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THE PRESENCE OF THE SON OF GOD

John 4:5 - 26; Luke 10:38 - 42

It is a great thing to get a right idea of christianity in its true meaning and power, and I am looking at this time at christianity in that sense -- I mean, as the work of God. Of course, we may look at christianity in connection with the faith of man, because christendom has been formed by the faith of man; it is made up of those who profess to believe on Christ. A great many now have been born into it, but still in a general way christendom has been made up by the faith of man. But there is another side to the truth, the work of God; and the true power of christianity lies not in the faith of man -- though not apart from it -- but in the work of God. I do not think anybody would be prepared to gainsay that. That is what I want to dwell upon now, because I think it is of the greatest importance that all of us should understand the nature of God's work. It is presented to us in Scripture that we may know it in its character and effect.

We get remarkable instances presented to us in Scripture of the work of God and of its effect. One instance given to us is that of the woman of Samaria, and I have taken it up to give you, if I could, an idea of the work of God and its effects in the soul.

And let me say this, that what God does He does alone; nobody else interferes; it is God's work from beginning to end, and He produces the result that He intends. A servant may have a certain idea of what he intends to produce, or would produce if he could, but he may fail in it. There are very few servants of the Lord, I think, that do not encounter disappointment in that way; they fail of their object. But God never fails of His object. He sets Himself to accomplish a certain purpose, and He does accomplish it without fail. That is as certain as that God is God.

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I read the passage at the end of Luke 10 because it presents to us the attitude of a person who recognises the work of God. That is what we see in Mary. She was not active or bustling or excited, but wanted to get the word of Christ. I think she is an advance, in a certain sense, upon what we have in the preceding incident, the man that fell among thieves. She represents to us what would be the proper attitude of a man to whom Christ had become a neighbour. If I find Christ to be my neighbour, then I want to hear the word of Christ. I feel that Christ has something peculiar to say to me which no one else can say, and I want to hear what He has to teach me. It is a great point for all of us to be attentive to hear what Christ has to say to us. If Christ has healed our wounds, set us on His own beast and taken care of us, that does not close His dealings with us. He has something to say to us, and it is a great thing if our ears are open to what He has to say. We need to hear the word of Christ. And what is that? It is really the expression of Himself.

Now I take up the case of the woman of Samaria because I think she represents in a very remarkable way the work of God. It is a sample or representative case. There are two parts in it. The first is the subduing power from without, that brings her down completely and the second is the source and spring of power within, which springs up into eternal life. I want to bring before you the extraordinary forces which are thus brought into operation in order that grace may effect its work. In the world men comprehend what great forces mean, and they understand how to concentrate natural forces to accomplish a particular object; but I want you to see the forces which are brought into operation that Christ may effect His purpose. This is a typical case. There is first the outward subduing power which brings the woman down to nothing, which breaks down all her

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self-confidence, and puts aside all her thoughts and ideas. The effect is very much like the case of Mary at the feet of Jesus. She is subjected or subdued by the word of Christ. But that is only one side. There is an equivalent force within the woman which springs up unto everlasting life. I want just to speak of these two sides of the work of God.

Christianity consists, I think, in two things -- on the one hand man's complete deliverance from all that to which he is in bondage by reason of sin, and on the other hand the formation of new relationships and of the affections which are suited to those relationships. I have no doubt at all that there is many a believer in Christ, as Lord, who knows very little indeed about the true power of christianity. I want to bring before you these two things: first, the emancipation of the man (who is very much in the position naturally of a bond slave, whom grace comes in to set free), and then the formation of new relationships and of the affections suited to them.

If you were to ask me what constitutes a man, the answer I should give would be this: I judge man to be made up of body and mind, relationships and affections. I think if you take that in, you will admit the truth of it. It is true whether we speak of the old man or of the new. God made man thus at the beginning. He made him body and mind, and set him in certain relationships, with affections suited to those relationships. The same is true of the new man. Grace sets us in certain relationships and forms affections which are suited to those relationships. But at the same time there is the complete deliverance of the man from all that to which he is naturally in bondage.

The work of God is a great work. Nothing can be more amazing than God's work with regard to a poor soul, and the wonderful character of the forces which He employs to carry it out. I think if you apprehend

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it you would understand the immense value of a single soul in the sight of God. Here in John 4 it is not a preaching of the gospel to masses, but a simple case of the work of grace with regard to one single individual, though this case is no doubt a typical one. The same forces have been brought to bear upon each one of us, and with the same object: emancipation and subjection on the one hand, and the formation of affections suited to new relationships on the other.

There are two great thoughts of which I am going to speak in connection with the passage referred to in John 4first, the way in which Christ presents Himself to the soul, and next, the well of water, the spring which the Lord would communicate to this poor woman or to any believer: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life". May God give me grace to show to you what it is that subdues the soul: the presentation of Christ Himself; and on the other hand, what it is that springs up in the believer; and if you put these two things together, I think each one would be prepared to admit that there is not very much of you and me left. What is of us is subdued, and what springs up is entirely and completely new; it is the effect and fruit of what Christ is.

I speak first of the subduing, and I think it contemplates this, that a soul has really come to Christ. I do not think you would understand it without first seeing that the soul has really come to Christ, having received the gift which Christ gives. And I would ask if this is true of all of us. Have you really come to Christ? You may have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you may confess Him as Lord, and yet keep Him at a distance. If I think of Him as Lord, He is very great, He is at the right hand of God, I have not sensibly come very close to Him. But there is another light in which Christ may be apprehended: as the Giver of the

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living water; and when you begin to apprehend Him in that light then you get near to Christ, and are conscious of having received from Him the gift of the living water which springs up in you unto eternal life. I judge it is the soul's apprehension of the Lord Jesus Christ as the blessed Son of God. I think we all begin by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ -- because the testimony is of the Lord Jesus Christ -- and the confession of Him as Lord; but there is an advance on this, and that is the apprehension of Him in the soul as the Son of God who gives the living water. "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely", Revelation 22:17.

Now let me say a word here about the death and resurrection of Christ. What was effected in the death of Christ? I do not speak at present about righteousness, or in regard to the sacrifice, but of the death of Christ as the revelation of God. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom -- God was revealed. The resurrection of Christ, on the other hand, is not exactly the revelation of God, but the setting forth of God's pleasure in regard to man. I want you to apprehend this thought and to meditate upon it. The death of Christ is the revelation of God. It is there that we learn God's love: "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us", Romans 5:8. And the rending of the veil was the significant witness on the part of God, that God was fully revealed in love to man. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". That was brought to light when the Son of man was lifted up. The Lord Jesus could say, "It is finished", and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. What was finished? Well, I have no doubt the will of God was completed, but at the same time there was a full revelation of God in His love to man. He never

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came out fully till the death of Christ, not even in the presence of Christ in life on the earth. Consequently all that system which the veil represented came to an end, for God was no longer hidden, but was in the light of the full revelation of Himself

But in the resurrection of Christ we have, as I have already said, not so much the revelation of God as the setting forth of God's pleasure in regard to man. So we read that Christ was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification (Romans 4:25). This was God's pleasure in regard to man, that man should be justified. And we are justified by faith "on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead". There was the setting forth of God's pleasure, not only in regard to Christ but in regard to man. I think if you take in the two thoughts I have mentioned, you will be convinced that the death and resurrection of Christ are great subjects for the contemplation of the believer, and if one contemplate nothing else there is a vast deal to be learnt there.

It is on the ground of the death of Christ that the living water is communicated. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water". That is to say, the intimation made here by the Lord to this woman is that He is the Giver of the gift of God. That is what marks Christ. Therefore you can understand that it necessarily follows that He is the Son of God. Certainly no man, however exalted, could give the gift of God. No one could give the gift of God except One who is Himself God. The One who on the cross glorified God, and in whom God was perfectly revealed, is the Giver of the gift of God. It was the One of whom Jesus had spoken to Nicodemus in the previous chapter (verses 16), and He comes out in this chapter, not as the Son of man lifted up, but as the Giver of the gift of God.

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The gift of God I take to be the living water, but Christ is the One who gives it and I think that many persons have received the gift of the Holy Spirit before they are conscious of having received the gift from Christ. It is only perhaps when one apprehends Christ as the blessed exponent of the love of God that the soul is conscious of having received the gift which Christ gives. If I apprehend the Son of God, and the gift which He gives, there can only be one effect, I am subdued in the presence of the love of God. It is such a wonderful thing that the Son of God should have come forth from God to be the Giver of the gift of God, that the soul of man is completely subdued before Himself. Do you think that any soul naturally believes that God "gives"? No, I think the natural thought is that God "expects". It is a new light entirely in which to apprehend God, that He gives, and that the Son of God has come forth to make Him known and to communicate the gift of God.

It is perfectly blessed to see the way in which God has been pleased to express Himself, so as to make Himself known to man. The One who came here to make God known, and who went to the cross that God might be fully set forth, as He never could have been in any other way, is the One who gives the gift of God. And I desire for every reader, that your soul might be in the presence of the Son of God. I want you to apprehend the moral greatness of the Son of God. There, and there only, I think you will learn your own exceeding littleness. But I pass on to another point in connection with the passage.

If you look at verses 15 - 26 you get another light in which to regard the Son of God, the Giver of the gift. He is now the prophet. And how? Because He is the mouthpiece of God. And in connection with Him as prophet we have a most important truth, that His word searches the conscience of man. The woman felt herself brought by the word of Christ into the

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presence of God; she became conscious that she was in the presence of One whose word searched her conscience. Now I think we have all to enter into the same thing. There is fulness of grace in the Lord Jesus, but at the same time if you have come into the presence of the Son of God you have become alive to the fact that His word searches your conscience. It is in the presence of Christ that we learn our own contrariety. He makes known to us what is of God, and it is in the light of that that a man learns himself. It is in the presence of love that you learn what the will and life and heart of man are. Never till a man is brought into the light, to learn what God is, does he really learn what he himself is. The darkest picture of man in the whole compass of Scripture is found perhaps in the epistle to the Ephesians. The Ephesians had come into the light of God and so the darkness of man's heart was fully manifested.

A christian may go on for many a long day before he really finds out what the springs within him are, but a day comes when he gets a revelation of what is there. And how? The light of Christ searches his conscience and makes him aware of the dreadful contrariety and perversity of the human heart. Look at the best of men in regard to God, and what is he? His heart is contrary and perverse; its very springs are diametrically opposed to the springs in the heart of God. Do you know the difference between love and lust? Lust gratifies itself: if a man loves drink, for instance, he will sacrifice everything, his friends, his family, his health, for the gratification of his lust. Love on the contrary seeks not its own gratification, but the gratification, the happiness, of its object. God seeks the good, the blessing of the objects of His love. I quite admit it is for His own ultimate joy and satisfaction, but that is found in the object of His love being completely blessed and satisfied.

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Now I would dwell a little on this truth: that the Son of God who communicates the gift of God is the Prophet whose word searches the conscience and makes a man know what is in himself. It is a very great moment when a man learns what he is in the sight of God. He comes to this: "I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing". How does a man find that out? By the light of God. The light makes my contrariety manifest, and I learn this more and more every day as I go on. I come to the conclusion that in me good does not dwell.

But now another point of view comes out from which to regard Christ. He knows all the will of God. The woman begins to talk about worship, and raises the question whether Jerusalem or mount Gerizim is the true place; but she is immediately stopped by Christ, who tells her that it is now neither the one nor the other; and He reveals to her God's will in regard to worship. He is the Prophet who searches the heart of man, but He is at the same time the One who knows all the will of God, even in regard to worship. The woman now comes to this point, "I know that Messias cometh, ... when he is come, he will tell us all things", and the Lord immediately answers, "I that speak unto thee am he". And He has told her as to worship: "The hour cometh, ... when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth". He could tell her what the Father was seeking, and also what was suitable morally to God. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth".

I want you to put these things together. I am sure I have presented them poorly, but my object is to press that it is in the presence of Christ that we are completely subdued. You are never completely subdued till you come to close quarters with Christ; and christians are often not subdued because they are content with believing on Christ as Lord, and never

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come to close quarters with Him. If they did they would have no more spirit left in them, they would have a subduing sense of His greatness, and would know Him as the Giver of the living water, as the One whose word searches the heart and makes known everything there; and at the same time He makes known perfectly what the mind and will of the Father is, and what is suitable to God. I was only recently reading a psalm which is no doubt familiar to all of us: "Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me". That is just what the word of Christ does.

Now I am going to speak a few words on the other side, but I desire first that every one should have a true apprehension of Christ, that you may be brought to close quarters with Him so as to be completely subdued in His presence. Nothing will really subdue a man but the apprehension of what Christ is as giver, and of what He knows on your side and on God's side. When the queen of Sheba saw the grandeur of Solomon, of his house, his servants, the magnificence of all his appointments, there was no more spirit left in her; and it is as we see the moral grandeur of Christ, the Son of God, who gives the living water, whose word searches the conscience, and who knows and reveals all the will of God, that there is no more spirit left in us. I would that my own and every other soul were really in the presence of His greatness, and completely subjected by it. I daresay you remember a verse in Philippians 3, which speaks of our looking for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, "who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body". But now mark the rest of the passage: "according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself". Angels and principalities and powers are made subject to Him, but there is at the same time a spiritual subduing, which is going on now in souls, and which will take effect even in regard to the body,

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when it will be fashioned like unto Christ's body of glory.

But I want to come back for a moment to the well of water which Christ gives. I have been speaking of the force which acts upon us from without, that is what is presented to us as objective, what Christ is, His greatness as the Son of God. Now I want to speak of the other side: the water which He gives. It is a well of water springing up into everlasting life. What are you and I between the power of Christ on the one hand, and the well of water springing up on the other? We are not of very much account, except in the eye of God. There is not much of us left standing. All a man's self-confidence and self-importance is completely subdued and broken down by the greatness of Christ. A man does not think very much of himself when he apprehends the Son of God. He may have had a certain standing and importance previously in the world, but all this is broken to pieces in the presence of the greatness of the Son of God, and the revelation of God's love, and the gift of the living water.

Christianity, in the true power of it, as I said before, consists in relationships and affections. The grace of God has set us in the place of children before Him, the Father. We have that truth in the first chapter of this gospel: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name". But there is not only the fact of our being put in the place of children, but also the formation, the springing up, of affections which are suited to the relationship in which we are placed. Take any house in the world, the greatest and grandest you like, what is it without the affections which are suited to the relationships which exist there? I am afraid there are houses where those affections are lacking. If a person comes to my house I do not want his attention to be occupied with the surroundings,

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the furniture and the like, I want him to see me at home; and the true adornments of my house are the affections which are proper to the relationships which subsist there. You have been in houses perhaps where the appointments are all that could be desired, but where there is a great lack of the affections which are suited to the relationships subsisting in the house. I should not like to have a fine house and gardens and all the surroundings perfectly in keeping, and everything inside the house in moral disorder. The true adornment of a man's house, as I have said, is the affections proper to the relationships which exist there; and a man is not fit to be an overseer in the house of God if he has not got his own house in order. I say again, and I think every one here will agree in it, that the real adornment and attraction in every well-ordered house are the affections suited to the relationships subsisting there.

Now the same thing is true in God's family. We are put into the place of children, but besides that we are formed in the affections which are suited to children, and that is the work of the Spirit which you have received from Christ, the Son of God. The Spirit we have received is the Spirit of God's Son, and therefore you could never have received that Spirit except from Him. And the Spirit of the Son of God in the believer cries Abba, Father, the first indication and expression of affection. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us" (Romans 5), and your first response to that love is in crying Abba, Father. But that is the beginning only. It is one thing for the Spirit in me to cry Abba, Father, it is another thing for the well of water to spring up in me into everlasting life. The Spirit of God does all the work Himself. The effect of the springing of the well of water in the believer is so to control him as that affections may spring up in him. Affections of which

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God is the source spring up in the believer, and they reach to eternal life. It refers to the whole system and framework of affections formed in the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit. It would be useless to talk about relationships unless there were affections suited to those relationships. Then also you have your loins girt about with truth, all your affections regulated by the light of God, the revelation of God, and of His blessed will, brought home to the heart in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Man, as I said before, consists of body and mind, relationships and affections; and God has been pleased to place us in relationship to Himself as children, in relationship to Christ as brethren, and in relationship to the saints. We are the objects of the Father's love, Christ loves us, and we love one another. Where do these affections spring from, whose affections are they? They are your affections. The Spirit of God forms them, and in a sense He keeps Himself in the background. In the epistle to the Romans, where everything is fundamental, you get a great deal about the Spirit of God; in Colossians, which carries you a little further, into the great reality of the christian circle, the Spirit is scarcely mentioned. You get the saint formed in divine affections and sensibilities, and the Spirit of God is behind it all. The well of water has sprung up into everlasting life.

If Christ is the object of our hearts there will be the subduing on the one hand, and on the other there will be the well of water in the believer which springs up into eternal life. The question of eternal life has been very much talked about and debated recently, and I have observed that the people who have been most ready to talk about it, and have insisted most on it, knew little about it except in terms. It is easy enough to know these things in terms, but that is not christianity. I repeat that the power of christianity consists in the relationships in which it has pleased

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God to set us, and the affections which are proper to those relationships. And in the beginning of things, where everything is fundamental, where you have the foundations presented, the Spirit of God is prominent; but there is a certain process goes on, and when the work of the Spirit is effectual in the saints and suitable affections are formed in them, the Spirit of God, so to speak, holds Himself in the background.

Let us go back for a moment to the mighty forces which have been brought to bear upon poor things like you and me. There is the mighty subduing power of the Son of God without, and the energy of the Holy Spirit within. The great point for us is to submit, and not to set our puny silly wills against the Son of God. You may suffer the deprivation of some things that you would like down here, but accept the subduing, and do not set up your will against the greatness of the Son of God, and you will then get the blessed power of the Spirit of God in you springing up into eternal life.

I will tell you the secret of happiness. Happiness is what people of all sorts pursue according to their various ideas, without knowing the secret of it. Happiness is in the full exercise of holy affections in perfect rest of spirit. That will be your eternal portion in heaven. You will have part in divine affections and in divine rest. God will rest in His love. And what a work God works in us to bring us into a scene of perfect rest, and at the same time of the fullest and freest exercise of spiritual affections. We love God, we love the Father, we love Christ, and we love the saints.

That is the result that the Lord put before this woman. The Lord brings her between those mighty forces, and what becomes of her? She is nothing. Nicodemus might have been put between those mighty forces, and Nicodemus would have been nothing. Nathanael, or you and I, become nothing between the

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subduing power of the Son of God on the one hand, and the mighty power of the Holy Spirit within us on the other. But at the same time you get the springing up of those blessed affections which reach to eternal life in a scene where there remains nothing for the heart to desire -- a scene of perfect rest.

May God give us to know something of His work. I feel for many christians, especially for the young -- if my heart goes out to anybody in this world it is to young christians -- in that they suffer the loss of some things to which they might think themselves entitled. I have seen it in my own children. They go out in desire after certain things in the world that they think themselves entitled to. I would be sorry to deprive any one of anything to which he might think himself entitled in this world, but you can get full compensation in the knowledge of the love of Christ, in the blessed relationships into which He brings you, and in the spiritual affections which are the proper accompaniments of those relationships. You may well be content to be deprived for a moment down here of things which you naturally like, for the sake of the compensation. Nothing is more painful to me than to see a person who has apparently made a great surrender for the sake of the truth and has failed to get compensation. I cannot think that anyone could make any sacrifice for the truth's sake to whom Christ would not give the most ample compensation.

May God give us to feel and know that if we suffer a little deprivation, yet we have manifold more in this present time and in the world to come eternal life!

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GOD'S HOUSE

Luke 15

I want to say a little at this time of the character of God's house. This comes before us in Luke 14 and 15 in the way of parables: the parables represent the truth of it. You could not understand the parables of Scripture if the Holy Spirit were not here to expound them; but when you get the exposition, you see in how very striking a manner the truth is presented in the parables.

It is noticeable that you get the idea of the house in both these chapters: first in connection with the Supper, "Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled"; then at the close of chapter 15, "he came and drew nigh to the house". You must divest your mind of the idea that heaven is presented in these scriptures: it is God's house that is seen, connected with what transpires here upon earth. It has been pointed out that you would not get the elder brother in heaven; hence, from the introduction of the elder brother, it is evident that the house refers to what takes place upon earth.

I think the point of this chapter is that everything is for God: it is not a question in it of what man gets the rejoicing is on the part of God. In the first parable, the man rejoices; in the second, the woman rejoices; and there is fellowship in the rejoicing, others are led to rejoice with them; in the third parable, the Father justifies the rejoicing: "it was meet that we should make merry".

If you take the three parts of the parable together, the idea is evidently rejoicing on the part of God. It is not a question of what the sheep, or the piece of silver, or the prodigal gained, but of what God gained, and the effect of it: all that transpires affords satisfaction to God; God has His own satisfaction in His own

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house. What comes out of that is that in chapter 15 man is everything for God: he becomes the occasion of rejoicing to God; in chapter 14, man is nothing. When man is anything in his own eyes, or thinks anything of himself, he does not come in to the Supper; it is only when he comes to the sense that he is nothing that he comes in to the Supper: he is compelled to come in. It has been said that in chapter 14 you get God's house, and in chapter 15 the guest; but to my mind the point in chapter 14 is that man is nothing, it is his side; and in chapter 15 God is everything, and man is for God. Whilst man is brought into God's house, all the rejoicing of God is connected with man: man becomes the subject of the rejoicing of heaven.

First let me say a word in connection with the Supper in chapter 14. I understand the Supper to be the celebration of grace. The Spirit has come down to bring us into the celebration of grace; therefore you find that wonderful things take place in the power of the Holy Spirit. The early disciples were full of joy and gladness, for the Holy Spirit was bringing the mind of man into concert with heaven. I understand the kingdom to be God's celebration of righteousness; righteousness was accomplished in the death of Christ. The resurrection of Christ was God's testimony of righteousness; no one is justified short of faith in the resurrection of Christ, because that is God's testimony; no one is approved of God who does not believe in the resurrection of Christ. But you must go a point further. The disciples saw Jesus go up: a cloud received Him out of their sight, He was received up to heaven and went to the right hand of God, angels and principalities and powers being made subject to Him (1 Peter 3:22). In verse 18 of that chapter Christ has suffered to bring us to God; righteousness was accomplished; in verse 21 you get the testimony, and the answer of a good conscience

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towards God by the resurrection of Christ: a man gets a good conscience in having accepted the testimony of resurrection. Then in verse 22 you get the celebration: the Holy Spirit has come down to report the glory of Christ, to bring man's mind into the light of and into accord with what has been accomplished in heaven. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit which brings about the great Supper; and souls are compelled to come in, that God's house may be filled. I think there are limits to a house: a house conveys the impression of limits, like the three measures of meal; but at the same time they are compelled to come in that God's house may be filled.

It is of all importance, when souls have accepted the testimony of God, that they should be brought into christian fellowship, into the place where the rejoicing is. There must be a great lack on the part of people who, when they have accepted the testimony, fail to come consciously into the place where the Holy Spirit is, that is, fail to recognise God's house. They do not get into joy, into sympathy with heaven, and I think it is because they fail to recognise God's joy and the presence of the Holy Spirit here. If that were recognised, all misgivings would disappear, and believers would be brought by the Spirit into the mind of heaven. God's testimony is the ground for faith; but the Holy Spirit has come down to witness to the delight which heaven has in that which has been accomplished for man here upon earth. Hence there is joy in the Holy Spirit. When people are converted they are generally carried into some sect or system -- very often to sacramentalism, and come under the influence of clergy. That is not the idea of God's house: if they were brought into the sense of God's house and the presence of the Spirit, it is my conviction that they would very soon be in accord with the mind of heaven. You cannot ignore or disregard the Holy Spirit with impunity. Many christians are not

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bright because they practically ignore the presence of the Spirit. Souls can only thrive in God's house, where God's Spirit resides, and only in that way can they be brought into communion with heaven. The effect of it will be that they are filled with joy in the Holy Spirit. At the beginning christians did not mind suffering, they were filled with joy.

First, then, you have the accomplishment of righteousness, secondly the testimony of righteousness, and lastly the celebration of righteousness. Now if you enter the house of God, you have to be nothing. If a man is to be exalted, he has to take the lowest room: if he accepts the presence of the Spirit and the truth of God's house, he has to come down from all high thoughts. In the latter part of chapter 14 another point comes out: if a man is going to be a disciple of Christ, he must forsake all that he has. We come into the house and get part in the joy of heaven; but having come in, we want to be disciples of Christ, that we may learn that to which Christ leads, and for this a man must forsake all that he has: his soul must be free from the control of everything down here, because Christ is going to teach him lessons which none but He can teach. It is the true position of a christian on earth; he has been compelled to come into God's house and at the same time is a disciple of Christ, that he may learn of Christ; like Mary at the close of Luke 10, she came under the teaching of Christ.

But I pass on to the next chapter, because I want to speak a little of what is for God. I think the parables in chapter 15 present to us three persons. The first parable presents to us Christ Himself; in the second we have, it may be, the Spirit, and in the third the Father. The first parable represents the labour and service of Christ Himself in regard to the Jew. It presents the way in which the Lord vindicates Himself as to the charge brought against Him of eating with sinners; He makes manifest that He was

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in accord with the mind of heaven, rejoicing in the salvation of the lost sheep. In the second parable the thought is wider: the Spirit has lit up a light to search in the house for the lost piece of silver. The reason why God allows the light to be in the world is to bring to light the elect of God. The light in a sense shines upon everybody -- the truth of the gospel is for all; but the object of the light is, that the elect of God may be brought to light. I do not doubt they are brought to light in those who love God: they are the called according to His purpose, and they have been brought out by the light which the Holy Spirit sheds down here. There is no doubt that God has been pleased to reveal Himself in connection with His purpose. The apostle Paul says, "I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory". Now there is another point connected with the parable: there is the word "Rejoice with me". The Holy Spirit looks for fellowship in the rejoicing, because He would bring souls into accord with the mind of heaven. It is really heaven rejoicing, and looking for fellowship in that rejoicing.

In the previous chapter man is nothing; he is subdued under the grace of God; and in this chapter God is everything, and man gets his place here in connection with God.

Now when you come to the third part of the parable, it is not the man nor the woman calling for fellowship in the rejoicing, but the Father justifying the rejoicing. He says, It was meet; the rejoicing is justified. The house represents the place where reconciliation has been brought to pass; you get the great idea of reconciliation in connection with God's house. God's house is the place where God dwells, and where christian fellowship is enjoyed; and there it is that the good of reconciliation is known. The first great principle in the house of God is that you come under

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the teaching of Christ; He teaches you the mind of God toward you; then reconciliation comes in, and the principle of that is, that where there was distance, now there is complacency, and you could not get a more suitable illustration of it than in the prodigal. The house of God is the scene of complacency. You may have also the thought of the great house: that is what christianity has become in the hands of man, but we have to get back to the moral idea, the original thought: the house is the place where God has complacency. It is a point of great moment to connect the thought of reconciliation with God's house. The prodigal had come under the instruction of Christ, that he might know the Father's disposition towards him. Now he was entirely suitable to the eye of the Father.

I want to show you what the secret of that is. There was one link between the prodigal in the far country and the prodigal in the father's house; that link was conscience. There was in him the most complete change of individuality; but while there was change of individuality, there was identity of conscience. I believe identity is maintained in conscience. The prodigal, in that sense, had the conscience of what he had been; identity was maintained, but individuality was entirely changed. The prodigal in the far country was morally a different man from the man who sat at the Father's table. Reconciliation had come to pass; the distance connected with him and the far country had gone. When be comes into the Father's house he has neither the clothing nor anything that appertained to the prodigal and the far country; he has on him the best robe, the ring, the shoes -- all that described another individuality, which is stamped upon us by the teaching of Christ. The believer has become a disciple of Christ: he is a man of a different order. Hence it is that he is suitable to the eye of the Father. I have no doubt the prodigal

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had been known in the far country as an individuality -- among wicked people you will often find someone surpassingly wicked who has the peculiar individuality of being the most abandoned of the company -- and I daresay the prodigal had been that, because he had means. It has often happened when a rich young man has got into the worst of company, that he goes further than the rest, because he has more money. In the case of the prodigal all was gone: there remained nothing but conscience; but he had come under the teaching of Christ. He had learned the love of God, which had stamped upon him another individuality, and that was summed up in one word -- Christ. He was attired in that which was entirely grateful and acceptable to the eye of the Father, so that the Father could say, "It was meet that we should make merry and be glad". The fatted calf was that which was reserved for great occasions, and it was a great occasion in the eye of God. In the reality of things, distance has been removed in the removal of man; for in resurrection there remains nothing but Christ Himself. The moment Christ came to earth, there was that in man which was acceptable to the eye of God. In the cross, all that was offensive was removed, and in resurrection there remains nothing but what is grateful to God. Hence we are said to have put on Christ. The prodigal was gone: he was under the eye of the Father in that which had been provided for him. In reconciliation heaven has its rejoicing: it is that which expresses the wisdom of God, how God has removed all that was offensive to Him, so that in its place there should be before Him all that in which He could be perfectly complacent. We are clothed in that which God Himself has provided. There is nothing for God but Christ; but Christ is there for God. Man has been removed; the carcase of the sin offering has been burnt without the camp; what remains is Christ, and that has to be carried out

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practically in us, in order that in us, where distance was, there complacency may be.

The teaching of the chapter is that God is and must be everything. God has found an occasion of rejoicing for Himself, and all the rejoicing which God has provided for Himself is connected with the scheme of reconciliation, which is of God's own devising, and which He has taken in hand to effect in Christ.

I do not think you can exaggerate the importance of christian fellowship. If people do not come into the reality of it they are not much taught. It is in coming into the place where God dwells that a man gets a good conscience. I have no doubt that vast numbers of christians in the present day have not the first principle -- a good conscience, by the resurrection of Christ; if they are looking only at the death of Christ, they never get a good conscience.

Having a good conscience, you come under the teaching of Christ; you become a disciple of Christ, in order that you may be instructed, as He alone can instruct you, in God's mind and thought in regard to you. Christ teaches you the great lesson of the love of God, and then you are led on to see that your individuality is changed; that whilst you were a prodigal, you are now another individuality in Christ, in which you are perfectly acceptable and agreeable to the eye of the Father.

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THE SON OF MAN

Psalm 8; 1 Corinthians 15:27, 28; Ephesians 1:20 - 23; Hebrews 2:8 - 12

What I want to present to you tonight is a few thoughts about the Son of man; that is the prominent thought in Psalm 8. In Psalm 2 we saw that the two great thoughts there were that Christ is the anointed, and that He is the Son of God. The decree is declared, "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee". As the anointed He is the One in whom God sets forth all His good pleasure to man. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him down here for that purpose. Now, on account of His rejection, He is called to sit at God's right hand, and in Him there God fully sets forth His pleasure in regard of man; we can only know that good pleasure, and His thoughts and purposes, as we learn it all in Him who will give effect to the will of God. God has set Him there in spite of all the opposition of men.

The designation Son of man in Psalm 8 is perhaps a little more difficult to understand than the others, but it is one of great interest. The Lord often applied it to Himself, indeed I think He applied no other, and it was a title by which He was known down here. You will remember that the Jews, although they understood something about the Christ, yet they said, "Who is this Son of man?". They did not understand it. There are two important points in connection with the Son of man: first, His sufferings; secondly, His exaltation. You get His humiliation in Psalm 8, but in Hebrews 2 the further thought of His sufferings. Let me say also that "man" and "Son of man" are two distinct ideas. In Psalm 8:5 the Son of man is referred to. Adam was not crowned with glory and honour, neither was he the son of man. In Hebrews 2

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we get that which interprets Psalm 8; we get the reason of His humiliation, and there also we get that He is crowned with glory and honour as Son of man. Most of us are, I think, acquainted with the fact that in the first three gospels there is a point where the Lord closes up the testimony to Himself as the Christ, and from that time onward He speaks of Himself as the Son of man, and began to teach His disciples that the Son of man must suffer. "By the grace of God he should taste death for everything". Hence He will take the kingdom on the ground of redemption, and Hebrews 2 shows us that the world to come is not put under angels, but under the Son of man. God's great display in the world to come will not be by means of angels, no angel could have accomplished redemption; all will be in the hands of the Son of man, and grace will be operative in power and righteousness. It is very wonderful, the account that God takes of the Son of man. He was of the seed of Abraham, and legally the son of Joseph, but as soon as He is born into the world, He is claimed by God as His Son, but also He is Son of man, the One who was to suffer, take the kingdom, and have universal authority. It is very interesting to notice that in the gospels when the Lord speaks of Himself He speaks according to that which He is under the eye of God, and as I said there is a point in the first three gospels where the Lord no longer allows Himself to be spoken of as the Christ but as the Son of man, because it was in that character that He would suffer and reign. In Psalm 2 God's King is set on His holy hill of Zion, with authority to execute judgment on the nations. It is hardly the thought of reigning but of subduing the nations. You get the same thing in Revelation 19, where He is seen as the Word of God vested with power to put down all that is contrary to God, but when we look at Psalm 8 in the light of Hebrews 2, we find that He by the grace of God tastes death for everything, and takes the

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kingdom on the ground of redemption; He is put in possession of the world to come. The Son of man came to relieve man of the pressure of death by tasting it, and brings in universal blessing as the result. You could not think of blessing here unless death were annulled, because death is God's judgment on man, and man is under it. I do not think that we realise sufficiently that all were under death, and so Christ died for all, in order that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again. In Isaiah 25, and again in 1 Corinthians 15, we find passages which speak of death being swallowed up in victory. How could that be if He had not first tasted it? The ground of rejoicing in the kingdom will be not only that God makes a feast, but that man is relieved of death as the judgment of God, and all this is brought about in the very scene where the enemy brought in the ruin. The victory will take place where Satan has triumphed, and so in 1 Corinthians 15 the passage goes on to say, "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". The point of the passage is that the victory is celebrated here on earth, death is no longer a terror to the believer, but becomes his servant to introduce him into the enjoyment of his blessing, "absent from the body and present with the Lord". If we think of ourselves as a company of saints I do not say that we shall not fall asleep, but we are no longer under death as the judgment of God. The proof of it is that we have the Spirit. We have passed out of death into life, and the Holy Spirit is given as the well of water which springs up to everlasting life.

For the moment the rights and title of the Son of man are in abeyance. He has tasted death but He has not yet taken the kingdom, and in the interval He is called to sit at God's right hand until His foes are made His footstool; therefore this psalm has not had its

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complete fulfilment. The psalms are most instructive, because in the earlier ones we get the purposes of God set forth, while the later ones speak of their being brought to pass.

I pass on now to 1 Corinthians 15:24 - 28. There the apostle by the Spirit takes up everything in connection with the last Adam, who will put down all rule and authority and power, and finally, at the close of the millennium, give up the kingdom to God. Here you get two important points: (1) That all enemies are to be put under His feet, the last enemy to be destroyed being death; (2) That all things are under His feet. You must make a distinction between enemies and things. Every enemy is put under His feet to be crushed, and death is to be destroyed. Why? Because death is the existing evidence of sin, but it will not be destroyed till everybody is taken out of it. It will be swallowed up in victory at the beginning of the millennium, but it will be destroyed as the last enemy after it has delivered up every one in its grasp, even those who have to stand before the great white throne, then death will be destroyed in the lake of fire, and all the thoughts and purposes of God will be accomplished.

What marks the nations at the present moment is that they are in opposition to God, and it is a comfort to know that what is in opposition will be broken to pieces as a potter's vessel, and that death will be annulled by Him who tasted death for everything. You will remember that all the promises to Abraham were confirmed to Isaac, because in Isaac we get a type of resurrection, and the Lord will take the kingdom in the same way, and all things will be under His feet for blessing. In Hebrews 2 the apostle says, "We see not yet all things put under him", that is, the rights of the Son of man are in abeyance, but what we do see in the interval is Himself, crowned with glory and honour, and all on the ground that He

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tasted death, so that there is no longer any hindrance to the accomplishment of God's purpose, because the power of death and judgment has been annulled. The world to come is not yet displayed, but the One to whom it all belongs is in complete accord with God, and God by Him is bringing many sons to glory. God has declared His purpose, and the One by whom He will effect it is in complete accord with His mind, and thus He is suitable to be the Captain of salvation and the Leader of many sons to glory. That is the place He has taken now while He waits for the kingdom. He has trodden the path which the saints are now treading, He has passed through death, and is at the right hand of God. We cannot really apprehend God's thought of salvation unless we apprehend it in the Captain who is now at the right hand of God, because He is completely identified with those who are saved. Both the Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one. It is His delight to be identified with the objects of God's purpose, because they are the objects of God's love and they are unspeakably precious to Christ. On that account He is not ashamed to call them brethren. We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. The bonds which bind Him to the saints are bonds of affection, and the saints are led to Him in their affections by the Spirit. The Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one, it is complete identification with His people, He loves them because they are the objects of the love of God, and the gift of His Father to Him during His rejection, before He receives the kingdom. Have you affection for Him? Are you glad to be in His company? Are you pleased to be in the assembly where He meets His saints? If you are dull in the assembly, you have not in the affection of your heart got to Him, and we only have affection for Him in the measure in which we are under the influence of His love. The assembly begins

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with the Lord's supper which sets forth that which was the expression of His love, and thus we are led into it by the Spirit. If we really understood the privileges of the assembly, where He is pleased to be, I do not think we could bear the thought of being absent. If we knew more of the love of Christ we should be more ready to respond to it, and our love would go out to those who are the objects of His love. It is impossible to love Him and not to love the saints.

I now pass on to Ephesians 1:19 - 23. The thought here is not so much what the saints are to God, but what they are, so to speak, from God. Christ is seen at the height, above all, and all things under His feet. All is looked at as accomplished, and so everything is seen under His feet, and then we find another great truth, that Christ is Head of the church. Psalm 8 does not speak of this, but here it is brought in. The great idea of the church is that it came from Him, like Eve was taken out of Adam; she was taken from him as his body, and then she was united to him as his bride. He was also head to her and she partook of his nature and character. When the church is complete and in full display, as seen here, there will be nothing seen but Christ. We shall be the same persons, but morally there will be no trace of anything but Christ. The body is derived from Him, and therefore He is given to be the Head of it. It comes out in chapter 5, "the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church"; it was taken from Him in order that He might be adequately displayed in it, it is the fulness of Him that filleth all in all, and fulness, as I understand it here, is that which is needful for the complete display before the vast universe of bliss of all that which once came out in one solitary Man down here, but who is now in glory up there; it will then be displayed in millions of saints, it will be the fulness, the adequate

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display. He is given to be Head over all things to the church which is His body, and the church will be morally suitable for the full display. All this is connected with the Son of man.

Just think of the psalmist as he looked up into the heavens, and considered the work of God's fingers while he watched his sheep, exclaiming, What is man? He could not understand it, but we see the wonderful truth that the Son of God has become a man, and as Son of man has tasted death for everything. He will take the kingdom on the ground of redemption, give effect to the will of God, and at the close of the millennium will deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and the Son Himself will be subject as Man, that God may be all in all. May God in His grace give us divine light as to His counsels and purposes, so that we may be completely separated from the course of things here, that we may know that present place which the Lord takes in regard to those who are the objects of God's love and purpose, and be led into the enjoyment of our place before the Father, and of the place where He finds His delight in the company of the saints. May we also see the greatness of the Person who effects every purpose of God.

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SUMMARY OF READINGS ON ROMANS

CHAPTER 1

The first chapter as far as verse 17 gives an introduction to that which follows. Then in the following verses of chapter 1 and as far as verse 19 of chapter 3 we get the character of the man who has been tested under every conceivable condition. The apostle then brings out what is connected with the Man that is. He develops the character of the man that was, in order to make room for God's righteousness and for the Man that is. Righteousness and power are the prominent attributes of God which form the subject of His gospel, besides that He Himself is made known in love. The gospel is concerning His Son, but the first great point is making God known, of course by Christ, for in this epistle everything is referred to God. God is made known in His righteousness, power, and love.

