle Paul, in Heb. 11, presents the principle on which Cain and Abel stood before God. The apostle John presents the nature and practice. In each we have the two men as representing the two races.
Abel took his true place as a sinner, and found refuge in the blood of the Lamb. Cain refused to do this, and took his stand upon his own doings.
Abel, by faith, placed the blood of a spotless victim between his sin and a holy God, thus he was saved, pardoned, accepted, justified. "By faith Abel offered unto God amore excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of" what? of himself? of his feelings? or even of his faith? By no means. What then? "God testifying of his gifts." (Heb. 11:44By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4).)
And what was it that distinguished Abel's gift? What marked it off from the offering of his brother? What gave it its value in the judgment of God, and made it the meritorious ground of his pardon and justification?
Blood!
Yes, reader, all was founded on the blood. Sin having come in, and death by sin, the only way of life, and the only ground of righteousness, is in "the blood of the Lamb." (Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25); Rom. 5:99Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9); Rev. 7:1414And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14).)
To this Cain would not listen, would not submit. He took his own way. He rested on his own doings. He brought a bloodless sacrifice, thus ignoring or denying his guilt. He brought the fruit of a cursed ground, without any blood, to remove the curse. Such was "the way of Cain." (Jude 1111Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jude 11).) Here lay his fatal mistake. He was rejected, not because he was a sinner, but because being a sinner, he had dared to approach a holy God without blood.
Doubtless, like thousands in this our day, Cain might reason and argue and speculate. He might think it far better, far more suitable, far more rational, far more natural, to bring fruits than blood. But, ah! reader, of what possible use can it be to argue and reason and speculate? Is it not far better at once to submit to God's way? He must have the upper hand at last; why not let Him have it now? Why not cast aside all our proud reasonings and lofty imaginations, and bow to His eternal word? That word shall judge at the last day, and it shall prevail forever. No power of earth or hell, men or devils, can possibly stand against the word of God; and hence it is the very height of folly and wild madness for anyone to set up his thoughts or his reasonings in opposition to the plain statements of holy Scripture; and, on the other hand, it is the beginning and end of all true wisdom to submit in all things to the absolute authority of that word which forever "is settled in heaven." (Psa. 119:8989LAMED. For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. (Psalm 119:89).)
Now, if there is one doctrine above another which shines with special luster, and stands prominently out on the page of inspiration, it is the glorious doctrine of "the blood." From Genesis to Revelation it runs like a broad golden line, visible to the most cursory reader. No sooner had sin entered, and man's nakedness become thereby apparent, than the Lord God Himself gave the first great testimony to the indispensable necessity of the blood, in the fact that the coats of skins with which He clothed the naked pair were furnished by the shedding of blood. (Gen. 3:2121Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21).)
What a telling fact! Adam and Eve had sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. But these proved perfectly worthless. They did not even satisfy their own minds.” was afraid, "said Adam," because I was naked." Yes, naked, though he had the apron on. He actually ignored his own device in the moment of real trial. He felt himself perfectly naked because his covering was a bloodless one.
It may perhaps be objected that this was a mere figure. Yes; but a figure of what? Of a great fact, the first of a series of facts which stud the Sacred Page from beginning to end, facts demonstrating beyond all question that in a world of sinners THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT IS THE ONLY BASIS OF ETERNAL LIFE AND DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS.
It is full of interest and spiritual instruction to note the moral link between Adam's apron and Cain's offering, on the one hand; and between God's coat and Abel's sacrifice, on the other. In the former, the blood is completely ignored; in the latter, it is divinely established. There is nothing which so completely sets man aside as the doctrine of the blood; and hence it is that his religious mind so entirely rejects it. Man will work, pray, give, suffer, in order to secure the salvation of his soul, because this gives him a place, and makes him somebody. But man will not accept and confide in the blood, because it makes nothing of all his efforts and all his pretensions. If it be true, and it is true, because God says it, that "without shedding of blood is no remission," then verily is man's religiousness utterly valueless, inasmuch as he can only be pardoned and justified by the death of another. (Heb. 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22); Rom. 5:8, 98But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:8‑9).)