There never could be any possibility of communion between God and man except on the ground of grace. This principle runs through everything, including God’s providential dealings with man; it is stamped upon all. Our hearts are never right with God unless we are standing on this ground of grace. Even in chastening us, it is the patience of God’s grace that is manifested in taking all possible pains with His children. It is easy for a parent to act in the way of love towards a pleasant child, but to go on patiently dealing with a disobedient and rebellious child is the proof of a great deal more love. If, in chastisement, in our desires after holiness, or in anything else, we do not realize our standing in grace, we get off the only ground of fellowship with God.
God Dealing in Grace
It may be difficult to see how God can deal in grace with a sinner, but in His dealings with Adam at the outset, this is brought out. There was no evidence of repentance in Adam when he was charging the fault on God and on the woman: “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Gen. 3:1212And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:12)). God immediately comes in on the ground of grace, saying, “The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head.” When no promise could be made to man, as man, grace comes in and sets us in fellowship with the “seed of the woman.”
Growing in Grace
Just as it is said of our blessed Lord that He “grew in wisdom and in stature,” so is the Christian expected to grow in grace and in the experience of God. Now the old man — that in us which Satan addresses and seeks to hinder — is therefore that with which the Lord deals. Through the evil of our sinful nature, external circumstances affect that which is within, causing conflict. At that point the secret working of God comes into play. Thus that which may be the exercises of our hearts in struggling against Satan may become identified with the chastening of God.
Our blessed Lord Himself learned obedience by the things which He suffered. But then He began at quite a different end from ourselves. Because we are disobedient, we have to learn this lesson, while He, in suffering, temptation and trial, practically learned obedience in a way in which He never could without His humbling Himself and taking the form of a servant.
Confidence in Christ
What we want to know more of is that faith which, having made proof of the Lord’s care, can fully confide in Him for all things, as the Apostle says, ”I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:1313I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13)). There is a great difference between knowing this as a principle in the beginning of our course and the being able to say, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content; I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.” We know that we have not all experimentally “learned” this, though as an abstract truth we may know it. I repeat, there is a great difference between a young Christian saying, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me,” and such a one as “Paul the aged” saying, “I have learned.” He could say it in practical fellowship with Christ; he had passed through all these trials and had proved the sufficiency of the Lord’s grace in them.
What Hinders Holiness
What hinders the development and manifestation of holiness in the saints? The old nature remaining unmortified. Through chastening and discipline, God brings us practically into fellowship with “His holiness.” He deals with our hearts, causing us, by the very conflict which He puts us into, to own, in the full consciousness of our own evil, that only One is good, even God.
What was the effect of the striving against sin (Heb. 12:44Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (Hebrews 12:4)) that the Hebrew Christians were called to? That of drawing out the evil of the flesh. The world called them to walk as the world. Satan found them as rebels in his kingdom; their temptation was to be frightened at his terrors. The Lord suffered all these trials and exercises to come upon them that the evil nature of their hearts might be discerned in its tendencies and that they might be matured into separation from evil, as well as matured in fellowship with God. What was it that produced this “striving against sin”? Conflict between Satan and man. But it tended to the discovery of that which was within themselves.
The Effect of Temptation to Jesus
The effect of presenting temptation to Jesus was to show that He was perfect in everything. In us it is the discovery of that in ourselves which would blunt the edge of our spiritual service and hinder our maturity in holiness. A person may walk a good while in the fullness of fellowship with God, and evil may have no actual power, or there may be the discovery of sin, and it may be struggled against, but where there are things indulged in, because we do not discern what their real tendency is, there comes in the Father’s chastening. We may look at it as the contradiction of sinners or as the power of Satan (and so it may be), but after all it is the constant exercise of the Father’s love, in order that we may be partakers of His holiness.
If man exalts himself, he will be humbled; when God exalts a man, there is no danger of this. Christ humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God in drinking the bitter cup which was given Him to drink; therefore God also highly exalted Him. If we would deliver ourselves and get out of this path of trial, it must be by some bypath, and we shall lose blessing. We must remember that in due time God will exalt us, and not a minute after the time. When He has wrought the whole purpose of His love, then He will exalt us.
Christian Friend (adapted)