As to the man that was. We may so speak of him, because God recognised man up to a certain point; he was under probation; he had a place which he has not now. We have in these early chapters a survey of man up to the cross. He has been completely tested, and proved to be unmendable; no good can come out of Him for God. This was always known to God, but had to be demonstrated so that man might know it. It was not fully demonstrated until God produced His Man; and these chapters show the state into which man had fallen. Christ came out, apart from the man that was. He came out in the order of the new man in resurrection. You do not properly get the new man in Romans, but Christ inaugurated that order.

The early part of Romans treats of individual sins and guilt, but as a demonstration of man's state. We have the moral history of the man that sinned, his

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degradation is traced in chapter 3, "His throat is an open sepulchre". What comes of an open sepulchre must be offensive; and there are besides, his lips, mouth, feet, etc.; but the point here in chapter 1 is that God begins with another Man. God's gospel is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ is spoken of as of the seed of David because He came as One entitled to a throne on earth. It shows that God was not unmindful of His promises in the past, and He will yet have a throne on earth according to the sure mercies of David; but the great point in Romans is the introduction of another Man.

Verse 2 shows that God had spoken before, and you must have the link maintained with the past. In Abraham we have promise, and God's determined purpose to bless is made known. Then in connection with David we see that God will have His throne here, and, according to His right to dispose of the earth as He sees fit, He will have David's seed upon that throne. Christ takes that up, but the point here is the introduction of another Man; then to chapter 3: 19 the state of the first man. At the end of chapter 3 we have God's righteousness established in Christ's blood; in chapter 4 God's power in raising the One who was delivered for our offences; then the offences are gone. In chapter 5 all is "through him"; that brings in the thought of administration. God's benefits are administered to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. All is in connection with another Man; and people find it difficult to get into that. Then in chapter 6 we have the new Head, we reckon ourselves alive in Him, and now it is "in him" and not "through him"; we are in His line, descended from Him. In chapter 7 there is change of law, we are released from the old husband, but are [married] to another, even to Him that is raised from the dead. In chapter 8 we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. We have there an entirely new thing, our relation to the Spirit.

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In chapter 5 the thought is more of the last Adam than the second Man, because there everything is "through him", and that involves administration. "Through him" implies instrumentality. It is when we come to "in him" that we get the thought of the second Man, the Head, involving descent and derivation. This does not go so far as new creation, but it involves it. Romans 6 does not really go beyond reckoning, you reckon yourself to be dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We do not get the positive doctrine of "in Christ" developed in this epistle.

The statement of chapter 1, verse 4, "declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead" -- is abstract; and hence indicates the order of those in that line. Christ came after a completely new order according to the Spirit of holiness, everything now follows in that line. The link with Christ is after the Spirit of holiness. It is the divine state by the Holy Spirit, and is worked out as to us in chapter 8. It is true in Christ, and works down to the saints. Christ could not have made atonement if He had not come as man, the seed of David according to the flesh; but none can know Him according to the flesh now. If any man be in Christ there is new creation, but outwardly the believer is not new creation. A christian is much greater inwardly than he is outwardly. What is involved in the Spirit carries you far beyond what you are outwardly. You cannot get beyond a justified man outwardly, and outwardly you are not new creation. Outwardly we cannot now go beyond the appropriation of Christ as Lord, receiving all through Him; but in the Spirit's power we enter into heavenly privilege; when Christ comes all will be made manifest.

Christ is marked out Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, that is where we get our line; the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters

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give us the subjective side. What comes out in sons is the spirit of holiness. Christ was absolutely, even when down here, after that order. The privilege of being children of God does not give us dignity before men, it is a secret between the soul and God. As Son of God, Christ brings you into all the light of God. As Lord, He controls you, and you confess Him as such that it may be known whose you are. As Lord, He administers all that He has secured, and faith appropriates it. It is important that evangelists should present Christ as Lord, in whom all power is centred, and shows that God has placed Him within the reach of faith. In people's thoughts the greatness of the world and of man eclipses that of the Lord. Christ administers peace and reconciliation. As responsible men outwardly on earth, we have nothing save that we are justified and have received the Holy Spirit. The proof of justification is that we have received the Holy Spirit. Justification refers not so much to state as to responsibility, and God's judgment. The word of God inwardly, that is by the Spirit, carries you beyond that, it carries you on to divine purpose. We are justified by faith, and the gift of the Spirit is the proof of how completely we are justified.

The "man in Christ" did not need a thorn in the flesh, but the man down here did. Paul knew a man in Christ, but whether in the body or absent from it he knew not, such an one had great revelations. But when we come to the man down here, he needed a thorn in the flesh to keep him from elation. Paul fully recognises the responsibility of the man down here. There are certain things which are administered to us by the Lord down here, and there are things which are between the soul and God. To be a son of God is a dignity before God which the soul cherishes as something enjoyed between the soul and God. It is like election -- there are blessings good to you, but you do not proclaim them world wide. You do

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preach justification. You proclaim Jesus as Lord -- all power in His hands and blessing through Him. God's Son is our Lord. There is the light of God which faith appropriates, and full administration in man. The One through whom the light comes is the One through whom the blessings of God come to men. If you get to the Lord you get to the light, and you are light in the Lord. He has secured all and administers all, and in that One we get the full light of God. God has placed Him within the reach of faith, and if we appropriate Him we get the gain of all that He has secured.

"Obedience of faith" is obedience to Him who is in this position of Lord. There is nothing to equal the goodness of God. Christ administers peace, reconciliation, and eternal life. He died and rose again that He might be Lord of all -- dead and living. If there is one Man out of death, it shows that the power of death is broken. It shows that He is superior to it, and He brings every saint out of death. Death and the judgment of God are gone, and we who were sometime darkness are now light in the Lord. To faith the Lord is in victory and holds the field, not man, though he may appear to do so. He has been rejected here, and man is holding the things of God sentimentally, which is a perversion of the truth, and often holding the truth in unrighteousness.

The power spoken of in verse 16 is God's power. In verse 4, in the expression "declared to be the Son of God with power"; we had that which is characteristic of the last Adam. It means the Son of God with life-giving power. This is displayed in resurrection, and is characteristic of that Person. It is different in Ephesians 1; there it is God's power in raising Christ. Here resurrection is witness to the life-giving power of the Son of God. It is an abstract statement, "resurrection of dead" involving not only His resurrection but resurrection generally. It is a great thing

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to see that resurrection is the power that will set aside everything which exists. In John the power is seen to be in the Lord Himself; it was witnessed in figure in the beginning of that gospel in turning the water into wine. The christian is risen with Christ, and is thus superior to everything here. In Christ risen God has set forth all that is in His purpose with regard to man. Even Israel will be brought into blessing in the power and on the principle of resurrection. In the vision of the prophet (Ezekiel 37) the dry bones live. In verse 16 the power mentioned is that which is inherent and is set forth in the gospel; the gospel is the power of God to salvation. It is like the word, quick and powerful, it effectuates salvation. We have this also in 1 Corinthians 1; the preaching is foolishness to the Greek, and a stumbling-block to the Jews; but to us who are saved it is the power of God. The gospel is this power of God, it brings a man's soul into the light of God, and thus links his soul with God. The glad tidings have to be announced to men, they would not be the power of God to salvation apart from the preaching. There is a great deal of preaching which is not gospel; the subject of the gospel is the setting forth of God Himself in love and in the declaration of His attributes of righteousness and power, and in the very nature of things this is salvation to man; it is the power for bringing man to Himself.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel" -- the apostle puts it in this negative way, because the gospel had put him into the place of shame, and he was writing to those who were in the great gentile metropolis, he was ready to preach the gospel to those at Rome also. But the gospel is what a man might well be proud of when we consider its greatness. It should not be here "the gospel of Christ", but simply "the gospel". Although the gospel is concerning God's Son, yet it is a revelation of God, it brings God before you. It is

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really God's glad tidings, and is the revelation of God in His moral attributes made known in the Son. It is God as God, though everything came out by Christ. God's righteousness is declared in Christ's blood, it is made known by the gospel, and came out to man that man might be justified and dwell in the light of His righteousness. It is by the sacrifice of Christ that God makes His righteousness known, and instead of repelling, it now conforms. God brings you to Himself, and according as you are in His presence, you are conformed to His righteousness, you become a servant of righteousness and are brought into moral conformity to Him.

Righteousness declared in the blood is involved in verse 17. Only by sacrifice could God make it known. Sin must be removed from under His eye. It no longer stands in the way of the accomplishment of God's purposes, it has been removed, and death annulled. The first great consequence of the removal of sin is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same One who takes away sin also baptises with the Holy Spirit. Sin is removed because Christ was made sin; it is not yet removed from the world, but from the eye of God; the work has been done upon the ground of which it will be put out of the world. God could not set to work to accomplish His purpose, nor give the Holy Spirit, until everything had been removed on His side. In the removal of sin is manifested the truth that God is love. Christ went into death to annul death. Consequently we have in chapter 5 peace, reconciliation, and eternal life established through our Lord Jesus Christ; they could not exist if sin were not removed and death annulled. God condemned sin in the flesh, and death ends man's state. The first five chapters in Romans show that all is clear on God's side, the next three show the way out of all difficulties on our side. It is a great thing that all should be clear on our side; but there is no gospel

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if all is not clear on God's side. He will weaken everything here in death and set it aside, and establish everything of His purpose in the power of resurrection. All will be on that ground, the church and Israel also. In chapter 3 the blood declares God's righteousness; power came out in resurrection. Resurrection is the mighty power which will revolutionise everything. In Ephesians 1 the resurrection of Christ is according to the power of God to usward who believe.

The resurrection of Christ was a necessity, we read that it was not possible that He should be holden of death. In Psalm 16 we see such moral perfection in a man, that that man must go to the right hand of God. It is equally true that He was made sin, but in Psalm 16 we see the moral perfection of a man. In John 10 the Lord will not acknowledge the hand of man in His death. He says that He had authority to lay down His life and to take it again. He had received this commandment from the Father, no man took it from Him. His death was a necessity for the sheep. It is a very beautiful chapter.

The wrath of God from heaven is revealed at the same time as His righteousness. It is in contrast with governmental wrath in Old Testament times; it forms a dark background to the gospel. It will come into this scene, but will not stop here, but pass on into what is eternal. In the seven vials there is the direct pouring out of wrath from heaven. Wrath is universal and will lie upon all who obey not the gospel; it is the extreme of God's displeasure. The one who is not subject to the Son has God's wrath abiding on him; he will be obnoxious to God for ever. Eternal life is the extreme of God's pleasure. Righteousness and wrath both came out in the cross.

"When they knew God" (verses 21). There was universal testimony to God. Man started with the knowledge of God, that is, of His eternal power and Godhead, then we get the downward steps. First, they

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changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, birds, beasts and creeping things. Second, they changed the truth of God into a lie. Third, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They gave God up and God gave them up. We see further the moral depravity of man, in that even where man has light he is not affected by it. Men knew the righteous judgment of God, but that did not affect their practice. The first form of idolatry was bad enough, but the second was worse when they worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. In idolatry God is not absolutely denied, but His glory is given to the creature. Then God gave man up to vile affections. There is great importance in these chapters as showing that there is nothing to be looked for from the man that is. Men have had light from God, they have had His law, know what the righteous judgment of God is, but they are not affected by it a bit. Nothing is to be expected from either Jew, philosopher, or gentile. The condition of the first man is irremediable. These two chapters pave the way for another Man, everything for God comes in in Him. The light and glory of God are there, and everything for man is established in Him and administered by Him. He is God's Son. It is no use giving man, as man, more light; no use carrying the gospel to the heathen with the thought of reinstating man, though individuals may be blessed; for as to man, as man, the more light he has, the worse his state is; there are probably darker things connected with christendom than there ever were even with the heathen. Man is hopelessly lost. He first degraded God in his thoughts, and then he degraded himself and his fellow-man. They thought God was like themselves; this is what men do now, they bring God down to their level, but God rebukes such a thought, He says, "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove

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thee", Psalm 50:21. There is a fearful amount of moral depravity in christendom even though light is there.

CHAPTER 2

The first word in our chapter had better be read -- "Wherefore"; it is intimately connected with what follows, but it is all one subject running on from the end of chapter 1. In the last verse of that chapter we have those who, knowing the righteous judgment of God against such as do the things there named, not only do them but take pleasure in those that do them. Then this second chapter continues the thought of the philosopher sitting in judgment. It is a kind of appeal to any man who took the ground of judging his fellow. For such there was no excuse, nor would they who judged others, and did the same things, escape the judgment of God. Man judging another is a sign of man fallen. He needs to judge himself. A censorious spirit is a bad spirit and a sign of the fall, coming in as the result of knowing good and evil, but without the power of good. This chapter deals with people who professed to have more light than the mass. Men like Socrates and Plato are possibly in view here. To judge right and wrong in others is right when exercised by a superior power as God, but there is in man a sort of pride in judging. When a man judges he exposes himself more than he exposes another, and here we see God's thoughts of such a man. There is nothing for God in man, be he Jew, gentile, or philosopher -- all are on equality, there is no difference, for all have sinned. If a man had any right sense he would never judge another, for he would know himself capable of the same things. A man exposes himself in judging. A christian judges himself and disapproves in others what he judges in himself. There was terrible darkness in these philosophers, they even

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attributed evil to God, and yet they assumed to have light. The line of things in these chapters exposes the state of man, it is all very general and impersonal and shows that God was righteous in rejecting that man. Man may judge God and find fault with Him, but God will judge man, and in these chapters God exposes him.

Justification refers primarily to what a man has done, what he is responsible for, he is justified in respect of his responsibility; we are justified by another Man having come in to bear our judgment. God will not save one bit of the first man. All come in for the exposure, gentile, philosopher, or Jew. The professing christian today takes the ground of the Jew. The Jew was on the ground of privilege with more light than others, and hundreds today take the place of the Jew in light and privilege. The judgment of God takes account of what man has produced, but then God takes account of the heart also. He searches the heart -- to give to every man according to his doings. As to the saint, when God comes in to judge, He finds that which His grace has produced. To those who seek glory, honour, and incorruptibility He renders eternal life. Seeking glory, honour and incorruptibility proves that there has been a revelation. The gospel brought with it the revelation as to judgment also (verse 16, "according to my gospel"). Man never approaches God until he learns that God has approached man. The fact that man approaches God is a proof of God having revealed Himself to man. Incorruptibility involves resurrection; Christ brought in the light as to this. Job had no definite idea of the future life though he looked for resurrection. This scripture shows that God will deal with man according to his works. Eternal life is not so future in this epistle as it is sometimes taken to be, but has its application now in a certain way; it is there for us in Christ. This chapter gives us the immutable principles

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of God's ways and dealings with men. The judgment of God upon man's work is according to the light he has. In the book of Revelation the severest judgments fall upon the third part of the earth, that is, on the Roman earth, because the greatest light has been there. We have the responsibility side of things in this epistle, even as to eternal life -- in this chapter it is viewed as the end or reward of a course of well doing.

Repentance in man means recovery for God. A man approaches God, he faces the right way, but he approaches in self-judgment, he has God's thoughts about himself. Confession is the fruit of repentance; in Luke 15 the prodigal says, "I have sinned". In John 4 the Lord did not say much to the woman about her life, but He reached her as to her state; she went away and testified, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did". Her life was known to the One who spoke to her, and the springs of it were exposed. He was indeed a prophet, and as such was to her conscience the mouthpiece of God.

The object in this chapter is to take man out of every refuge; it gives God's judgment of him under every condition. There are different measures -- those who have sinned without law, and those who have sinned under law (verses 12, 13). There is no escape, judgment will be according to light; these principles always abide true. The goodness of God leading man to repentance is a general idea. There was goodness in God approaching man, but there was the goodness of God as Creator. "He did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness". "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" -- this was goodness. He could have cut off man in his sins, and left him without remedy, but He forbore and approached man. There is no goodness in man, nothing in himself to lead him to repentance; there was no approach to God on man's part, nor could there be until all

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was clear on the divine side. But man despises God's goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, he hardens himself in self-will and does not perceive that all is intended to lead him to repentance. Forbearance is the expression of God's goodness.

The prodigal repented when he came to himself in the far country and felt his need, and thought of the plenty there was in the Father's house. Though self-judgment gets deeper as we go on, yet there is a certain moment when the soul first repents. If we come to God in a right way repentance must take the form of self-judgment, and one could not go on with God unless there were self-judgment. The unconverted man settles things in his own mind for himself, he considers it perfectly lawful to seek his own gratification, but he is not consistent, for the moment anything goes wrong he blames God. When repentance comes in all this is judged. In a man under law repentance would naturally take a legal form. Paul speaks of himself as alive without law once, but when the law reached his conscience in its spirituality -- that is, as dealing with the heart of man -- when the commandment came, "thou shalt not covet", sin revived and he died. In sin man makes himself a centre, and therein is the principle of sin, lawlessness, and self-will, but that is really a condition of debasement; instead of God and His will, it is many men and many wills.

In verse 16 we get three elements in man -- heart, conscience and mind; the work of the law is written in the heart, the conscience is a witness-bearer, and the thoughts accuse or else excuse. Conscience is connected with the work of the law written in the heart, it bears witness; it must have a standard to go by, and that is the knowledge of good and evil. Men have naturally the work of the law written in their hearts; they know that it is wrong to murder and steal, and their conscience bears witness. When the law was given there was increased light, there was

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more obligation. The law did not make the things forbidden by it wrong, they were wrong before. Man acquired the knowledge of good and evil through the fall. Conscience is not light, it is neither a standard nor a guide; that is more connected with the work of the law written in the heart, the things which the law when it came condemned and forbade. These things were sins before, but the law made them transgressions. The more light a man has the more sensitive conscience is, and it judges according to the light a man has. The light condemns him; there is nothing to touch him until light comes in. Conscience bears witness according to the light. Conscience is an immense mercy of God; if you do violence to it, it will cease to witness. There is a standard and there is a witness bearer. The moment evil came in, conscience came in. Nobody can define it.

CHAPTER 3

In the former chapters we have had the darkness of man, now we get the light of God coming in, that is, we have God making Himself known, and the first thing is His righteousness. The essence of the gospel is the revelation of God, and as it is God acting in regard to sin, the first thing it reveals must be His righteousness. Man having broken down, the first impression in restoration that he must get of God is that He is righteous, nor could God be known in love apart from that. No one understands the love of God until he has the Holy Spirit. As to the order of revelation, that "God is love" is the last thing learnt; we do not find the expression until John's epistle. God had acted in love, and Christ was the expression of that love; but the teaching that "God is love" does not come out until the epistle of John.

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In this chapter the apostle first brings in the testimony of Scripture to confirm all that has been said in regard to the state of man. It is a great thing for us as sinful beings to know that God is not like us, and that, entirely independent of us, He takes His own way and reveals His righteousness. All works through the conscience, and the great point is how God is to be known by us. We must know Him in the way in which He presents Himself. The revelation of God is light, and the first element in that light is righteousness. Righteousness is in contrast with sin. The revelation of God's righteousness proves that man has none. The testimony of Scripture takes up every part of man -- throat, tongue, lips, mouth, feet; everything is corrupt; an "open sepulchre" would let out a good deal of corruption; the corruption is within; but the throat being open, the corruption comes out.

The force of the argument (verses 3 - 8) is that the unbelief of man does not affect what God has given to be believed; if men have had the oracles of God, their unbelief does not diminish the value of them. The "faith of God" is that which is to be believed; it is much the same as in Jude -- "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints". In christendom today, with Bibles plentiful, the unbelief of the professing christian does not make the faith of God without effect; whatever people may say, they are responsible as having the oracles of God.

The definition here of righteousness is that it is God's righteousness; it is in contrast with sin, and comes out in the gospel because the revelation of God is in regard to sinful beings; hence the first element must be righteousness; if righteousness were not manifested in the gospel, it would be manifested in judgment.

The holiness of God is seen more in nature; righteousness more in bearing and conduct. God is

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holy and abhors sin, but when He acts it is in righteousness. Our unrighteousness commending the righteousness of God had special reference to those under law. God's righteousness went out much wider in consequence of the proved unrighteousness of the Jew. It is now for all, but it never went out world-wide until the unrighteousness of those under law had been fully proved. In these verses the apostle exposes the refuges behind which a Jew might get. "Our" speaks of the privileged people, the Jew. It is deeply interesting to note that in this chapter it is entirely a question of God. There is no reference to Abraham or David or to the new sphere, neither have we our justification or righteousness in this chapter. It is the light of God coming in, and His righteousness -- that is the burden of the latter part. It is greater than the fourth chapter, for there it is Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and so it is with every believer; but here it is the declaration of God's righteousness. Believing comes in, because, it being a question of revelation, God could only make Himself known in righteousness to those who believe. In chapter 4 we get the resurrection of the Saviour and our righteousness, and consequently the acceptance of man in the light of that. In chapter 3 God makes Himself known in righteousness in a way of His own, and entirely independent of man. He has set forth Jesus to be a mercy-seat through faith in His blood for the declaration of His righteousness. Chapter 3 is perhaps more than the blood-stained lintel; still, if we could conceive a person come as far as chapter 3, that person is sheltered by the blood; but it is difficult to conceive such a state, he would not have any light as to the fruits of victory. Victory comes out at the end of chapter 4, and chapter 5 brings out the fruits of victory. What is here is morally greater, it is what God is, and people need to be rooted there. It is in the blood that God's

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righteousness is declared; faith is for us the way of it, but the mercy-seat is in the blood of Jesus. God thus vindicates Himself in respect of His past dealings, and it is the declaration of His righteousness now. When God is vindicated -- justified in the eye of man -- in our eye, then we are conscious of being justified: but the first point is, God is justified; the blood witnesses the righteousness of God. God could not overlook sin, but He vindicates His action in respect to man in the past, as in sparing David, for instance; and now fuller light comes out; He is righteous and the justifier of him that believes.

The law bore witness of the righteousness of God, in that if a man came near to God it must be by blood; he could not approach without blood. The prophets gave the strongest possible testimony to the righteousness of God in contrast with the sin of the people. They bore witness to His character, and showed that the sin of the people was intolerable to God, at the same time indicating the way of its removal. God was always righteous, no alteration has taken place in His character. He took care to bear witness to His righteousness before it came plainly out in revelation. No one could tell how it was coming out, but nothing could be such a declaration of God's righteousness, as that God's Son, the righteous One, should be made sin; the character of God has been vindicated in the cross, the blood is the proof of righteousness.

The resurrection is the expression of power and victory, but the foundation of God's actings is in the blood; God's power in resurrection comes in on that basis. "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him". Propitiation is the great basis, sin dealt with according to the righteousness of God. Thus His righteousness has been declared, sin having been completely removed from before Him. John 16:10 is the Spirit's conviction as to the world in

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regard of righteousness, not the declaration of God's righteousness.

Verse 22 is the bearing of this righteousness; it is not limited. All have sinned, so it is unto all, but its application is to all them that believe. The question of righteousness was all settled for God before the resurrection took place, it is not affected by resurrection. We have here God's righteousness in favour of man when that righteousness had been fully proved. God has taken His own way of declaring it, when He might have made it known in judgment on sinners. Righteousness is now ministered from the glory, but that is not Romans 3. Here it is declared in the blood of Jesus. God raised Him and gave Him glory. He went to heaven, so to speak, naturally. He came forth to do a work, and when He had finished it, He went back to the place He came from. All the activity of God is based on righteousness perfectly established in the blood. The resurrection is the great triumph of God, not simply a question of righteousness. God has triumphed over sin and death. When the saints are displayed they will be set forth as the righteousness of God. Our justification and peace are the fruits of victory, but we could not have the fruits until the victory is there, and that we have in the end of chapter 4; but in this chapter we have the glorifying of God. When Christ died, God was fully glorified, and there could be no improvement on it for God. Nothing could surpass what was effected for God when Christ died, it was God's fullest declaration of His righteousness, He was fully vindicated, but the resurrection was the testimony as to the Lord Himself. In a certain sense the value and glory of His Person are declared in His resurrection, and in His ascension.

The blood is the vindication of God in respect of the apparent tolerance of sin in the past, and also in respect of His present dealings with men. God never intended to set the first man up again. The state of

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accomplished, subsisting righteousness before God, in which justification places us, is inseparable from Him who is risen from the dead; but in the cross all was effected; the mercy-seat was established in the blood. The rending of the veil shows the same thing. It was rent when Christ died, not when He rose. God had been vindicated in the death of Christ, and we should all admit that resurrection is the consequence of that. It is not only that God has been met, but He comes out to declare His righteousness. It is what God is, He is righteous while He justifies. In the future a King will reign in righteousness; and at the present moment there is a ministration of righteousness, but it is all the effect of God having been vindicated in the cross; there could not be a ministration of it from Christ in glory otherwise.

Faith establishes law, because law has done its proper work, that which God intended it to do; it has borne witness to the state of man; and faith sees that consequently God has in Christ manifested His righteousness. It is of the greatest moment in the history of a man when God is justified in his eyes. Abel came with the acknowledgment that death was upon man, and that he could not approach God apart from death. Propitiation -- the mercy-seat, is the great thought in this chapter. "In his blood" is connected with the mercy-seat. Faith apprehends that propitiation is "in his blood".

The distinction between chapters 3 and 4 is plain: in chapter 3 we have God's righteousness; and our righteousness, that is, as being accounted righteous, in chapter 4. The declaration of God's righteousness must come first. We can only know God (accepting the truth of the fall), as He has been pleased to reveal Himself. The first thing impressed upon the conscience of a sinner is that He is righteous, nothing can be rightly apprehended on God's side until this gets its place in the soul. His righteousness is declared, so

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that He is just and the Justifier of him that believeth. Thus we have God's grace prominent in the third chapter, and our faith in the fourth, and thus are set forth God's side and our side. The woman in the Pharisee's house got the Lord's forgiveness, that was His side; then His word to her was, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace", that was her side. What link should we have with God's side but by faith. Faith links those who believe with God and the world to come, for a man is not justified in relation to this world, he is accounted righteous in view of God, and of the world to come. The establishment of God's righteousness has in view ultimately new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell. The problem then is, how can man be righteous with God? The answer is, in the sacrifice of Christ. The real point of the third chapter is, that the life of the man who was under judgment has gone in judgment in the righteous One; and the righteousness of God has thus been vindicated. We read, God has set forth Jesus "a mercy seat through faith in his blood". Blood is the witness of death. God must look at man as under death, and the blood upon and before the mercy-seat was the witness of death accomplished to God's glory. Man is fallen and the sentence of death is upon him, and the life that was under death must go in death. Who is the man that is justified? The believer; he is justified really because in Christ the life is gone. You must begin from God, and get the moral foundation of righteousness well laid in the soul; the foundation which God has laid is, that He has carried out His judgment, and the life that was under judgment has disappeared in judgment. The subject of righteousness is limited in chapter 3, God must necessarily be righteous also in His government, as in all His acts and ways; but the point in chapter 3 is the righteousness of God which is revealed in the gospel. The witness of the righteousness of God in

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respect of sin is in the blood. God is just and the Justifier of him that believeth; that is the attitude in which He is, He has not disregarded His own judgment, but it has been effected in the righteous One. He can now clear the believer, because the man that was under judgment is gone in the death of Jesus from before Him.

All that God does He does in righteousness; but Scripture does not in regard of redemption connect the thought of the righteousness of God with the resurrection of Christ; the One who died for God's will was the Son of God, and it was impossible that He could be holden of death. Psalm 16 shows us the perfect Man, who had His delight and confidence in God, and He must go to the right hand of God. In Ephesians 1 resurrection is presented as the exceeding greatness of the power of God usward. If righteousness is connected with the resurrection of Christ in regard to redemption, it is looking at Him too exclusively as man. He could say, even in regard to the wickedness of man: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again". The whole Godhead had their part in redemption, and the Son had His part. It is quite true that He has taken the place of man, and we see Him as such in Psalm 16; but His resurrection is not presented in that psalm in connection with redemption. For His work, we must go to Psalm 40; there we have a divine Person come out to accomplish God's will. In Isaiah 50, where it says, "he is near that justifieth me", God vindicates Christ in answer to the act of Satan and man. Man crucified Him, and God raised Him; but the point in our chapter is the declaration of the righteousness of God in the gospel, not God's answer to men's acting. In this chapter the righteousness of God is declared in the fact that the man under judgment is gone in judgment; in the fourth chapter we have the power and victory of God in Christ's resurrection, and in connection

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with it our righteousness. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 "that we might become the righteousness of God in him", sets forth, that, in the place we have in Christ in new creation, we are the declaration of God's righteousness in having cleared us. The answer to Christ having been made sin is given in us. When we are there, we are witnesses of how completely we have been cleared, and so have become God's righteousness in Him. Christ took by resurrection a place in glory according to divine counsels, but that could not be until redemption was complete, then He took the new place, and we come into connection with Him there; the application of righteousness is to us, not to Him, in 2 Corinthians 5.

The great point in chapter 3 is this, that God has not abandoned one single iota of His judgment, for it has actually fallen upon man, but on the righteous One who took man's place; and now God has come out fully, and can bless man according to His counsels. All is clear before Him. Man's status was that of a sinner, so the apostle says, we have before proved that they are all under sin; the man that sinned and came short of God's glory has gone in the judgment of the cross. God maintains His righteousness in the cross in respect of man, and of his state as a sinner, all is gone in death. You could have nothing according to divine counsel unless the whole state of man as a sinner had been met in righteousness. Our new state is according to counsel before sin came in. We are God's righteousness because Christ has been made sin. God has been so completely vindicated in respect of sin and His judgment on man, that He can now set those who believe in Christ in glory, and He will do so according to His purpose. Romans 3 is the one chapter in Scripture which speaks of the declaration of God's righteousness; God declares it "in his blood". Redemption is sometimes used for deliverance, as in the case of Israel, but in this chapter it is

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evidently connected with the blood, so in Ephesians we have, "Redemption through his blood". It is brought in there to show that God's counsel is revealed consistently with His righteousness, He could not carry it out so as to compromise Himself.

The real force of the passage (Romans 3:25, 26) is that God has set Jesus forth a mercy-seat in the power or virtue of His blood, to declare His righteousness. Morally God is on the mercy-seat in Christ, the blood having met the whole question of sin and man's state. Thus has God vindicated Himself in His dealings with men, both as to the past and as to the present time. Man's universal state has passed in review; he has been proved a sinner, whether Jew, heathen, or philosopher; then comes the revelation of God's righteousness, and now God is free to carry out the purpose of His will. All were under sin and exposed to judgment; justification could not be established for us in resurrection if judgment upon man had not first been executed in the cross.

Eternal purpose gives us our place with God; if God's righteousness is brought in as giving a place, it proves too much, for all would have the same place; but God puts every family in the place which He has purposed for them. (See Ephesians 3:11.) God's righteousness was completely declared when Christ died. Then Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. He is declared Son of God with power by resurrection; in that verse the thought of His raising Himself may be hidden, as we read in John 10, "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again". This last passage is a very important one; it shows that the relation of divine Persons is of love rather than of righteousness. Who would speak of righteousness simply as between the Father and the Son? It is the Son who says "my Father". Righteousness might be a question as between God and man in reference to

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Christ, but in redemption the divine Persons in the Godhead all acted in perfect accord; and each divine Person was involved in the work. "The glory of the Father" conveys a different thought from "the righteousness of God".

Righteousness is in contrast with sin. In chapter 3 the man is gone from before God, but not from before us. It is often a long time before we see that the man who is gone for God is gone for us. There are three figures in Israel's history of the death of Christ: (1) the blood on the lintel; (2) the Red Sea; (3) the brazen serpent. In Egypt it was a question of the righteousness of God, that is, of the blood. At the Red Sea the enemy's power is annulled; and in the brazen serpent man's state is dealt with; but all three types were included in the one death of Christ. As to the full value and efficacy of the blood, we should have to go beyond the scope of this scripture (Romans 3), it would take in the whole scene of glory; but in these three types we have the completeness of Christ's work. It paves the way for what comes afterwards, the introduction of everything for men in another Man. God's victory and the fruits of His victory are set forth in the last Adam. God makes known His victory in another Man, and we are given to enjoy the fruits of that victory.

It has been said sometimes that blood meets guilt, and death meets state. There is truth in this, but blood is the witness of death, and the terms are often interchangeable. Man could not approach God apart from death; the blood looks at God's side. It was the meeting of guilt in the death of the offender, the man is gone, and the blood is witness of it. On the cross every moral question was settled for God in Christ, and death came in and closed up all.

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CHAPTER 4

This chapter gives us instruction in advance of chapter 3, for in it we have additional light in regard to God and His actings. The divine purpose in this epistle is first to enlighten man in regard to God. God has come out to reveal Himself fully in the gospel. Then we see how we are affected by the light brought to us. It is evident that the great point of chapter 3 is the righteousness of God; this chapter brings in the glory of God. Another important point is that the glory of God is the real test of faith, it tests a man's heart. The resurrection of the Lord does not refer to or form part of the course of this world, but of the world to come -- the scene and sphere of God's glory. Faith always had to do with the world to come, as we see in Hebrews 11, while it determined a man's course in this world. We see in this chapter the perfect consistency of the ways of God with man. The faith of Abraham and David referred really to the world to come; God, who calls things that are not as though they were, must always have had the world to come in view; the effect was that the light separated those who had faith from this world. It is not difficult to see what the effect was upon Abraham; he became a stranger and a pilgrim. The God of glory appeared to him, and when God said to him, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars" -- He spoke of his seed in view of the world to come. Abraham was the point of departure in God's ways; the world was not given up until Abraham's call, he was called out of it. Abraham is brought in to establish the principle of righteousness -- David to describe the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin; but in either case it was faith. The principle of justification without works was established in Abraham, his faith being counted to him as righteousness; he was undoubtedly justified in view of the world to come, for

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he was called out of this world before he was justified; and, indeed, Melchisedec, the priest of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth, blesses him who was a stranger in this world. Nothing shows more distinctly that God had the world to come in view, than that He called Abraham out from this world just after the earth had been providentially settled and divided among the nations. The world to come is the scene and sphere of God's administration in grace; righteousness is maintained, but grace is dominant; it is put under the Son of man, and is established on the ground of redemption, that is, on the ground of grace, not of law, though righteousness is fully maintained. It is grace reigning through righteousness.

Justification has a double bearing; one side is that we are clear of every reproach in regard of this world, and the other, that we are approved for the world to come. God accounted Abraham righteous, but Abraham did not get much benefit from it in this world, but he will have his place in the world to come; it is obvious that the promise that he should be "the heir of the world" does not refer to the world that is. It is a great lack with us that our souls are not sufficiently in the light of the world to come, we are too well pleased to be justified for God and for this world. People may profess a certain faith in redemption, but the real test of faith is the glory of God; we are brought into the light of it morally. If God presents Himself to us in the Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection, and in the gift of the Spirit consequent on His exaltation, are we not brought into the light of the world to come, into the light of His glory? People are tested in this way, and it finds out what they are after -- the things of this world or of the world to come. Works, as a principle of justification, is the point of contrast, if a man could be justified by works, it would be for this world, while if justified by faith it is in view of the world to come. There will be the time of display,

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when heavens and earth are united in the blessing of redemption, but we get the light of this before the display on the principle of the hymn:-

'That gives us now as heavenly light,
What soon shall be our part'.
(Hymn 64)

Cannot a christian realise the possibility of being in a scene morally outside of this world? The exercise of faith is in availing oneself of the light one has got, then the truth of it has clearly come home to the soul.

The elements taken up in this chapter are just as good to us as they were to Abraham, though they may not apply exactly in the same way; but still the principles are available for us. Christ has been raised up from the dead to give us a place in the system of the world to come. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; He takes up a place in resurrection to give us an entrance into that order of things. He takes up a place too for Israel as well as for us. "He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification". Tasting the powers of the world to come refers to what the Hebrews had experienced in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the power which will relieve man of every pressure that sin has brought into this world.

Genesis 15 opens up the light of another day. Abraham had to look up toward heaven and see the stars. God tells him his seed shall be as numerous. He then gives him the pledge of the inheritance. The type refers to the death of Christ as the confirmation of the covenant -- there is the burning lamp and the smoking furnace that passed between the pieces. The question had been raised "Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?". But the promise was through the righteousness of faith. The great point of this chapter is the glory of God, and when we survey it, a great expanse is opened up; for the glory of God is all that in which He is displayed.

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When Christ died His work was before God in its entirety. There are three marked types of it, the blood on the lintel, the Red Sea, and the brazen serpent, but all was before God in its completeness on the cross. It is of the last moment to see that in chapter 3 the old man has gone for God in judgment. Chapter 6 recognises that it is gone for us, "knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him". The scapegoat (Leviticus 16) is hardly a figure of resurrection, but of the administrative putting away of sins for Israel in the future.

David is brought in here to describe the blessedness of a man that is justified -- it is the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputes righteousness without works. The principle had been enunciated in Abraham, that blessing must be on the ground of faith. If the blessing of God refers to another scene, it involves another principle in man, and that is faith. This is in accordance with what is revealed in the gospel, "the righteousness of God ... upon all that believe", irrespective of Jew or gentile. Abraham was accounted righteous in uncircumcision, when he was neither Jew nor gentile. What have we apart from faith? The Spirit is received through the hearing of faith. David could describe pathetically the blessing of sins being covered. He could speak of it in a different way from Abraham. Abraham represents man at his best, and David in his sin, man at his worst. Abraham was called out when there was nothing overt against him. They were each depositaries of promise, and all was assured to them through resurrection. In the ways of God we depend upon Abraham for the principle of blessing, and on David for the throne where all is administered in grace. The principle of grace comes out remarkably in David; all proves the unity and strength of divine ways. Although God gave Israel the law, another principle was in His mind; Abraham lived before the law was given, and David after, and

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yet the same principle is seen in both. In David the principle was applied to a man under law; there was no remedy for David under law, he was wholly debtor to the grace of God. Further on in this chapter we get the opening up of the purpose of God, not through law but through the righteousness of faith.

What we have here is a question of light, the light which God has given by the gospel. He not only shows us His righteousness, but He opens up the world to come. We have the power of God in raising up Jesus our Lord from the dead. When Paul said to the Philippian, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ", that meant a great deal, it meant bringing the soul of the jailor into the light of the world to come. We do not get the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, but we get the Spirit as the earnest of everything that is headed up in Christ. We do not sufficiently connect the gospel with the world to come, we are more concerned that people should appreciate that they are justified as men down here, than we are to bring them into the light of the God of resurrection, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. All that is light in regard to the world to come. The Lordship of Christ has reference to that world which is the sphere of His administration.

God was over the sin of David so that he should express the feelings of the remnant in the future, they will appreciate the blessedness of sins covered. Psalm 32 refers to Israel, but it says, "Blessed is the man", so it is good for the gentile. David was a pattern man of grace, just as Paul was a pattern of the whole longsuffering. There is one point which has been a little overlooked by us in connection with the righteousness of God, namely, that it is in the righteous One that the man under judgment has been removed, so that in the removal God should be glorified -- Christ suffered, the just (righteous) for the unjust; so, too, in 1 John He is spoken of as "the righteous". He has fulfilled

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every requirement of God in Himself, and we come into sweet savour in connection with Him as the righteous One who has maintained God's glory. We stand in all the savour of His work. This hardly goes so far as Ephesians 1, "Accepted in the Beloved". Israel will stand in the sweet savour of the burnt-offering. The blood of the burnt-offering was never carried into the holiest, it established a ground of acceptance upon earth in the place of sin.

Life is not brought out doctrinally in this chapter; in the next chapter we have the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. The unfolding is progressive. First we have light as to God's righteousness, then as to His glory as the God of resurrection, and so a new scene opened up, and then we learn that the source of all was love, as witnessed in Christ's death. The purpose of all this is to bring us into the full light of God as revealed in the gospel, and that is of love; these things are given to us in detail for our apprehension. This chapter brings in resurrection, and that opens out the scene and sphere of God's glory in which Jesus is Lord. The resurrection sphere is where God works. In the world man works, constructs enormous armaments, builds up vast systems, makes instruments of destruction -- that is the power of man working; but there is a sphere in which God works for His own glory, and that is the resurrection sphere; there the Lord is Administrator and the Spirit works. People would be greatly confirmed if they were consciously in the sphere of this power. We see the proofs of God's goodness in the world, but one must be in the scene in which He operates to see the proofs of His power.

