Rom. 7; 8 (Continued)
Grace supposes all the sin and evil that is in us, and is the blessed revelation that through Jesus all this sin and evil have been put away. A single sin is more horrible to God than a thousand sins, nay, than all the sins in the world, are to us; and yet, with the fullest consciousness of what we are, all that God is pleased to be towards us is love! It is vain to look to any extent of evil: a person may be (speaking after the manner of man) a great sinner, or a little sinner; but this is not the question at all. Grace has reference to what God is, and not to what we are, except indeed that the very greatness of our sins does but magnify the extent of the “grace of God.” At the same time we must remember, that the object and necessary effect of grace is to bring our souls into communion with God, to sanctify us, by bringing the soul to know God and to love Him. Therefore the knowledge of grace is the true source of sanctification.
If grace then be what God is toward me, and has nothing at all to do with what I am, the moment I begin to think about myself as though God would judge me because of my sins, it is evident that I am not then consciously standing in grace. The heart naturally has these thoughts, and indeed it is also one of the effects of being awakened; for the conscience then begins directly to reason about what God thinks of it. But this is not grace. The soul that turns back upon itself to learn God's judgment about it, and what His dealings with it are likely to be, is not leaning upon what God is—not standing in grace.
I have said that there are two things which, though quite distinct, are nevertheless frequently confounded in the minds of the saints: a bad conscience; and the “groaning” of the spiritual man because of evil around. The moment we get a little away from the sense of grace, we shall be in danger of confusing these together. Suppose for instance that I, as a saint, am sensible of the terrible weight of evil which is all around me, and groan about it, soon (unless it be guarded against) this will mix itself up with trouble of conscience: I shall lose the sense of God's love and put myself under law. But a saint may “groan” thus without at all losing the consciousness of love, nay, for the very reason that he has it.
When the Lord Jesus “groaned in himself” and wept at the grave of Lazarus, His deep sense of the sorrow which sin had brought into the world did not affect that of His Father's love. We find Him using at the same time the language of the fullest confidence in that love: “Father, I know that thou hearest me always.” And so a Christian may be sorrowful, but should not on that account feel as though God were not love, or lose the sense of His grace. Love to others combined with a spiritual perception of evil will cause us much sorrow. Jesus felt this infinitely more than we can ever do; because the power of love in His heart made Him so much more deeply sensible of the dreadful weight of evil which was pressing on the hearts of others. He felt the miseries around Him in proportion as He knew the blessedness and love of the Father's presence.
We have “suffering,” “groaning,” &c., spoken of in Rom. 8 Paul groaned within himself from the consciousness of infirmity, from distress, trials, &c.; but this raised no question in his mind about the certainty of God's grace, quite the contrary. The more conscious we are that “the Spirit dwelleth in us,” the more we shall “groan.” The more certain we are of blessing, the more we realize grace, the more we know of God's love, and the effects of that love, the more we shall “groan” at all that is at present around us; but not as though these things brought the smallest cloud over divine favor. Paul is spoken of as “groaning” in spirit, and why? He realized the result of the “grace in which he stood.” Through the power of faith being made conscious of the blessings which are his, he groans within himself after them; but never as if there were the slightest doubt respecting his salvation. Delivered he is from all uncertainty as to the fullness, the freeness, of divine favor towards him; and in the consciousness of this he “groans within himself, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body.”
The end of chapter 7 describes quite another sort of groaning, though, as before remarked, the two are often confounded together; because, as sin is still dwelling in us (in our flesh), those who are not really established in grace do not discern the difference between them. It will be noticed that the close of the chapter is full of what people call experience; not of that which is (properly speaking) Christian experience, but of the thoughts of the mind within and about itself. The state described is that of a person, quickened indeed, but whose whole set of reasonings centers in himself. I could not venture to say how many times he says “I,” and “me:” the latter half of the chapter is full of it.
Observe the difference of expression in verse 14, “We know that the law is spiritual:” all Christians know that; but then does he say, “we know that we are carnal, sold under sin?” No, “I am carnal, sold under sin!” He turns back immediately to self and to the judgment which, being quickened, he had formed of himself by his own experience, as under the law, and begins to reason about what he is before God, and not about what God is towards him; and the consequence is that he exclaims, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” It is experimental work. So it is with us; directly we begin to reason about ourselves, we can only say, “O wretched man that I am!” What should I do? I hate sin, I wish to please God, I confess that the law is good; but the more that I see it is so, the worse it is for me, the more miserable I am!
Is there a word of grace in all this? Not even a word. When he brings in Christ at the close, then he is able to thank God. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The chapter is full of a great deal of truth, in the experience of the individual mentioned; but it is truth stopping short of grace, of the simple fact that (whatever be his state, let him be as bad as he may) “God is love,” and only love towards him. Instead of looking at God, it is all “I,” “I,” “I.” In verse 15, six times over does he speak of himself, his own thoughts; and though some of these were spiritual, yet it is, “What I hate, that I do,” “When I would do good, evil is present with me” All this may be very profitable experience to bring us to the conviction of our utter hopelessness in ourselves. Still let us put it in its right place, and remember that it is not, properly speaking, Christian experience, but that it only describes the feelings of a soul that has not yet fully and experimentally known the simple fact, that “when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly;” or else that of one who, through the workings of the flesh, has slipped back to looking at himself, and at what he is, instead of looking at God—at grace.