How long it is before that believers in the Lord can understand that Christ must take the place of everything in and to the saints; that God's object in those " predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son" (He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature," Col. 1.) is, that they should, now in the liberty and power of the Spirit, " be changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3.), that as the Lord, the gracious Lord Jesus, represents them above, where He is at the right hand of power, so shall they, in their measures, be representing Him down here. The apostle could say, "to me to live is Christ, to die is gain." Was this the possession of the life; nay, more, its manifestation? " He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2.), always remembering, however, that He walked without sin or corruption; the saint, of himself, sinful and corrupt, has to be a debtor entirely to grace, and get victory over these things (through mortifying them) by the power of the Spirit of the living God. But how long, I would repeat (alas! the heart knows its own bitterness), it is ere the true saint gets into any measure of the experience which Paul gives us in Phil. 3.—the Lord Jesus found by him as righteousness divine (and he refuses any other); all was settled for his soul before the eternal God. The Lord then becomes the Object of the affection of his soul; the engrossing and only Object—" that I may win Christ," may know the " fellowship of His sufferings;" go through anything to reach Him,—if by any means, I might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead. Man's guilty, selfish need of soul must, indeed, first be met; his conscience must find peace; he must learn the infinite value of that most precious blood, his full divine title to stand in the glory of God,—he must believe that Christ " has made peace, through the blood of the cross," and go on to understand the wondrous provision of God's broad and deep mercy as unfolded in Rom. v., and here, after that all have been brought in guilty, every mouth stopped, all found sinners before a holy God, we find the three-fold provision of God's grace to meet all the need and condition of His people. First, peace with God for all that is passed; being justified on the principle of faith through our Lord Jesus. Secondly, for the present moment and wilderness journey, "access by faith, into this grace wherein we stand;" ample provision indeed! It is here that a stiff-necked people, alas! learn the riches of grace. Thirdly, for the eternal day," rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Such is our God and such our Father's everlasting mercy—His, who would not spare an only begotten Son, even Him that was in the bosom! Yet it is true of most of us, as the Lord once said, " O fools and slow of heart to believe:" so true, that nearly the lifetime passes in arriving at that which a soul, subject to the Holy Ghost and to the word, might quickly know; and thus, alas! they fail to realize God's object for them; they fail to make everything of Christ their own,—fail to find Him, not only life and righteousness, but wisdom, strength, motive and all; they fail to find "fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." They do not see that communion must go before walk and works, and all that which most may occupy their souls.
I would now refer to Scripture to open out and illustrate some principles of truth; and I would seek to press on my own soul and conscience, as well as on those of my readers, what it is which hinders our attainment of more power,—more, " ALWAYS bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (2 Cor. 4.).
It is not only the fruits (plentiful as they might be, alas!) of my evil nature that I am to judge, but the Root. It is not my besetments alone, bad as they may be, but the cause of them. it is the nature, the flesh (in the evil sense of it) that must be judged, in the light of the presence of the Lord; where alone sin is seen and known in its true character; and that essential truth learned, that " no flesh should glory in His presence;" that according as it is written, " he that glorieth, let him glory (boast) in the Lord." Many continue to mourn over and judge the fruits of an evil nature,-and thus carry on what a Puritan writer quaintly calls " the trade of sinning and repenting,"-yet more judge the nature itself in God's holy presence. Now, when the Lord was restoring Simon Peter (as in John 21.), did He charge Him with the fruit, the consequences of his unjudged nature? No, he pointed to the source; the self-confidence, the overweening presumption of Peter's nature. He judged the root, the cause of his fall. And so must we, if we are to know ourselves and to understand the true grace in which we stand. It is the perfectly good for nothing, totally ruined, helpless, wretched old man, which is put off, by the holy judgment of faith; the flesh seen reduced to the silence and contempt that belongs to it, before the glory of the cross of Christ. Yet the new man, in the creation, is able to make his boast in the Lord and in Him alone. What illustrations we find in God's word, in each dispensation, of what man, believing man, found when in the presence of God. Whether Abraham (into the chambers of whose heart the God of glory so shined, that he " obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went") or poor Jacob; whether Job or Isaiah. " Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts" (the Lord Jesus, compare John 12:4141These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:41)). Or whether it be Daniel, whose " comeliness was turned in him into corruption," or Ezekiel; whether Peter, or Paul, or John (who had to fall at the Lord's feet asdead), all show to us what the presence of the living God must produce on man when he gets there.