"Raised for our justification" gives us a status for God and for the world to come; Christ is our righteousness for that. We need not be troubled about our weakness if Christ is our justification in the presence of God, our approval for the world to come. "He

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was delivered for our offences", that clears us from any charges connected with this world, then in Christ's resurrection we are approved for the world to come. The same will hold good for Israel. Death has come in for the removal of the transgressions under the first covenant, and they will say, "The Lord our righteousness". In chapter 5 we get all the blessed effects to us of the Lord's administration.

CHAPTER 5

The early part of this chapter sets forth our experience in the light and blessing of what God has established, that is the new sphere which He has brought to pass. Peace, favour with God, and the hope of glory are the elements of blessing which belong to us as brought by faith into this sphere. Peace is consequent on the destruction of the enemy. It is as with the children of Israel when they had passed through the Red Sea and had come into the wilderness. In figure it was a new sphere into which they entered, where God was known to them in a new light. They had Moses for king, and God loved His people. We have come into the sphere of God's administration where Christ is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is to us the witness of God's love, as in Deuteronomy 33:3, "Yea, he loved the people". We have had before us two types, the blood on the lintel and the Red Sea; in the one (Romans 3) the judgment of God was met, in the other (Romans 4) the power of the enemy was overthrown. Death was the power of the enemy, and in death it was destroyed, and God comes in as the God of resurrection. It is His glory. We get, in passing through Christ's death, into the enjoyment of what God has done, and we enter by faith into the new sphere of God's power, where the enemy has no place. It is an immense thing to realise that there is a sphere where the enemy

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has no power. This is true to faith, not to sight. Here all is set forth as from God manward; to the end of chapter 5 Christ is mediator. Then comes in the experimental side; the succeeding chapters are taken up chiefly with deliverance, in order that we may enjoy the light revealed in the earlier chapters. The point is, that God should be known, for the light in which a man knows God is practically the life of his soul. "The life was the light of men" is the other side, but the light becomes our life practically. What is the life of the soul? It is the knowledge of God. Sins are gone in order that the light of God might be in our souls. It helps immensely to see that the great purpose of these chapters is that God may be made known. The real blessing of man does not consist in knowing that he is forgiven, but in knowing God. That is the divine thought in the gospel. The gospel is in itself a proclamation, and the apostles were the heralds. Behind the proclamation and the facts was the purpose which God had in view -- so to make Himself known as that He might gain the heart of man.

God is the God of resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Administrator, and the Holy Spirit is given to us. This constitutes the new sphere, in the light of which it is the believer's privilege to be, and in which the devil has no power; his power was broken by Christ going into death. His going into it was the smiting of death, like Moses stretching out his hand over the Red Sea. Death is robbed of all its terrors, and beyond death is the new sphere into which Christ has entered, and where God is known according to His pleasure as the God of deliverance; we enter that sphere by faith.

The force of the "Lord Jesus Christ" is that He is the Administrator of all the blessings which He has secured -- He is the Mediator. The children of Israel were baptised to Moses, he was king in Jeshurun.

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We are baptised to Christ -- to His death, we enter by death the sphere where Christ is known as Lord. You could not really enjoy what is presented in chapters 4 and 5 unless you had chapters 6, 7 and 8. You might get the light of it, but not the enjoyment. A person gets the light of things before he gets the real enjoyment of them; he sees that the things exist; and one sees many things in Scripture, of which, if honest, we should say that we had not much enjoyment. Deliverance from sin, from legalism, and from the flesh is necessary to the enjoyment of these things, and it is a good deal to say that you are free from those three; and the effect of deliverance is in unhindered enjoyment of the wonderful way in which it has pleased God to reveal Himself to us. He has done this according to His pleasure, though consistently with righteousness. The revelation of Himself as the God of deliverance, the enemy's power being destroyed, the introduction of the Administrator, and the gift of the Holy Spirit are all according to His pleasure. Deliverance is in the transference of the soul from the ground of the one man to the ground of the other -- the last Adam instead of the first. In chapter 5 Christ administers for God, in chapter 6 He is for us -- and we are to account ourselves alive to God in Him. Deliverance has been accomplished that we may know the Deliverer. If it were not accomplished we could not enter into it. If sin had not been put away from before God, the law annulled by the body of Christ, and the flesh condemned, we could not be set free from these things. God has wrought deliverance but, of course, we must enter into it, or it would be only the holding of doctrine, and that is not power. We begin with doctrine; but, as regards faith, it is of moment to see that we are not called on to believe anything about ourselves, but what God has done. Deliverance is practical, it is the soul taking possession of the blessed ground which

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God has prepared. If we could conceive of the children of Israel continuing in what they began with when across the sea, when they saw the Egyptians dead, and they sang the song -- it would have been a bright experience, but they did not keep up to it, they had many dark moments afterwards.

The fact was, that it was the will of God to test a people after the flesh; and figuratively Israel did not come to the end of the flesh until the brazen serpent; after that you get the springing well. Deliverance is known in a sense when a person believes the gospel, but the deliverance effected by the gospel has to be afterwards maintained in the soul. There is a difference between the light in which God was known when Israel were past the Red Sea, and that in which He had been known as sparing them from judgment in the land of Egypt; evidently Israel then knew Him in a new way. When God is thus known, that knowledge becomes the life of the soul; further on, not only is God known in delivering power but His love is shed abroad in the heart. God loves His people.

You cannot follow out the type of Israel in the wilderness too strictly, for we do not come to mount Sinai, but to mount Zion. The latter part of Romans 7 is Sinai ground, but properly that is before the gospel is known. The mind of God is that no one should come to mount Sinai now. You cannot make the gospel follow the type of Israel so as to bring christians to the burning mount, it would be traversing Scripture, "Ye are come to mount Zion". Israel was brought to Sinai on purpose to test a people according to the flesh; they got the brazen serpent afterwards. We start with every type of Christ's death fulfilled. We start in the value of all. There is an idea that christians receive the gospel and afterwards get into Romans 7. If so, this arises from the fact that the gospel is so little known. The mass of christians know little or

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nothing about the brazen serpent. They have read John 3, but they have not apprehended the moral force of it. As a matter of fact, nine out of ten persons in christendom do not believe in an indwelling Spirit; they believe in certain influences of the Spirit, but they do not know the well of water springing up in the believer and the consequent practical setting aside of the flesh. In Romans 7 the soul reaches on its side -- the side of experience -- what God has set forth on His side. "The strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". At the end of Romans 7 the victory is realised; it is never realised until a person learns what the flesh in himself is, and that God is wholly acting on other ground. Though not dispensationally under law, yet one may go through it, after conversion; you might really say after faith; it is anomalous, but so it is.

In the gospel God commends His love to us (verses 8). Judgment is not glad tidings, but the presentation of the gospel brings in the thought of judgment; that is, if men will not have the gospel they will come under judgment; it forms a background. If men will not have the righteousness of God as presented in the gospel, witnessed in the blood of Christ, they must know it in judgment upon themselves; know it they must, either as light in the gospel or in judgment.

Another beautiful thing comes out here, namely, reconciliation; that is, the sense of distance gone, for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Sin brought in the distance, but if the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, then evidently the distance is gone. It is a wonderful thing to go through the world in the light of the God of resurrection, and of the administration of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the Holy Spirit shedding abroad in the heart the love of God; the christian ought to be able to sing.

"Saved in the power of his life" (verses 10). This is

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the power of His life in contrast with His death. The wrath of God is revealed, but the day of wrath has not come: we are in the scene on which it will come, and that makes the position of a christian peculiar; for, as to his soul, he is in the new sphere, that is, in the resurrection sphere where God has been manifested, where Christ is Lord, and the Holy Spirit bears witness to the love of God. This will be all good for the kingdom, but it is not heaven. The promises that God made to Abraham will all be fulfilled in the power of resurrection. Christ is Lord for that day, and the power of the Spirit will be here. God has destined us for glory, but in the meantime we get here the blessings connected with the world to come, though, as to the body, we are in the sphere of the power and malice of Satan, and of infirmities, in the scene on which wrath will come. We boast in tribulation because as to the body we are where Satan can stir up affliction; it is a peculiar position.

In the latter part of the chapter we have a kind of summary showing the superiority of grace to judgment. Judgment acted on the ground of the one offence of the first Adam, grace on the ground of the righteousness of the last. A wonderful thing has come to pass -- the conciliation of the two trees of Eden. The question of good and evil has been solved for God's glory, and the One in whom it has been solved is the Tree of Life for man. Adam chose to take of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and died; but now that question has been taken up in Christ, God's judgment borne, and Christ is the Tree of Life. We see the superiority of grace to judgment; "much more", it says -- the last Adam instead of the first.

Verse 17, "Shall reign in life", is in contrast with death reigning. It is the "excess", as another has said. It could not be put quite abstractly "Life shall reign", though it says in an abstract way "death reigned", but "they shall reign in life". Judgment

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dealt with one offence, grace deals with many unto justification. This latter part of the chapter brings in the perfection of Christ as the One who having solved the whole question of good and evil, is the revelation of God to us. There were two things to be dealt with, sin and death, and the Lord Jesus has dealt with both; but before that came to pass, the power of evil, whether of man or of Satan, had been met by perfect good. Evil was completely met and overcome of good, but behind all that lay the judgment of death. The two trees in the garden of Eden were symbolical, they represented what was within the reach of man; but man was forbidden to touch the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and he never touched the tree of life, for after the fall God prevented him from so doing. But the question of good and evil, once raised, had to be gone through -- with the judgment of death behind it, through one righteousness (towards all men for justification of life) it has been solved, the judgment of God borne, and Christ has become the light of God to us. In this passage we get things traced back to their first cause. Sin brings in death, grace brings in life, because it brings the light of God into the soul, and so we get eternal life here, God having been revealed. Eternal life is practically the light of God in the soul. Eternal life is to know Him. The light of God could never be in the soul if God had not begun to work there and the Holy Spirit had not been given, for God cannot be known in His nature save by the Spirit (1 John 4:7).

The brazen serpent is taken up in John 3. The great point in connection with the Son of man lifted up is that the way might be cleared for God to communicate the Spirit to man. So long as man was in the flesh it could not be, but when God had condemned sin in the flesh the way was open for the Spirit to become the spring of life in man; John 4 is the antitype of the springing well in Numbers 21.

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Appropriation is in John 6; there is no "eating and drinking" (see verse 56) until then. Believing and appropriation are not quite the same thought, though you could not appropriate without faith; you must believe God first to see what there is to be appropriated. Appropriation is in the power of the Spirit.

In going rapidly over these chapters we must not miss the great light of God that is brought to us in them, that is, from chapter 3 to the end of chapter 5. What is characteristic of this moment is that grace reigns. In chapter 6 we are on different ground. The end of chapter 5 shows, as we have seen, the contrast between grace and judgment in connection with two men. As to justification of life -- if you are in life you are conscious of being clear of every reproach that attached to you in your responsibility. The christian is clear of all reproach, and Christ is his righteousness in the presence of God, in a scene agreeable to God. It is only in life that you are consciously clear. "One righteousness" is righteousness viewed as a whole, not simply the solution of good and evil by Him who is "the Righteous One" -- "Jesus Christ the righteous" -- but the judgment of God borne in righteousness. What troubled the Lord in Gethsemane was that the judgment of God lay behind the question of meeting the power of evil. The wonderful thing is that Christ has gone into death. Had Satan only known what His going into death meant he must have said, 'there is an end of me and of my power', for if He goes into death it is certain that He must come out of it.

CHAPTER 6

To the end of chapter 5 we have had the objective side, that which is presented for faith; in this and the two following chapters we get the subjective side, that which is effectual in believers in the power of the

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Spirit. In the one case the truth is from God man-ward, and in the other we see what is from man Godward. It is not the old or first man which enjoys the light that has come out in the earlier chapters. God has presented Himself, and the revelation is complete; but you must have a man that can enjoy the light of the revelation. In chapter 3 the first man is completely dealt with in God's righteousness, but in so dealing with man in the Person of Christ, God has revealed Himself -- His righteousness is declared. In chapter 4 we have the glory of His power, and in chapter 5 His administration through Jesus Christ our Lord; thus the light of God has come out. Then the next question is, how man can live to God, how are we going to enjoy the light of this revelation? There are two things manifestly, two principles, in Scripture, one is revelation, the other is approach; but they are not equivalent. Revelation stands good for every family, but every family is not granted the same ability and privilege of approach.

God has now come out in a way in which He was never known before; Adam as God created him never knew God in this light. To enjoy God in this light there must be a man of a new order; these three chapters (6, 7, 8) solve this point exactly, and two things come out in the three chapters concurrently; one is the elements of what is formative in the believer, and concurrent with that, deliverance. The first thing we have to recognise is that there is only one man before God, for there is only one man out of death, all else are under death, therefore to be alive it must be in that one man, for He only is out of death. The first element then is to count yourself alive to God in Him. The second is that Man is law to you, and not the ten commandments; and the third is, that the Spirit of that Man dwells in you. Those are the three formative elements. Concurrent with that you get deliverance -- from sin, from law, and from the power

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of the flesh. Deliverance and the formative work of the Spirit go hand in hand. You realise deliverance in proportion as you are built up. Risen together with Christ in Colossians really means full deliverance, and quickened together with Him means that you are formed in the divine nature, these go concurrently. So here, you count yourself dead to sin, but concurrent with that alive to God in Christ Jesus. So you have put off the old man and put on the new. All this illustrates the principle, that formative work and deliverance go hand in hand. Deliverance is realised by each in proportion to the work of the Spirit in us. It can be mentally known, only according to the work of the Spirit in a man. Deliverance is deliverance, or it is not worth much -- only a term; and it has to be maintained.

Verse 6 states what has been effected for God in order that a certain result might be obtained. "Our old man has been crucified with Christ, in order that the body of sin might be annulled"; the old man has been dealt with in order that God might communicate the Spirit. It is true that there is no mention of the Spirit in the verse, but the annulling of the body of sin is the outcome of the Spirit being there. The old man has come under condemnation with the sin that attached to it, in order that the Spirit might be communicated to the believer; that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer be in bondage to sin. What belongs to the Spirit of God is liberty. Verse 6 gives what is accomplished for God -- God condemned sin in the flesh. This is the fulfilment of the type of the brazen serpent. In the death of Christ every type was accomplished. When Christ died, death, in all that death meant, was before God. And so in the type of the passover, all was under the eye of God in the blood. The blood witnessed to judgment having been already executed, therefore the destroying angel could not touch the Israelite. So in

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chapter 3 everything is accomplished for God, but all is to be administered through Christ. It made room for the introduction of the glory of God in resurrection, and administration is committed to the One who is risen. It laid the ground for the reign of grace. The brazen serpent was for entering into life; God could not bring it in, in the case of Israel, until after the close of the thirty-eight years of testing; but when brought in, it coalesces with the Red Sea and the blood in Egypt. There is no exact type in the Old Testament of God dealing with sin in the abstract. The New Testament is greater in its scope than the Old.

The "we" of verse 2 are those who have died to sin. It is in that sense hypothetical -- such of us who have. Such of us who have died to sin, how shall we live any longer in it? It really sets forth proper christian position in respect of sin. It shows the impossibility, it is more than inconsistency, of those who have died to sin living any longer in it. The statement in this verse is hypothetical, not absolute. We may call it "experimental", and if not so it means nothing. When we come to verse 6 you count yourself dead, and alive in Christ Jesus, you cannot take up one side without the other. If you do not count yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus, you will not count yourself dead to sin. Few of us realise the state of things as regards this world -- that there is but one Man out of death. People would think very differently about the world and the course of things down here if they realised that there is one Man out of death, and all else are dead. And that Man is the only point of life, for "if one died for all, then were all dead". They were dead before, and the death of Christ proved them to be so; but there is one Man out of death, and we can reckon ourselves alive to God in Him. This is all the effect and power of the Spirit. This chapter answers to the type of the bitter waters of

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Marah. They have to be drunk, but the tree has been cast into the waters; that is, Christ has come into death, and has thus made known God's love, and the bitter waters have become sweet. Christ has died to sin literally and lives to God. He has taken that ground, not that He needed to take it for Himself, but He has taken it so as to furnish a ground for us. Through the Spirit's power the christian lives in a life that is outside of flesh, but it is a serious thing to live in a scene where all are found to be dead, and only One is actually out of death -- that is Christ.

We have the elements in these chapters. This sixth chapter simply introduces us to what is initial. The point we reach here is, that you count yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The force of the words in verse 3, "unto his death", is that in baptism you are identified with His death, not only so, but buried with Him, put out of sight. No man is prepared to accept death until he sees that Christ came into death; His having come there changes the whole aspect of it. How could any man think to accept death until Christ came into it? it would be ruin to him. We see how Hezekiah and saints in the Old Testament clung to life here in this world. But when Christ came into death, Satan must have seen that it was all up with his power, because if Christ went into death He must surely come out of it. He could not be holden of death. It is important to see that when God takes up man down here, He takes him up where he is. Death is upon man. That is the position of man. How is he going to have to say to God, or how is God to have to say to him, but through death? You are still alive actually, but you are buried with Christ by baptism unto death, so that no more of you shall be seen. There is an end of us as to what we were in this world.

The glory of the Father is the new platform, the starting-point of everything; the glory of the Father

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claimed Christ when He had gone into death. It is the ground of our walk. "That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life". The great point in the resurrection is, not simply that the believer may be conscious that he is justified, but that in the extremity of his weakness he may know the power of God. We have limited ideas of God's purpose in the gospel, the great point with God is that man should be delivered from the bondage of sin; and it is the righteousness of God which really sets a man free not only from the guilt of sin but from the bondage of sin; this comes out in the latter part of this chapter. The first part of the chapter shows how you are going to be maintained in the position, but the latter part of the chapter shows how you have been set free at the outset, that is by the righteousness of God. "Being made free from sin" is a positive statement, and you have become the servants of righteousness. A man gets the sense of it when he submits to the righteousness of God. In preaching the righteousness of God, if you got the true idea of it, you would see that the presentation of God's righteousness is not merely that a man may be justified, though that is the beginning, but that he may be set free from the bondage of sin. The object of God in the gospel is to establish links between the soul and Himself, and in order to establish such links He must break the bondage. He sees man held in bondage, and His thought is to set man free in order to form links between that man and Himself. The first is by righteousness, and the second by resurrection, for if a man apprehends the power of God coming in to take a Man out of death and to give Him glory, he says, I can hope in God. While I realise my own weakness I can hope in God who raises the dead. In that way the link of hope is formed between the soul of man and God. Thus God is not only free to carry out His own

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purposes, but He has brought man to the point where he can receive everything He has to give him. We arrive so little at the true thought of God; our great idea is that man shall have forgiveness of sins, and perhaps the gift of the Spirit; but God's thought is that man should be delivered from the bondage in which he is, and that a link may be formed between his soul and Himself. So with Israel, not only "I am come down to deliver them", but God will bring them to Himself.

Verse 7 is a statement that any man who is dead is justified from sin. You could not talk of the activities of sin in a man who is dead. Suppose a man executed for murder, it is all over with him, he is out of the scene of sin's activity, he is justified from sin. J.N.D. used to say you could not charge a sinful will and evil lusts on a dead man.

It is a very great point to apprehend where you begin anew, "alive to God in Christ Jesus". It is our beginning that we have in this chapter. Our beginning is undoubtedly very small, a reckoning is not a very great beginning, but that is all that you have in this chapter. Man, naturally, is on the line of Adam, but the christian counts himself alive to God in Christ Jesus. The reckoning is doubtless made by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the preceding chapter supposes the presence of the Spirit in the believer, the love of God is shed abroad in the heart. We do not get the Spirit mentioned in this chapter, for it presents contrasts; so too in the next chapter, the contrast is that you have become dead to law, but Christ has become law to you. Then in chapter 8 the Spirit is in contrast to the flesh. In this chapter the contrast is between sin and God. Faith is not prominent here, because the truth refers to the state of the believer. We are not usually called on to believe anything about ourselves. In the objective part of the epistle we have faith, "access by faith", etc., but

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on the subjective side it is knowing and reckoning. The wonderful thing is that in reckoning yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus, you can take account of God in His righteousness. You can dare to be before God in the presence of His righteousness. In Christ man lives to God according to the righteousness of God, and so the christian can reckon. This subjective side in chapter 6 is based upon the objective truth of chapter 3, for if you reckon yourself alive to God, it is according to His righteousness. To get the complete thought of deliverance you must take the three chapters together. The subject is divided into chapters, but it is really all continuous. In this chapter you are attached to God, in the next you are attached to Christ -- married to another -- and in the succeeding chapter it is not that you are attached to the Spirit, that could not be, but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, and the Spirit is life. Chapter 7 is that that Man is law to us, and in chapter 8 His Spirit is life in us.

We have to a large extent avoided, I think, drinking the waters of Marah. It has been pointed out many a time that they were the brackish waters of the Red Sea. Not the waters of Jordan, but of the Red Sea. They set forth the death that is upon man here: wherever you look, in every direction you see that death is upon man, but man cannot, dare not, drink the waters of Marah, because apart from Christ he has nothing beyond; but the tree having been cast into the waters they have become sweet, because Christ's death is the way out of death into life. It is Christ coming into death which has opened the way into life. When we see that, there is no difficulty in accepting death, for it becomes deliverance to us, it is our servant, and on the other side we reckon ourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus. The soul can now take account of God in His righteousness, and, as set free from the bondage of sin, we are the fruit of His

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righteousness according to the purpose of His love. It is a point of vital moment that we can reckon ourselves alive to God in the presence of His righteousness. The point of declaring His righteousness was not merely that the believer might be justified, but that be might be delivered from the bondage of sin. Bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus is the outcome of drinking the waters of Marah; that is undoubtedly the working out of it.

Jordan does not come into Romans. We get it in Colossians. It involves change of place, and so brings in resurrection. We get death in view of resurrection. Israel came up out of Jordan with the ark of the covenant -- the type of risen with Christ. The ark of the covenant went into Jordan first, but the people followed it out of Jordan as risen together with Christ. It is transplanting you on to heavenly ground, not, as in the Red Sea, to bring you into the wilderness, but you leave the wilderness and take heavenly ground in association with the ark of the covenant. In the epistle to the Romans we are looked at as in individuality, not in the place of association with Christ. Romans does not really conduct us beyond the plains of Moab. In the first part of chapter 8 you have the brazen serpent (verses 3), and in the latter what corresponds to Balaam's effort to curse met by the God that justifies His elect. When we come to chapter 8 we shall see that the teaching is not of what is wrought in you, but that you have everything in the Spirit, you are not a debtor to the flesh. These chapters do not give us exactly the formative work of the Spirit, but the elements of it. It is elementary in that sense; for instance, in this chapter you get the thought of the second Man -- that is an element, and you reckon yourself alive in Him. Then in chapter 7 Christ is law to us -- that is another element, but then it is only stated as an element, it has to be made good in the soul. The great point in chapter 8 is that you are not

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a debtor to the flesh, but that you have everything in the Spirit. The beauty of these chapters is in that they give you what is true of every christian, for every christian has the elements, but every christian has not the formative work of the Spirit. We see this in the Galatians, they had all the elements, but after all Christ was not formed in them. All was theirs, but it was not wrought out in their souls by the Holy Spirit. They had come to Christ Jesus, they had begun with that Man. The Son of God had been brought before them by the apostle as One who loved them and gave Himself for them, and they had the Spirit, so that they certainly had all the elements.

Verse 8, "If we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him". If you have died with Christ, it is the proof that you have faith, you would not accept death if you had not faith that you would live with Him.

Verses 12 - 14. It is a great comfort that we have a statement of that kind, "sin shall not have dominion over you". It is a very encouraging statement, because grace is grace. Grace comes in to prevent a man from being brought again into bondage to sin. We are not left to our own resources, but should come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace for seasonable help. The service of the priest and the throne of grace is that you should not sin. It is well to remember what we have had before, that it is of the last moment to see that the great object which God has in the gospel is the forming of links between the soul and Himself. In order to do this He delivers man from bondage, and then links the soul with Himself that man's hope may be in God. Man must be a pardoned sinner, but the end of God is that he might be set free, and the soul, in all the sense of its weakness, be linked with the power of God. And it is a wonderful thing to be able to dwell in the presence of the righteousness of God, and not

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to be appalled by it, for He has made it known that He might deliver us from the bondage of sin, but not for our own will, but to be in bondage to God, and that is the most blessed thing that a man can be brought to.

We have to look these two great elements in the face -- one is bondage, and the other weakness, both the effect of sin. It is a great thing to take them into account, and to see how God has ordered everything: in regard to the one -- to deliver, and in regard to the other -- to give hope.

CHAPTER 7

Chapters 6, 7 and 8 show the way of deliverance. Apart from what we get in these chapters there could not be a way of deliverance. This chapter really applies to all, Jew or gentile; for though the gentile is not formally under the system called law, yet as knowing it, he is under it practically as a principle of subjection to God. We are not, as christians, under the first covenant, but we are duly subject to Christ. Christ is law to us, so the apostle speaks: "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ". We are not off the ground of individual responsibility in this epistle. New creation is involved in chapter 8: 1, but the idea in these chapters is hardly that of new creation, but that you are brought to walk in moral superiority to the whole scene of death here, as the Lord did. It is like Peter leaving the boat to walk on the water to Jesus. These chapters depict what the christian is to be here. The law from which we are delivered is the bond which existed, at all events for the Jew, under the first covenant; but when we come to the new bond, the gentile is just as much in it as the Jew. It is "the law of liberty", and in the new bond, the righteous requirements of the old bond are carried out in the power of the Spirit.

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There are three steps in deliverance. The first is (to use the figure of Peter leaving the boat) that you leave the ship (earthly religious order) to walk on the water. The second is, that you experience the sympathy of Christ, and the third is, that He stretches forth His hand to rescue you in your weakness. Romans 6 is that you leave the ship, that is, you leave that which recognises the man that was for another Man, namely, Christ in resurrection, and you take up a position of death to sin. Then what you experience is, that you have the sympathy of Christ -- that is chapter 7; you have His sympathy the moment you take up a position apart from sin down here. But that is not all; in chapters 7 and 8 you have His outstretched hand, that is, His Spirit, and His hand draws you to Himself. What we see in Peter was not exactly failure, but infirmity. This comes out in the end of chapter 7, the sense of utter weakness. What in this chapter shows that you have the sympathy of Christ is the idea that you are married to another (verses 4); a woman naturally has the sympathy and support of her husband. You go to Christ in chapter 6, the reason being that you are going to be in the likeness of His resurrection; there is another Man in view, and you go to Him; the effect is that it completely changes your attitude down here, you are apart from sin; you do not continue in sin; you become servants of righteousness; but that results from leaving the boat to go to Christ. While on the road to Christ you are walking on a sea of moral death. Then His sympathy comes in and His hand.

Going to Christ is the way of deliverance from sin; you take the ground that you are going to be in the likeness of His resurrection, and in the meantime you count yourself alive to God in Him; you do not acquiesce in the course of things here, but there is a complete change of attitude with regard to it; dead to sin, you are servants of righteousness, It is a

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serious position to take up, for you had been servants of sin, accustomed to acquiesce in it; but in taking up this serious position you have the sense of the sympathy of Christ, that is the first thing; then you make the discovery that there is no inherent strength in you, and that brings home to you the necessity of His hand; you can do nothing but by His power. The sense of what He is to you comes out in "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord", but in the next chapter we have "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death". The answer to the sense that you have no inherent strength is the Spirit.

Strictly speaking, in the experience detailed in the latter part of this chapter, the apostle goes back to the time "when we were in the flesh". Not many learn the lesson of weakness in that way now; nine out of ten have to learn it after they have believed the gospel, but the lesson has to be learnt in order that it may get its answer in chapter 8 -- that it may be felt how absolutely necessary the power of Christ is. It may seem a little obscure, but in reality the point we are considering runs side by side with the change of priest in Hebrews. Aaron was the first priest, and law and priest are inseparably connected. Israel received the law under the Aaronic priesthood. If there is a change of law there is a change of priest, and if there is a change of priest there is a change of law, the law is identified with the priesthood. The priest has gone and the law with him, and a new priest has come in. It is no longer the time of "the law going before", there is a "disannulling" of this, and "the bringing in of a better hope by which we draw nigh to God". The priest sympathises with our infirmity. It is not conflict in chapter 7, but rather the discovery that there is no moral strength in you, that "in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing". Galatians 5:17 shows that the Sprit and flesh are antagonistic,

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that the one will not tolerate the other. Those who have believed the gospel pass through the experience of chapter 7 in a modified way; strictly speaking it refers to a man who has not got the Spirit -- "when we were in the flesh". The chapter comes in the history of most people where it is placed; you learn that it is hopeless to look for anything in yourself, but there are two things you get in chapter 8 -- the Spirit is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit of sonship. Thus Christ by His Spirit draws us to Himself, but it is as a Man of another order.

If we take the analogy of the history of Israel, chapter 3 corresponds to the blood in Egypt; chapter 4 (the resurrection of Christ) to the Red Sea; chapter 6 to the bitter waters of Marah. Chapter 7 is the priesthood, only it is a contrast to what went before, hence it carries us beyond Israel's history, for there being a change of priest there is a consequent change of law. Chapter 8: 3 is the antitype of the brazen serpent, and we have the spirit of Balaam at the close, "Who is he that condemneth?". But it is difficult to attempt to carry out these types strictly, for you cannot bring the christian to mount Sinai. Israel received the law at mount Sinai as the revelation of God's will under the Aaronic priesthood, while we are come to mount Zion. But the point now before us is that having come to another system you come to another priest. Aaron could compassionate the people, but he could not sympathise or succour. Christ sympathises and succours.

Aaron could not sympathise because he was encompassed with infirmity, he was not himself out of the circumstances. Christ has been into them, but He is now out of them, and consequently He can sympathise. This chapter shows that we are married to Him, and so get His support to bring forth fruit unto God.

The early part of the chapter applies to the Jew primarily as knowing the law, and in a secondary

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sense to us, on the principle of the epistle to the Hebrews; that epistle was written to people who had been under law, but it brings in the light of christianity and so applies to us. Going back to the type, Aaron passed away before the brazen serpent. No doubt this paved the way for the change. We have another Priest and another law. Christ is law to us.

In order really to sympathise, one must be oneself out of the condition in which sympathy is needed. Aaron was in the same condition as the people. Christ has been in the conflict with sin, but now is out of it, and He can sympathise with us who are in it. God can compassionate, but does not sympathise. Christ took the place of weakness down here, that He might be able to sympathise -- the very thought that He can sympathise is support. If a person conscious in himself of infirmity realised the sympathy of Christ, he would feel support, but it must be as not acquiescing in the course of things down here, but as a servant of righteousness, then you get the sympathy and the succour, for He draws you to Himself.

There is power in chapter 8, for all is of the Spirit, and you are drawn to Christ in the place of power where He is, and in the Spirit you get life and sonship. Christ is in glory, and the effect of that is to draw you into the light of Himself where He is. In the end of chapter 7 the man under law has made the discovery that there is nothing good in him, nothing to be improved, that all is hopeless; and in his infirmity he realises the sympathy and succour of Christ. You do not get sympathy of Christ with will, but it is yours in the sense of infirmity. The moment you take up that position you have Him on your side. He Himself walked on the water, but another thing, He encouraged Peter to walk on the water. Infirmity came in with Peter, not sin. He was afraid when he saw the wind boisterous, but that is not sin. We have in our minds too much limited the idea of priesthood. Priesthood

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really covers all that Christ is on our side. There is a contrast between Christ as Mediator and as Priest; the Mediator represents what He is on God's side, but the Priest all that He is on our side.

In verse 20, you come to the point of discerning between good and evil. It is a complete analysis of the state, that with my mind I serve God's law, but with the flesh, sin's law. The light is breaking in; my mind approved something better, "I consent unto the law that it is good". Still there is death in us, utter moral weakness, you give up all hope in yourself, man is no good. This lesson has to be learnt, and when it is learnt, you would not find those who have learnt it standing out for proprieties and that sort of thing. What would mark them would be the desire to get out of sight, only rejoicing in the portion they have in Christ, not seeking to present a fair appearance here. It is no good to attempt to reinstate yourself down here, the only thing now is to get to Christ's side, and the effect of that is to make you small -- nothing, but it makes you superior to anything here. There is another thing that we have to take account of, that the Spirit is a formative power in us. He draws to Christ, and thus you are built up in Him in divine affections. A great hindrance is in not being content to be nothing; if you are in conflict with sin, you do not want to be great. One sees the Lord walking on the waters, how He went through the world divinely superior to everything, but what are we in the conflict of good and evil? Absolutely no good at all, and the best thing is to get out of sight here, but in doing so to get to the Lord. If we have the sense of being nothing, but are conscious that we have everything in Christ, we shall not be satisfied till we reach Him.

Job learnt the lesson of his nothingness when he said, "Behold I am vile", or as J.N.D. translates it, "I am nothing". He came to the point, "I abhor myself". He had not the Spirit; but, owing to the

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state of things in which we are, most of us learn this after we have believed the gospel and received the Spirit, for it must be learnt. There are two things with regard to man, death is upon him, and death is in him; and it is more painful to know that death is in you than even that death is upon you. In the former case you are absolutely worth nothing at all. "Sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me". "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing", that is death. It is what the apostle meant when he said the law had killed him. "I through law have died to law". It brought home to him the sense of moral weakness -- of total inability for good. The fact is each one has to say I am nothing; for whatever we may be externally, or whatever appearance we may keep up, we are nothing. Marah was the brackish water of the Red Sea, and the Israelites had to drink it, and down here we have to accept death. A great many thank God for the death of the Lord who have not apprehended it in connection with the waters of Marah. Verse 25 is really a step forward. Everything is perfect on God's side. Up to the Red Sea and the going over, all was on that side, but after that the other side had to be learnt, and it is not fully learnt until you are over Jordan. In chapters 6, 7 and 8 you are past the Red Sea, and the point is that you should be free to enjoy the grace which the Lord has made known, and in which He has come out. You must have the subjective side. Without it there would be a great defect -- incomplete knowledge of Christ, for you would not know what He is on our side. Peter saw the Lord walking on the water, and he wanted to go to Him. The Lord encouraged Him to leave the ship. Peter volunteered, and then became afraid when he saw the wind boisterous; the wind is the influence of Satan agitating the waters, but it is then that the Lord stretches forth His hand and succours him.

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Referring to verse 25, the mind is the apprehension of the man; there is an inner man which serves the law of God, that is, there is the work of God through which one consents to the law that it is good. We want a more distinct sense of the attitude the christian has taken up according to God, and at the same time more sense of Christ with us in the conflict, that Christ feels with us -- that we are married to another, and get His sympathy and support, that we have come under the power of His affection. If we have but little sense of weakness we have a feeble sense of the sympathy of Christ. Saints have but a poor sense of what it is to leave the boat. They are hindered by many things, education, providence, etc., hence they do not leave the boat to walk on the water to go to Christ.

The end of the chapter shows that the law works no deliverance, the only hope is in being married to another. You must bring Christ in, for there is nothing else for you but to accept the hand of Christ, that is, His Spirit, and the power of His Spirit is to draw you to Himself. There was a great difference between Abraham and Lot. A lady was once telling J.N.D. that he did not know what it was to enter into the fearful conflict with evil down here, and he called her attention to the fact that while Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom, Abraham was on the mount interceding with God, If you take up the conflict in a worldly way, you will get under the power of sin. If you keep up a certain status, and go into society with the idea of bearing testimony, you will fall under the power of the world, you will not be free of it. Others are in danger of being cut off by the Amalekites, who fell upon the weak and the stragglers. Your only chance is to be clear altogether.

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CHAPTER 8

It is evident that chapter 6 is the real starting point of the christian's experimental history; the introduction of baptism shows that. The moral force of that chapter is that the believer is for Christ, and in chapter 7 Christ is for him; in this chapter he is in the hand of Christ. In chapter 6 he declares for Christ, he has accepted the end of the first man, and he counts himself alive in Christ. As the prophet Hosea says, "Thou shalt not be for another man, so will I also be for thee"; you declare for Christ and then find that Christ is for you -- that is chapter 7; but not only so, you find that Christ has got you in His hand in order to draw you to Himself. Chapter 8 draws you to the light of purpose. But you must have everything clear on the righteousness side, before you can touch purpose. Here we only get to the edge of it, and then the chapter closes with the thought of the love of God in Christ. The expression, "In Christ" is taken up from the sixth chapter. You have got as far there as reckoning yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus. Here the apostle just brings you to purpose, but does not open it up so as to carry us on to what is corporate. If you get Christ's power, as in this chapter, it is to bring you into the light of God's purpose which is revealed in Himself. Ephesians begins from that side with the light of purpose. "In Christ" is in contrast with "in Adam"; it is so put elsewhere, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive". There is a strong contrast between the end of chapter 7 and the beginning of chapter 8, "Who shall deliver me out of this body of death?". He cries to be delivered out of that condition in which He was, he thanks God that he has reached the Deliverer. He it is who takes you out of the old. Then in chapter 8 you get "In Christ", though the thought is not developed. It does not carry you quite as far as new

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creation. What you are brought to is virtually to say, "Adam will not do, death is on all that is of Adam", and the only ground to take is that of life in Christ Jesus. The great mass of us have really known very little of the waters of Marah, we look upon life here as agreeable, and there lies the weakness of our apprehension. Death is man's proper portion as the fruit of sin, but Christ has come into man's portion and place; that is, the tree has been cast into the bitter waters of death, and the waters have become sweet, but that does not at all alter the position of things down here; the aspect and bearing of things to the christian is that he accepts death, reckons himself dead, and sees that there is life only in Christ. Christ has come into death to show us the way out of the whole state of things which is dominated by sin. The question had been raised, "Shall we continue in sin?", not exactly 'continue sinning'. It is where you live, and so positional. It is a great thing in a person's history when he comes to the apprehension that death is upon man, and upon everything here, and while realising that, he declares for Christ, that he is for Him. The Ethiopian eunuch is an illustration. He saw the situation, that if Christ's life was taken from the earth, then there is no life here upon earth -- not for God or else Christ would not have died. His death proved that all were dead. The eunuch's affections are led to that point. There is more in baptism than people sometimes think. It means leaving the course of things down here and going forth to the Lord. When a man comes under the influence of divine love, he is constrained, he is conscious of obligation to Christ. He goes forth to Him, and because of His death you have no obligation to the world. You preach the gospel not as a question of obligation to man, but as constrained by the love of Christ. You are absolutely for Christ. This means walking in moral superiority to everything here, not

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trying to stem the tide of evil, but being for Him. His love constrains you, so that whatever He may appoint is your work. If it is a question of love for souls -- whose love for souls is it? -- the love of Christ -- the love of God? Christ is the motive, and the obligation is to Him, and not to man. If you find a christian who is worldly, that man feels instinctively that he is under an obligation to the world, because the world tolerates him. We ought to be prepared to be discountenanced by the world. When this is so then we find Christ is for us. "No condemnation" is not exactly condemnation on the part of God, but the sense of condemnation in one's own soul. The law was a ministry of condemnation. If the soul has not taken its place as in Christ, it must be under the sense of condemnation, because it thinks that God regards it according to its own state. When you come to experience, deliverance is a very serious thing. Chapter 8: 1 is the contrast to the law; the law was the ministry of condemnation. Then what gives force to the statement that there is no condemnation follows, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death". The law brought sin home to a man, but now you are on another line, the old line is closed, you are in Christ, and there is no condemnation on that line. What you get afterwards is that the old state has been condemned already. "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh". You have got into practical deliverance, that is, deliverance in power from the state to which condemnation applied. As long as anybody, as to their sense of things, is married to the first husband, and you may get christians in that state, there is plenty of condemnation; they need to see that that bond is done away through the body of Christ. Christ's hand draws us into the light of purpose, and it is impossible that there should be any condemnation in

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the line of God's purpose. The whole question of sin and righteousness, of good and evil, has been resolved; sin has been put away, and righteousness vindicated and established, and now God has come out to establish His purpose, and there can be no condemnation on that line.

