XO 12:1-14{It may appear strange to some that, after having spoken of the climax of the work, I should come back to the foundation. But, if there is some defect in the foundation, it keeps us from traveling into the place which is now as much ours in title as it ever will be; it prevents our working out our salvation-that salvation which is ours already. You see if we have not left Egypt we cannot be in Canaan. Now I want -to turn your attention to the way in which you come out of Egypt.
There are two parts-in this coming out. One is the perfect way in which God provides the sacrifice. I was in the place where judgment was; I was exposed to judgment; nothing that I could do could shield me from it. So God sent His own Son to bear the penalty, and says: “When I see the blood I will pass over you." God makes a provision that suits Himself.
As to my state, it is one of death in trespasses and sins; so that if I were to set about meeting the account, about paying the debt, I should not know how; I have no power; it is the night of death. But now what God has done is to send His own Son, when man was quite dead, to answer to His Mind. He is proclaimed as His beloved Son on the Mount of transfiguration, and that too, as a man. But from that point He descends-the man who is the example-He descends to become a victim for us, because we were entirely away from God.
That is the first point, and I need not dwell upon it. But it is an immense, thing for us to see that God has satisfied Himself, and now He wants me to look at the One who has satisfied Him. God has honored His own provision; He Himself has done it. “You have destroyed yourselves, but in me is your help found." God has satisfied Himself, and now what He presents to me, is a look at the One who has satisfied Him. I know that He is satisfied, and that is my satisfaction. If it is a question of your own satisfaction, you will lose it; if you make the satisfying of your own conscience the measure of your satisfaction, you will lose it. For me it is not the mere fact that the debt is paid, but that He has done it, and that He is satisfied. If I once get this truth written upon my heart there will be no effacing it.
There is a difference between rubbing out a truth and covering it over; you may cover over a truth that has been written on your heart, but you will never rub it out. Just as in the old times the Roman consuls' names used to be cut upon the buildings they had erected; but the mason had cut his own name on the stone, and put the consul's only on a layer of plaster over it; so in time the plaster dropped off, and only. the mason's name remained. In the same way you may cover over truth written on your heart, but, when the covering has been taken off, there it is again. I have known people who have covered over truth for twenty years, but it will come out in the end, for you cannot get rid of what God has written.
I am looking at the One who has satisfied God, and I am not thinking whether I am satisfied myself or not. The point is that He is satisfied with the sacrifice that He has provided, and that He says: "When I see the blood I will pass over you."
Well, now I come to the second point, and it is this that I really want to speak to you about. There are two sides to the work. One is: “With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness;" the other is: “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation."—Now confession has a double character; it is private to the Lord, it is public to the world. The woman in the seventh of Luke believes the-report, and she says: That is my Savior. There is a wonderful correspondence between a Savior and a sinner; there is the same correspondence that there is between a person in a burning house, and a ladder put to the window. When the woman hears of Him she says at once: That is my Savior.
But the next point is, I must have to say to Him; and, that is where I believe so many souls are defective. You have to go and tell the Lord what He has done for you. When the ten lepers-were cleansed there were not found that returned to give glory to God but the one. It was not that they were not all cleansed, but that only one returned to give glory to God. That one got out -of all system; he overleaped the priest, and said: No, I will go back to the fountain head. His heart was carried by the Spirit of God back to the One from whom the blessing came.
The importance of the confession is, that the heart, in making it, has to do with the Person that wrought the work. I know many a person waiting, not satisfied in his own soul, through never having thus had to do with the Lord.
She stood " behind Him weeping."-No eye could see it; it happened between the Lord and herself. But, when I have thus had to do with Him, I get up with the conviction that I must, go now and serve Him. " With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation."-What do you mean by “mouth? "—Why I mean that it is a private and public testimony. It is just the difference between the sinner and the saint.—I say to all: Here is my Savior. Jonathan makes his confession before all the army; he says: I make a double confession; I make a covenant with David in private; and in public he took off all his garments and put them on the shepherd's son, " even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle." So she stands weeping behind Him, washes His feet with her tears, and anoints them with the ointment.
But when I come to the second alabaster box it is not any longer what He has done but what He is. The second alabaster box is buried in the tomb of Jesus. No person will ever use that alabaster box for Christ except those who have gone through death with Christ. The first has learned Christ in the judgment of death; the second has learned Christ in the calamity of death. You will never know what it is to give up position here till you know what it is to have Christ with you in the calamity of death.
Look at what is said in the Scripture; you are to go inside and eat the lamb. “They shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover." What was the eating of the apostle Paul during those three days when He neither ate nor drank? after them he went straightway into the synagogues and preached Jesus that He is the Son of God. I am done with everything here; Jesus is the Son of God; my loins are girded, my shoes on my feet, and my staff in my hand. Where are you going?-Oh, I am not going to, stop here any longer! it is all under Judgment; I have been feeding on the Lamb; I have ate of Him as- the One with bitter herbs my soul has entered into it, and what now? I am not going to stay here any longer.
There is a mistake in the way in which the figure of the life boat is generally used which makes it defective as an illustration. Did you ever know a man who was in a life boat who did not wish to get out of it as fast as he could? He says: It is all very well to be saved by this boat, but Oh, put me on dry land! I have had enough of the water; only put me safe on dry land I Now you do not get a bit of truth that does not add to the foundation. I could not explain it to a builder, but so it is; edification increases the foundation. It gives me a deeper sense of what that blessed One went into for me, the more I rise up to the heights of what He is in Himself. The moment I get thoroughly satisfied with Christ, I do not dwell upon anything here; I get the great principle of separating from everything in this scene.
The great loss to souls in this present day is the little they leave the world; with the glory gospel clearer than ever it was, there is less leaving of the world than there was thirty-five years ago; everything goes on just the same as before they professed to be Christ's; not a bit of change, even as to dress. It is a remarkable thing that the persons who have gone into the greatest crimes are the people who are always talking of their sins. A person always talking of his sins has not got clear hold of his Savior. You are not really clear about your sins, and so you try to make them less by talking of them, whereas you ought to be exulting in your Savior. The purer the light, the better and the truer the judgment of sin.
I have not been speaking of conscience of sin, but of conscience of the benefit I have received. I believe there are hundreds and thousands of people all over the world who, if they were to go down on their knees, and tell the Lord that He was their Savior, would rise up perfectly happy. They know the value of the blood, but they have never told the Lord what it is to them, so they have never heard Him say to them as He did to the woman in Luke, and to other women, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace; and He speaks in just the same way to the leper who returned. And, besides this, there is not only the necessity
of telling the Lord, but a there is the benefit of acting up to your own impressions. When you act in accordance with your impressions you always strengthen your impressions; if you do not act in accordance with them you make an infidel of yourself. There may be any length of time between the faith and the act, but it is always the act which proves the measure of the faith. There is forty years difference between James and Paul; between the works that proved the faith, and the faith that brought forth the works.
The Lord lead our hearts to understand what the foundation is. The Lord give us to understand His own sovereign grace thus coming in to meet us in all our ruin. I can look up to Him and say, there is not a cloud between us. And as I feed upon that blessed One I leave the place where my Savior died.