And now, dear reader, I would desire to make some close application to ourselves. Why is it that we know not more of power in our souls? more of that joy which the Holy Ghost gives to them that obey Him? It is a deeper joy than that which does with peace, accompany the full reception of the Gospel. We have theorized too much. We have been occupied with doctrine, yet detaching it far too much from Him, in whose glorious person all doctrine and all truth concentrate. Him, in whom, though humbled down here, " dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Some have been so occupied with their devotedness (excellent in itself), that that devotedness has been the object before the soul, rather than the person of the Son of God. The same may be said in regard of works and walk, both good in themselves; [and here, alas! the writer may freely say, how this is wrung from his own heart, when he remembers years of failure, mixed motives, years of not having the eye and heart on the Lord Jesus Himself.] And what was the cause of His judgment, whose " eyes were as a flame of fire" against Ephesus? Had they failed in works, in labor, in patience, in faithfulness against evil, in not fainting? No, but the sentence comes forth: " Nevertheless, I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first love." The true spring of devotedness had failed. It was not the constraining power of the love of Christ. It was not Himself depended upon and obeyed. He had not found the works perfect before His God, as He speaks to Sardis. As for us, supposing there has been, in a measure, the true judgment of nature in God's presence, and consequently the tasting of some liberty of soul, we have for full blessing, to go on in the path of obedience and dependence (the main springs of Christianity); obedience to God and to His word, the power of holiness; dependence, the way of strength. Whatever be the struggle, the blessed work of mortifying through the Spirit must be carried on, and the sense of responsibility be maintained to walk in the Spirit because we have the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, and our bodies His temple. There is, too, the fear of the Lord (" the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him," Ps. 25.); and we have to walk, dear reader, alone with God. Alas! (it must be confessed) often the meeting with saints, instead of imparting strength by communion, flowing from " fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ," brings weakness and disorder to the soul. To walk alone with God has been, from the beginning, and with all His people, the secret of true power. It is there and in true dependence the believer may hear that voice full of majesty and grace: " My grace sufficeth thee, for My power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may have its dwelling place upon me.
I would refer to John 14. as to the Lord's plain, practical teaching on obedience implying dependence. He reveals Himself there to the disciples (not as Messiah, but) in His full divine glory, as Son of God and Son of the Father,—the Object of their faith (ver. 1); of their worship (ver. 9), " he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father;" and, in the fullness of His love, utters those precious words: " I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also " (what loving hearts, the Bride's heart, should He find)! But, He continues: " At that day (the day of the Holy Ghost's presence), ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." Amazing responsibility, yet blessed truth for power. " He that hath My commandments (for He has a right to command), and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him." And in His answer to Judas (not Iscariot): "If a man love Me, he will keep my words" (implying more than commandments, the one who loves will diligently search the words and learn by the Spirit, in His intelligence, the mind of Christ), " and My Father will love him and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him." Most of us know that the promise to the poor sinner is unconditional, sovereign grace and mercy. The promise to the saint is conditional, and attached to obedience and a moral condition of soul. Consequently, I am not to be waiting for power to obey; but having life and grace flowing from that divine and eternal fullness, I am to obey, and power comes in doing so. There is the secret of hindrance to so many. It is not talking of grace, but the heart being "established in grace," we obey the written words and find the blessing follows. The Lord's words quoted above can bear no other interpretation, that is clear, and thus there may be the habitual waiting upon God, our expectation being from Him and Him alone, where all power is. To illustrate for every day practice. I meet men, even saints. My first turn is to be to the Lord, i. e., I must realize His presence, where alone I can find wisdom to speak aright. I meet circumstances, trying ones, too; it is in looking (off) unto Jesus, and seeing the glory there, and tasting the love, that strength is found " to lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset, and to run with patience the race that is set before us." It is thus, surely, that in obedience, with dependence, we get great strength. Satan, another has observed truly, has power against pretensions, mere knowledge and the like; but none against obedience.
We are to obey, in spite of difficulty, and not to allow our own will. Clear it is, that for all this I need the sense of the Lord's presence, and that I am there, and to taste His love. His death has rent the veil, and brought the believer into God's presence,—but to realize it with an ungrieved Spirit's help,—and there to taste of His love. " The love of Christ," the apostle says, " constraineth us." This is the spring of true devotedness here we may reckon ourselves dead and as risen. Men may mortify the deeds of the body, learning to live, in some way, a life of death in the mortal body. But, I would not dwell on the difficulty only—impossibility to flesh and blood—but I would dwell on this that we may reckon on the Lord's love. He gave Himself for us, laid down everything He could for the church; surely, then, we may reckon, and reckon holily, on every spring of power and sympathy in Him. It is well pleasing to Him, and to His Father and our Father, that in the confidence of His love we may expect all our souls' desire. Yea, it is according to that word of His own Son Jehovah Messiah down here: "Thou hast given him His heart's desire, and hast not withholder the request of His lips." Wonderful that we may apply it in our little measure! May the reader and writer both find the faith that overcomes,—through the knowledge of the glory of the person of the Son to which the promises attach: " To him that overcometh, will I grant to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." Wonderful token of His love! Amen.