In chapter 8 we have the third aspect of the death of Christ, in order that God might form us in a new state; we do not get the new state in chapter 6, it is only reckoning there; but chapter 8 introduces the new state. The brazen serpent aspect of the death of Christ presents the question of man's state, in order that the believer may be set up in a new state. Life is in the new state, and sonship, and the latter part of the chapter brings in the purpose of God. "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified". These three chapters -- 6, 7 and 8, must be taken together; the truth is given in detail, but the detail has to be put together in a person's soul; you cannot analyse them in your soul, though you can regard them separately in your mind. Christ is for the believer, but that is not all the truth, the believer is in His power, and His power draws you into the light of the purpose of which He is the expression.

The character of death is now entirely changed, instead of being the expression of God's judgment, it is now, through Christ having been into it, the expression of His love, and He has thus made a way through it to Himself The power of the enemy lay in death being the judgment of God, but the power of the enemy is completely broken, and the death of Christ has become the way to God. "Dead to sin" in chapter 6 does not bring in the brazen serpent, but the bitter waters of Marah. The sixth chapter hangs on baptism. It is the acceptance of death, whether for yourselves or for your children; if your children

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are baptised, you have no right to bring them up for sin or for the world. You have not the type of the brazen serpent brought in until the question of law had been brought in. The brazen serpent is the answer to mount Sinai, so you must have chapter 7 first, and chapter 8: 3 is the answer to it. Of course the death of Christ was before God from the outset in all its fulness, but experimentally the law must come before the brazen serpent. As long as any one has an idea that God is dealing with him on the ground of state, he will be legal; the only way to be free is to see that God has condemned the old state in order to form you in a new state. The new state is of the Spirit. It is wonderful what you get in this chapter. First, Christ in you, then the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, then eventually we have the redemption of the body. After that is the light of God's purpose, and it ends with "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?".

The love of God is seen in that He sent His own Son; so in chapter 5 the death of Christ is the expression of God's love; but here the point is that He sent Him in the likeness of sinful flesh; hence the state has been condemned with the sin that dominated it. It hardly goes so far as John 3, for there we have the opening up of the whole range of divine love; here the truth is more limited, because it is the question of our state; the second verse is connected with the truth of John 4, the well of water springing up in the believer. In principle that was fulfilled in John 20. The Lord breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit". But there is something further than this in John 4. Many have received the Holy Spirit in whom He is hardly a well of water springing up to everlasting life. The Spirit springing up brings you into the light of God's purpose. So here if Christ is in you the body is dead, but the well is springing up, "the Spirit is

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life". Then lower down the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are God's children. It is wonderful to be in the hand of Christ, and so drawn into the light of God's purpose, of which He is the expression; "Predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son".

In the end of chapter 5 you get the consciousness that grace is reigning, and anyone can understand that the first thing that comes to a man is the light of divine grace. He is enlightened by the light of God, but when you consider what we are down here, does not a man need to be put on a new line? If we take into account what we are and have been, we must feel the necessity of it. These chapters put you on a new line, and then you come into the full enjoyment of the light, both of the grace of God and of His purpose. It is a great thing to be put into a line, a line on which we can get the full enjoyment of these things, and we are put into that line in an exceedingly blessed way. It is the line of Luke 15. The best robe was put on the prodigal that he might be in the enjoyment of his father's thought about him. It made no change in the father's thought about him, which was as great at the beginning as at the end, but it changed the prodigal's thought. It will actually be realised in our being conformed to the image of God's Son, but we are morally conformed now.

This epistle does not take us off the ground of responsibility. Verse 4 is that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit; but what we see in this chapter is that the Spirit can carry us a great deal farther than any question of responsibility. Outwardly we do not get beyond it while here, but the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God; that is not outward, but with our spirit; so that while fulfilling outwardly the righteous requirement of the law, the soul has a secret which is a great

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deal beyond that. People may see one walking on the water, but they do not see the hand and power that upholds him. The soul has a secret, but no one can explain it, and it supports us in suffering with Him. "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together".

There are two things that we each need to know; first, what it is to be in the light of divine grace, and secondly, to be in the sense of our own proper relationship with Christ. Both these things will have to be taught to Israel; they are abiding now without king or prince, without a sacrifice, without an image or ephod or teraphim, without false gods or true; but they will learn the grace of God, and their relationship to God, and we have to learn the same two things. It is interesting to see in the history of the children of Israel that the priesthood changes before the brazen serpent is introduced. Aaron is stripped and Eleazar is clothed. Living affections are brought in, so that the heart may have the sense of grace. The power of life comes in and the sense of Christ's grace.

Strictly speaking, chapter 7 refers to the law, that is the first husband; you are freed from the law to be to Another. He has brought the first bond to an end, that He may be a bond to you. We are under law to Christ, but it is that we may be supported by Him, a thing the law could not do, it gave no help. Priesthood is on the line of support. The law ministered condemnation, but what we get in the priest is support, it is involved in our being married to Another. We get His support, and then we learn His power, and that His power is the servant of His love. He makes you conscious of His interest in you, and then makes known to you that His power is at the disposal of His love.

We get three spheres presented in the course of the epistle to the Romans; there is the revelation sphere,

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the dispensational sphere, and eventually the governmental sphere. In chapters 3 to 8 the full light of God comes out, with the consequence resulting from it; in chapters 9 to 11 we have the course of dispensations on earth; and in chapter 13 the sphere of government in man's hands. From chapters 3 to 5 the full light of God's revelation in grace is brought in; and chapters 6 to 8 give us the necessary consequences of it in us. The first thought is that God has come out, and the second that man goes in; the one is the necessary consequence of the other. The dispensational part (chapters 9 to 11) begins with Abraham and ends with the ultimate restoration of Israel. Then there is the government of God in the world, and christians have to be subject to the powers that be. The kingdom of God in Romans is looked at in a moral rather than in a dispensational way; it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

In chapter 8 we come to purpose; the reason of that is that, considering what God is in His love, there must be the sovereignty of purpose. If God reveals Himself in love, there is the purpose of His love, because of what God is. All is for the satisfaction of His own heart, and there could not be response in us if it were not made known. Purpose is connected with what is revealed in Christ, "Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren". The expression, as well as the revelation, of God's purpose is in Christ. The cry of Abba, Father, is really the response to the love that has come out in the revelation of purpose. You cannot have greater light as to God than comes out in chapter 5, but the point in chapter 8 is that you are conducted to Christ, in whom is the expression of divine purpose; you thus find yourself in the full light of divine love in Him who is the full expression of God's purpose, and then one can say, nothing

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"shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord".

The Spirit first of all, up to the end of verse 13, sets you free; then you are brought into the proper domain of the Spirit. There are two things about the flesh which commonly hinder us, as shown in the case of Israel in the book of Numbers; there are the reminiscences of Egypt, and indisposition for the land; all that has to be overcome in the power of the Spirit. You must get this freedom first, not but that a person may see the purpose of love, but entering into it is another thing. It is painful to think of our indisposition to be conducted into the purpose of God; no one who knows anything about himself will deny that. How is it? Flesh is flesh; the two great hindrances of Israel were, they remembered the leeks of Egypt, and they did not believe the report of the spies concerning the land; the fact is, it is much more difficult for man to believe in goodness than in evil. He naturally knows the latter, but not the former. In Numbers we have the people tested under the law, that is, they were under that system; they were put under it after the breakdown in Exodus, but with the name of the Lord given to them, as gracious and merciful, but who would by no means clear the guilty; this serves the more to bring out the flesh, and its provocation of the Lord acting towards them in longsuffering mercy. When we come to the serpent of brass, the flesh had been proved, and under the system of law it had not one bit altered; the wilderness was the day of provocation. Flesh never serves God's law; the conclusion come to at the close of chapter 7 is an important point. "With the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin"; that is always the case, an unvarying principle that with the flesh man serves sin's law; but the great thing is that the mind is set free from the flesh, and it is with the mind that we

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serve God's law. If the flesh moves at all it is sin, and the flesh is your natural self; what is free from yourself is your mind, and with your mind you serve God's law, not with the flesh; it is with the renewed mind. As to oneself in chapter 7 the conclusion come to is that it is no longer "I" the individual dissociates himself from the sin that dwells in him; and that is one of the most important points for a man to come to; the work of God is apprehended; there is the "inward man"; and in the next verse we have "the law of the mind", the mind is evidently connected with the inward man. The crucial point is the mind, there it is that the christian is free; the mind is free and connects itself with the new man. The spiritual mind in chapter 8 is another word, rather the purpose of the Spirit.

Chapter 8 is an unfolding of what the christian has in the Spirit rather than of what is wrought by the Spirit in the christian; the Spirit is looked at through the chapter as the power of Christ in the christian which draws him to Christ. The work of the Spirit is to fill you with Christ, all has to be wrought in the soul in order that it may be good in yourself. If you take the case of the Corinthians, they had the Spirit, but there was but little wrought in them. The apostle had laid a good foundation, and others had built on it "wood, hay and stubble". They had the Spirit, so too had the Galatians; and theirs is a still stronger case, for of them the apostle said, "I travail again in birth until Christ be formed in you". It was wonderful that the Spirit should have come down upon Christ, that there might be set forth, in the power of the Spirit, all that was morally beautiful in a man, so that we might see it; we do not see it in ourselves but in Him.

"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ" refers to the Spirit as a Person; so the Spirit is life "because of righteousness" must refer to the Spirit as a Person, and it results in practical righteousness. There are

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three characters given here of the Spirit -- the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead. The Spirit comes in thus in connection with the whole history of a christian. If the Spirit of God is in you, you are not in the flesh; the Spirit of Christ is more characteristic, life comes out in the christian and is of the Spirit, the christian is not a mere attempted imitator of Christ, but what is produced in him is of the Spirit; then the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead assures to you the climax, the quickening of the mortal body. The great thought in view is conformity to Christ. It is a most interesting point to see how the christian is connected with Christ, Christ will surely bring you to Himself. We find at the close of the chapter -- "Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" -- this shows very clearly that Christ has so laid hold of you to draw you to Himself, that nothing can take you out of the region of His love. That is the only way in which you can be above the influence of things here. Otherwise you do not know the road at all, for supposing that a person enters into all the light of the earlier chapters -- the question arises, is God going to leave him down here in the midst of the darkness with all this light? What is the road going to be? Christ answers it, I am going to draw you to Myself.

As to the difference between "Sons" and "children" -- sonship is not developed in this chapter, we have the Spirit of sonship, and the expectation of sonship in the redemption of the body. Sonship is conformity to Christ in glory, the Spirit of sonship never came until Christ was in glory. The Spirit is the Spirit of God's Son; you could hardly apply the term 'child' to Christ, nor could you quite connect the Spirit of God's Son with the thought of "children", but the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are

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God's children. When you speak of sons, you identify them with Christ as the Firstborn among many brethren, but you can hardly bring Christ in with us as children. The idea of children is apparently confined to what we are while here, sonship is in connection with the glory; when we are completely in the likeness of Christ, sonship comes out according to the divine counsel. We are not yet in heaven, but down here in the place of children, and as children we share Christ's rejection; but the Spirit is the Spirit of sonship in the believer now. So in Galatians we read, "Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts". In the previous chapter Paul had said, "Ye are all the sons of God, by faith, in Christ Jesus"; that is, they were in the light of God's pleasure. The glory of the children of God is sonship -- that is conformity to Christ in glory. It is a wonderful place to be in before God, in the scene from which Christ has been rejected; and accepting the rejection the compensation you get is the affection of the Father; the Father's love rests upon saints here because they love Christ and are in the place of Christ's rejection. Sonship is in that we are associated with Christ by divine counsel where He is, there is no rejection there; we are now in the full light of divine purpose. "Children" is more in the enjoyment of the Father's love down here. "Sonship" is connected with -- "Them that love God". Abba, Father, is a cry of real love. But in 1 John 3 we have, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God". As has been often said, John brings God to you here, Paul carries you up to God according to His will. "Therefore the world knoweth us not"; the idea of rejection comes in at once, as here in verse 17, "If we suffer with him". It is a blessed thing to carry with you the secret of the Father's love in the world from which Christ has been rejected. People do not

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much enjoy the love unless they accept the rejection. Sonship is what you are to God according to His purpose; and it is in the assembly that we really touch it. There you have the consciousness of association with Christ in the Father's presence. The reason that things are flat in our meetings is that this is but little realised -- the priests are starved. Our relation to the sanctuary is that of priests, it is only in that character that we can have to do with the sanctuary. Now the priest has nothing of his own -- no inheritance -- he is contributed to by the common people and the levites, and if they do not contribute, he is necessarily starved. The believer is all three, he is priest, levite, and common person; and it is important to see whether we get in our individual experience such an appreciation of Christ and of His sacrifice as will contribute to the priest, for it is only as priests that we are identified with the sanctuary; the common people were not to draw nigh. Sonship is clearly identified with priesthood in the epistle to the Hebrews. If you would exercise priestly functions you must take care that the priest is fed, or there will be no worship. The levite also has to contribute to the priest. His work as levite is in service. But if a servant has a good time in service, he has to take care that the priest gets his tithe of it. Numbers 18 is most interesting as bringing out the truth as to the christian, whether looked at in the light of a common person, or of a levite, or of a priest. But all are contributory to the priest; every believer is a priest; the priesthood, though it belongs to the sanctuary, is not confined to those who take part in the meetings. It would be well if every brother so realised his priesthood that he did draw nigh; on the other hand it is vain for people to think that they are going to have good meetings, when in their individual path and life they are not with the Lord and seeking to serve Him.

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"The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God". The Spirit as dwelling down here gives you a sense of the true state of things in this scene. "The creature" is all that which is under the bondage of corruption. We cannot say from Scripture that the brute creation came under death through man's sin, but it is quite certain that the whole creation suffers in consequence of the state of man; the fall of all was involved in the fall of man; creation suffered with its head. But you cannot put the rest of creation quite on the same footing with man. Creation has been subjected to vanity in hope. That can hardly refer to Adam's doing because it has been subjected in hope. At first sight "on account of him that has subjected it" might seem to refer to Adam, but it is hardly the occasion of the being subjected to vanity that is in view, but the actual subjection by One who has subjected it in hope. Creation will be brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. A very different order of things will obtain in the millennium from that which we see around us, even for the brute creation. We have very little idea of what will be when everything on earth is administered from heaven, when all the blessing of heaven's beneficence is known on earth. He opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing (Psalm 145:16), and that is what is natural to God. There are many terrible things that occur in this world, and God allows them, but these are not what is natural to God. All is out of course here.

It is a great study for any christian to find out what he has in the Spirit. Undoubtedly the Spirit has His own way of working, and His object is to draw you to Christ -- not to Christ simply as Saviour, but as the blessed expression of divine purpose, that is, the purpose of God's love. Then the man is in the Spirit's own domain. The Spirit is not now occupied

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with setting the believer free, because he is free; and he is in the place where the Spirit can unfold all that is of Christ.

CHAPTER 9

This chapter begins the dispensational section of the epistle, which commences with Abraham, and the promises made to him, and closes in chapter 11 with the ultimate salvation of Israel, so that the course of God's dispensational dealings is brought out. We are here on a lower platform, so to speak, than in the previous part of the epistle. God's dispensational dealings do not bring Himself to light in the way that has been before us in the earlier part. The effect of the dispensational dealings is the restoration of God's people upon earth; the effect of the light, that is, of the revelation of God, is that God gives us a place of association with Christ in heaven. In these chapters (9 - 11) the course of God's ways is traced, Israel in general is broken off from the tree of promise and the gentiles grafted in, then again prophetically the gentile branches are broken off and the natural branches restored. The gentile branches are still in the olive tree, the Jews having been for the time cast off, and the casting away of them has been the riches of the world; but the gentiles have their place on the ground of continuing in the goodness of God, if they do not, they, too, will be broken off.

It was important that this subject should be brought in, in order that the ways of God might, in our apprehension, be reconciled with the great scheme that has been unfolded in connection with the righteousness of God; these ways are not inconsistent with what has been taught in the earlier part of the epistle, which in reality has reference to the church in principle, though you do not get direct teaching as to this. Not only is grace to the gentile consistent

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with the promises made to the Jew, but Jew and gentile are brought together in the same mercy, that they might be together one body in Christ. The Old Testament scriptures only gave the gentiles a place on earth, but the result of the early part of the epistle is to put the saints, Jew or gentile, in association with Christ. "Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son". This involves the position of the church in the heavenly places.

Salvation takes its form from the ways of God at any particular time. In Acts 2 the remnant of Israel were added to the church; salvation took that form then; but "all Israel will be saved" does not mean that they will be brought into the church, but that they will be saved by the Deliverer coming out to Zion, who will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The reconciliation of the doctrine which sets man aside, so that there is only one Man before God either as Mediator or Priest, with these outward dealings with man, is in the fact that there was one thread running from beginning to end of God's ways, and that is God's sovereignty. God really never owned flesh. Outwardly He was dealing with man in the flesh, but beneath it there was the maintenance of His sovereignty at every step. He would not own flesh or its claims -- the children of the promise are counted for the seed, not the children of the flesh. So Isaac is the child of promise, and Ishmael is rejected. Then again Jacob is chosen, he is loved, and Esau hated. Again when it comes to a question of Israel in Egypt and Pharaoh, God has mercy on Israel and destroys Pharaoh.

Though the setting aside of man, root and branch, did not come out fully until the cross, yet God was carrying out His purpose from Abraham's time. Abraham was the root of promise. In a kind of way the rejection of fleshly claim still goes on here; further

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on in this section we get the idea of the gentiles not continuing in God's goodness, and being cut off. If you go to nine christians out of ten, they know little or nothing about this thread of purpose, not of the truth that there is only one Man before God. One Man as Mediator on God's side, and one Man as Priest on man's side. God's purpose is not frustrated, while He deals outwardly with things down here. Chapter 11 proves that the gentiles are being owned outwardly, they have their opportunity now; but while that is so, God takes care that His purpose is carried out. He always did. The gospel comes in in two aspects, as light and as life. Light in the gospel refers to every man, but, as life-giving, the gospel accomplishes God's purposes. When God makes known His righteousness, it is "towards all", it has its bearing on every man; that is light coming in. But God is working out His purpose by life. A man must be born again, and God's work be carried on in his soul, Christ becoming his life. On the other hand there is a testimony down here which presents the light of God so as to exercise the conscience of every man; but no man believes unto life apart from being born again; that truth largely comes out in John's gospel. Light from God is now being presented to the gentiles in the gospel, there is in that way the reconciliation of the world; the gentiles have their opportunity as brought within the range and reach of the testimony of God; and the light of God is such that it is capable of exposing and exercising every man. Felix trembled when the light of the word of God was brought to bear upon him. The light shines upon every one, but the light shining in is a distinct thing.

You get the gospel in connection with the thought of life taken up continually in Scripture. It is that which John presents. You get that side of the gospel in John 3, the point there is life, and necessarily

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therefore it is connected with the purpose of God. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life", is a statement of divine purpose, the purpose of God's love, not as to persons, but as to blessing, while in the previous part of the chapter the truth is brought out that a man must be born again. "Believing" is the characterising condition of the one that has eternal life, be it Jew or gentile. It is true that no one could have life if he had not the truth of God, had not faith, for faith is light in a man's soul; that is, a man's light really is measured by his faith. But for this there must be a work of God in the man, though you could hardly speak of this work in its outset as life. It is a necessity, for how can fallen man touch spiritual things, unless he is born of the Spirit? It is impossible in the nature of things. God may use the preaching of the gospel to that end, but it is the work of the Spirit, "the wind bloweth where it listeth". The apostle was sent to open the eyes of the gentiles, but we must not confound that with the sovereign work of the Spirit of God by which a man is born again.

What is important in connection with these chapters is that there is a testimony from God in the world which is light, and is capable of exercising the conscience of every man. Light has come into the world, and men come to it or hate it. In preaching to a company of sinners, you address the company and seek to exercise the consciences of all, because the light of God is capable of exercising the heart and conscience of every one in the company; therefore you may preach to them with the greatest confidence; but then there is also the use which God makes of the testimony to bring a man into His own purpose. The great thing with anxious souls is to seek to give them light from God. It is the work of God to make them anxious so that they want the light, then it is

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the business of the evangelist to give them light. What more wonderful thing can there be for us than to follow in the line of God's work, and to enlighten the soul of man in regard to God? Light is not the knowledge of my own condition; though the light, it is true, exposes my condition; but there is not much comfort in exposure; but the light being the revelation of God, the proper effect of it is that, coming into a man's heart, it cheers him, as the light of grace. Light is most cheering, it will expose all that is contrary to it, but the proper effect of light is exhilarating and cheering. So is it with the light of God to man when it enters the soul, it is the revelation of God in grace. God is righteous and holy, but every attribute has been met and glorified in the cross, and God presents the light of that glory in the face of Christ. He has no demand to make, but He presents the light that we might be conformed to what He is. It is most wonderful that God should make Himself known in the very attributes which were so terrible to man, in order to conform us to the glory revealed in Christ. The light of God cheered when the Lord was down here, for though the work by which God was glorified in His attributes had not been accomplished, yet the truth of the gospel came out in principle in Christ when here; there was nothing really new in principle afterwards. Trouble in a man's soul may result from natural conscience, or it may be the result of the work of God; the revelation of God is capable of reaching and exercising the conscience, that it should be so proves that God is God and speaks in His word.

In John 8 we get the very two things of which we have been speaking; the effect of the light upon the Pharisees was complete exposure; the woman did not want exposure, she was taken in the very act of sin, she was already exposed; but exposure was needed in regard to the Pharisees, the people that did not expect to be exposed; there was no comfort to the Pharisees,

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but there was to the woman, and she must have felt it to be so; in this we see the beautiful character of light, it exposes, but does not condemn, it cheers.

All that we have been considering comes in with regard to the outward dealings of God with man, beneath which is the sovereignty in which He carries out His purpose. What had come to pass was this, that God had let the gentile in on common ground with the Jew. There was no difference. The Spirit of God had been communicated alike to both Jew and gentile who believed. The Jew in his exclusiveness might complain, but the apostle's answer is that God had only vindicated His sovereignty, and none would have had at any time any blessing at all but for that. He compels them as to their own hereditary history and national blessings to admit the principle, as seen in God's rejection of Ishmael and Esau, and in the destruction of Pharaoh, also in their having been spared when they had made the golden calf -- God retreated into His own sovereignty, and then takes occasion to assert that He will be gracious to whom He wills to be gracious, and that principle eventually let in the gentiles. At every point God took care to vindicate His sovereignty, so that Israel should not think that God acknowledged flesh. Take the points presented one after the other. Ishmael represented the flesh, Esau represented the flesh, the Egyptians represented the flesh, and Israel in the wilderness represented the flesh; so that the key to these chapters is the sovereignty of God which lay underneath all His outward dealings. He accomplishes His purpose, and at the same time refuses to recognise the flesh. Thus the whole chapter is unanswerable by a Jew, for their whole status rested upon the sovereignty of God. When they made the golden calf they might have been cut off to a man, in fact God proposed to Moses to cut them off. It was through the intercession of Moses that they were spared, but on the principle of

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God's sovereignty. Now the gentiles are being tested at the present time, and the result will be that they will be cut off because they have not continued in the goodness of God. What are they doing? Almost every pulpit in the country is being used to discredit and set aside the word of God.

There is another great principle which comes out at the close of the chapter, it is this: no dealing of God ought to have taken Israel by surprise. Whatever God did, He first made it known by the prophets. In setting aside the people Lo-ammi was no surprise, it had been foretold. So as to receiving them again God had spoken of it prophetically, "I will call them my people which were not my people, and her beloved which was not beloved". The fact that there must be a sovereign work of God in man is maintained, in that, when vessels of mercy are spoken of, it is said whom "He had afore prepared unto glory", while as to vessels of wrath fitted for destruction God allows the perverseness of man to come out. Pharaoh is an example, he was perverse, and God allowed him to go on to the point of open defiance, and then God acted in open judgment. God withdrew restraints, and he rushed on to his own destruction. Man is lost at the outset. If God withdraws restraints, man's perversity only develops, until it comes out in the shape of open rebellion.

We have to consider "the lump" with which the potter deals, the lump is man as he is. God does not act in creation to make a vessel to dishonour. What God made was very good, but God deals with man as man is. The potter is only a figure, the application of the figure is in verses 22 and 23. You could not conceive of God creating anything that was not perfectly good. When dealing with man as he is, then it is that God claims His right to make of the same lump one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour; but as to creation it would be evil to conceive of God

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making anything that was not perfectly good. Apart from the outward dealings of God and the testing of Israel under law, there were the secret things which belonged to God. These things now come out in the church.

The test that God proposed after that sin had come into the world was the world to come. Certainly it was so from the time of Abram, and in reality from the time of Abel. Israel's mistake was in putting themselves on the ground of works in order to reach something in this world, instead of pursuing things in connection with another world. Abraham, their father, had looked for a city that had foundations, and for a better country, and his faith, by which he was reckoned righteous, had reference to God's power for that other world. If men looked on to another world, it was only by faith they could do so; if they sought, as Israel did, something in this world, they sought it on the principle of works. The fatal mistake Israel made was in failing to see that death was upon man. Although the law came in and spoke of life, yet death was already on man; the law did not come in to ignore that great fact, indeed it made matters worse, for it brought in the curse, but death was there already. The law came in in the wisdom of God, that the whole state of things might be demonstrated. It had to do with man as he is, in connection with this present world; faith has to do with another man and another world.

Christ came to bring in the light of another world, and hence he was a stumbling-block to Israel, for they were pursuing everything in connection with this world. The gentiles had no promises, nor were they pursuing righteousness; but when the light of Christ came to them, to a certain extent they accepted it, but it was a stumbling-block to the Jew. God had warned Israel that Christ would come as a stone of stumbling, and it is indeed an unvarying principle in His ways

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that He never brings in anything without giving warning first. Christ introduced the light of another world, though He met everything that was here for the glory of God; but God had thoughts and purposes which were not connected with this world. Christ became a test to men while going on to accomplish the will of God. When He went to Jerusalem for the last time He propounded two parables, that of the man who planted a vineyard seeking fruit from the husbandmen, and eventually sending his Son; secondly, after stating the refusal of the Son, the Lord showed in the other parable the existence of another purpose altogether in the marriage made for the king's son. Whatever else took place incidentally, the real object of the coming of Christ into the world was to bring into effect the will of God. "Lo I come to do thy will" -- Thy pleasure, and that had in view another world. According to Psalm 8 Christ was to be made a little lower than the angels -- but the point to be reached was the being crowned with glory and honour, and all things put under His feet, the introduction of the world to come.

CHAPTER 10

It is very important to observe in these two parts of Romans the concord of grace and purpose, in that they bring about the same result. In the first part of the epistle God approaches man by the testimony of the blood, all is of grace. God's righteousness is unto all and upon all them that believe. But there is another line of truth -- the purpose of God, which He has been working out from the time of Abraham down, and in this connection Christ became the object of faith to the gentiles. The law worked positive blindness with the Jew, for by it he connected God's purpose of blessing with this present world. Abraham

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had no law, and what God presented to him, the world of which he was to be heir, was not this world but that to come. Hence with him righteousness was the righteousness of faith. The Jews in not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God showed that they did not recognise that the judgment of death was upon man. They might have learnt it from the sacrificial system. They had, further, in the tabernacle, the witness of the world to come, setting forth the ground and means by which God would place Himself in connection with the whole creation. The mercy-seat is that from which God addresses Himself to man. The mercy-seat is founded upon the ark, that is, on Christ, in whom God has been glorified in regard of the law; there was the holy place, and the most holy, and the court without, these together figured the universe. We are taught this in Hebrews 3, "He who built all things is God". The tabernacle presented the way in which God would come out to man; and while the sacrificial system showed the way by which man could go in, it made evident how extremely laborious it was for man to get to God. Man indeed could not go in because God had not come out, but the tabernacle foreshadowed that a way was coming by which man could go in. Faith now gets the benefit of what has been accomplished in Christ, but God has not come out in a public way yet. When the Lord comes we shall be received into the Father's house, there will be no going in then.

The righteousness of God here in chapter 10 connects itself both with chapter 3 and chapter 4. There is not only the declaration of God's righteousness, but the resurrection of Christ connects itself with our righteousness, hence faith is in the Lord Jesus raised from the dead. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness". Christ is righteousness for every one that believes; that settles every question for the believer; there may be many things inconsistent

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about him, and the enemy might use them to trouble him if he is not conscious that Christ is his righteousness; he is not only clear of every reproach, but resurrection carries him a point further, he is approved for the presence of God and for the world to come. You do not get a positive status nor a new place apart from resurrection. Christ is in the presence of God, and He is our righteousness.

It is remarkable that we get the germs of the gospel in the early books of the Bible. We have a quotation here from Deuteronomy, and what is quoted is in connection with the restoration of Israel in the future; but the principle cannot be different for them from what it is for us. Divine principles always remain true. The thought is prohibited to them, "Who shall ascend into the heavens?", and it is prohibited to us. The literal application is to Israel in their trouble in the future. "Say not in thy heart" shows that God will have the people silent in the consciousness of failure and ruin. Man has to be silent in the sense of having deserved death, and God will bring about what He sees fit. He quickens out of death. Israel in the future will have to accept where they are under the hand of God, buried in the dust of the earth. Those that believe will not make haste, all their hope will then be in Christ's coming again. God will work in them, but there will be no hope apart from Christ's coming. "Who shall descend into the deep" really belongs to Israel's future, when they will be conscious of the position into which sin has brought them. All this is connected with the "secret things" of which Moses speaks, and with the divine wisdom which will work out God's purpose, though faith gets the light of it now. Israel will have to wait for the glory of God, as we read in the passage, "After the glory thou wilt receive me", Psalm 73:24. The testimony of the glory has come in and the Jew has been stumbled, but the testimony is that by which the gentile is saved.

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The glory is in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). The God of glory appeared to Abram, and it is noticeable that we begin where Abraham left off. We begin with resurrection, and Abraham's history in a sense closed when he had reached that -- when he offered up his son and received him again. There is no difference in principle between Abraham's faith and ours; to believe that God can, and to believe that He has, are alike in principle; in either case resurrection is beyond man's experience. One can understand man commemorating the death of the Lord, but to commemorate His resurrection and ascension, by the setting apart of days, is folly, for they belong to another world; the testimony of God does not connect itself with the things of this world. Commemoration of days belongs to a clerical system, and brings everything down to a human level. The clergy assume priesthood, not seeing that all believers are priests and that priesthood is on the ground of resurrection. It is as you are risen with Christ that you are a priest. A separate class who, because they are ministers, claim to be priests, is the rebellion of Korah and his company.

Salvation in Romans 10 must be regarded as present from the christian point of view, whatever may be the literal bearing of the quotation. Peter takes the ground of the latter in Acts 2, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved", but he evidently had a strong idea of a present salvation. He says, "the like figure whereunto, baptism, doth now save us". Peter's idea was that they had been brought into the church where the Holy Spirit was, and so to a present salvation. "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation"; we must give that a present application; it means that you have left the order of things in which you are naturally -- Egypt -- where the god of this world has sway, and have come out into the wilderness where you are with God, and have Jesus as

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Lord, and the Holy Spirit given. By faith you enter that sphere, and it is a sphere of salvation. In verse 10 the former part is faith, and the latter the consequence of having the Holy Spirit. Man never confesses "Lord Jesus" except by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is consequent upon righteousness, nobody can really come into salvation until the Holy Spirit is received. The salvation now is in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads to the confession by the mouth, as Lord, of the One who has been rejected by the world but has been accepted above. It is the habit of the soul to confess Jesus, Lord. There is a history with souls, as in the case of the woman who touched the hem of Christ's garment, and afterwards came and fell down before Him, and told Him before all for what cause she had touched Him; there is a lack in a soul until it takes that place; you cannot have any living sense of Christ as Lord save by the Holy Spirit come down from heaven. The gospel itself was a proclamation, the apostles were heralds. People had to accept the proclamation, but the soul confessing Jesus as Lord is by the Holy Spirit. Righteousness is reached by faith, but salvation by confessing Jesus, Lord; the moment Christ is confessed as Lord you are morally out of this world, it is characteristic of true christianity so to confess Him.

Urging anyone to confess Christ as Lord, if this goes beyond where the person is in the faith of his soul, would only hinder. It is better to leave God to do His own work, and for the servant not to go beyond his measure. The real function of the evangelist is to enlighten; he is not sent to enlighten simply the elect, but everybody. The light of God is capable of affecting every man.

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CHAPTER 11

The olive tree is symbolical of promise, and the "root" was Abraham. The testimony of God's word of old was limited to Israel, but by the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God, and the rejection of Israel, the whole world has been brought within the range of God's testimony; hence we have the expression "the riches of the world". Israel had been tested by the glory of the Lord, that comes out in the end of chapter 9 and in chapter 10. The gospel of the glory was presented to them in the exaltation of Christ, so we have in chapter 10, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord". Peter's testimony in Acts 2 was, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ"; that was the final test as to Israel; the exaltation of Christ characterised Peter's testimony.

It is a great point to see the connection of these chapters with the previous part of the epistle. The second parable in Luke 15 illustrates the first part of Romans down to chapter 8. The light of God has come into the world to bring to light the lost piece of silver. At the close of Romans 8 we have the elect of God brought to light, namely, those who "love God". There is nothing about profession in those chapters. It is the light of God in the world, and the elect of God brought by it into view. In the succeeding chapters, 9, 10 and 11, you get the conciliation of that with God's dispensational dealings on earth; apparently there was a certain contradiction between the light of God going out to all, and God's dispensational dealings, which necessitate a special place for Israel; but these chapters show that in all His dealings God has been consistent; the first part of the epistle is however greater than the second. The gospel has for its object to bring to light the church; but Israel was tested by this gospel of the glory, they stumbled

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at the stumbling-stone; and then God turns in His public dealings to the gentiles, but they do not continue in the goodness of God, and they are broken off and the Jews grafted in again. The result of all is that the failure of man accomplishes in every way the purpose of God. Hence the doxology at the close.

In the olive tree there is the thought of the continuity of promise. The inheritance is an essential part of the gospel; the commission given to Paul was "to open their eyes ... that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance". Thus the inheritance is an integral part of the gospel. The gentiles come into the inheritance through the death of Christ, that is, the death of Christ was death to Israel, and the inheritance went back to the hand of God, and is connected now with a risen Christ. The gentiles come into it in connection with a risen Christ, and Israel too, by-and-by, will come into it in a risen Christ. The disposition of the inheritance is in the hands of Christ. The inheritance lapsed when Israel rejected Christ, but it was given again to Christ risen. That is how the gentile comes in and the Jew also; the promises were lost after the flesh, but they are confirmed in a risen Christ, that is, in Abraham's seed. If Israel had not stumbled it would be difficult to see how the gentiles could have been brought in; and if the gentiles continued in the goodness of God it would be difficult to understand how the Jew could be brought in again. The sovereign purposes of God are worked out through the failure of man. The purpose of God is not like the net thrown into the sea gathering both bad and good; there is not in His work a bit of the bad seen, the lost piece of silver is brought to light as the effect of the light coming into the world. No doubt the light addresses itself to everybody, because it is light from God, and therefore puts everybody under responsibility, but the great point is that by it the elect of God are brought to light. It is

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beautiful to see the triumph of God over the evil of the people, in spite of their unbelief, and of all they have proved themselves to be. The sense of the sovereignty of God gives a certain dignity to the gospel, though you do not preach sovereignty. God would have all men to be saved, the elect are not known, and therefore you present the light to all. We have not in preaching to reconcile the sovereignty of God with the responsibility of man.

"The times of the gentiles" is a dispensational expression, it covers the period during which power is committed to the gentiles; the close of it will be in the revived form of the Roman empire; the term 'fulness of the gentiles' is the completeness of the gathering out from the gentiles; it is not simply blessing going out to gentiles as gentiles, but a testimony going out to them to gather out from them a people. All depended upon the glad tidings of the glory, for the moment Christ is set at the right hand of God, there must be a world-wide testimony. As long as Christ was here after the flesh the testimony might be confined to Israel, but Christ risen is Lord of all, and the testimony could no longer be limited to the Jew. Peter said to Cornelius, "He is Lord of all", and the gentile comes in on that ground. Psalm 19, which is quoted in chapter 10, shows this. "The heavens declare the glory of God", for Christ is there. This psalm, though referring primarily to the heavens, has a hidden meaning. "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun". What is the real sun in heaven? The material sun is truly there, but the real sun is the "sun of righteousness". The moment Christ took His place at the right hand of God there must be a world-wide testimony. It began at Jerusalem, but went out to all the gentiles. "The same Lord over all is rich unto all those that call upon him". It is a remarkable thing that when Israel failed in the wilderness then the Lord said, "As I live, all the earth

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shall be filled with the glory of the Lord", Numbers 14. God takes occasion of Israel's failure to show how wide His purpose was. Israel took advantage of Christ in humiliation to reject Him, but Christ is God's Son and is seated at His right hand, so the testimony widens out; but even then it is to the Jew first and then to the gentile.

In verse 16 "the root" is Abraham, and the branches are Israel: the first-fruits is, one would suppose, the ingathering from Israel at Pentecost; that is the pledge that the lump is holy, the lump is seen in looking forward to Israel in the future. It is evident that the branches mean Israel, because it says, "If some of the branches were broken off". The root carries you back to Abraham, and the lump carries you forward to the Israel of God's purpose. There was an ingathering at Pentecost typified by the two wave-loaves; that took place through the power of the Holy Spirit; then the lump will be fulfilled according to the text, "All Israel shall be saved". The first-fruits is a pledge of the lump, and the lump is of the same character as the first-fruits. The only principle on which the gentile comes in (it is not exactly the church here) is as being Christ's; the gentile could not come in on the ground of flesh. If Israel had not failed under the first covenant, how could the gentiles have been brought in, and if the gentiles continued in the goodness of God, how could they be broken off, and the natural branches grafted in again? The truth is that God works out His purpose through the failure of man, and reconciles His purpose thus with His ways. Those ways will result in the restoration of Israel according to His purpose. This should have a special voice to us in these days, because we are probably on the eve of the cutting off of the gentiles.

Verse 33. "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!". This answers the

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question of Israel in Isaiah 40:27. The judicial dealings of God in these chapters are referred to in the term 'judgments', which eventuate in Israel coming in on the ground of mercy; then God's "ways" are hidden, they are untraceable, but God works out His purpose through the failure of man in His own way, and according to His own will, and to His own praise. In Psalm 108, "O God, my heart is fixed", we see the heart established by the purpose of God. His mercy is great above the heavens and His truth reacheth unto the clouds.

In verse 26 we see the purpose of God, that a Deliverer shall come out of Sion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The way in which the apostle puts the case is remarkable; as regards the gospel, Israel are enemies, but, as touching the election, beloved for the fathers' sake, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. They are enemies for the gentiles' sake, and yet none the less beloved. This brings in the sovereignty of divine love: why should God love Jacob? There was nothing in him naturally for God, and yet it says, "Jacob have I loved". There are two distinct thoughts in Scripture, the love of God and the purpose of His love. "God so loved the world", that is the love of God towards the world, His nature, so to speak; then there is another thought, "The love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord". There is the purpose of His love, and that brings in the thought of sovereignty; for love is sovereign, as J.N.D. used to say. John 3:16 is the presentation of what God is in His nature, it is a different thought from "Jacob have I loved", that is the love of purpose; so as regards us, "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us", that is undoubtedly the love of purpose. In His sovereignty God saw fit to set His love upon the fathers, and the nation in the future are loved for the fathers' sakes, and therefore the salvation of Israel

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cannot fail. The enmity was in that they set themselves to slight the gentiles, and they are therein found to be diametrically opposed to God. It was on account of the gospel going out to the gentiles that they became enemies. The love of God to the world opens a door to all out of the world. But the gospel is at the same time the means by which God manifests the elect, and they are brought to light by life, the proof of which is that they love God. It is those who love God who are the called according to His purpose, and loving God is the response to the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. It is beautiful to see that all through Scripture we get the thought of loving God; even in the law it was, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart", and love is the real expression of life. Love to God and also to the brethren, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren". Though we get the idea of life in the wilderness, as in the brazen serpent, yet the proper sphere of life is on the other side of Jordan. The sphere of divine affections does not belong to this side of Jordan, it belongs to where we have put off the old man and put on the new, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is everything and in all; there is not a rag left of the distinctions of the flesh there, and you have simply the sphere of divine affections; that is what is meant by having passed from death to life.

You hardly get the purpose of God in Romans, that is, the development of His purpose. In Colossians you get quickened together with Christ, making good His purpose to bring us into association with Christ. 'In Him we stand a heavenly band'. The effect of this is that you are found in the christian circle, the scene and sphere of divine affections. The purpose of God is just touched upon in Romans 8, but you do

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not get association with Christ and what is connected with that. The Israelites who settled down in the land of Sihon and Og did not exhibit love for their brethren, they went over Jordan with them, but they did not continue with them; they lost, so to speak, the idea of the assembly. It is not until you are clear of the influences and proprieties of the world that you really enter into the christian circle. You cannot wholly break away from the externals of these while you are here, but very few have broken away from them in spirit so as to be able to say that they have come to a sphere where Christ is all and in all.

These chapters are really very wonderful, in the sense that God should take pains to reconcile before man ways apparently differing; first to justify Himself in regard of His righteousness, and then to open up the whole course of His dealings from the time of Abraham to show that He has let nothing go out of His hand. The epistle is full of divine principles, and it is not easy for poor things such as we are to grasp divine principles. Only think what the effect would be if they laid hold of us.

We see today the state of man after nearly two thousand years of christianity, but Scripture foretold that the gentiles would not continue in the goodness of God. You might see placarded in the streets, 'Europe after two thousand years of christianity'; but they forget to say what man has made of christianity; it is rank infidelity which thus seeks to impugn christianity; but the comfort is that, after all, God's purpose is carried out, and the lost piece of silver is found -- the church is brought to light, and all Israel will be saved.

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CHAPTER 12

We have seen in the former section, the reconciling of God's outward dispensational ways with His sovereign mercy and election in the gospel. The compassions of God are the ground of the exhortation in chapter 12. We find two principles which have marked God's dealings in the world: on the one hand election, and on the other rejection; the first man is rejected all along the line, and everything is brought to pass in the second Man. If we trace this through Scripture, Isaac is the man of purpose and Ishmael is rejected; then Jacob is chosen and Esau is rejected; Israel finds mercy, "I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion", and Pharaoh is destroyed. Then there is the election from Jew and gentile, and Lo-ammi on Israel; and eventually Israel is brought back and the gentile rejected. These two principles of sovereign mercy and rejection have always lain underneath the dispensational dealings of God: every one who is saved in the present dispensation is saved through sovereign mercy; at the same time the principle of rejection is shown in the Jews, for the time being they are cut off. The rejection of man is not until he has filled up the measure of his perverseness. Pharaoh was allowed to fill up his measure, and so the Jew and the gentile. There is the sovereign grace of God to the vessels of mercy, and the perverseness of man; and there are the sovereign rights of God, and if He rejected Ishmael and Esau He had a right to do so. Rejection is a principle on which God has acted from the outset, and the force of this to the Jew was that their own position was dependent on it; if Ishmael had not been rejected, Isaac would not have had the place he had. Israel is spared on the ground of sovereign mercy. All who are saved come in on that ground, but if there is the sovereignty of mercy, there must be rejection. God would have been

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perfectly just in rejecting everybody, but He acts in the sovereignty of mercy, and says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy". If a man does not admit God's right to reject, he has very little idea of being himself an object of sovereign mercy; and if he does not accept mercy, he is rejecting God. If any one is saved, it is of the pure sovereign mercy of God, nor can we understand chapter 12 apart from that; the apostle takes up those at Rome on that ground, the whole epistle goes upon the ground that God hath concluded all under sin and unbelief that He might have mercy upon all. The world has rejected Christ, and the gospel has come in to accomplish God's purpose; and the light having come into the world presents itself to everybody, but he that doeth evil hateth the light, he feels the light.

Saints ought to be conscious that they are the objects of God's sovereign mercy, and, in proportion as we are affected by the compassions of God, we are here for His pleasure, that is, for His will. The christian's body is a sacrifice -- a thing devoted which cannot be recalled, it is for the will of God; hence the christian cannot use his body as he pleases. It would make a great change with us, if we were conscious in the depths of our souls of being saved in the sovereignty of God's mercy. There comes a moment in the soul's history when the obligation to present the body as a living sacrifice is accepted, but then this has to be maintained. If the body is a living sacrifice, there is not a bit of the will of the flesh animating it. It could not be a living sacrifice unless its deeds were mortified, it would only bring forth fruit unto death; but if the body is a living sacrifice it is dead in regard of the lusts and will of the flesh. A point of great practical importance in yielding the body a living sacrifice is, that, in effect, it breaks the link with the course of things here; we are not conformed to this age, but are transformed by

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the renewing of our minds, and consequently engaged with the faith sphere. Really the will of God is connected with His purpose for us, and in presenting the body a living sacrifice, we prove practically and experimentally what God has taken us up for. We are connected through the renewing of the mind with an order of things entirely outside of the natural order. First, we see the light of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ, God's effulgence; then the Lord Jesus Christ as the last Adam in the presence of God in subsisting righteousness; as the first Adam was head in sin, so the last Adam is Head in subsisting righteousness, the witness that sin has been removed. Further, there is the house of God where God dwells by the Spirit; all that is to faith an entirely new order of things. You see the whole order of things in which the will of God is expressed, and have to order your course accordingly; if you do not get an idea of what God's will is, you cannot order your course for His pleasure.

No one can really understand the house of God, who does not see the last Adam appearing in the presence of God in subsisting righteousness; there is not only the perfect purgation of sins, but the last Adam appearing for us in the presence of God, so that all is administered by Him in grace; the first thing resulting from that was the gift of the Holy Spirit which formed the house of God. The house is set up in the sanctification of the Spirit, as separate from the world as the Holy Spirit is separate; we all admit now the existence of the great house, and we have to confront the confusion, but we are not worth much if we do not get hold of the divine idea in the midst of the unreality around. The tabernacle as presented in Hebrews 9 was a pattern of things in the heavens, and everything connected with it had to be purged with blood; but the heavenly things, that is, the things connected with christianity, had to be

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purged with better sacrifices than these, for "Christ is not entered", it goes on to say, "into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us", that is, that He appears in the presence of God in subsisting righteousness, and this is connected with heavenly things, that is, with christianity. There is perfect purgation, but there is also Christ appearing representatively in the presence of God for us in connection with what is down here the antitype of the tabernacle -- the house of God, but then the house of God was set up in the sanctification of the Spirit. In the type, the sacrifices had to be repeated year by year, their value only went for a year, now Christ appears for us in subsisting righteousness. He is our righteousness in the presence of God, therefore it cannot be impugned. The consequence of righteousness being established in the last Adam, is that the house of God is set up here, the last Adam is Son over God's house. What is important is that we should get the apprehension of a system or order of things wholly outside the course of things here. Hence the necessity for the renewing of the mind.

The will of God is developed sufficiently here for our individual conduct, as Peter says, God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness; the details come in to show us how we can be here for God's pleasure. In the end of the chapter we have a principle of tremendous moment. "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good". It is a divine principle, and is possible only in what is of God. We find in the first part of the chapter that everything is new, everything is of God, it has come down from heaven, it is the will of God. God has dealt to every man the measure of faith, that is of God; then there are gifts, they come from heaven in consequence of the last Adam being in heaven.

The measure of faith is the sense that a man has of

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divine favour; it comes out in connection with his not thinking of himself beyond what he ought to think, for the fact is that if you come down to the measure of faith, you come down to what is very small. Many a man has come into the house of God, and thought he was going to be as important in the house of God as he was in the world; but you have to act on a wholly new principle, that is, according to the measure of the light you have from God, the favour that each is conscious of from God. It is no use a man venturing beyond his faith, he will only expose himself. No doubt to him that hath shall be given, but there is also the sovereignty of God. It is as God has dealt to every man. If we had a little more courage, we should be here for the will of God more distinctly, for it needs courage to act up to your light. It is a serious thing for a man to act up to the light God has given him, because the path will make increased demands upon him; we are often inclined to seek a little easier path. There is not in the passage the idea of imitating one another, nor of studying all day long, even though it be Scripture, so as to become like some of our great leaders. When God takes up a man that man will to a certain extent be marked by originality. It is foolish in anyone to wish to be like another, though it is good to own in another the favour bestowed of God; we could wish as Moses did, that all the Lord's people were prophets, that all had light and spiritual power, it would have an immense effect.

The thought here in connection with gifts is that each gives himself up to his gift, it is his paramount business. If a man exercises his gift as being subordinate to his social life, then a man's life is the first thing, but that is not the divine idea. A man is characterised by his gift; his family, life, business, is subordinate to it; he may become very much more competent by the exercise of his gift; the gift is not

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altered, but as be is bent on it he becomes more efficient in its exercise. There is such a thing as stirring up a gift, and thus becoming more characterised by it. Every member of the body is capable, but a gift is more distinct. There is a great deal in what our beloved brother who has just departed has said, that he thought a gift was the impression which a man had received of Christ. The apostle Paul for instance says, "When it pleased God ... to reveal his Son in me"; the revelation of God's Son in him was what peculiarly characterised the apostle in his ministry. Ministry becomes the expression of the impression received. Gift is an immense favour, so, too, faith. It is wonderful to think that God should give a man light down here so that he can walk in the will of God; and it is a further favour to be endowed with a gift, so that one can be efficient in the service of the Lord. We ought to be deeply exercised as to the favour granted to us, and to be those attending on it, so that we should be efficient in regard of the scene and sphere of God's will. The gift is individual, but it would not do to separate it from the idea of the body, or the effect would be to make one independent, and gift is connected with the idea of interdependence. A gift does not make a man independent, for it is bound up with all the interests of Christ, and it must be exercised in the reality of our being members one of another. Paul took pains to vindicate his ministry to the saints at Corinth when it was called in question; they were not a very satisfactory company, and yet he vindicates himself before them. Some of the Lord's servants may have had to go through their forty years of training as Moses did, that is the fitting of the vessel; but that which qualifies them for service is the gift; it is what has come from heaven. It is an extraordinary favour to have a gift from the Lord, even though it be not a conspicuous one. A man may be set on having the best gifts -- those which most

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tend to the edification of the saints. Stephen began with the service of a deacon, but he ended with a very distinct gift. The Corinthians were to desire gifts, but chiefly that they might prophesy, and yet without the more excellent way all the gifts were nothing to a man. The more excellent way comes in lower down (verses 9). The point in the exhortation is not only the doing a good thing, but the doing it in the best way. How often a person does a good thing, but in such a way that it loses its value. Distributing alms for the assembly is a gift, but the point is to do it in such a way that it may not be deprived of its value.

A man is not really efficient outside of his own line. One who teaches may preach the gospel, nor could we wish it otherwise, but he does not set up to be an evangelist. In one sense there is little proclamation of the gospel in the present day, the preaching today is almost all in christendom. At the first it was God's proclamation and the apostles were heralds, they went out and proclaimed the gospel. But it is to be remembered that the gospel is the means by which souls are established. The epistle to the Romans was written to establish christians in their souls in the gospel, and there the service of a teacher may come in. You do not see the effects of teaching so clearly as of preaching, but one cannot go about without observing that a certain amount of result is produced, you constantly hear that people are helped. Each one is efficient in the gift he has. The gift makes way for him.

CHAPTERS 13, 14

Chapter 12 contemplates the christian's place in relation to the body, chapter 13 looks at him as in man's kingdom, and chapter 14 as in God's kingdom. The exhortations in chapter 12 hang on the fact of

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our being one body and members one of another; we are set thus in relation to one another down here, that is how the truth of the body is introduced in this epistle. The mystery underlies the truth of the epistle, but it is not specifically taught. The mystery explains how it is possible for Christ to be here in the scene from which He has been rejected; here it merely states the fact that the saints are one body in Christ; and it follows that there are certain obligations and functions dependent upon us in relation to one another; the truth of the body was carried out before the saints knew much about the Head, they were one body in the power of the Holy Spirit without much intelligence about the Head; the possession of the Spirit necessitates the body. We get an idea of it in what the Lord said to Saul, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?". The Lord could hardly have said that, if there had not been a representation of Himself in the saints, but there was by the Holy Spirit, so that He could say it. In chapter 12 there is not direct teaching as to the one body, but the apostle assumes the body as a fact.

In chapter 13 the question is of our conduct and testimony in man's kingdom, and in chapter 14 we have the thought of God's kingdom. "Weak in the faith" is faith in the sense of belief of a system of truth. It is the description of a man whose conscience is not up to his light. A man has to act according to his conscience or he would get a bad conscience. Exercise about things brings the conscience up to the light. A man's light usually goes beyond his conscience. There are two things with each one of us, namely, what we know, and what is written in the fleshy tables of the heart; what we know may be much beyond what is written in us. If a man has the revelation of God in his hand, as a christian in system, that christian is responsible by reason of it, yet after all he can only act according to the grace given him.

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There is divine wisdom in the order of these chapters. The apostle takes up our conduct in man's kingdom, but goes on to the point in the end of the chapter, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ"; which brings us to God's kingdom. You honour the king, you love your neighbour, and you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the last brings you to what is of God's kingdom, you are ruled by a greater authority than any found in man's kingdom. It is in the sphere of man's authority that the christian's testimony comes out; he honours the king and loves his neighbour, but more, he puts on the Lord Jesus Christ and does not make provision for the flesh. It is evident that he is under greater authority than a human king. Only the Lord is entitled to control the conscience; if any human authority directs a christian to do what he cannot do conscientiously, then he cannot do it; but the Lord can direct him in all things, because He is the light of God, and the more you have to do with the Lord and His glory, the more light you get; and that affects and liberates the conscience.

The epistle recognises the times of the gentiles when power is committed to man; and the christian has to accept this; we recognise that we are in a scene that is subject to man; if a demand is made we submit to it. We have to be obedient, not loyal, though not disloyal. If a different form of government were established, it would be our duty to submit to it, which if loyal to the queen we could not do -- the authority is the ordinance of God. Government in itself is never bad, in its nature it is good; there can be no worse calamity for a country than anarchy, there may be abuse in government, but it is always good in principle. Circumstances may occur when man's government intrudes into the things of God, so as to come athwart a christian's conscience, and then it is plain that the christian must not do evil.

Verse 11. The authority of man is really carried

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on in the night, in the time of darkness, and the point for the christian is that he is already in the day. It must be night here if Christ has been rejected, but the night is far spent and the day is at hand, and we are to walk decorously, for though it is night as to the world, the christian is in the day. The moment you bring in the Lord Jesus Christ, you bring in the light of the day. He is the sun of righteousness that arises, but in the meantime He is the day-star in the heart of the christian, so that we are to walk becomingly as in the day, though actually in the night. The armour of light is that you bring the light of day into the night, you meet everything here in accord with what the Lord will administer when He comes. It is in contrast with the works of darkness. In Ephesians the armour is to enable us to stand against all the devices and forms of spiritual wickedness, here it is that you do not meet men with their own weapons, but with arms of light. If a man smites you, you do not smite him in return, but meet him with the weapons of light.

"Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed". Salvation is the complete deliverance of the christian from all that is contrary to God; it is now morally nearer, it could hardly be actually nearer, for what difference could a few years make? but there is a moral deliverance now from all that from which the saint will in result be absolutely and actually delivered. Then what accompanies that salvation is that we are formed positively according to divine purpose, conformed to the image of God's Son.

Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ connects itself with what is true in Him now. You cannot go in walk beyond what He was morally when here; but it is a very different matter when we look at the Lord's administration. Peace with God is through Him, so too joy in God, grace reigns unto eternal life through Him. It was when He went to the right hand of God

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that He was made Lord and Christ. What He administers to us now and gives us the enjoyment of, He will administer publicly when He comes. In principle the kingdom is not different to us now from what it will be when He comes; righteousness, peace and joy will then fill the earth. We have them now in the Holy Spirit, but the Lord will establish them publicly in the earth. One is conscious of the blessing connected with the Lord's authority and administration, and the more you come into the light of day the nearer it is to you. It is a great point for everyone to realise that the night is far spent. There are many for whom it is not far spent, they are too comfortably settled down here. You cannot have christianity apart from the moral state of christians, there is no objective system in Scripture apart from the subjective state, they are so bound up that if you separate them you have lost christianity.

Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is the being conscious of what He is, and of the administration that belongs to Him, it characterises the one that is sensible of it. The putting on Christ in Galatians 3:27 is more as of profession, the bearing of their baptism was that they had repudiated Adam and put on Christ. In Romans the idea is more spiritual. Salvation is always salvation. At the coming of the Lord where will be the world, and all the artifices of Satan? All displaced, the God of this world and all his wiles will be gone in a moment; so with regard to sin and infidelity, all will be dissipated in a moment by the coming of the Lord, deliverance is complete the instant He comes, the power of the enemy all gone. The end God has in view in this salvation is the accomplishment of His counsel. We get salvation for the first time in Exodus 15; but the setting up of the tabernacle was a consequence of salvation, and the bringing the people into the land was of God's purpose; salvation was that they were delivered from

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the Egyptian, redeemed from the power of the enemy, but it was in order to be introduced into the purpose of God. We wait for sonship, and what is necessary for it is the redemption of the body.

In chapter 13 there is no mention of the Lord, or of the Spirit except in the last verse; chapter 14 is full of the Lord, and in verse 17 you get the Spirit, and both connected with the kingdom. Chapter 14 insists upon individual responsibility to the Lord because we are in the kingdom; then, in connection with the same subject, the Spirit gives us the moral characteristics of the kingdom -- righteousness, peace and joy. The thought of the kingdom is that it is the sphere and scene where the Lord has sway. Each one is responsible to the Lord, therefore we do not attempt to lord it over one another's conscience. Conscience refers to the Lord. "For this cause Christ both died and rose that he might be Lord". The authority of God is presented to us in the Lord in the kingdom. A man as he goes on gets much more light, and the more He is in the light of the Lord, the more liberty of conscience he gets, he is less hampered; but then his conscience is not a rule for another man. If a man has a morbid conscience, and is highly scrupulous about trifling matters, it only proves that he is not fully in the light of the Lord. If a man is in the light of the Lord he has the Lord before him; and if a man is legal you must seek to bring him more into the light. The apostle's great anxiety is to preserve individual responsibility to the Lord; the Lord is the christian's judge, and therefore conscience must refer to the Lord.

It is a most serious thing if you embolden a man to do what he has not faith to do as being the will of God. You put him on the down-grade. It is the ultimate bearing of such an act that the apostle looks at when he says, "Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died". Verse 18 is very beautiful, "He

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that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men".

"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin". If a christian cannot do a thing as being the will of God, then it is his own will, it is sin. Faith is that you have the light of God's will, and you act according to it. If you have not the light of God's will, you have to wait. This is the opposite to what is in the world, there man without scruple acts on his own will. Conscience keeps pace with faith, what a man has faith for he can do with a good conscience. What a man knows intelligently may be beyond his conscience, he has not made it his own, it is not written in him. You are to have faith as to yourself before God, that is intelligible enough; faith does not refer to man, faith is really acting before God. Righteousness, peace and joy are practical, they are the moral characteristics of the kingdom, to be universally enjoyed when the kingdom comes in power. "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord".

CHAPTER 15

The subject of ministry is brought forward in this chapter in a remarkable way. The ministry of the Lord to the circumcision is first noticed, and then that of the apostle to the gentiles, while in the latter part we have his temporal ministry to the poor saints at Jerusalem; to the gentiles it was in spiritual things, to the Jews in temporal. The Lord was a minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made of God to the fathers, but with another purpose in view -- that the gentiles should glorify God for His mercy. The apostle takes up two ideas with regard to himself; he speaks of himself as an offering priest, offering up the gentiles, and as a minister (deacon) towards the Jews. The object of the epistle was the practical knitting

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together of Jew and gentile; and the light of the kingdom of God is brought in, because the more each one is subject to the Lord, the better able all are to walk in fellowship down here; we cannot walk in christian fellowship on the ground of common agreement, it can only be done as we are all near to the Lord.

Verse 8. The truth of God rendered it imperative that Christ should come to confirm the promises made to the fathers. There was no making the truth of God good in any other way, for the simple reason that all God's ways were in anticipation of the coming of Christ. For instance, such a thought as in Genesis 22:18, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed", could only be fulfilled in Him. Whatever light God saw fit to give came in through the circumcision, they had the oracles of God. God took up the seed of Abraham and made them the depositaries of the truth. All the communications from God came to them -- the prophets, the psalms, and Christ Himself came on that line. So Paul, when raised up, puts Jews before gentiles, and when preaching in any city went to the Jews first, and took up that ground with them; they had the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants. Then to that is added in Scripture the idea of mercy going out to the gentiles, which brings in the thought of divine sovereignty, as seen in the case of the Syrophenician woman. The Lord says, "it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs", but she answers, "Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table". She gets the mercy of God. The promises are confirmed in Christ risen from the dead. As many as are the promises of God, in Him is the yea and in Him the Amen. How could the universe of bliss be held together, and men be blessed, if there were not a centre, if Christ had not the priestly place? All will be dependent on Him in the eternal state, not in the

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sense of succour, as if there were need, but as Minister of the sanctuary. Men will not be self-supporting then any more than now. The mediatorial kingdom is given up, but that is only looking at Christ on the kingdom side. "Unto him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end", gives the idea of eternal order. When God is all in all, there does not seem to be any longer the idea of the kingdom, but every family will have the support of Christ, and He will be the connecting link between every family; each derives from Him, and all acknowledge Him as Head. He will never cease to be Head, though He will cease to be Lord, that is, in connection with the kingdom; but He must always have the place of pre-eminence, and will stand in relation to every family in the universe of bliss. Everything would lose its proper character if we gave up the thought of Christ on our side, that is as Head. The church is formed in the knowledge of His love. He has thus the pre-eminence, that of love, and that cannot be set aside or lost; but when God has His own place in the universe there is hardly need for administration. Nothing can ever really be independent of God: God gives life, and He sustains life. Adam had life, yet there was the tree of life. There never could be life apart from Christ both as source and sustainment.

Evidently the object here is the binding together of Jew and gentile, the passage (verses 8, 9) connects the gentile with Christ in a remarkable way, "That the gentiles should glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the gentiles", that is, Christ will confess among the nations. "Praise the Lord, all ye nations", "Praise him, all ye people". It is universal praise. Again, Esaias saith, "There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the gentiles, in him shall the gentiles hope". Christ is hope to the gentiles. Evidently the passages are taken with the view of

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binding together Jew and gentile, they were not to allow anything to come in to cause divergence. There were questions of conscience, and the apostle does not override conscience, nor does he allow others to do it, but difficulties of conscience are solved as people get near the Lord, and so into the light; reasoning and persuasion will not do this. The only chance of getting near to one another is to get near the Lord. Paul was greatly distressed about the Galatians, yet he says, "I have confidence in you through the Lord". If they were not near the Lord he was.

The apostle speaks about himself as "ministering the gospel of God". This is remarkable, he takes up the gospel here as priestly service, rather than levitical. It is a similar idea to that of Aaron offering up the Levites. Anything offered sacrificially was devoted and could not be recalled, and this is the way in which the apostle looks upon the gentiles here. Preaching, looked at generally, is levitical service, not priestly; but here Paul is looking at his own apostolic work, and takes up the totality of the ministry of the gospel of God, regarding it as priestly service; he was Jesus Christ's minister. While the ministry of Jesus Christ in its full public blessing both for Jew and gentile is still deferred owing to His rejection, the apostle Paul is raised up to carry on a special work among the gentiles, and the results of this are looked at as a first-fruit, and perhaps representative; as the Levites were taken out from Israel. It is not the salvation of the gentiles, as such, that is here in view, but the taking out a people from the gentiles. It is not exactly the preaching of the gospel which is before the mind of the apostle, but the offering up of the whole of the company taken out from the gentiles, looked at as one offering, and all the fruit of the apostle's work; he was minister of Jesus Christ to the uncircumcision, as Jesus Christ had Himself been minister to the circumcision.

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When the apostle speaks of his proposed service to the Jews at Jerusalem he does not use the same word as in verse 16, there he was more of an administrator. The offering up of the gentiles is looked at as one whole; the ministry has all come out, but the effect is not yet all realised. The result of his gospel upon those who receive it is that they are acceptable to God. "Sanctified by the Holy Spirit" is possibly in contrast to national sanctification, it is a setting apart for God entirely in the power of the Holy Spirit; it presents what God has in mind, the setting apart for Himself.

An apostle inaugurated; so Paul speaks of his gospel, none but an apostle could talk about the gospel in the same way. The moral effect of it is to make the gentiles acceptable. This is an immense contrast to the gentiles as depicted in chapter 1.

It is remarkable that the apostle should speak of his deacon work after this, the two things not being on the same level; the offering up of the gentiles is a very different service from ministering to the Jews in temporal things; and though the apostle in carrying out the latter may have fallen below his proper apostolic work, yet the Spirit recognises his service. The apostle speaks in a tremulous way of his visit to Jerusalem, and asks their prayers as to it, but still we have the fact that the Spirit of God refers to it in connection with his affection for the saints. He was a bond between Jew and gentile, he had ministered the gospel of God to the gentiles, and then on behalf of gentiles he ministered in carnal things to the Jews. It is evident from the Acts that Paul went up to Jerusalem against the Spirit's warning, but he was a devoted man, and not serving himself in going up, and we may hesitate in judging of the conduct of a man so much greater than ourselves. The thought in his mind was apparently that of reciprocity. The gentiles could not minister to the Jews in spiritual things, and therefore it was important that they should minister in carnal

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things. It is beautiful to see the wakening of the Jew and gentile to this principle. In Acts 11, when Barnabas heard of the conversion of the gentiles at Antioch, he went to them, sent by the church at Jerusalem; then he found Saul and brought him to Antioch, and they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people; and then when the prophecy of the famine came the gentiles sent relief to their brethren in Judaea. In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of their contribution, as not only supplying the wants of the saints, but as being abundant through thanksgiving, so that the Jews glorified God on account of the professed subjection of the gentiles to the gospel of Christ.

Verse 20 marks out lines difficult to work on in the present day. But they were the lines on which the apostle went, and show his anxiety to be clear of other men's work; but it would be very difficult strictly to carry out the same now. In principle it may be done, but in christendom you must to a certain extent go over other men's work. The apostle must be looked at alone here, in connection with the special subject which he has before him; he is explaining the reason he had not gone to Rome before. In a certain sense he justifies himself, he would not speak of things except what God has wrought by him to make the gentiles obedient by word and deed. It is a vindication of his own work; he would not talk of other men's work, but would only boast of his own work. This passage and 1 Corinthians 2 are sometimes put together: "I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling", refers to the same period as that in which these mighty signs and wonders were performed. Weakness, fear, and trembling were on his side, and on the other there was the Spirit's power manifested.

Miracles come in to vouch the testimony; one can very well understand that if God presents a new testimony He gives proof that there is a power here

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superior to all the power of evil: it was thus with the Lord Himself. The Lord gave signs, when exalted, to confirm the testimony of the twelve. "The apostles went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following". The Lord attached no importance to a faith founded on miracles, but at the same time miracles were a testimony to men that there was a power here which was superior to the power of evil.

The way in which God attaches His name to certain principles in this chapter is beautiful. He is the God of patience and consolation or encouragement; and again the God of hope; so He is called the God of peace (chapter 16: 20), and we see these qualities here in this world. We want endurance, hope and peace, and God has put His name to these things. Satan is the first cause of all the confusion here, and as the God of peace, He will bruise Satan. The saints were to mark those that caused divisions and offences, such work was of Satan. Peace is the thought of God. When Christ was upon earth there was a ministry of peace, but that did not make peace; this was made by the blood of His cross, by the setting aside of the old man. The man who offended God has been removed, both Jew and gentile are gone to leave room for another Man. The blood is the witness that death has come in, and that the man after the flesh is gone. There is only one Man left, and that is Christ and He is our peace. As long as the old man is in presence, Jew or gentile, Satan will act on that man; if the man is gone, there is no man on whom Satan can act, therefore Christ is our peace, for all others are excluded by Him. It is true each retains his individuality, but in Christ there is morally a new creation, and as that is effectual in each there is nothing for Satan to act upon by which he can make discord. There are two great foundation truths: God has been revealed, and man removed; if that be so, Satan's power is gone.

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Our individuality is not gone, but the order of man after the flesh is gone, to make room for another order of man. The Spirit of God connects us with another Man, and just so far as that is made good in the soul, peace is known. It often takes us a long time to get clear of the old man, though for God both Jew and gentile are gone in the cross. The apostle speaks of creating one new man in Christ, so making peace.

In the end of chapter 16 we have the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery; it was the great secret of the times of the ages, but is now made known in prophetic writings. It is to the One who is able to establish saints according to the revelation of the mystery, that the apostle ascribes glory. We can look at Jesus Christ in two lights, as the revelation of God on the one hand, and as the light of God's purpose on the other. This was brought to light by Paul. Here it is not the question of the revelation of God, but of the light of purpose, "the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery". God establishes the saints on the line of His counsel. It is remarkable how the moral line, and the line of God's purpose coincide in Christ. Christ has reached His present place as that which in Him was morally fitting. He became Man, and in the body prepared for Him glorified God in the work of the cross, the moral consequence of which is that He is glorified in God. He has reached His present place in glory as Man along this moral line, although it properly belongs to Him, and there the purpose of God is fully set forth in Him, and we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. God establishes us on the line of His purpose in Christ, but after all Christ has but reached the place which belongs to Him, but He has reached it as Man.

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A MAN RIGHTLY DISCERNED BY HIS TESTIMONY

2 Corinthians 1:1 - 24

F.E.R. It is rather striking what comes out in the latter part of the chapter -- that a man is to be judged for his testimony, that is, the servant.

E.R. Do you mean judged by the saints or the Lord?

F.E.R. I think judged of the saints, that is the point here. You rightly judge a man by his testimony.

J.S.O. Which verse do you refer to in the end of the chapter?

F.E.R. Verse 18, "God is faithful". The Corinthians were not judging the apostle by his testimony. They were greatly affected by others. The testimony is the criterion of the man properly.

D.L.H. That is to say, it is what a man is?

F.E.R. The testimony and the effect of it makes manifest the man and a man is rightly discerned by his testimony.

W.B. That supposes that those who discern him have eyes to see?

F.E.R. The Corinthians were so much affected by the influence of others; he takes the ground here that he is judged by his testimony.

Ques. Do you mean the testimony to men?

F.E.R. It is the testimony that he brings, "Our word". The testimony was the Son of God. He was the testimony.

E.R. What is the object of this epistle?

F.E.R. I think that the object of it is very much unfolded in the apostle's ministry. His ministry was to carry the saints with him outside and beyond themselves. The object of the first epistle was to set

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the saints right and the point in the second epistle is to bring about enlargement of heart to go out beyond themselves. The Corinthians thought everything of Corinth.

W.J. Does he not open out his experience in connection with it, too?

F.E.R. He does to show the enlargement which was connected with the ministry. It is in connection with the ministry that you get enlargement.

M.G. They were so much occupied with themselves that they were not occupied with Christ?

F.E.R. I think so. They had gifts and were in a sense increased with goods but they were too fond of themselves too, and that is not the principle and spirit of christianity.

M.G. They were not a very worshipping people?

F.E.R. I do not think they were, and if they were defective in the priestly part, you may depend upon it that the levitical part was defective too. It seems to me that it is a very important principle which the apostle enunciates here that a man is judged by his testimony. It is a right standard of judgment.

W.B. I think that needs a little enlargement. What do you mean by his testimony?

F.E.R. I think that the result of the apostle's testimony was to give to the saints the sense of the stability of God's purposes, and if that was the effect of his testimony, they ought not to have refused his word. If you get lightness in a man in connection with the testimony, it shows that he is not much different himself.

Ques. Does that come out in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, "For our glad tidings were not with you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit"?

F.E.R. Yes.

D.L.H. He refers to this establishing you mentioned at the close of the chapter, "He that establishes us with you in Christ"?

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F.E.R. It is in connection with the idea of stability.

J.S.O. Their state only hindered the apostle carrying out his purpose?

F.E.R. They judged the apostle in the most superficial way. I believe it is a true standard, that a man is nothing beyond his testimony, and that a man might be rightly judged by his testimony, if a man uses fleshly means and ways in his testimony, he is characterised by it himself.

M.G. Is not that what the apostle means when he says, "Thou hast fully known my doctrine"?

F.E.R. Yes.

Rem. All have not got the gift, the same light of Scripture.

F.E.R. I think many people make great mistakes about gift. I think a man is characterised by gift; a man cannot have gift and not be characterised by it. Every gift must be a simple expression of Christ, and if you have not first got an impression, you cannot have an expression.

E.R. It must be inside before it is outside?

F.E.R. Yes. Every gift is Christ. Christ was the focus of every gift; He was the Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher, every gift was in Christ.

J.S.O. You could not separate gift from the state of the person who has it.

Rem. Every gift is according to what a man has received.

F.E.R. And it expresses itself in the character of a man, so that a man is according to his gift.

D.L.H. The Corinthians themselves were in a very abnormal state. They came behind in no gift but their testimony was very poor.

J.S.O. That is just the state. The gift was ineffective?

F.E.R. The gift was not ineffective. There were manifestations of the Spirit there, but they were not gifts as I understand gifts in Ephesians 4.

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D.L.H. I suppose that a person might have gift and might carry on people beyond their actual condition a good bit?

F.E.R. I would scarcely call it gift. It is more the manifestations of the Spirit. It is a different idea from what is presented in Ephesians 4, "Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men". I do not think that it runs quite with that.

D.L.H. The Ephesians and Corinthians do not run parallel?

F.E.R. It is taken up in Corinthians as manifestations of the Spirit, and an unconverted man might come under it in that way. That is what makes one hesitate to call it gift.

J.S.O. Chapter 13 brings out what you were saying?

F.E.R. Years ago I did not understand it a bit, but I see something of gift now. People think that gift is really ability to talk, whereas gift is that which enables us in some way to be a representation of Christ down here.

D.L.H. So that you impress others?

F.E.R. Yes. You get all these things coming out in the Lord. He was the Evangelist and certainly He was the Pastor and Teacher. Every gift was there. Now He has gone to the right hand of God and all these things come out all the world over in individuals.

F.C. Would you call it gift when you say that the Lord had every gift, and had everything in Himself which is gift in us?

F.E.R. He was the expression of everything which is gift in us. He gives nothing but what is of Himself.

M.G. Is not that what we get in 2 Corinthians 3, Christ written "on fleshy tables of the heart"?

F.E.R. Yes.

J.S.O. What was in Him is now expressed in us in the power of the Spirit of God.

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D.L.H. I suppose the apostle himself was impressed by the Son of God?

F.E.R. I think so.

J.S.O. That he might preach Him as glad tidings among the nations?

F.E.R. It is remarkable how it is put there (Galatians 1:15, 16), "When God ... was pleased to reveal his Son in me"; that was the impression the apostle got.

W.J. You would say that gift is the expression of an impression?

F.E.R. Yes.

W.J. Does not the apostle turn to it when he says, "examine your own selves"?

F.E.R. Yes, they themselves were the fruit of his gift.

J.S.O. It would be a very important subject, this gift. It would hinder imitation?

F.E.R. The fact is, it is a very long time before a man is sure of what his gift is. A man does not find out his gift in a moment.

W.J. You would not be so careful about your subject, but desire more to make an impression on the souls of the saints.

F.E.R. Exactly, but any impression that you make is really the result of an impression on yourself.

W.J. That is important because state of soul comes in?

F.E.R. The more I go on the less I care about subject.

W.J. And sometimes when you do not handle your subject very well, you make a greater impression than if you had handled it well?

J.S.O. You want the work to be such that the subject would be a secondary matter?

F.E.R. Exactly.

M.G. And then you would have a living ministry?

F.E.R. You see how distinct the apostle's ministry was. The testimony of the twelve referred to the

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sufferings and exaltation of Christ; they were companions of Christ after the flesh, witnesses of His sufferings and had seen Him go up to heaven, too; but Paul comes out with something very distinctive, the Son of God is One who has come forth. The twelve knew that Christ had come forth from God, but it does not form part of their testimony.

J.S.O. Do you mean come forth into the world?

F.E.R. Yes, He came forth. "God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law".

D.L.H. What about John in that connection?

F.E.R. John in his writings comes out confirmative of Paul in his writings. As to the testimony in the world, it was Paul who preached that He is Son of God and in the passage already quoted you have, "God was pleased to reveal his Son in me that I may announce him as glad tidings among the nations".

W.J. May we not judge that there was a measure of recovery with the Corinthians?

F.E.R. Oh yes, it comes out that they had proved themselves pure in the matter.

W.J. He credits them with the sufferings too?

D.L.H. He says further on, "Our mouth is open to you Corinthians our heart is expanded".

F.E.R. They were straitened in themselves.

D.L.H. He was able to speak to them in the second epistle of things he had not been able to speak to them in the first epistle.

F.E.R. Yes, some of them even denied the resurrection. You have got no Son of God if there is no resurrection.

W.J. Would you say this is an advance on the first epistle? He opens out advanced truth to them. I mean the ministry.

F.E.R. You have a remarkable passage here at the close of the chapter, in the last few verses. What the apostle brings forward is the stability of everything. The promises of God in Christ and the glory to God

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by us, that is you have the glory of God come in in the saints. It is glory to God by us.

D.L.H. Does that mean that the saints are necessary to bring out the glory of God eventually?

F.E.R. I think it is present.

Ques. Was that the apostle or the saints?

F.E.R. The saints. What I understand by the glory of God is the introduction of Christ in the very place where He was rejected. That is what I understand by the glory of God -- it is the complete triumph of God in Christ.

D.L.H. Is it that the saints are the vessel in whom Christ is manifested down here?

F.E.R. Yes. If you could conceive the idea, you have witness in the saints of the triumph of God. God has displaced man and introduced the man that is according to Himself.

Ques. Is that the purpose of God?

F.E.R. It is Christ in you the hope of glory, in the place where everything was lost, everything is regained. It is Christ in us now.

D.L.H. Do we not get it also in the close of chapter 3, "Looking on the glory of the Lord ... transformed according to the same image"?

F.E.R. Exactly. I do not think that we are alive to the wonderful character of what God has brought about; the complete displacement of the man that existed and the introduction of the Son of God, the second Man.

D.L.H. We were having some talk last time on this particular subject. It might be well if you could say a word or two upon it, as it was not very clearly brought out, that is, the distinction between the first man and the old man referred to in Romans 6.

F.E.R. It is perfectly certain that the old man is the first man.

D.L.H. Only is it not so that in 1 Corinthians 15 the body is still the link with the first man, who is

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there spoken of, "And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly"?

F.E.R. We belong outwardly to the first man, that is certain.

D.L.H. The terms are not interchangeable. It is that order of man and we are still partakers of that man which the old man is a moral expression of. That is what I thought about it. We are in the light of the displacement of the first man?

F.E.R. Yes, but the first man displaced himself.

E.R.B.R. That is what I was just going to remark.

F.E.R. Where is the first man? He is out of this world, anyway.

J.S.O. You refer to Adam?

F.E.R. Yes.

J.S.O. I thought that Mr. B.'s objection was using the expression 'first man' where it was not used in Scripture.

W.B. I thought that we were in danger of using scriptural terms in unscriptural ways and connections.

W.J. Would you say of necessity that the first man of the earth earthy is evil?

F.E.R. Certainly not. The first man was as good as God could make him, he never was heavenly and you could not make him heavenly, because God made him earthy. You must have another man.

W.J. He was constituted for earth?

F.E.R. Constituted for earth. No one of us could possibly enter into what the first man was properly; you cannot have an idea of it. The fall entirely altered the constitution of man.

W.J. Is not that the great difference between the old man and the first man that the old man is moral?

F.E.R. Yes, it is the introduction of the new that makes the first old.

Ques. Does not the old man include the condition which is evil morally?

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F.E.R. It says, "The old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts; and being renewed in the spirit of your mind: and your having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness", Ephesians 4:22 - 24. Every natural obligation is carried out in the power of new creation. New creation touches everything in that way. I think that affects the christian in every stage of life down here.

D.L.H. So that the expression 'old man and new man' is moral?

F.E.R. Exactly. The subject of 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection of the body.

W.B. What has been said meets entirely the difficulty I had in regard to it.

F.E.R. It is a wonderful thing to think that a man has come in who is the complete revelation of God and in whom every purpose of God is established. The Son of God was the one who completely and fully set God forth, and everything is established in Him and there it is for glory to God by us. I cannot conceive anything more wonderful than the thought of God in the very scene where Christ was rejected and died. God has brought Christ in, and it is as if God said, 'I will give Him a place in the very scene where He was disowned'.

J.S.O. The church's failure is the measure of the failure displayed toward Christ?

F.E.R. Exactly, the church is for the setting forth of Christ.

E.R.B.R. Verse 22 gives us how it is accomplished?

F.E.R. Yes.

D.L.H. Then it is of all importance that we should apprehend His Person?

J.S.O. And His place?

F.E.R. And there is glory to God by us in the present moment down here. God is glorified in us, nowhere else. I believe that the moment a person

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gets hold of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" that person is changed; he must be, the glory of God must connect itself with another man.

W.J. And he is put off in that way?

F.E.R. I can understand the grace of God, but if you come to the glory of God, it must come out in another man. It practically means Christ in me.

W.J. That becomes your glory.

F.E.R. Yes, it is your glory, but it is the glory of God.

D.L.H. That is what the apostle speaks of as his gospel, "The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ"?

F.E.R. Yes, but the point is that that was the light in the hearts of the saints.

J.S.O. In Saul's conversion you get all this in germ and character?

F.E.R. I think so. Saul recognised in his conversion that it was a divine Person speaking to him. He must have had the sense at the bottom of his soul that it was a divine Person addressing him.

D.L.H. Would you say a word about the anointing here?

F.E.R. I think he first shows the establishing in Christ. J.N.D.'s note in the translation reads, I think, 'attaches firmly to'.

D.L.H. In the note it is 'attaches firmly to, connects firmly with'.

F.E.R. That is the idea. It is a work going on in souls. The promises of God which are in Him is really the inheritance, and therefore you get, "sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts". The earnest of the Spirit refers to the inheritance. We have the sense that Christ is in us and of the stability of the promises of God, there is the inheritance and we have the earnest of the inheritance.

W.B. What about the anointing?

F.E.R. What would you say?

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W.B. I want all the light I can get.

F.E.R. And so do I.

W.B. I should like to get a clear thought about the anointing.

F.E.R. The anointing properly gives you the character of Christ.

E.R. I thought it was in connection with spiritual conception.

F.E.R. You get the idea of power connected with it. "Jesus who was of Nazareth how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power". I think it must give you the character of Christ.

E.R. In John's epistle we have, "And ye have the unction from the holy one".

F.E.R. You know everything by the Spirit, but the Spirit teaches you by forming you and not as we teach one another. The Spirit brings you really into the light of divine love, that is the character of the teaching, and it is astonishing what progress you make then.

W.J. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened", is that the idea?

F.E.R. Yes.

F.C. In what sense did you say we are firmly attached to Christ?

F.E.R. It is God who is giving stability to saints because that is the way in which stability comes really, and attaches our hearts to Christ. It is continuous. Anointing is not continuous.

D.L.H. Is not this firmly attaching to Christ effected by the power of the Spirit?

F.E.R. I think so entirely. In connection with the anointing, you take another character, the character of Christ.

W.J. Does not this come out here to meet the effort at Corinth to detach the saints from the apostle?

F.E.R. Yes, and the effect of this is to detach people from the world. What this brings before you

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is your complete independence in regard to everything. You have everything from God, the anointing, the sealing and the earnest of the Spirit, you are not dependent upon the world for anything because you have everything from God. All the promises of God are in Him, and you have a place in Him, you are being attached to Him, you have the anointing, the sealing and the earnest of the Spirit; what more could you have?

D.L.H. There is an ample sufficiency to qualify us for coming out here.

F.E.R. What inheritance in this world could compare with this?

J.S.O. The apostle was in the full power of his ministry and that is what characterised him?

F.E.R. I think so. The great subject of his ministry was the Son of God, He was the special burden of Paul's ministry. I have been much struck by the beginning of John. It seems to me that God has become a testimony for Himself. God has become His own testimony, I mean it is different from anything that went before. In the Old Testament there was the testimony of creation, the law and the prophets. But in the New Testament God is His own testimony.

J.S.O. Something like Hebrews, God speaking in Son?

F.E.R. Exactly.

D.L.H. Now Christ is personally withdrawn but the Holy Spirit comes and takes His place in the saints, so that the testimony is continued?

F.E.R. Quite so, and if the thing is in power it is perfectly unanswerable.

E.R. In chapter 5 the earnest of the Spirit seems to have its application to the glorified body?

F.E.R. The Spirit is the pledge of redemption. You have the earnest of the Spirit until the redemption of the purchased possession. The first thing that

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is redeemed is the body of the saints. The Spirit is the pledge of redemption even of the body.

Ques. Is the earnest of the Spirit an unction?

F.E.R. It is the Spirit from another point of view. It is wonderful to see the light of God coming out, everything gathered up in Christ, all the promises of God, "in him is the yea and in him the amen for glory to God by us". I think that the great hindrance to this is our attachment to things down here, instead of our attachment to Christ.

D.L.H. Prophetically we get these things in Psalms 2 and Psalms 8?

F.E.R. Yes, and He comes out as Son of God who is going to rule the nations with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

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THE LIGHT AND REALITY OF THE NEW COVENANT

2 Corinthians 3:1 - 18

J.S.O. I suppose chapter 2 gives us the exercises of the apostle as to the result of his first letter, up to verse 13.

F.E.R. Yes. Something appears to have come in which made him break off.

J.S.O. What do you mean by 'break off'?

F.E.R. In verse 14 he appears to break off on to another line.

J.S.O. So that up to verse 13 it is in connection with his first epistle?

F.E.R. Yes. I think Titus had come in and brought him tidings of the self-judgment that had taken place at Corinth and then the apostle goes on another line.

Ques. What is the object of that?

F.E.R. I think the object of the apostle was that the Corinthians instead of judging him as a man might judge of him by his ministry; that they might lose sight of the man in the ministry.

W.J. Does he return to the thought of chapter 1 that speaks of his preaching?

F.E.R. I think so in a way in the end of chapter 2 and chapter 3 he develops. It is plain that he continues the same point. He speaks of our word, our testimony and that is the line he takes up in chapter 3. It is a curious thing in the chapter that the apostle is looked at as the contrast to Moses and yet Christ is contrasted to Moses.

W.B. What is the force of the reference to the triumph in chapter 2: 14?

F.E.R. I do not know.

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W.J. Did you say you do not know?

F.E.R. Yes. Do you know?

W.B. I am afraid I must give the same answer as yourself.

J.S.O. It is "leads us about in triumph", is it not?

F.E.R. That is the force of it. The apostle's spirit was liberated by the glad tidings that Titus had brought him, having had no rest in his spirit and his spirit refers to what his proper work was, the ministry.

W.J. Does it show that he had more confidence in them?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so.

W.B. Do you think that anyone but the apostle could speak in the way he speaks in verses 14, 15, 16?

F.E.R. No. I think chapter 3 refers to apostolic service. It is a difficulty to put ourselves into that chapter.

J.S.O. And so in chapter 4 in principle and primarily.

F.E.R. I think so, and in chapter 5, too.

H.C.U. Is the apostle's object that they might get the good of the new covenant ministry in their souls?

F.E.R. I have no doubt of it. I think he wanted to draw them into fellowship in the ministry, to draw them into the greatness of it.

H.C.U. Is that what you think now takes their attention away from man?

F.E.R. Yes.

D.L.H. You referred some minutes ago to Christ being the antitype or rather contrast to Moses and also the apostle in a sense; would you say why that is?

F.E.R. I think it was a little remarkable in the place that it gives to the apostle. The apostle looks upon himself as being here representative of Christ and he says so further on. Now we are ambassadors for Christ. They were here representatives of Christ.

D.L.H. He was here in a remarkable way and bound up with the testimony of Christ on earth.

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F.E.R. And also the apostles. You get in John's epistles "truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son". That refers to what is apostolic.

H.C.U. That is the thought here.

F.E.R. That is what the apostle is seeking to lead them into.

J.S.O. It is rather an answer to the first prayer in John 17.

F.E.R. Quite so.

W.B. When you speak of the apostle here being in contrast to man, do you refer to his ministry?

F.E.R. I think so. Moses was the mediator of the first covenant. Properly Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant but the thing was really worked out immediately through the apostle, therefore he speaks of not putting a veil upon his face -- of Christ being with unveiled face.

E.C. Who did you say did not put a veil on his face?

F.E.R. The apostle. Not as Moses who put a veil on his face. First of all here we get the idea of writing, then we get the conditions of the new covenant and the glory connected with the ministry of it. It arises in connection with the idea of the letter of commendation, they were his epistle.

D.L.H. We get what is written with the Spirit of the living God.

F.E.R. In contrast to the tables of stone.

J.S.O. He had written a living Christ on them.

F.E.R. Christ had done it through him.

W.J. What was written? Was it Christ formed in them?

F.E.R. It indicates the subjugation of the heart to Christ, that is the idea to me. It does not go so far as Christ formed in them.

W.J. That is the first effect of the gospel, is it not?

F.E.R. I think so. When the law was written on stone it made an impression on the heart, it was

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Christ's ministry and the effect of it was that it really subjugated the heart to Christ.

H.C.U. The affections were reached.

F.E.R. I think so.

Ques. What is the force of "written in our hearts"?

F.E.R. It is the place they had in the heart of the apostle. They were his children -- it is affection.

J.S.O. How does "known and read of all men" come in?

F.E.R. They were patent as the apostle's work in them, known as the fruit of his labour, as his children in the gospel. He could appeal to the Corinthians as the proof of his apostleship. The Corinthians were the commendation of himself as to his apostleship and he carried it about with him wherever he went.

J.S.O. What he had written went a good way for Christ. That is what would be his commendation, Christ seen in them.

F.E.R. They were in the faith of Christ but really they did not get very far as to the assembly. There was real work there, not mere profession, the writing of Christ.

Ques. What is the thought of the epistle of Christ?

F.E.R. It is the writing of Christ. Something He has written.

-- .H. Are the names on the breast-plate typical of it?

F.E.R. To make it analogous to the breast-plate it would be on the heart of Christ. The simple fact is this, that their christianity was well known and that they were the fruit of the apostle's labour, his commendation.

J.S.O. Something like the Thessalonians.

F.E.R. Yes, and that was patent all through the world. We have very little idea of the effect produced in the first instance in the world by the testimony.

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J.S.O. Because of the astounding character of the light.

F.E.R. As a matter of fact the testimony had the effect of overthrowing Judaism and philosophy. It overthrows the Grecian philosophy. Satan saw the power of the testimony and he set to work to corrupt it. There was no other way of success and he has succeeded very well.

W.J. Is this epistle an advance on the first as to the testimony?

F.E.R. You get here the new terms on which God was with the saints, the ministry of righteousness, and the Spirit. They were subjugated 'Christ written in the heart' and they came into the ministry of the new covenant that they might apprehend the terms on which God was with them, that was in the light of the glory just as in the first covenant it was testified by the glory in the face of Moses.

W.J. And that would be formative.

F.E.R. Very formative indeed.

W.B. What you said as to the terms on which God is with the saints needs a little opening up.

F.E.R. That is the meaning of covenant. It indicates the terms on which God is with those who are in the covenant. Moses came down from the mount and declared the terms on which God was with the people.

W.B. How does that apply to righteousness and the Spirit?

F.E.R. Take the literal terms of the new covenant, it is plain enough there. His law is written in their hearts and given into their minds and all know Him in forgiveness. We have the spirit of the new covenant, righteousness and the Spirit.

Rem. The terms are all on God's side.

F.E.R. Yes. He declares the terms on which He is. That is what I understand to be covenant.

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H.G.A. Just as in the first covenant.

Ques. What are the points of contrast between the two?

F.E.R. It is comprised in righteousness and the Spirit. Righteousness excludes you and the Spirit brings God in. On the one hand there is nothing of you left and on the other the Lord is the Spirit and that brings God in.

W.B. What do you mean by it excludes you?

F.E.R. Righteousness is in the removal of the old man.

W.B. The old man? Then you mean by the word 'first man' the old man?

F.E.R. I am nothing whatever but the old man.

W.J. You would recognise your individuality still.

F.E.R. That has nothing to do with the old man. Morally you have nothing but the old man.

J.S.O. It excludes your status, as a child of Adam.

D.L.H. "Yet not I but Christ". It is important with regard to righteousness that the man who was under judgment has gone in judgment.

F.E.R. The first covenant was condemnation, the man was condemned, the new covenant is what has come.

D.L.H. The Spirit has come. What more do we want?

F.E.R. What is come is really nothing of me and all of God.

Ques. How do you get into that?

F.E.R. I see it in the cross, where sin was removed, God was revealed. The love of God came out there. The man has gone but the love is there in full testimony in the cross.

W.B. You must use the word 'man' in a limited sense. Who is the individual who is justified in Romans?

F.E.R. No one would question the individuality when we speak of the man we speak of him morally.

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The "old man" and "new man" are moral terms.

W.B. I cannot understand it in that sense. The old man is gone for God.

F.E.R. The old man has gone for God and if that is so what does that leave of you and me?

Rem. You put on the new.

F.E.R. If you are in the light of God you have put on the new. The new man is a man formed by the light of God. The old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. The new man is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth. He bears all the impress and character of God.

D.L.H. All that is proved in 1 Corinthians 1. The preaching of the cross is there brought in for the setting aside of man altogether -- morally speaking whether it be Jew or Greek and then he says, "of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom".

F.E.R. Yes. After all it is true of every christian in principle, he has the Holy Spirit, but practically he may be very little in the light of God. The ministry of the new covenant is really to bring the soul of the christian into the full light of God. The old man is gone but God is revealed and what is revealed of God is the formative principle of another man in the man. We start again in the light of divine love and we are formed by love. It is the renewing of the Holy Spirit so the new man is created after God.

Rem. We have a new origin.

Ques. Must there not be a new man to introduce into that?

F.E.R. The new man is formed by the revelation. The heart is subdued to the faith of Christ, and then the Spirit of God begins the formative work. The renewing of the Holy Spirit takes place after we have received the Holy Spirit.

D.L.H. What you are speaking is really what is written.

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F.E.R. Yes. The apostle's ministry was to that end. It was to bring them into the light and reality of the new covenant.

J.S.O. In Galatians he says, "Nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me". That is the beginning of the new 'I'.

F.E.R. Quite so.

E.C. If the Spirit comes, is it not through Christ?

F.E.R. Yes, but the water is a well of water which springs up to everlasting life, that is the subjective work when the Spirit is received.

E.C. Must there not be an objective pattern before the subjective work has begun?

F.E.R. Yes, but it brings you into the light of God as set forth in Christ. The righteousness and love of God have been set forth in Christ. The Lord is the Spirit of the new covenant.

J.S.O. A righteousness is ministered from the glory.

F.E.R. It is in the cross you see the righteousness of God but at the same time the expression of God's love is there.

E.C. Did you confine righteousness to the removal of the old man?

F.E.R. Yes, I do entirely. When it is a question of the revelation of God and effecting everything for God you cannot lose sight of the fact that Christ Himself is God.

E.C. I cannot lose sight of Him as man.

F.E.R. But in what was accomplished for God you have to see that He is divine.

E.C. I cannot understand christianity at all apart from His humanity.

F.E.R. But you have to apprehend Him on God's side as the revelation of God. Righteousness can have no application personally to Him but to us.

J.S.O. It has been said that God is indebted to a man for glory.

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F.E.R. It has, but I do not like the expression. It was a divine Person who died who glorified God.

E.C. It was a man who did it.

F.E.R. It was entirely the Son of God who did it. He became Man to do it. He came into that estate to do it but it was a divine Person who did it.

J.S.O. But the term 'Son of man' is used in John's gospel.

F.E.R. Son of man is a designation of the Son of God, but the Person was the Son of God and all the work of God was done in a divine Person "when he by himself had purged our sins".

E.C. He became man and is ever a man and I could not understand christianity apart from his humanity.

H.C.U. He was never obnoxious to God's righteousness.

E.C. Certainly not.

Ques. How do christians come into the new covenant?

F.E.R. It is plain that God must be on some line of terms with you and the apostle was used to declare the terms on which God is with us.

Ques. Does this divert from the covenant of Judah and Israel?

F.E.R. Yes.

N.B. Why does he speak here of the letter killing?

F.E.R. The letter always kills. If the Scripture is taken up in the letter it simply becomes moral precepts and in that sense it kills. It makes one more self-righteous and self-confident.

D.L.H. Or casts one into hopeless despair.

Ques. What is "the Spirit quickens"?

F.E.R. I think you are made alive by the Spirit. In the death of Christ we have the revelation of God and the new covenant was established in the death of Christ. If you want to understand it you must go back to the death of Christ.

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F.C. What is the spirit of the new covenant?

F.E.R. Love is the spirit of it. It is formed by the blood of Christ. The covenant is in the death of Christ. There are two things in the death of Christ: first the everlasting righteousness of which the blood is the witness -- that is as plain as anything can be -- and then the second thing is the perfect revelation of God's love. The One who died on the cross was God's Son. We have forgiveness and it has a different bearing with us from what it has with the Jew, he remains in the very scene where he had been a sinner, but when we come to enter into the thought of God about us we pass into a new scene altogether, "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit". We become responsive to the love and we are formed by the love.

Rem. The being that is "begotten" is one who answers to God's love.

F.E.R. Quite so, "He that loveth is born of God".

N.J. What is the glory of the Lord?

F.E.R. It is the light of the revelation of God. He is the effulgence of God, that is what shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Moses' face shone but the glory of the Lord is the effulgence of God.

Ques. Would you say a little upon righteousness between divine Persons?

F.E.R. I think holiness was in question when Christ was forsaken, "Thou art holy that inhabitest the praises of Israel". The Lord entered into all that we were in the presence of the holiness of God.

W.J. The Lord loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

F.E.R. I think that is in the pathway here.

W.J. Was it not seen when He died?

F.E.R. He endured contradiction of sinners and suffered in the place, that is all true, but every question for God and for us was gone into perfectly by the

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Lord there. The question of righteousness comes up in my mind in connection with the man, the man is gone, Christ being forsaken is connected with the holiness of God. In Psalm 22 I see that the Lord vindicates the attitude of God. He entered into everything that is consequent upon sin.

J.S.O. You get glory given to Him as man.

F.E.R. But then every bit of glory that Christ gets belongs to Him.

F.C. Could you define righteousness?

F.E.R. It is God acting in consistency with Himself. Christ was made sin for us that we might become God's righteousness in Him and God has not made any compromise. We were under the power of sin, and in God's dealings with us there is no compromise of His glory, all is effected in righteousness and there is no difficulty at all in its application to us.

J.S.O. But He was raised by the glory of the Father. Is there therefore no claim made upon the One who died there?

F.E.R. He came there, but in order that He might fulfil all the Father's will. In a sense He raised Himself, He could say, "I am the resurrection". There is no conflict in Scripture.

D.L.H. You could not substitute "by the glory of God" instead of "by the glory of the Father" in Romans.

F.E.R. No.

J.S.O. What about John 13? God shall also glorify Him.

F.E.R. He could not do otherwise. It is the moral consequence.

J.S.O. If God is acting in relation to Christ as Man coming into death, why do you exclude righteousness in the resurrection of Christ?

F.E.R. My difficulty is how you bring it in with a divine Person coming out for the glory of God. He comes out to maintain the glory of God and I do not

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see how the question of righteousness can come in. All this brings us back to the point as to what manhood was in Christ. I say that manhood was a condition into which Christ entered that He might secure the glory of God, accomplishing the divine will.

E.C. We all admit that.

F.E.R. Then why separate the man from the person?

E.C. He takes His place as man and accomplishes the divine will as man.

F.E.R. Scripture does not say He accomplishes it as man. Christ suffered but He was as much God as the Father. It was a question of the divine will, and He did not cease to be God in doing that will. My difficulty is detaching Him from the unity of the Godhead.

E.C. It is a very important point and one upon which we are not all clear. One ought to get clear.

F.E.R. I am perfectly clear about it. The important point to me is this, that righteousness was completely effectuated in the death of Christ. The blood of Christ is the declaration of God's righteousness.

J.S.O. Nobody disputes that, everybody is agreed about that.

F.E.R. The righteousness of God is in contrast to sin. It was completely effectuated in Christ's death and now all comes on to another platform. The righteousness question comes in in regard to us being on that platform, not in regard to Christ.

-- .M. What is the glory of the Lord?

F.E.R. It is all the effulgence of God shining in the Lord. Moses went into the mount and on coming out he bore in his face a kind of heavenly effulgence. Now it is the Son of God coming out from God with all the effulgence of God. The essence of the apostle's testimony was that He was Son of God.

-- .M. It is manifested in Him now where He is.

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F.E.R. Yes. When Christ was here on earth He was veiled, but now we behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face in the place He has taken at God's right hand and there can be no question of His being divine. The fact of God coming out in Christ gives all its character and force to the new covenant. All has been effected in Christ and we thereby come to understand the terms on which God is with us.

With regard to the holiest the question of God's righteousness is raised in a deeper sense than in connection with forgiveness. Righteousness is completely vindicated because the man has gone. God has condemned sin in the flesh, the whole condition of man is gone judicially and vicariously in the death of Christ. It is on that ground you get new creation.

J.S.O. Christ made sin.

F.E.R. Yes. God made Him sin for us. You get really into the holiest of all.

C.F.G. What is righteousness because 'I go to the Father'?

F.E.R. That is between Christ and the world.

J.S.O. "From glory to glory" is what is brought from the glory and carries us back there?

F.E.R. I think so. It affects us in that way.

W.J. Is it the company in the end of the chapter?

F.E.R. I think it is individual but it is "all" of us "beholding the glory".

Ques. What is the meaning of "into the same image"?

F.E.R. It is like one another. It is the way we become morally like each other.

J.M. I thought it was becoming like Christ.

F.E.R. You become like one another by becoming like Christ. Everyone has his eye on the same point, and if you get the sense of the glory of the Lord in that way you become more and more unworldly.

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THE STABILITY OF GOD'S PURPOSE

2 Corinthians 5:14 - 21; 2 Corinthians 6:1 - 18

F.E.R. There is a kind of progress in these chapters which is remarkable. At the end of chapter 1 we have the stability of the promises in the Son of God. Chapter 3 is the ministry of the new covenant and chapter 5 is the ministry of reconciliation. The immense importance of this is to give stability to people. Everything hangs on the stability of God's purpose. The promises of God cannot lapse at all -- whatever promises there are "In him is the yea and in him the amen". Everything has its confirmation in the Son of God who is preached.

D.L.H. In Galatians you get the same point referred to. The promises to Abraham were confirmed before of God in Christ.

F.E.R. Quite so. Everything for man depends on the stability of God's purpose. In chapter 1 we have the great fact that the promises are confirmed in the Son of God. In chapter 3 we get a point further, we find the terms on which God can be with believers. The great point there is that grace is commensurate with glory, because it is founded on righteousness.

D.L.H. Would you explain 'grace commensurate with glory'?

F.E.R. The measure of grace is the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord is the testimony of God's grace, founded, not on human but on divine righteousness, and the consequence is it is commensurate with glory.

Ques. Does that come out in "was raised again for our justification"?

F.E.R. No, it is because He is at God's right hand. Christ in glory is the true expression of God's grace -- grace is commensurate with that -- the fact is you cannot measure it. It is immeasurable.

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D.L.H. Then we get the ministration of righteousness and the Spirit.

F.E.R. Yes, "The Lord is the Spirit". To apprehend the ministry you must apprehend the Lord. Everything is tested by glory. It is really the setting forth of all the value of the cross.

D.L.H. Is not the glory of God, too, connected with another Man and not this man?

F.E.R. That does not come out quite in Romans there (chapter 3), you get God's attitude toward everybody determined -- abundance of grace but it is only believers who are in the good of it.

Rem. Our chapter carries us on to the full display of things.

F.E.R. It does, but it brings in another principle -- reconciliation, which is not the attitude of God, but the divine purpose. There is only one man, every other has been removed that that one may remain, that is reconciliation. "If one died for all, then were all dead". The only one really raised is Christ. He did not die to revive Adam's race.

J.N. What is the force of the end of verse 16?

F.E.R. All after the flesh was gone, and therefore the apostle saw the death of Christ to be the end of every order and kind of man.

Ques. The ministry of reconciliation is of all importance?

F.E.R. It is the stepping-stone to the church. It is a great thing to apprehend, that all were dead, and Christ died for all because they were all dead, that they who live should not live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. Man has gone entirely, he has lost all that makes a man after the flesh.

D.L.H. It is quite clear that a dead man is gone.

F.E.R. Christ did not die to revive him -- Christ revived but He left all other men in His death. We live now to Him, and if a man takes that ground he

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gives up two things, will and character, and if I give up these two things, what is left? Nothing at all.

Ques. Does reconciliation belong to those in new creation?

F.E.R. It belongs to believers. The great point is to believe it. In Romans 5 Paul takes up the two men, Adam and Christ, by one man came death, by the other (Christ) came justification of life.

D.L.H. Say a little more about will and character.

F.E.R. If you have five million men in London, there are so many wills but in the death of Christ every man is gone, so that there may be but one will -- the will of God which is Christ. If you live on Him, it means the complete surrender of your will, and the effect of that is, it brings in one will and then there is only one, however many men you may have, when all have the will of Christ. It brings in the headship of Christ, not as head of the body but head of every man.

D.L.H. And character is closely connected with will.

F.E.R. If you accept His will you have to take His character. You get it in Matthew 11. The Lord takes completely new ground. Man was proved to be insensible to grace, and Christ retires into the revelation of the Father. Then you get, "Come to me". "Take my yoke upon you" gives you the character. The supersession of all varieties of men by one Man is the ministry of reconciliation. "If any one be in Christ", that is reconciliation.

Ques. It is His will that governs you instead of your own?

F.E.R. That is the idea of living to Him. When a man lives to himself, he lives in the exercise of his own will. When he lives to Christ, he lives to His will.

J.McK. In what way does the love of Christ constrain us?

F.E.R. Nothing would bow you to Christ except His love.

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D.L.H. It is attraction.

F.E.R. It subdues.

Ques. Is this in connection with the ministry?

F.E.R. Yes, he could say he was beside himself, it affected the apostle all round.

D.L.H. The language here refers primarily to the apostle.

F.E.R. He is setting all before the saints to affect them by it.

D.L.H. You see it all exemplified in the apostle to begin with and that acts upon us.

F.E.R. Yes, no person was ever subdued to Christ that did not have His will except by love. Many a devoted man began by intelligence, even in my experience, but found that it was not effectual.

-- .R. In what sense did He die for all?

F.E.R. It was the expression of divine love. He came into that place where all men were, the place of death, "God commends his love toward us".

Ques. Does it not bring out God's righteousness too? If there had been one of us living Christ would not have died.

F.E.R. I do not know, His death proved all dead. I find a difficulty in dealing with a hypothesis, it is very difficult to carry it through.

J.McK. Unless there is really affection for Christ I am not prepared to accept this.

F.E.R. Yes. In Matthew 11 the Lord retires into the revelation of the Father. The mighty works had produced no repentance, man is not affected by the grace of God, but He says, 'I will reveal the Father', so that is not simply that you bow to His will but you have taken His character meek and lowly in heart. Until a person is affected by the love of Christ, I do not think he will accept His will. His love becomes the motive power. In the Lord's supper, it is the supper that gives impulse to the affections of the

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saints; it is the death of Christ that gives a fresh impulse.

W.J. It was the love that gave Paul judgment, was it not?

F.E.R. I think so, the love of Christ constrains us. A man is not anything until he is under the love of Christ down here. There are so few men. One sees a parcel of children, dwarfs, but very few men.

D.L.H. You are speaking of persons who have grown up into some stature?

F.E.R. Yes, men in Christ. You see plenty of big men after the flesh, men of imposing power whose motives are not very grand sometimes, but if you have done with that kind of man you want to see another man of another order. You want to see the man animated and governed by the will of Christ, one who has taken His character -- who is meek and lowly in heart -- having learned of Christ. That is the making of a man.

D.L.H. And in the world he would be no man at all.

F.E.R. No man at all, and yet greater than any man here, superior to everything.

Ques. Is that the force of "When I became a man, I had done with what belonged to the child"?

F.E.R. He is speaking rather differently there. Before you put on the new man, you get the renewing of your mind, which is very important.

Ques. What is the enlargement in chapter 6?

F.E.R. They were constrained and restricted by worldly influences. I have no doubt he was speaking abstractly about reconciliation, but the Corinthians were not in the good of it. They were doing their utmost to save themselves. Real enlargement is that a man gets free from the influences down here.

W.J. When it says later on, "I shall ... spend and be utterly spent for you", is not that good measure?

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F.E.R. He was completely superior to the treatment he received from them. They had not contributed anything to him, and more than that, they were even allowing questions among them as to his apostleship.

Ques. Do you connect character with reconciliation?

F.E.R. Yes, you have to take Christ's character. Every man has been removed to leave Him alone. It is all in Him. There is no reconciliation outside of Christ.

Ques. How far does it go?

F.E.R. Everything has place before God in Christ.

Ques. Has it reference to Leviticus 16?

F.E.R. It starts there. Everything will be reconciled in and through Christ, but in the meanwhile we have received it.

W.J. Apart from it you could not enjoy the revelation.

F.E.R. No, and you will never touch the church if you do not understand it, not really; Paul stops at reconciliation in this chapter. In Romans he does not go beyond it, and in Colossians he passes by it to come to the church. There is no difference between reconciliation in Romans and Colossians. In Romans the whole thing is brought to a point, he gives you the idea of reconciliation. You have the complete conciliation of good and evil, everything after Adam is removed, and the last Adam, the real One abides. In Colossians he introduces reconciliation in this way to the church.

Ques. How do you apply verse 19?

F.E.R. Up to the time of the coming of Christ, God was dealing with man on the ground of responsibility, Jew as Jew and gentile as gentile, but when Christ came God's platform was changed.

D.L.H. It is expressed in the words, "When the fulness of the time was come".

F.E.R. Yes, the whole ground was changed, it was "on earth peace, good pleasure in men". The eye of

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God was on one Man. God was in Christ and all He had to say to man was, "Not imputing trespasses"; Christ was under God's eye. The cross brings about the explanation of it -- it was by reconciliation, we have now more light about it. In the cross every man is removed.

Ques. What is the difference between the ministry and the word of reconciliation?

F.E.R. The ministry takes in the whole thing, the word is the word of Christ.

H.C.A. Why are so few reconciled?

F.E.R. There must be a divine work in you to receive Christ. God presented grace to the world and they rejected it, but that does not alter God's attitude, yet in the rejection of grace, it is certain, that if a man is to receive Christ, there must be a work of God in him, you can only get reconciliation by the work of Christ in a man. The presentation of grace -- not imputing trespasses, was in Christ. Man's conduct does not alter God's attitude, what it brings out is that if a man is to receive Christ there must be a divine work. What God was doing when Christ was here was in anticipation of the cross, now we have the cross as a fact, and every man has been removed from God's eye and Christ alone subsists. Man will not have grace, he talks about theology and free-will. Just fancy man having a free will. It is simply ridiculous, there is no such thing in existence in God or man.

Ques. What do you mean by free-will?

F.E.R. It is a common term in theology. God's will is governed by love. He has not a free will to do good or evil because of what He is. Free-will is that a man may do good or evil. At the beginning God put Adam in dependence, not in free will. It is wonderful to me that when Christ was here He took the ground that man shall live by every word of God.

D.L.H. Man is only evil.

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F.E.R. Yes, and it exposes him, it is stronger than him.

Ques. What about "be reconciled to God"?

F.E.R. They did not accept reconciliation, they did not enter into God's purpose. If the prodigal had asked to stay outside the house it would have been to have his own will. It is all very well for people to say these things are too high for them, that they cannot understand them, and that sort of thing, but I know very well what people want by that, it is simply that they want their own will and way.

Ques. How would you urge that (reconciliation) now?

F.E.R. I would first urge it on myself and then on this company. If our wills were completely subdued to Christ and we had taken His character we should be more efficient as His servants. I do not think that God cares a single bit about a man's externals. What He looks for in a man is the expression of Christ, not for outward appearance, or garb.

D.L.H. If we realise that it will tell upon garb, surroundings and the like.

F.E.R. I do not doubt it for a moment. The practical effect upon a man would be that he would want to get out of sight.

W.J. The whole body full of light, is that it?

F.E.R. I think so, no part dark.

D.L.H. Could you say a word on becoming God's righteousness in Christ?

F.E.R. In eternity God gives witness of His righteousness. It is very important to me. As a matter of fact, sin has come into the universe and the consequence of that is things are different from what they might have been had the question of sin never been raised. In the millennium and in eternity God gives witness to His righteousness. The witness on one side is the lake of fire, and on the other the saints

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in Christ -- both are the eternal witness to the righteous judgment of God. Do you go with that?

D.L.H. That is exceedingly good and true -- that is what I think. Our becoming God's righteousness is that we come out according to the thoughts of God, according to Christ.

F.E.R. You could not be a witness to God's righteousness if you are not in accord with it. Everything must be perfectly suitable in order to be a witness of it. Righteousness is all based on the cross, "Him who knew not sin, he has made sin for us".

D.L.H. This is a verse upon which there has been an amount of controversy.

F.E.R. And because none of us understood very much about it.

D.L.H. People were very anxious to have this as a kind of standing.

F.E.R. Such never get up to God's thoughts. Standing has been one of the most pernicious things that ever was invented. It is a mould in which the truth has been cast among us.

D.L.H. It worked like this, that every christian had become God's righteousness in Christ.

F.E.R. I have often pointed out that the statement is abstract; Romans 5 is a fact.

D.L.H. It gives you the divine intent.

F.E.R. I do not believe in standing, that is all.

W.J. You object to the term?

F.E.R. I object to the particular form in which the truth is cast. I do not mind the true grace of God in which we stand. We all stand there, but a great deal more than that is meant by standing. You are dead with Christ, quickened with Him. Everything was made standing.

D.L.H. People used to get vicious when they thought their standing was going.

F.E.R. "If any one be in Christ there is a new creation", that is clear enough.

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D.L.H. I am not yet brought to the full results, but Christ having been made sin for me, that is the way to it.

Ques. Why is verse 2 of chapter 6 applied here?

F.E.R. The apostle explains it in what follows. He gives it a present application.

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THE LORD'S SUPPER

1 Corinthians 11:17 - 34

F.E.R. What we call 'meetings' is expressed in Scripture by coming together into one place -- the assembly (chapter 14) -- the whole assembly come together.

Ques. In this chapter is it coming together to break bread?

F.E.R. I do not think so.

Ques. Did their disorderly ways rob it of its own proper import?

F.E.R. I think that is the idea, verse 20.

Rem. There is a difference between assembly meetings and the assembly come together.

F.E.R. You cannot appoint assembly meetings. The only idea of meeting is the assembly come together.

Ques. With arrangement?

F.E.R. What convenes the assembly is the Supper.

Ques. Is the Supper the outward expression of the oneness of the assembly, and therefore the realisation of it?

F.E.R. I think so: it is the divine institution and becomes the means of bringing together.

Ques. Is it the outward sign of our fellowship?

F.E.R. Yes, it is our fellowship. It is the only assembly meeting except for discipline, but that is not normal. If normal, the one occasion is the Supper. I understand prayer in the assembly, or thanksgiving, or worship, but the assembly is convened for the Supper, to eat the Supper.

Ques. Is chapter 14: 23 for breaking bread?

F.E.R. It picks up the subject again from the middle of chapter 11. The assembly is for the Supper, but the Supper is not the end of the meeting. In the

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Supper we come to Him as the Mediator of the new covenant and then He is Minister of the holy places. The cup is 'the new testament in My blood'.

Ques. Is there an opportunity for ministry after the Supper?

F.E.R. I think so, or for anything to which the Lord might lead.

Ques. At Troas, did the apostle preach before they broke bread?

F.E.R. It is a very difficult matter to tell: the breaking of bread and the meal became mixed up together and it is difficult to distinguish. It says, "And having gone up, and having broken the bread, and eaten" -- that was the meal, I think.

Rem. Suppose the company in a place come together for prayer or reading.

F.E.R. That is not the assembly: two or three are free to come together as in Matthew 18 -- the assembly is a different thought; you have to give complete place to the head if the assembly comes together. In chapter 11 you get the head, in chapter 12 the body; before you have the assembly you must have the head.

Ques. Saints might come together without coming in assembly?

F.E.R. I think so. The first principle in coming together in assembly is that the Head directs. I think the Supper brings Him in as Head. You come to Him as Mediator of the new covenant and then He is the Minister.

Ques. Would Matthew 18 include coming together in assembly?

F.E.R. It would hold good for the assembly, but that is not really the point of it. The prominent idea there is the kingdom.

Ques. When gathered in assembly are we not gathered in the name of the Lord?

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F.E.R. Yes; but the assembly is more than Matthew 18. The Supper is taken up too literally: it never can have the same application to us as to the disciples. The Lord could not say strictly to us, 'Do this for My remembrance', because we never had Him with us. It had a direct force to them, not to us.

Rem. But Paul had it from the glory.

F.E.R. Yes, but we have to take it up intelligently. To my mind the death of Christ is a common meeting ground for Jew and gentile. The apostle goes back to the institution of it; it had a special significance to the disciples who had companied with Him. Calling Him to mind involves that they had been with Him, associated with Him. "As often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup ye announce the death of the Lord until he come" -- in its application to us the idea of remembrance is dropped.

Ques. Would the thought of breaking bread and drinking wine have conveyed what is similar to Jeremiah 16:7?

F.E.R. Yes. Calling to mind involves that they had been in association with Him which could not have literal application to the gentile. I think He instituted the Supper as that in which they would call Him to mind. That cannot have literal application to us for we commence with His death. His death presents to us the expression of His self-sacrificing life.

Ques. It brings you to the same point, does it not?

F.E.R. Yes, that is just what it does; we do come to the same point by a different way. His love is here, only His death is the expression of the love that is here, not that was here.

Ques. Is not the Supper meant to call something to our minds?

F.E.R. The Supper comes before us as the great expression of love, the love expressed in death.

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Ques. Is it not that in the Supper He presents Himself to us in death?

F.E.R. Yes. Remembrance is bringing the Person before you as you have known Him (calling to mind). Paul goes back to the institution, in which he himself had no part. It was not peculiar to Paul or part of his line, but the Lord gives it to him. He presents to us the symbols of His death, but His death comes before us as the expression of the love that is here: it is not a means to you of calling Him to mind as He was on earth; our knowledge of Him began in death. In the presence of the death of Christ there is a common meeting ground for Jew and gentile.

Ques. Then, to the disciples, the Supper would recall the Lord as He had been with them?

F.E.R. Yes, I think so. Every bit of His life of ministry had been of the same character as His death -- all was the expression of self-sacrificing love, the great expression of which was His death, and therefore death was the means of remembrance, but all His life had the same character. It is plain enough to everybody that the gentile must begin with His death.

Ques. What would you say is the real difference between the apostles and us as to the way of remembrance?

F.E.R. They recalled Him in love as He had been with them, in a way which we cannot literally. The Supper in that sense gave a ground which would be common to Jew and gentile. They could not be on common ground in the presence of His life, but they could in His death. They are not the memorials of His dying but of His death; He is dead; it is death accomplished, the blood separated from the body.

Ques. I suppose in the gospel there was the celebration of the passover?

F.E.R. That was a distinct thing in which the gentile had no part. In the early church they kept up the passover as a yearly festival among the gentiles as

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well as the Jews. As a matter of fact we have begun with the Lord in His death, though the words have not been understood (i.e., calling to mind). You accept His death as a testimony of His love.

Ques. Have we not been much occupied with His sufferings instead of His death?

F.E.R. It used to be, but not so much now, I think. You cannot go back to what is antecedent to death.

Ques. It is clear you must take up the Supper intelligently not literally. Is it the difference between the portrait of one known and one not known?

F.E.R. It must have had a peculiar force to those who had been in His company but we see the wisdom of giving what was common to Jew and gentile. They knew the love in His life; we begin both together in His death and that is the great point in these chapters.

Rem. It gives the Lord's supper a most important place.

F.E.R. The effect is, it connects you with a living Christ; the very fact of the Supper brings you into the presence of a living Christ. Chapter 11 gives the head; chapter 12 the body and the Spirit.

Ques. In the prayer meeting is not the assembly in entire subjection?

F.E.R. In its true character of the assembly, the Head is there and everything else excluded -- no activity of mind; a good thing to get rid of. He directs: the mind is like an eye. The secret cause of so much weakness is that the head is not recognised. The Lord's supper is a scene of life though you have the remembrance of death. The death of Christ is the great expression of divine life -- a curious thing to say! It is divine love come into death in the way of testimony; death is all set aside and what remains is life. "He death by dying slew". He came into death to annul death.

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Ques. Was it not by rising that He annulled death?

F.E.R. No, morally by coming into it. Resurrection is the expression of its being done.

Rem. The wonderful thing in grace is that the Creator charged Himself with the responsibility of the created; not man, bearing the responsibilities for men, but God charging Himself with what lay upon man.

F.E.R. Then He had to become a man to do it. Exactly. Death is no trouble for me, for divine love has been into death; no one could be frightened at death if he saw divine love had been into it. "Perfect love casts out fear".

Ques. Is the remembrance a sort of backward movement in our souls?

F.E.R. Not exactly that. The assembly comes together as if never come before -- all begins anew. The Lord would have it that way. He is Mediator of the new covenant: the Testator died that the covenant might be established, that you may understand by the death of Christ the disposition of God towards you. Then He is Minister of the holy places, and leads you into all the good of reconciliation. With regard to going back -- we begin with it, not go back to it. You recall His death, not on our side but on His side, as the expression of what is within, the greatness of His love.

Ques. Has there not been the idea that the actual act is the remembrance of Christ?

F.E.R. Yes, but if people knew the force of the word they would not think so. "Calling to mind" has no meaning except as to someone with whom you have been familiar.

Ques. Is it not more the thought of calling Him into presence?

F.E.R. That is what it is practically to us.

Ques. There is a hymn of which one verse begins: 'We love Lord Jesus to recall'. (Hymn 192) Do you think it suitable?

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F.E.R. I think that is sentimental, you cannot work yourself up to it. All that is of the Lord's appointment, you can count on the grace of God to give, but if it is after your own fancy, you cannot work yourself up to it. In the church of England you never succeeded, it was artificial and effort, but if you take the Supper up according to His appointment, you will prove the grace of the Spirit in bringing your mind into accord with what is presented to you. In partaking of the bread and cup you announce His death: what man could boast in is food for us; man could boast in having got rid of Christ, and we can boast in it.

Rem. The bread of comfort and wine of consolation was understood by the Jews (Jeremiah 16:7).

F.E.R. A great point gained is that the Supper is introductory -- not the end as it used to be.

Rem. I think it is still so with many minds.

F.E.R. I was in hope that things had got a little further. To my mind it is introductory that you may be prepared for the ministry of the sanctuary. It is increasing greatly to my mind. You enter on a scene where love is at rest -- not love in activity as in discipline here, but where love is at rest, because all is according to divine glory in the assembly, it is the fruit of love in activity. It is a wonderful thing that you are associated with the Head and are fit to be so. Quickening properly refers to the coming of the Lord, but now you are quickened as to affections, not in body -- you are competent as regards affections, which are formed according to Christ.

Ques. Is there any thought in the Supper of our taking our stand with the One the world has rejected?

F.E.R. I think you announce His death -- you say, Goodbye to the world; there is an end of everything in His death. People get up on Sunday and dress in their best as though it were a kind of crowning day; you ought to count it as the end of everything in the

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world. You are identified with the One whom the world refused.

Rem. The holiest does not belong to the wilderness. Ephesians and Colossians are instructions for individual progress, but you want Ephesians and Colossians for the holiest.

F.E.R. The holiest belongs to the land.

Rem. I remember the awful fog we were all in at Witney about a great many things!

F.E.R. The service of God must be, as man supposes, carried out according to man's order. They put up buildings and think they can worship God according to their own fancy, but you must give Christ the place He has been pleased to take. He has taken the place of Centre of the universe, leading everything on man's side Godward.

Ques. Can we enter the holiest except in the assembly?

F.E.R. I think not. You have the priestly company in association with the true Aaron.

Ques. Man may say he will bring the best of everything he has got, but is that according to divine order?

F.E.R. Christ is Minister of the true tabernacle.

Ques. Is it not a very serious matter to give up the breaking of bread?

F.E.R. If things come to that pass that it is necessary, it is a very serious consideration.

Ques. Could individuals in an assembly enter the holiest if the assembly does not?

F.E.R. It must be a question to a large extent of the work of God in individuals. You come together as saints; because a person is not up to the mark you cannot say he must not take part; you have to accept it. As to hymns, if the hymn is right and true in itself, not false, it does not present any difficulty to me. It is a great point to get a true idea of it; you can hardly raise the question who is in it and who is not. You have to go on patiently, not for a week or a month

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or a year, but for years and years, till the idea is built up in people's souls. Take newly-converted persons -- you cannot expect them to be very intelligent about the assembly, but you cannot shut their mouths. Often there is much freshness with them. In the perfection of it, the idea of the assembly never can be perfectly realised down here in this scene of imperfection. The only thing is, if you do apprehend these things, you ought to stick to it, and not go on on the line of accommodation, but you must have consideration for others -- that is the great thing in this world. We are so apt to get impatient when things go wrong. To erect these things into a kind of system which you are going to force on people, whether they like it or not, is simply disastrous and fatal.

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FRUIT-BEARING AND WITNESS

John 15:1 - 27

F.H.B. You said that the two thoughts in the chapter were fruit-bearing and witness.

F.E.R. Yes. It is important to see both what is from God, and what is for God. Fruit is for God. Witness is from God, and what is for God is almost more important than what is from God.

F.H.B. You once said that fruit-bearing is the evidence of vitality.

F.E.R. Yes, that is the point in the chapter.

T.H.R. Would you not say that fruit-bearing is really the continuation of Christ down here, and witness is to an absent One?

F.H.B. That is very important -- that in fruit-bearing Christ is continued down here in His people.

F.E.R. There could not be fruit-bearing till Christ was here. He must of necessity be the beginning of it, for there could not be any, till the ground for it was there.

The point in the chapter is that Christ is the true vine, and this in a sense in contrast to Israel. Till Christ came there was no ground for the vine, the roots must be in the ground. Christ is the real beginning of all fruit-bearing.

W.B. Was there not fruit for God in the Old Testament saints?

F.E.R. I do not think that we find in them exactly the idea of fruit.

H.T. "In me". How far does "every branch in me" go?

F.E.R. It referred to the moment in which Christ was speaking. He was the true vine, and there were branches in Him in that way, there were branches in which were no vitality. We cannot apply these earlier

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verses now, for Christ is no longer here as the vine, but the absence of Christ does not preclude the thought of fruit-bearing, though we have not the vine.

F.C. Could there not be fruit according to their dispensation in the Old Testament saints?

F.E.R. I think fruit is in connection with a circle, or company, or people. It involved a company. Israel as a people was expected to bear fruit, and in the time of their restoration they will bear it. Now there is fruit in the christian company. In the Old Testament there was faith, and fruit of a kind, but hardly fruit according to the idea here. Fruit is the evidence of a healthy vitality. We do not get the thought as it is here save in connection with a company.

G.G. Is fruit Christ expressed?

F.E.R. I think it goes to the source, it is God expressed. God took up a people, a nation. He took a vine out of Egypt and planted it; but it did not bear fruit. Christ took up the position, He became the vine, and the church is the continuation of it. When Christ was here fruit was connected with association with Christ, and now we get fruit for God in the church. Fruit comes out in our relations with one another.

Ques. "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit". Is not that individual?

F.E.R. I do not see that it is individual; the passage describes one of a company. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness -- and these things come out in relation to one another in a company. I cannot see how they can come out in any other way. There may be the capability for it in the individual, but it is what is to characterise the company.

A.C. Cannot love and peace come out in an individual?

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F.E.R. I do not exclude the importance of individuality in connection with fruit, but I think God is looking to the company for fruit -- just as He did in Israel.

W.B. When you say the company, how many are embraced, is it only the church?

F.E.R. It is the company upon which Christ looks. In connection with fruit-bearing I look upon myself as part of a whole, and keep myself in connection with the whole.

G.G. Is it the church?

F.E.R. Yes.

W.B. Suppose I as an individual break down and do not bring forth all these beautiful things, am I to judge myself individually?

F.E.R. Yes, we have to look to ourselves individually. I need to take heed to myself so that I may properly carry out my relation to the whole. It is important that we should carry out our responsibility in relation to the whole.

T.H.R. A great deal of the breakdown is because we are not true to the company.

Ques. What is it to abide in Him?

F.E.R. It involves the practical setting aside of self. It implies living in Christ's life and is accompanied with the sense of one's own incompetency.

Ques. Would it be dependence?

F.E.R. Yes; but dependence must be accompanied by abiding in Christ. You have to turn from everything else to Him. You derive nothing from natural ground. Christ has to be everything. The force and energy all lies in Christ Himself. The ground is the important point.

F.H.B. What is the ground?

F.E.R. The real ground is the revelation of God. The true secret and spring of all fruit-bearing is, that God is revealed. Christ may be, and is the manifestation of it.

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F.H.B. Rooted and grounded in love?

F.E.R. Yes; but how could you be that, if you were not in the light of the revelation of God?

Ques. Did the disciples bear fruit when Christ was here?

F.E.R. Yes; they came under the culture and discipline of the Father.

F.H.B. What is 'purging'?

F.E.R. It is the hand of the Father, subjecting the saints to circumstances which would discover to them things which would be hindrance to fruit-bearing.

E.C. Young trees have to be transplanted so that the head should not grow out of proportion to the root.

Ques. How do you apply that?

F.E.R. You have to be constantly transplanted. The Father exercises and disciplines.

Ques. Is that the chastening we get in Hebrews 12?

F.E.R. Yes.

W.B. That in Hebrews 12 is very individual.

F.E.R. Yes; but then the company is made up of individuals. It is essential that all who compose the company should be morally right; the faith of the company is the faith of the individuals. Every individual has to walk in the sense of relationship to the company.

W.M. What is fruit for which reward is given?

F.E.R. Reward is given for service. Fruit-bearing must not be confounded with service; they are two distinct things. Fruit-bearing is spontaneous, and is the evidence and outcome of vitality, and is the result of culture. It is often through suffering, and it is not the idea of service.

F.H.B. Service is more towards man, while fruit is for God.

F.E.R. The object of service is man, though in a sense it is for God. Fruit is always for God. We only get fruit as we are rooted and grounded in love.

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A.S.L. Is this not fruit -- "That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again". Is that it?

F.E.R. That is the way of it. If the soul has the revelation of God in love, fruit must correspond with it. Hence the fruit of the Spirit is love ... Being rooted and grounded in love could not be till God was revealed. Christ was the beginning of it. Israel ought to have responded to the goodness and care of God for them in thankfulness and praise. They did not, so you do not get fruit-bearing until Christ came.

Rem. There was not true humanity till then -- the living bread come down from heaven.

Ques. What then is that in the Old Testament, "From me is thy fruit found"?

F.E.R. That is prophetic of a future day, and then God will be the source of it. There will be fruit for God from Israel then, but meantime you get the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. Old Testament saints were men of faith. I always feel that Abraham was a man incomparably beyond myself, but I think that fruit-bearing depended on life coming in, and that depended on the revelation of God. Life is dependent upon light. The natural order is first light, then life, then fruit-bearing.

Ques. Would not the Old Testament saints be beyond the day in which they lived?

F.E.R. Yes, as far as God wrought in them. All the previous dealings of God were in anticipation of what was about to come. Every revelation of God in the Old Testament was in the way of some characteristic or attribute, but that was not making Himself known in His nature.

W.B. Not the full revelation.

F.E.R. When Christ the only-begotten Son came, who dwells in the bosom of the Father, He declared Him, and I defy anyone to understand any of the names by which God had made Himself known --

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Jehovah, for instance -- except in the light of the revelation of God.

D.L.H. Say more about that.

F.E.R. Well, "Almighty", "Jehovah", were both titles or names which had reference to attributes or characteristics of God, and to understand these you must get the revelation of God as come out in Christ.

D.L.H. Why?

F.E.R. There were moral hindrances to His doing so to be met and overcome. God might have proved Himself almighty by raising every man to judgment, but what good would that have been to man as regards God making Himself known? What meaning has God in making Himself known to man now? What had He then? It was in love, but the light of this came out in Christ.

W.B. What is the force of "I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect"?

F.E.R. "Almighty" refers to the power of God as shown in resurrection. I think Abraham was to have confidence in God in the power of resurrection, but resurrection to life entirely depended on God revealing Himself in love, and could not be except through the coming out of God in the Son. The Son of God came forth and declared God, and in the light of the declaration of God you can understand any name by which God had made Himself known previously. All was obscure in Old Testament times, but Christ is the answer to all that was obscure then.

Ques. And so we get all the good of these names?

F.E.R. Yes, the Son having come out, in the light of that declaration you can understand every name though the contemporaries could not; and by-and-by in the millennium Israel will have the good of every name in which God has come out.

T.H.R. All the first part of chapter 15 is connected with chapter 14. In chapter 14 the Spirit is sent by the Father to bring to the remembrance of the disciples

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everything that Christ was here for God. Chapter 15 follows on that; and is a continuation of Christ here in the disciples -- really in the christian company.

W.B. Why use the term 'company' in connection with this subject instead of 'assembly'?

T.H.R. Paul's use of the word 'assembly' conveys a corporate idea. John does not speak of the 'assembly', but he presents a company, and it is a most important thing to get hold of, that there is a company down here which Christ owns as His own, marked off from the world, the church -- the assembly if you like, only it is not so spoken of in John. Christ calls that company "My assembly".

Ques. Does not the term 'disciples' mean a company in moral accord with Christ -- those who have learnt of Christ?

T.H.R. Yes. The only place where a soul really grows is in the assembly. I am sure of that; I am not saying God does not work where an individual is in a place of isolation.

F.H.B. How can fruit-bearing be realised now since the company is all broken up and scattered?

T.H.R. We have got the Head and the Spirit. Thus if only half a dozen persons are gathered together by the Spirit they might hold the Head.

Ques. What do you mean, Mr. R., by saying, we only grow in the assembly?

T.H.R. Because the assembly is the home of divine affections, and it is as knit together in love that there is growth with the increase of God -- that is, the divine nature.

F.E.R. We do not touch the truth of the assembly until we begin to practise it.

W.B. You mean that only those who are in the truth of the assembly really grow?

F.H.B. Well, who else do?

F.E.R. We left system because we felt we could not grow there.

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W.B. But you grew out of it.

F.E.R. It was really the goodness of the Lord in showing one how restricted one was. I do not think people grow in what you may call judaised christianity.

T.H.R. "They that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing". I think it is a great thing when we are planted. There are many among us in the meeting who are not planted in the house of God. People go to a place and seek a meeting, but the Lord's house is not the great thought with them -- that the assembly is more their home than their own home.

W.B. How do you bring about what it should be?

T.H.R. First it is a great thing to see that Christ has down here a company which He loves. I cannot have Christ personally now. If He were here we would all like to go to where He was. But we can go where the saints are gathered to His name, and that is where we grow in divine affections. There are those who are planted in the house of God, and they grow there; others just come and go and keep their heads above water, but to those who are planted there it is the home of their heart.

W.B. But you must embrace all christians in the company.

T.H.R. You must follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. I would embrace them, but I would not go out after them. I think if the company were more expressive of divine affections, and if such qualities as meekness, gentleness and care for others were apparent, there would be more attraction. J.B.S. used to say we ought to be attractive. Any servant of the Lord who was ministering the truth would find it a great thing to be able to bring souls to a company where all these qualities which are according to God were to be

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seen. How are you to show meekness, longsuffering and all that, unless you have the company?

F.E.R. The Lord makes a great deal of it in this chapter -- "Love one another". After all, we have to remember that the witness here is a living witness, and there is no power if there is no witness. Witness is not preaching, it is more moral. The witness of the Spirit is not preaching. No preacher in the present day can really be a witness in himself; he has nothing to witness to, because he has not been with the Lord from the beginning or seen Him. The Holy Spirit is witness, for He has come down from Christ on high and He is the power of the witness in the company. The witness of the Spirit is moral. The effect and power of the Spirit in the company is the witness.

W.G.B. Do you use the expression 'witness' in the sense of eye-witness?

F.E.R. That is how it is used in this chapter. Paul was a witness, the twelve were witnesses, and the Spirit is the witness to Christ in glory; but no man at the present time can be witness in this sense. The Spirit is witness through the company. It is the power and effect of the Spirit in the company of those who obey God. That is the way we hold forth the word of life. No one man can witness at the present time. A witness witnesses of what he knows and has seen. In John 3:11 the Lord says, "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen".

A.S.L. What is "the testimony of our Lord" in Timothy?

F.E.R. What Paul committed in testimony to Timothy to pass down, and we have that testimony still, but we are not in the position of the apostles. We have received what the apostles witnessed of, we have also the Spirit as Witness. He is witnessing, and that is the great stand-by for us. If you have not that, I do not know what you have. The Spirit

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brings in the power of life, and it is in connection with life that you get the witness of the Spirit. "This is the witness, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son". There is nothing more important than the apprehension of the truth that there is a witness here. I do not know what christianity can stand on without the witness -- the Spirit; without that it would be tradition.

A.S.L. In France when they come into fellowship they speak of it as 'joining the testimony'. Is that a right thought?

F.E.R. All depends on whether they are right morally. If they were all in the life of Christ, they would be a testimony. J.N.D. used to say that if brethren were a testimony to anything it was to the ruin of the church; but if all were morally in the life of Christ there would be a testimony to Christ.

Ques. What is having the witness in himself?

F.E.R. That is the work of the Spirit. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.... And this is the witness, that God has given us eternal life". "He that does not believe God has made him a liar". Men are rendered responsible to recognise the witness which God has given, and if the witness is not accepted, they make God a liar.

W.B. If that company who witness fail, would my faith be shaken?

F.E.R. No; your faith would not rest on the witness, it would go to God, for the witness is concerning His Son.

Ques. Is not the written word the ground of faith?

F.E.R. God is the ground of faith, God revealed, for then faith rests on what God is, on the revelation of God in Christ. The record is not the ground of faith. Christ is the Word. The Scriptures are of all importance, because all is now established in Christ, and they are the divinely-given record.

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Rem. The Thessalonians received the testimony as the word of God.

F.E.R. It came in such power that they recognised it was the word. They had not the Scriptures.

Ques. Had they not the word of God in Old Testament times?

F.E.R. The word of God never came to them by Scripture, it came to them by Moses or the prophets; it comes to us by Christ, and is continued to us -- substantiated to us -- by the Spirit. God hath spoken in the last days in the Son. All this period is characterised to us as God speaking to us in the Son, and is continued to us by the Spirit. God had spoken, and what He spoke had got its place in the world before the Scriptures were written. God had spoken in the Son. The testimony of God was there before the Scriptures were written. It was given by living witnesses and received in the power of the Spirit before the written record was possible. What people do not understand is the meaning of the expression 'the word of God'.

F.H.B. You cannot say that Scripture is 'living and operative' in the soul. The word of God is.

Ques. Can the revelation come to us except through the Scriptures?

F.E.R. The present day is characterised as the period when God has spoken to us by the Son. He has come down and spoken. God has spoken in the Son, and what He has said has been confirmed by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. The Scriptures are the record, and they carry authority, and cannot be broken. Anybody can appeal to the scripture, and if anyone contravenes the letter he is guilty; but nothing can make Scripture more than the letter, nothing alters the divine position as to the present period, that is, God has spoken to us by the Son, and He can speak to us by no others, and the Holy Spirit down here confirms what God has said, but He does

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not add to it. The point is that the word of God is Christ, and christianity was established on the earth before the New Testament scriptures were written. Christianity is not dependent on Scripture, it is dependent on what God has established in Christ and on the Spirit being down here. God has spoken by the Son, it is confirmed to us by the Spirit, and so continued to us.

Ques. What is the use of Scripture to us?

F.E.R. It is for doctrine and is a guard to us, and it is a very important point in regard to it that our minds are thus kept from getting out of bounds.

W.B. The unsearchable riches of Christ are accorded to us by the Scriptures.

F.E.R. No; you cannot get them except by the Spirit. God speaks to man in different ways -- to Abraham by promises, to Moses on mount Sinai, or from the mercy-seat, and then to Israel by the prophets, and now the climax is reached -- God has spoken by His Son. The idea of 'the word of God' is, that God puts Himself into direct communication with man. Hence it has a moral character because God is speaking. Now He has spoken by the Son, and this is characteristic of the present period. A man preaches effectually only what he has learned from God, not from what he has found in Scripture.

D.L.H. What is "Have an outline of sound words"? Does not Scripture give an outline?

F.E.R. No. Different epistles were written to different people, and to assemblies in different conditions, and if you want to have it in form it must be by the Holy Spirit in the soul. So, too, different accounts are given of Christ's ministry. There are four different accounts in the four gospels. If all were put together in one you could not hold them in your soul in distinction, you have to get them moulded as one in your soul by the Spirit.

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D.L.H. What is the force of 'outline' in that case?

F.E.R. That they should not be lying about in fragments in your mind, but be in form that you may be able to use them. What Scripture says about itself is, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". I cannot get a better statement as to the purpose of Scripture than that. It is our answer to the enemy, as the word in that way carries authority.

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INTELLIGENCE IN THE INNER MAN

John 16:12 - 14

F.E.R. It is important to remember that all these chapters (14 to 16) are connected with the disciples being left here as witnesses to Christ; we lose the point if we do not keep that in view. Chapter 14 shows that Christ would provide means by which He would have a place here; chapter 15 that there should be evidence of vitality in those in whom Christ was; chapter 16 that the witness would be intelligent, otherwise the witness would not be adequate.

Ques. I suppose they give us what fits the company to be here in His absence?

F.E.R. Yes, it prepares for witness. Chapter 13 brings home to us the complete break-up of everything as connected with Christ upon earth.

Ques. What is the witness to?

F.E.R. To Christ and all that He will be when He comes again.

Ques. What difference is there between this witness and what we get in 1 John 5?

F.E.R. I think it is much the same; there is a witness in the saints to what is coming in by Christ, but the witness from heaven is already here. We anticipate eternal life, and in that way we witness that Christ is coming in the power of the last Adam; there is the witness thus to what He will be: "He will shew you things to come" -- the day of display and glory is anticipated in a way by the witness; we are to be characterised by what will be rather than by what was.

A.H. What comes out morally in us now is what will be displayed in the New Jerusalem.

Ques. Is that where the thought of intelligence comes out?

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F.E.R. I think so; the witness must be intelligent in all that is coming. It comes out in the previous chapter that there could not be fruit-bearing apart from vitality, and this is by the Spirit of God. He alone could strengthen us for these things to be made known to us. In principle every babe has the unction, the ability to enter into these things, yet one just converted would not enter into them; the Lord says, "I have yet many things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now". We have to be strengthened for it. We have to grow up into things, just as in natural life.

The Spirit is truth subjectively, that is, in the saints; all truth lies in the Spirit, but that is not the same thing as our having it in our own intelligence. You have to look to it that the man who assumes to unfold anything to you is a spiritual man; you cannot learn from man, but only from the spiritual man.

In natural things a babe cannot take in the things of a man. In 1 Corinthians there was not in the saints the spiritual state. The preparation is in being strengthened in the inner man, then you get Christ dwelling in your heart by faith. The Spirit of God will practically displace the old man. The only figure that sufficiently illustrates it is the place a husband has in the heart of his wife if he is absent: he dwells with all his interests in the heart of his wife. All truth is presented to us objectively in Christ, but made good in us by the Spirit; all intelligence lies in the Spirit, but we have to get it in the enlargement of the inner man. We used to say we have everything in Christ and understand it by the Spirit, but that overlooks the formation of the inner man, the man that understands; the old man does not understand; that is what the apostle prays for in Ephesians 3, "to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man". In chapter 14 everything depends on the spirit of truth; you want the christian whose affections are formed and regulated by truth; this is not done

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in a moment, it implies an entire revolution. Christianity brings in new objects which call for a complete readjustment of the affections: "loins girt about with truth" is not a moment's work.

Ques. Is that what is expressed in Ephesians 3?

F.E.R. I think so. In the affections formed and governed according to truth you get the inner man. Christ dwelling in the heart is His having His right place in our affections, it puts aside all else.

Ques. Is what you have been speaking of growth?

F.E.R. Growth in intelligence can only be commensurate with growth in affections.

Ques. You do not mean that you have to wait a long time before you can have enjoyment?

F.E.R. Oh no; but at first you enjoy everything on your own side and it takes time before we come to looking at and enjoying things from God's side, that is, what Christ is to God, not only what He is to us.

Ques. What is the point of "the Christ"?

F.E.R. The Head and Centre of the divine system, and He dwells in your heart by faith; Christ, and every interest of Christ, governs the heart, and all contrary is displaced.

Ques. What is the difference between "things to come" and "all things that the Father hath"?

F.E.R. I do not see any difference. What the Father has is "every family" -- all that He purposes for the glory of Christ and for His own satisfaction, the accomplishment and display of His counsels. When He comes out in the revelation of Himself, He wants what is adequate for that display. Meanwhile we have the intelligence of all these things. Take a family as a whole, what characterises the family is not what is found in the babes, but what is found in the parents; a family will take its character from what is in the parents.

Ques. Is there any difference between the anointing from the holy One and the unction?

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F.E.R. It is the same word.

Ques. Is it the Father's world which is seen in the millennium?

F.E.R. The counsels of God come out in the world to come: "All the Father's counsels claiming equal honours to the Son". They come out in connection with the complete revelation of God. Scripture does not separate the heavens from the earth, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven". In the millennium there will be complete connection between the heavens and the earth: the heavenly city comes down from God that all the earth may get the light and good of it; the earth is thus under the influence of heaven. We shall have a fine time then! You will be able then to go and teach everyone on earth their calling.

Ques. Do you mean that the church will be telling people on earth their calling?

F.E.R. I think it will all shine out in the heavenly city: her light is like unto a stone most precious. The earth must be cognisant of it in some way; the testimony must be spoken, I suppose; how else can it come out? It is not like a star shining in the firmament. The heavenly city is not a material but a moral thought. God must make known in the universe the exceeding riches of His grace; it must be made manifest in some way or the lesson would not be conveyed. The bride is presented under a material figure, but we must get the material thought out of our minds. The saved nations will walk in the light of the city. That must mean some great lesson to the kings of the earth.

Ques. Do you think those on the earth will be conscious of having heavenly visitors?

F.E.R. Very likely. The city is composed of actual men. The Lord says in John 17, "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou

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in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me".

Ques. What is the witness there?

F.E.R. It is unity, but the unity must be seen; how it will be I do not attempt to explain, but we must take up these things morally, not materially: there will be moral connection between heaven and earth.

A.H. His servants shall serve Him.

Ques. Will it be as in Jacob's vision?

F.E.R. I think so. If anyone can give any better thought let us have it. The place which the church has at the present time is most remarkable; it stands between God's ways in the past and what is to come out in the future -- every thread of the past gathered up in the church while it is being instructed in all that is to be displayed in the future.

Ques. Will it be with the nations as in Romans 9?

F.E.R. Hardly; the nations now have come into the olive-tree. It is not that they are walking in some light presented to them, such as the heavenly city: that is what will come out in time to come, but now they are viewed as grafted into the olive-tree -- are given the place of privilege.

Ques. Will not the fact itself of the church being in heavenly blessing be a witness to them?

F.E.R. Well, yes; but how will it be known? I think there must be witness of it: "that the world may know"; it must come out in display in some way -- what should be witnessed now.

A.H. J.B.S. used to say we should come back to earth.

F.E.R. We shall not be cabined and confined, there will be unbounded liberty. The instruction we are getting now in every way of God is in order that we may be intelligent in all. Every thread has been gathered up in the church. We shall be able to tell a Jew all about the flock, the Shepherd, the house

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of God, eternal life, the holy priesthood, the peculiar people -- all the things that properly belong to a people on earth. We know it all better than they. You may depend upon it that a very great deal will be dependent on the heavenly city in that day.

M.G. What a wonderful place the church has!

F.E.R. The church is an adequate witness when there is nothing displayed. Perhaps we have limited this chapter to the peculiar things belonging to the church, but it is more than that, it takes in the whole scene of glory.

What we are and the place we have in relation to God and Christ and to each other will all come out in display: "What ye have spoken in the ear ... shall be proclaimed upon the housetops".

A.H. Then there is a very striking connection between the prayer in Ephesians 3 and these chapters.

F.E.R. There it is in connection with the work of the Spirit in the inner man, and here it is with the coming of the Comforter: the Spirit will not only open up these things, but will prepare you for them. The Lord said, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now".

A.H. Then it is no wonder that the opposition is so intense now against the truth.

F.E.R. No wonder at all, for all this world system must go to make room for what is in Christ. It is only what was foreshadowed to Job: God would allow a moment to come when all was broken up, all the social foundations. This is what God will do in regard to Israel. A fearful upheaval will be brought about by Satan, everything upon which man with any conscience rests will be broken up; but God is in His holy temple, and He can reinstate His people. Job's folly was that he did not wait for God to see what He would do. Israel will find out that God can reinstate them in greater blessing than before. Job is in this way a deeply interesting book.

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A.H. We are going through a kind of college course?

F.E.R. I think so. I have no greater wish down here than to be instructed in every way of God.

Rem. Very few are seeking this.

F.E.R. More's the pity! I want to see a revival among brethren, Christ dwelling in the heart by faith; people are looking for some wonderful work outside, but we want revival inside.

Ques. How is it to be brought about?

F.E.R. Only by the Spirit of God; but if we were exercised about it God would be faithful and show His hand. Who can question the subtle influence of the world which is invading us at this time? There is a vast number who consent to the truth but are gradually bringing in the world with them.

A.H. Are not all the barriers which keep out the world being broken down?

F.E.R. Few people are really bent on wisdom as their supreme interest. Many among us consent to it, but you must seek for it as for hid treasure, or you will not get it. It is remarkable that in that chapter you find that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. As we grow in the knowledge of God we learn what to avoid and how to please Him.

Ques. If we are not growing we are exposed to the inroads of what is around?

F.E.R. I think so. Only get people into the holiest and they are safe! If you could encourage people to draw near, I think they would in a kind of way be secured. It is a wonderful thing to get any apprehension now of that with which God is going to fill the universe of bliss. Each one of us has to take care as to himself; I have no wish or ability to affect other people, I can only seek to go on myself. I saw in J.N.D. that he affected others by going on himself --

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that is the true way. It was what he was rather than what he said.

W.J. Paul's word to Timothy was, "Take heed unto thyself".

F.E.R. It distresses one to see things so miserably low down; people take up christianity as if to patronise it, they have no apprehension of God's way, but almost think it is an honour done to christianity that they have taken it up. It is a great mercy for them that it has taken them up!

A.H. You witness against the world, but also of that other world.

F.E.R. It all means that Christ should be a living reality in my heart now, not only in heaven. "When wisdom entereth into thy heart" -- you have not got to go to heaven for it. "Exalt her, and she shall promote thee": that is what we want, to be promoted by Christ, or not at all.

(Note: This reading immediately followed the reading entitled "Fruit, the Evidence of Vitality", printed in Volume 19, p. 267.)

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POWER COME IN TO MAKE THE WORD EFFECTIVE

John 4:31 - 54

D.L.H. Would you give us a little recapitulation of these chapters?

F.E.R. I think chapters 3 and 4 bring to light the change of position consequent upon the Son of God coming into the world. The temple is superseded, His body is the temple. Then He does not trust Himself to man and the Jew must be born again. The Son of man has come into the world as light, and the effect is, the world is tested. It is not only that light has come in, but there is also power come in to make the word effective. Things are revolutionised by the light coming in; the material temple is nothing now. The Lord recognises the temple, but His body is it. The Jew must be born again and the world must be tested. The Jew comes in on the ground of "whosoever" and Christ would not commit Himself to those who believed on Him on account of the miracles He did. He has come in as light and tested everything, and now power has come in to make the word more effective. Commensurate power has come in, and hence at the end of our chapter we get the harvest. It is reaping, not sowing. We get the light in chapter 3, and chapter 4 gives us the well of water springing up to effectuate the word in those who believe.

W.B. The question is, how do I stand in relation to the Son of God?

F.E.R. That is it, that is chapter 3.

W.B. Of course you get the love of God lying at the back of the coming of the Son of God.

F.E.R. Yes, it is love to the world, and the course which that love has taken in bringing the light of

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another world into this one to test it. The Son of God is the light of another world, and His coming into this one tested it; but my point is, He is the Centre of another world, He brings in the power of another world which springs up to eternal life.

J.S.O. The light reveals God.

F.E.R. It reveals His thought in regard of man, "That whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal".

J.S.O. Eternal life is the revelation of the Father and the Son.

F.E.R. It is all based on that. The thought of God in regard of man has its background in the revelation of God.

D.L.H. The revelation of God is the truth.

F.E.R. That is how I would speak of it. It is the word of God to us, the light being bond and principle of another world which has come into this one to test it, and hence we get the condemnation. The world has been tested by the light, and has not answered to it, though there are individuals who have answered to it, but generally, the world has not.

W.B. Would you also say that there was salvation there?

F.E.R. Wherever there was the recognition of the light, there was the communication of the well of water of life. It is not only that light came in by Christ, but there was also the communication of power in order that the light might be effectual in those who came to it. I mean that there was the communication to man of living water. "Whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst".

A.S.L. That was the light that tested the world.

F.E.R. The point is to see that Christ is the light of another world, and that He came here to test this one. All was darkness here; and after all there were those who came to the light that their deeds might be made manifest that they were wrought in God.

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A.S.L. Is darkness entire ignorance of God?

F.E.R. It was not only darkness but there was also wilfulness which accompanied it, and hence they did not come to the light because their deeds were evil.

A.S.L. What is "God is light"?

F.E.R. That is moral; there is no countenance in God for evil. There is a dark spot in the sun, but not in God.

G.J.S. What is your thought of condemnation?

F.E.R. It is moral, the state of the world is proved. The light has tested man. God saw fit to give expression to His love in allowing the light of another world to come into this one and of necessity it has been tested by the light by Christ's presence here.

J.S.O. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men".

F.E.R. The life all belongs to another world. It is important to see that the world of which Christ is Sun and Centre is the real one.

J.S.O. That is what made me think that the knowledge of God was inseparable from the life and light.

F.E.R. I quite agree. The revelation of God and His mind for man are both set forth in Christ and are inseparable. All that world subsists in the light of God; but another point is that Christ is the Sun and Centre of that world. "The darkness is passing and the true light already shines".

D.L.H. Say a word on "God so loved the world". What is the exact bearing of it?

F.E.R. It indicates what was in His thoughts towards the world. It was shut up absolutely in a way under death and judgment, but He allows the light of His world to come into it to test it that man might find a way out of it.

A.S.L. The coming will be characterised by the knowledge of God.

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F.E.R. Exactly, it will be the scene of God's glory, this is the scene of man's.

A.S.L. "The true light already shines", what is that?

F.E.R. The Sun of righteousness. He does not shine in display, but it is what is true in Him and in you, in Christ and christians. The true light shines for us. You really come into the light of the Sun of righteousness, which shines upon us.

G.B. Do you refer, the darkness is passing, to christians and not to the world?

F.E.R. It is that which is true in Christ and christians.

A.S.L. You would not speak of Christ as the light of the world now.

F.E.R. He is of His own world. The gospel comes today, and the world is really tested by it.

D.L.H. The light is really seen in the saints.

F.E.R. Yes, but it is reflected light in them.

Ques. How does the gospel test the world?

F.E.R. It is evidently of God and therefore where there is any fear of God people are drawn to it; but on the other hand, those who prefer to go on in darkness do not come to the light, they prefer darkness because their deeds are evil.

D.L.H. Are those people of the world of which it says, "God so loved the world"? Do you connect the thought of God's love with the world in the manner you are now speaking of it?

F.E.R. I think so, if it had not been for the love of God towards the world it would have been shut up to death and judgment.

D.L.H. I have thought of the world in contrast to the Jews.

F.E.R. It is in that way; but allowing that to be the case, if you take the world it has been tested by the coming of Christ into it and the practical result is condemnation.

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D.L.H. The world has assumed a character of hostility to God.

F.E.R. What do you mean by the world, the heathen?

D.L.H. All that is not of the Father.

F.E.R. There is no world in christendom except in a moral point of view.

D.L.H. Do you look upon the world in chapter 3 in a moral point of view?

F.E.R. It is the Jew and gentile; but then christendom has been formed by the testimony and will be judged on the ground of it, so that you cannot call christendom the world.

A.S.L. Is the world that God loved all mankind?

F.E.R. Yes, "When the kindness and love to man of our Saviour God appeared".

J.S.O. The witness is on God's side, His own Son.

F.E.R. Exactly, but the effect of such a testimony must be that the world is tested.

A.S.L. The Son of God having been rejected here makes all the difference, it is final.

F.E.R. Yes, it is final. "This is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light".

J.McK. Has that altered God's attitude towards the world?

F.E.R. But where is the world? Wherever the witness of the gospel came you get the same testing, but when you come to christendom, it has been formed by the testimony of the gospel.

J.McK. Yes, but would you preach from John 3:16?

F.E.R. I should preach that God demonstrated His love to the world by bringing in the light of another world, so that there may be a point of contact between God and man. God does not close things up. What has come to pass is that the Jew is apostate, and now he is rejected, and the light is among the

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gentiles. There cannot be a doubt that there still remains a point of contact between God and man. If it were not so man would be shut up to death and judgment. The world has been tested by the greatest light that has been brought into it; but still there is the point of contact. "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted out of the earth, will draw all to me". There is the point of attraction.

K.G. Is that the mercy-seat?

F.E.R. It is Christ lifted up.

A.S.L. John 3:16 would have all the greater power if it were proclaimed as it stands.

F.E.R. Quite so, it abides so long as God goes on with things as they are, but He will not go on with things as they are, because the gentile will be broken off just as the Jew was.

D.L.H. So it stands that God so loved the world in a past sense.

A.S.L. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself".

F.E.R. But that continues, the effect of Christ going up on high has been expansion.

J.S.O. The gospel is preached by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven consequent upon Christ's rejection.

B.W.G. How do you connect Christ with the darkness passing?

F.E.R. It is true in regard of Christ and us. The day has dawned and we have in view the Sun of righteousness; He has not yet arisen with healing in His wings, but He is good to us. Where I have failed is that I have looked at the world of which Christ is the Sun and Centre as coming in upon the failure of this world, instead of seeing that that world was really the one that was before God. This world was built up on Adam departed from God, but it is a figure only, it came in by the way. The world for God is the one

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of which Christ is the Sun and Centre. The effect of Christ coming was to open a door out of this world to Himself.

J.McK. The condition of things here brings out what was in the heart of God.

F.E.R. God looked in compassion on the world, and said, I will not shut it up in death and judgment but I will introduce the light of another world into it to make known My heart and apply that test to the world. Christ is the test of it, and now He draws everything to Himself. He becomes the point of attraction and draws everything that can be here and preserves it all for the world of which He is the Centre. This world is only on probation. "He that doeth truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested, that they have been wrought in God".

E.R. What is wrought in God?

F.E.R. God is the source of them.

W.B. Is it the same now, to lift up our eyes and look on the fields?

F.E.R. I think so. The point of it is not simply that the light has come in but there is the power to make the harvest. The time of the prophets was not the reaping time, but now we have the reaping time. The evangelist is sent out to reap: to gather in the harvest is the great work of the present time. The word of God was here in the time of the prophets, they spoke of the Kingdom and coming of Christ, but God was not giving effect to it. Now the light has come in, and it is not simply that there is the word of God, but that He is giving effect to it so that you get the well of water which springs up to eternal life. That never was before.

G.J.S. Who is the sower?

F.E.R. The prophets in a way sowed, but now the reaping time has come, the Spirit is here. The disciples were sent to reap, it was the time of fruit and harvest.

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T.H.B. Was not Christ the sower Himself?

F.E.R. I think not, it refers to the ways of God with the prophets.

T.H.B. What is the force of verse 34?

F.E.R. The finish is the harvest. John the baptist was a sower, be did not reap. Christ came in on the evangelistic line preaching glad tidings and gathering in the harvest.

A.S.L. The reaper goes out now with the gospel.

F.E.R. That is the object with the gospel, he goes out to gather to Christ as Sun of righteousness and Centre of another world. The meeting of man's need comes in by the way, but the object of the gospel is to bring souls to Christ.

W.B. If man's need is met it is his soul being brought in contact with Christ.

G.J.S. How do you distinguish between this and Matthew 13?

F.E.R. The sowing there is the kingdom, it means the kingdom was established. No prophet could speak of the kingdom being established, but in Matthew it was there in His Person.

J.S.O. The well of living waters supposes more than the responsibility of the testimony.

F.E.R. There are two things in the living water which He gives; first you never thirst, second it springs up to eternal life. You cannot get the second without the first. The love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, that is the first thing so that a man is satisfied and then the well of water springs up in the way of righteousness, holiness and eternal life. "Having become bondmen to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end eternal life".

J.H.K. What is the force of the latter part of the chapter?

F.E.R. You get the progress of the Lord from Judaea to Galilee, the scene of His labours. The Jews are scattered and the judgment of God is upon

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them, and the word is the only link between God and them. The nobleman had to believe before he got the intervention of God in power. The link with Israel will be formed by the word of God and it will become a test to them previous to the intervention of God in power. He will intervene to raise them up, but the link will be the word. The word is really the revelation of God Himself to them, and it will form the link between God and them. If you think of their perversity, what claim have they on God? The only claim that they have is that He has something in His mind for them, and that is the only link.

A.S.L. Is verse 48 a reproof to the nobleman?

F.E.R. I think so, though he ought to have been looking for a prophet, Moses said a prophet would arise, but instead of looking for Him they looked for signs. They will have to accept the word first, and then they will get the signs. This occurred in Galilee, the scene of Christ's labours among the poor of the flock. To me it is wonderful to see the wisdom of God in introducing the light of another world into this one to gather together everything in this world to carry it out into His own.

J.S.O. All that He can gather out He has formed Himself.

F.E.R. There is a good deal of darkness in this world. I saw today that according to man, the will of humanity is the god of this world. Men have to worship the will of humanity, the religion of the world is the will of humanity. Men talk about what they think profound wisdom, and it is really profound rubbish. To think of an intelligent man putting forward such an idea is simply monstrous. If you take up the thing morally it is an absurdity and has no real meaning in it.

A.S.L. The pride of man cannot accept that which must come from God.

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F.E.R. It is wonderful to think what God's world is, that all subsists in perfect light -- God coming out in that way -- and then Christ giving impulse to everything just like the sun. He is the Sun of righteousness, the righteous One, and in His circle everyone likes to do right. Righteousness does not necessarily suppose iniquity, it supposes love.

J.S.O. The world is going to get the benefit of His reigning in righteousness.

F.E.R. The millennium is God's world of triumph over all the workings of evil.

G.J.S. What is the point in the two miracles being in Cana of Galilee?

F.E.R. It is adequate testimony, confirmation. Each sign in John's gospel has its own peculiar significance. The first miracle is that Christ can do better for man than He can do for Himself. This one is the intervention of God on the part of Israel when the link is formed by the word. The new wine is moral, and typical of joy.

P.R.M. What is the force of verse 36, "Gathers fruit unto life eternal"?

F.E.R. It is all the time of harvest. The point in view is gathering to eternal life.

P.R.M. Do you connect it with Galatians, "from the Spirit shall reap eternal life"?

F.E.R. Here it is evangelistic, there it is individual.

I.F. That is in view of the future.

F.E.R. No, it is in view of the present. The way of it is that we are brought into the knowledge of Christ. John 5 and 6 unfold what eternal life means; we are brought into the joy of it, though we could not get it in a public way like it will be in the kingdom. We are brought to it in the knowledge of Christ; that is the secret of eternal life now. The simple solution of it is that Christ is it.

Christendom is on the point of being apostate and we have to take that into account; nothing can be

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more appalling than its present condition. If you notice, all real evangelicalism is being given up on every hand and the thing for us is to hold fast. Any effort to connect christianity with the course of this world means dismal failure.

P.R.M. In what sense is salvation of the Jews?

F.E.R. The testimony went out from them.

T.H.B. You get the Saviour of the world.

F.E.R. Yes, not simply of the Jew.

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A FIRST AND LAST WORD OF CHRIST TO THE CHURCH

Revelation 2:1 - 7; Ephesians 3:14 - 21

It might be a matter of interest to us to pay a little attention to what one may call a first and last word of Christ to the church, that our attention might be taken up with the things that are.

The apostle John was charged to write the things which he had seen, which I take to refer to the vision of Christ in chapter 1. "The things which are", that is, the church as a witness here, and "the things which shall be hereafter", after the church has ceased to occupy the place of witness here on earth. The proper place of the church down here is that of witness. In the ways of God the church is set to be a faithful witness, or light-bearer; that thought is conveyed to us under the symbol of the seven golden candlesticks. The thought of God has always been that there should be a witness of Himself; even among the idolatrous gentiles God did not leave Himself without witness. Israel was established as a witness in the earth on the part of God. In Isaiah God continually refers to Israel as such -- a witness against idolatry. The time came when Israel ceased to be a witness for God; that moment had arrived long before Christ came; then Christ came, and He was the true witness. Now at the present moment, until Christ comes again, the church is the witness; the church was established as a witness here to the Man in heaven, at the right hand of God, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The Holy Spirit has come down as witness to the glory of that Man; but the Holy Spirit must have a vessel in which the witness is maintained; that vessel is the church: hence you get here the symbol of the golden candlesticks. It is very important

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to understand the place the church has as witness. In the end of chapter 3 you get Christ coming in as the faithful and true witness when the church has not proved to be a faithful witness. Christendom is not a true witness of Christ, for the witness of Christ to be effectual must be a witness morally, not merely by word of mouth; and christendom is not that. The church has not maintained that place, hence we get these epistles written to the seven churches; and now the time is near when Christ will appear as "the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God". Adam was not the beginning of the creation of God, he was historically the first man; Christ is the beginning of the creation of God, and He is the faithful and true witness when everything has failed. What will come to pass is that Israel will come again into the place of witness in connection with Christ; the golden candlestick in the holy place was symbolic of Israel in that way in the world to come; that is the issue of things here on earth.

Now what I want to touch upon is the first word of Christ to the church after its defection. If you pass on to the close of the next chapter you get the last word of Christ to the church; it is extremely important to take these into account. If by the grace of God we have been led to return, in any measure, to first things, you may be pretty sure that history will repeat itself in us, and the defection will be much of the same character as at the outset. It is a fatal mistake now to set up to be anything here on earth. If we have returned to the first things in any measure, we are exposed to the same defection that overtook the church at the beginning. I am going to speak a little as to what that was, and at the same time to say a word as to the promise to the overcomer. The overcomer is essentially individual, and the promise is not to the church, but to the overcomer: the very thought of an overcomer implies that the current is against you, and

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if you do not go against it, you will not be an overcomer. It is a proof of vital energy to go against the current; the Lord has pleasure in the overcomer. I have often thought of the promise to the overcomer in Laodicea when things had got to the worst. The Lord says, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne". The Lord will have the company of the overcomer with Him there; such a thought as that ought to engage the attention of every christian. It is wonderful encouragement that the Lord will have the overcomer to be associated with Him, that He will have his company with Him in His throne.

The point of departure which marked the church was that it had left its first love; it is extremely important to see the principle and character of the defection. The Lord commends everything that it was possible to commend, but in leaving its first love it had given up its place of witness. There was no longer fidelity in the place of witness; nothing can be more important than to understand that the church was left here as a witness in the absence of Christ. The Bridegroom is in heaven, and the bride on earth; the church should be mourning the absence of the Bridegroom, and yet have the Bridegroom dwelling in the heart by faith; that is the true position of the church. Not going in the current of the world, not overcome by the power of present things, but in a sense desolate in the absence of the Bridegroom, and yet not desolate because Christ is dwelling in the heart by faith. The practical effect would be the Bridegroom set forth in the bride, and at the same time the bride entirely taken up with the interests of the Bridegroom. That is what I understand by Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, and for that everything depends upon the appreciation of Christ. There was evidently a drawing back in the church, and the appreciation of

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Christ was obscured, and that was the point of departure. Worldly, chilling influences came in, and the effect was like with the children of Israel when turning back in heart to Egypt -- they forgot the pleasant land.

Now a word with regard to how we are led into the appreciation of Christ. Christ is presented to us in the gospel in the first instance as a point of attraction; even in the Old Testament we have the figure of the Sun of righteousness; you cannot entertain the idea of the sun without the thought of a power of attraction. The Lord says, in John 12, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me". If Christ is to draw to Himself, it implies that there must be a power of attraction in Himself; and that power is that every thought of grace on the part of God towards man is presented to men in a Man, and that Man is Christ -- "God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus"; that is what I should understand to be the principle of attraction which resides in the Sun of righteousness. It is quite true that nobody is drawn to Christ unless God works, but that does not alter the power of attraction in Christ. The fact that men do not come to Christ proves the terrible deadness and insensibility on the part of man to all that is of God; as I said before, you cannot entertain any thought of grace on the part of God towards man save in a Man, and that Man has taken up every liability under which men were, in order that in Him the grace of God might be presented to man, so that he might be attracted to the Sun of righteousness; it is the first principle in the ways of God in regard to man. The next point is you become attached to Christ, and that attachment is brought about by the Spirit which Christ gives to the one who is responsive to the grace presented in Him. There is a link formed between the believer and Christ, and that link is in the Spirit.

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It is by attachment to Christ that we shall be kept from the evil of the world. The Lord says, in John 10, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture". You do not want the shelter of a fold; you are kept, whatever the condition of things in the world, by the power of attachment to Christ; you are saved, are in liberty, and find pasture. The most gifted intellect in the world could not explain how a christian is kept down here, preserved from evil and temptations and allurements, and at the same time finding pasture. He does not go to the world's fields to find pasture, he is independent of them. The secret of it all is attachment, which exists in the Spirit of Christ, the living water which Christ gives, and which springs up in the believer unto everlasting life. What follows is that you get the knowledge of Christ. "I ... know my sheep, and am known of mine". The apostle Paul says, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord". It is a great point to arrive at the appreciation of Christ; then it is we are prepared to part with ourselves, because we have found in Christ that which is supremely excellent; and in result we have Christ dwelling in the heart by faith.

Every true wife is attached to her husband; she does not appreciate him all at once, but the bond has been formed, and the more she knows him the more she appreciates him. The wife proves the care, love, and attention, all the good qualities of her husband, and she appreciates him more and more. So it is with believers in Christ. We are "married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God". We appreciate the holiness, righteousness, grace, and gentleness of Christ; it is by this we bring forth fruit to God. In the absence of the Bridegroom, the bride has the Bridegroom dwelling in the heart by faith; the practical

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effect is that being rooted and grounded in love, you comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; you get a survey of the whole expanse that is centred in Christ; and you know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled into all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:17 - 19); that prayer was, I suppose, fulfilled in measure in the Ephesians.

Then you come to the defection -- the Ephesians had got away from the first appreciation of Christ; they had left their first love; Christ was not dwelling in the heart by faith; they had lost that which separated them from the present course of things. I do not think any christian can be maintained in separation from the world except in the appreciation of Christ. And when I speak of appreciation of Christ, I speak not only of what Christ is personally, but of all that of which He is the centre; that vast system of which He is the beginning and the end. He is the Head of all principality and power; Head of every man; He is the Head of every family; of the church, Israel; hence we need to entertain the thought of Christ in that light. But at the same time we need to be led by the Spirit into the appreciation of what He is morally, because it is in that way we understand the character He gives to every family in the universe of bliss. "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things". The church takes her character from Christ at the present time, and is left here, that the excellencies of Christ might be displayed in her. The point of departure was in getting away from the appreciation of Christ, and we have to be on the watch against this. We need to be continually vigilant; there are dangers around us on every side; the things that are passing around us tend to dim our appreciation of Christ. I wish that Christ might be so brought before our vision that we might be led by the

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blessed Spirit of God into the vast expanse of all the purpose of God in Him. We are not in the presence of a heathen world, but surrounded by christendom, where the name of Christ is, in a sense, borne, but yet where all the principles of the world are found. We need the greatest possible vigilance as to influences here (Satan is transformed into an angel of light), that our appreciation of Christ be not dimmed. Christ ever appreciates affection, attachment to His Person. He also appreciates zeal; but, after all, it is not zeal that is paramount in the mind of Christ, but affection. He appreciated Peter's zeal; but still more the affection of John, so in Martha and Mary; with Martha it was zeal, and the Lord appreciated her service; but He appreciated Mary still more, for she sat at His feet and listened to His word, and He says, "One thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her". The Lord will appreciate zeal and service, but above all, affection; that may be the reason why so many women are introduced in the gospel narrative, for they are more marked by affection than men. The Lord looks down upon us and appreciates good marks which we cannot see, but you may depend upon it that our place with Him depends upon our attachment to Him. Just one word with regard to the overcomer: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God". This is a contrast to what took place in connection with Adam; he never ate of the tree of life. God drove the man and his wife out, that they should not eat of the tree of life; it was a proof of divine mercy and consideration for them, lest they should eat and live for ever alienated from God through sin. We do not get the tree of the knowledge of good and evil here; all that was connected with that tree was met and answered in the death of Christ. Paradise is a place of perfect delight. The Lord said to the thief, "Today shalt thou be

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with me in paradise". Paul was caught up into paradise; it is the third heaven, the scene of supreme delight, where everything is governed by God Himself; everything answers to God; the tree of life is in its midst. It is a great thought that we should come to know the power that will maintain satisfaction and delight in the universe of bliss. It is found in the paradise of God. Every circle in that universe will be dependent for satisfaction and delight on the tree of life. Young people are often marked by restlessness of mind; they are hunting about for food for their minds. Did you ever think of heaven? What books will you read in heaven? Christ never, I suppose, read books when on earth. Do you think God has not other ways of ministering food to man? It is wonderful to think of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations; that is an encouragement to us to be overcomers. The current is strong against us; we can only overcome by attachment to Christ. "We are more than conquerors through him that loved us". It will be a great thing when Christ gets us into the paradise of God and gives us to eat of the tree of life there. May God give us to have Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith.

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LAST WORDS OF JESUS

John 19:28 - 30, 32 - 36; Revelation 3:14 - 22; Revelation 22:16, 17

I have read these passages with the desire of saying a little on what I might call the last words of Jesus. The last words of people who have passed away have a peculiar significance and are cherished in the thoughts of others; but it does not always follow that the one who has said his last word has passed away. It is certainly not the case with regard to the Lord, but He has nothing more to say.

We have had the last words of Christ here in various connections. In the gospel of John it is in connection with His life and ministry here; in Revelation 3 it is His last word to the church, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me". And the word at the close of Revelation is addressed to whosoever thirsts, "Let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely".

Evidently these are last words, and derive their significance from the circumstances under which they were spoken. I will dwell on these words in their connection. It is His word that endures until the Lord comes again; every word of Jesus is expressive of Himself. In John's gospel, when they questioned Him as to who He was, His reply was, "Altogether that which I also say to you". It is of extreme importance to hear what the Lord has to say to us at the present moment, so to speak -- His last word.

Now if we take into account that the words of Jesus are the expression of Himself, these last words bring before us the way in which He now presents Himself; and to look at them may be a real benefit to us. The effect should be that our ears being opened to this

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appeal of the Lord, we should be careful and jealous lest anything should hinder our answering to it. "I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" is a beautiful utterance, but I do not think we ought to be content with beautiful utterances; we want to know the reality and force of that which is spoken -- what it is to have Jesus sup with us and we with Him.

We will now consider His last words in John 19. It is plain that they are connected with the close of His pathway on earth. He was on the point of departure, and the word we get in that connection is, "It is finished". Christ had been here for the will of God, to accomplish redemption. He "was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death ... that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man". It is perfectly true that man was tested by the presence of the Son of God on His road to the cross; but the real purpose of the coming of the Son of God was to accomplish redemption; there is abundance of witness in the Old Testament to this. In death Christ bore the judgment of God that lay upon man. He became the victim, the Lamb, foreordained before the foundation of the world. What it really meant was that, in Christ, God Himself came to take up the liability under which man lay under His judgment; it had been impossible otherwise for a creature to be saved. You cannot conceive a greater expression of the love of God. In the death of Christ the world system came to an end for God. The apostle Paul says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world". It is evident from that passage that for God the world system had come to an end in the cross of Christ. The Lord says, "It is finished". He had come down to accomplish the will of God; and all was finished, but the world had exercised its own judgment on

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Christ; and, on the other hand, all the world system was judged in the death of Christ. The scarlet, the cedar wood, and the hyssop -- all, from the most distinguished to the most contemptible; from the highest to the lowest, was cast into the burning. This world in all its greatness and all its littleness came to an end in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what remained was the blood and the water. "One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water". It is an amazing expression of divine grace, that in the death of Christ, where the world system came to an end before God, there the blood and the water flowed out -- the blood to expiate guilt and the water to cleanse from the contamination of the world. A christian who is clear of the judgment of God by the death of Christ is as liable to death as before, but not as the judgment of God. Death is your servant, to sever you from the world and to take you into the presence of the Lord. "All things are yours, whether ... life, or death". As to the water, the point is that we become identified in mind with the death of Christ; our minds are in accord with His death. Hence it is we are cleansed from the contamination of the world. If my mind is in accord with the death of Christ with regard to sin, I cease in mind to live in the scene in which sin is dominant. I reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The death of Christ not only provided the blood to expiate, but the water to cleanse. The world system came to an end for God; it is no longer the scene of divine dealings. Most of us here can testify to the efficacy of the blood and water. We are clear of this world's judgment and of its contamination. Death with Christ is not a thing to be avoided, for there is great gain in the mind of the believer being in accord with that death. Hence it is we have the value of the water.

Now I come to the positive side; and in this

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connection I read Revelation 3:14 and 20: "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.... Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me". In the address to this church, the Lord presents Himself in an aspect connected with the world to come. That world is going to supersede the existing world in which man is glorified, and which is characterised by lust and pride. There is a remarkable warning in 2 Kings 21, referring specially to Jerusalem: "And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down". So also will it be with this present world system. The fact of its being christianised will not alter this. Whatever the world may appear on the surface; the principles that lie underneath are: "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life"; it is a scene where man is glorified. In the world to come there will be no room for the pride and arrogance of man. All that is going to be set aside; that day will be marked by what Christ was when here: He was meek and lowly in heart. When He comes again He comes to give character to everything, and there will be no room for what is not according to Christ.

In the opening of this address the Lord presents Himself in an aspect which does not properly refer to the church, but to the world to come -- that is, He is the Amen. What I understand by that is He is the confirmation of all the promises of God, and all the promises of God have reference to the world to come. He is the faithful and true witness, in contrast to Israel and the church. He witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate; and He is the beginning of the creation of God; of all that is created, in which God will rest. Christ is the real outset of it, and He is not

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only the beginning, but the end; we want to entertain the thought of Christ in that way. I have spoken of the last words of Christ in connection with this world; all He had to say was that the will of God was finished, and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Now we have Christ introduced in an entirely different light and in the strongest contrast, not as bringing to an end, but as Himself the beginning of the creation of God -- the living One, that which He is now. The Lord Jesus presents Himself here in all His greatness with regard to the world to come; the universe of bliss, in which God and not man will be glorified, and in which all things will be put under the feet of the Son of man. He is the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. It is wonderful to have Christ presented to us in that light. I wonder if we have all apprehended Him thus? You want to take into account the world to come. Christ is not recognised as the faithful and true witness by this world. He has said, "Now is the judgment of this world"; but He is seen as the faithful and true witness in the world to come, of which He is the blessed Sun of righteousness; it is in connection with that He thus speaks of Himself. But here the Lord is speaking to the church, and this brings before us a terrible consideration, that not only has the world rejected Christ, but the very church that was established in connection with Christ risen has proved unfaithful. The princes of this world crucified the Lord of glory, and the church that was set up here to witness to Him has turned out an unfaithful witness; and what marks it at the close of its history is entire indifference to Christ -- the greatest self-possession and self-competency. "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing", and at the same time the greatest indifference to Christ! Take the Rationalist of the present day. He is rich in the sense of knowledge and acquirements, he

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would possibly tell you that he knows more than the apostles; yet there is total indifference in regard to Christ. Such do not reject His name any more than the Papists -- they all pose as part of christendom; but as to Christ personally and to His interests as Bridegroom they are indifferent. Whatever it be, even Scripture itself is maintained to be subject to the investigation of man's mind. The authority of Scripture is thus undermined, and this is the greatest evil that can be; all this is conveyed in the expression, "rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing".

The last word of Christ to the church is very remarkable. It is surprising that whilst Christ recognises such a state of things as existing, He is content to wait upon it in patience. He will not identify Himself with it, but in patience and grace He waits upon it, and calls attention to Himself: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me". That is wonderful! He who is the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, says He will come in and sup with me, and I with Him. What I understand by it is that He will sympathise with me in my things, and lead me into the communion of His things; and the practical result is that I gain the most blessed intimate acquaintance with Christ Himself. Orthodoxy is not the real answer to the existing state of things; the real answer is Christ Himself, and what we want is attachment of heart to Him, and the sense of His grace and patience in waiting on such a state of things as is depicted here, as prepared to come into anyone who will open the door. When the Lord was upon earth He supped with His disciples; they were all familiar with Him, John even lying in His bosom. We see the expression of this in John 13. There is nothing to be more appreciated than the

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grace of Christ; not only that He will sympathise in the difficulties and conflict down here, but will lead us into the communion of His things, so that we may enter into the interests of Christ as Bridegroom. We ought to be mourning the absence of the Bridegroom; we ought to be afflicted in His absence; but He knows how to comfort those who are afflicted in the sense of His absence.

Great as Christ is, He attends upon such a state of things as is described here; and if we have opened the door, we know something of His tenderness, sympathy, and consideration on the one hand, and on the other we have understanding of His interests, and this is a great preparation to fidelity to Him down here. It is a great reality, and available to every one of us.

It is not Christ speaking here in the circumstances in which He spoke in John 19, but as the living One, setting Himself forward as He will be in relation to the world to come, when He comes again in glory. Nothing can be more dreadful on the part of His people than indifference to Christ. We want to get rid of anything that stands in the way of our answering to His appeal.

Now just a word or two in regard to the appeal in the last chapter. "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely". In this passage we have the Lord presenting Himself again in relation to the world to come. "The root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star" is not the relation in which Christ stands to the present world. "The bright and morning star" -- that is the harbinger of the day when the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in His wings; and though we may get a

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present gain from all this, it is the aspect in which the Lord stands in relation to the world to come.

The answer is, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come"; that is normal. Then, "Let him that heareth say, Come". Every right-minded christian wants the Bridegroom to come; all are earnest for the Bridegroom to come and take up that which belongs to Him on earth.

"And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely". It is the last word of Christ, and a lovely word it is. How often has one been affected by that appeal; how many converted by it! It is a most pathetic appeal -- to take the very best thing that even Christ Himself can give. He died in order to be able to communicate the gift of living water to man, and His last appeal to man is to take it freely.

The simple impression I desire to make is of the wonderful way Christ is attendant on the present state of things. If it is the last phase of the church's history on earth, He presents Himself to it in the most extraordinarily gracious way; this comes out in His word to Laodicea and His word here. Ought He not to engage the affections of His people's hearts? Ought anything to come in between our hearts and Him? He is the One to be the honoured guest in the hearts of His saints, to dwell there. Think of Christ at this moment! He stands at the door, and knocks; it is His last attitude. May every heart be touched by these appeals of Christ, that He may be the supreme delight of our hearts, that we may not care to have any adornment but Christ. We want to be adorned with His graces, and the way to be thus adorned is by having Him dwelling in our hearts by faith. May we be thus adorned in the eye of God and man.

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THE PROCLAMATION -- THE SPIRIT -- THE KINGDOM -- SALVATION

Luke 24:36 - 53

Our approach to God must in its order be the converse to His approach to us; on man's part the first thing apprehended is the proclamation, then the new covenant, and then reconciliation. If you look at things on the divine side, God begins with reconciliation, then the new covenant, and then the proclamation. What we come to last is that with which God began. God started from the holiest; and the holiest is the utmost point we reach. It is evident that if there is the thought of approach to God, we must approach God by the way God has come out to us. Christ is the way. If God has come out to us by Christ, we must approach God by Him.

We come first into the good of the proclamation, then of the new covenant, and then to reconciliation -- no one is prepared for the second step if he has not taken the first. The overture that God makes to man in the proclamation (verses 47) does not in itself express all that is in the mind of God, but everyone must begin by receiving that overture. The gospel includes reconciliation, because it is the glad tidings of the glory of Christ, and the glory of Christ is that all things are reconciled by Him. The very beginning of God's way was "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself".

The gospel starts with the fact that God has secured a Head by whom He can approach man in grace. In His name -- is in the name of the One who died and rose again. There is one Man risen out of death, and everything in the gospel depends on the fact of "one Man" risen; if He is not risen, there is no gospel.

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If God had not secured everything for Himself, there would be nothing for man. We cannot attach too much importance to resurrection. Everything hinges on it, for it is the principle of God's ways in recovery. The existence of christianity is a witness to one Man risen. All Scripture is witness to it. The simplest element of the gospel is the great truth of one Man risen, and the proclamation is in the name of that Man. "Repentance and remission of sins" are preached "in his name". God has taken pains to vouch resurrection. Christ appeared to above five hundred brethren at once. The proclamation is to all nations; in consequence of the casting off of the Jew the gentiles are brought within the scope of God's testimony. Resurrection is a fact in which everybody is concerned. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned"; hence resurrection concerns everybody.

Forgiveness comes to a man in this world. David got forgiveness. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared". Justification goes beyond forgiveness, because justification is that you are clear of every reproach as connected with the world's system, in order that by the grace of God you may be identified with God's system; you are out of the one and brought into the other. Forgiveness does not take you off the old platform; justification does -- practically it is justification of life -- hence you are clear of the world's system. Justification is of no account without works; works prove that you are connected with the divine system -- they are the expression of vitality. Abraham's and Rahab's works proved this. The truth of justification is more for those who have received the proclamation. Forgiveness is connected in christianity with the removal of the man; when he is forgiven the next thing properly is baptism. A man is forgiven not exactly to live, but

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to die with Christ. In Acts 2 remission of sins is connected with baptism; they go together.

The proclamation is a final test to every man -- "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit". The Spirit is given consequent on the reception of the glad tidings. A man believes the report, and receives forgiveness of sins and the Spirit. The great point in the Acts was that man should participate in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that was the reason of the proclamation. God could not bless man apart from repentance on man's part; it is due on man's part because he has departed from God. God has not departed from man. Repentance is a privilege God has granted to man, and is connected with man's responsibility. "God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent", etc.

The door of repentance is open to every man. If there were no forgiveness, there would be no call to repentance; repentance and remission of sins cannot be divorced. A person who is repentant owns his position relatively to God and the right of God to judge. The great end to be reached in it all is the gift of the Spirit; receiving the Holy Spirit brings into the kingdom, for the kingdom is established in the power of the Holy Spirit -- "the kingdom of God is ... righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit". The kingdom is really salvation. The Lord is the only one in the whole universe who can hold back the forces of evil, therefore salvation is of the Lord. The great point of the Spirit is that it brings God into the soul, where before there was only man. It is God getting His place in the soul, so that man comes under the moral sway of God, and that is the kingdom. The kingdom is established to maintain God's tender plant: all that which He is working in Christ Jesus; and which had its beginning in Christ.

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The Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning of a new system: God is working in connection with that; His work is very tender, and may be to a large extent spoiled. The kingdom in its present aspect is established to shelter and maintain the work of God in man's soul. God is working in connection with a heavenly system, of which Christ is Head. Christ will give the law of God to the universe; He could say "Thy law is within my heart", and it was so that He might give it to the whole universe of bliss; the whole system is built up on a Man.

The kingdom is maintained in order that this work of God may not be destroyed by the working of the power of evil in the world. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it, and is safe". There you get salvation; we want to know the power of that name; Christ is true to His name. Christ is a tower of strength to His people. "We are more than conquerors through him that loves us". The King and Priest go together, "the counsel of peace shall be between them both". He is the power and strength of His people; we have salvation and security in the kingdom. We need salvation while we are in a scene of evil, or we might be overcome by it; it is deliverance from all the power of evil here; it is in Christ Jesus; you are borne along, carried, and kept by Him. The enjoyment of salvation is that you are connected with another system; no one enjoys it otherwise. The kingdom is connected with the Son of God's love and that system of which Christ is Head. "Lord" expresses the power and authority of God; as Head Christ is the starting-point of a system. Lordship continues until the kingdom is given up, but headship probably continues for ever. Seeing how liable we are to be overcome by the world, how important is the power and strength of Christ in order that the tender plant which God has planted should be nourished and kept! You become strong in

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the Lord when you are identified with the divine system. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13 the apostle says, "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth". That is the Spirit's power here.

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THE NEW COVENANT -- THE HOUSE OF GOD AND DISCIPLINE -- UNITY -- THE ASSEMBLY COME TOGETHER

2 Corinthians 3:1 - 18

The ministry of the new covenant leads us to the thought of the house of God. God makes known His disposition towards us, so that we may live with Him. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". That expresses His disposition towards man. It is believers who come into the good of the new covenant, but, at the same time, it is the expression of God's disposition towards man in the widest sense. "God so loved the world". The covenant will be established with Israel in the millennium, but it expresses God's disposition towards men generally; it is established with a particular people, that they may be light for all. It says in Isaiah 55, "Ho, every one that thirsteth", and then "I will make an everlasting covenant with you". The covenant has a peculiar application towards Israel; but then, the disposition towards them made known in the covenant is God's mind towards all.

Ministry is needful for establishing souls in the truth of the gospel; they have to be established step by step, and it comes in to the end that they may be enlightened and established. In the new covenant there is no demand from us on God's part, but now that righteousness is accomplished in Christ, there is the ministry of what He is to us. What can be more important practically, in view of approach to God, than that we should know the terms on which God can be with us, christianity presents what is living and positive, not merely so many items of doctrine? The truth may be set forth in demonstration of the Spirit

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and of power, but God only can produce any effect in souls. God commands our love by making us effectually acquainted with His love. Acquaintance with the reality of God's love is a step of the greatest importance in approach to God. "Perfect love casteth out fear". If you fear, you could not be in liberty in God's house. It is the knowledge of God's love that enables us to accept His discipline. We would quarrel with His discipline if we were not acquainted with His love. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth". If you know you are loved of God, then you can endure chastening. God's house is composed of those that love Him, and they come under His discipline as a man disciplines his own children. God would have us to consider discipline as the proof of His love. If God has a house, it comes under His discipline. We can bear the discipline, because it is the discipline of His love. It leads us in the way of holiness "that we might be partakers of his holiness": for it is all a question of approach to God, and when that comes in the question of holiness arises. We approach a holy God, and the love of God is a holy love which will not tolerate what is not according to itself.

In verse 17 we get liberty. That appears to be the object of the new covenant, in contrast with the first, which brought into bondage. In the new covenant God is intent upon bringing us into liberty by making known what He is to us. It is exactly the same in a family: the liberty of the children depends on their acquaintance with the parents. If the parents are austere and do not let their hearts out towards the children, you will not find liberty among the children. Love encourages affection, and we cannot have affection amongst ourselves unless we express it. I have heard people complaining that there is not enough affection amongst us; what such should do is to show it. It is no good complaining of other people; you won't get very much love unless you express it. "We

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love him, because he first loved us". When people are really in the enjoyment of divine love, they are able to overlook the peculiarities of one another.

What is prominent in this chapter is the ministration of the Spirit and of righteousness. It is the ministry of righteousness, because God gets His rights with regard to us, while at the same time He is making known His love. The ministry of righteousness expresses the way God has taken to secure His own rights; then we learn how He has expressed His love -- you cannot separate the two. I think life consists in the knowledge of divine love. Love is really life -- we can only live in divine love. Morally, we do not live on earth, because death is on us here, and we are not yet actually in heaven; but where we do live is in divine love, which has found its expression in the death of Christ. The Spirit of the new covenant is the love of God; in establishing that covenant God will have what is according to Himself. God puts His Spirit in people in order to bring about a right spirit in them. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.... A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them", Ezekiel 36:25 - 27. The whole principle and secret of the thing is that God puts His Spirit within them; and that is true in regard to us, in order that there may be an answer on our part to His love. God is going to put the universe right by imbuing it with His Spirit. It is not exactly the Holy Spirit personally; it is rather what is characteristic. The Spirit of God may be spoken of as characteristic; He is a Person, but often spoken of as characteristic, especially in the Old Testament. The fact is you break up the form of the first covenant entirely when you come to

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the spirit of it. The spirit of the first covenant was Christ.

When the proclamation has been accepted and the Spirit received, then we learn in the death of Christ what is in God's heart towards us, and that inspires us with confidence towards God, so that we approach Him. Then in that connection we endeavour to maintain the unity of the Spirit and come together in assembly. All is based on the unity of the Spirit; we are members of the body of Christ and of one another, therefore we come together in assembly to meet one another as in that unity. It will not do to ignore this by saying that we come to meet the Lord and not one another. You hear people talk of coming to meet the Lord when they are at variance with their brethren. We come together because we love one another, and in coming together we realise our true spiritual stature in a way we should not do in our individual paths. We see ourselves in the presence of the Lord and of one another. You will not correct a low state in a meeting by trying suddenly to get high up; that is only a stilted state of things -- it is a danger with us. If you want to correct the state of the meeting, you must correct the spiritual state of the worshippers.

"I ascend unto my Father, and your Father", etc. (John 20:17). The great point is association with Christ. It is all a question of individual spiritual apprehension. Take any meeting; how many in it have really entered the holiest? I contend that in coming together we are really brought together in the instinct of spiritual affection. When we thus come together we leave behind every natural distinction and should realise the Lord's presence. He has said, "I will come to you". In Acts 20 they "came together to break bread". That is what we have before us; breaking bread is a confession of our common bond, it is the expression of our fellowship in Christ's death.

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The great point is that though Christ is not here the saints are here, and that is what tests us. If we appreciate Christ, we shall appreciate one another. Keeping near one another is a good test of our keeping near the Lord.

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RECONCILIATION -- THE SANCTUARY

Colossians 1:12 - 29

The sealing of the Spirit takes place on the reception of the testimony of forgiveness of sins; by the seal God marks us as His for His own purpose.

God spoke in times past, but He did not express Himself till Christ came. "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him". Scripture is the inspired record of what has been revealed; we have to distinguish between revelation and inspiration. Scripture is inspired, but the revelation was in Christ.

We want to get a wider sense of Christ as the Head. He has taken up all the liabilities under which creation lay, and in virtue of this is Head over all things. That is where reconciliation comes in.

The important point in reconciliation is that it brings you to God's starting-point -- to the holiest. Not only are we to enjoy the light that has come out to us where we are, but our privilege is to go in where the light has come from -- that is, the sanctuary. "Send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles". The sanctuary is where God's secret is learnt, where all is made manifest. If you go into the sanctuary, you must be according to the sanctuary. The Head is the starting-point of reconciliation -- that comes out in the passage we have read -- the way God takes to reconcile all things is in the introduction of a Head. The great point in reconciliation is that God may have complacency in all, and in order for that all must be taken up in Christ. His headship rests on a twofold ground -- as Creator and on that of reconciliation.

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He is the Head of the wide creation; when God set Adam up as head He had Christ in mind; all will be put under the Son of man. He tasted death for everything; He will be Head of the wide creation. God will be glorified in all; everything will be brought into divine complacency.

God was in Christ providing for everything; so Christ is the "bread of God ... which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world". Every family is developed from the Head, and everything will be maintained in the Head. Christ is the real starting-point of the creation of God. Every family, morally, is developed from Him, and takes its character from Him. Ultimately all that has not sprung from Christ will pass out of sight. He will fill all things. Christ has a voice to every man, and in that way becomes a test to every man. In reconciliation God is preparing things in view of the eternal state. That is not brought to pass until after reconciliation is effected. In the millennium Christ will be seen as Head of the wide creation; that is, before you come to the eternal state you have the restitution of all things. In the whole system of things which has been alienated, God will have complacency and will be glorified in all -- all that paves the way for the new heavens and the new earth.

Reconciliation brings us to the fulness in Christ. If Christ is to fill all things, all the fulness dwells in Him. We are brought to the holiest; there we can see the restitution of all things. Everything is taken up in Christ; there is no failure there.

In Ephesians reconciliation brings us to God's system of things; in Colossians you find Christ is the Centre and fulness of that.

You can see, in a way, the holiest when Christ was here on earth. You must take two things into account: one is the holy love of God -- the Father's love -- and Christ. Where you get the Father's love -- and

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Christ, there you get the holiest. At the baptism of Christ and on the mount of transfiguration, you get a pretty good idea of the holiest: the Father's love resting on Christ the anointed Man. To enter the holiest is really to be in the apprehension of the Father's love, and of all that Christ is, as the vessel in which God carries out all the purposes of His love. We enter by the blood of Jesus; there is every encouragement to us to go in, to enter into the apprehension of what is there -- the Father's love and the secret of His mind in Christ. Each one has to come to it individually, in the apprehension of his soul. In the holiest there were the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. What answers to that is the Father's love and Jesus as the One by whom all the counsels of His love are to be carried into effect. It wants courage on our part to go in; having boldness, is that you are encouraged to take up your privilege. We have to turn our back on everything here -- that is the practical difficulty. God brings in a Man, and in that Man He purposes to reconcile everything. The holiest is really the holy love of God, where Christ, the true Ark of the Covenant, could abide. When reconciliation is brought to pass everything will subsist in a certain way in the love of the Father. There is the scene of the Father's love, and the One in whom divine love rests -- the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; and that is the point of the reconciliation of all things. Everything will take its character from the Ark of the Covenant "Thy law is within my heart"; and this in order that He may give that law to the universe; hence everything will be brought into divine complacency. It was part of God's design, in connection with the redemption of Israel, to set up His dwelling-place among them; the tabernacle was the pattern of things in the heavens. In type they had all the secrets of God in the tabernacle, though as long as God was

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dwelling among a people after the flesh, the way into the holiest was not made manifest; but now we have entrance, so that we may apprehend the secrets of God -- His mind in Christ, whom He has made Head over all things; and we come into the holiest to be educated in these things. It is very much an individual matter, but it should characterise the priestly company. The company at Corinth were recognised as saints coming together in assembly; but how many of them knew anything of entering the holiest? Christ is Priest by the call of God, and we must prove our relation to the High Priest in order to enter into our place as priests.

The important thing is the appreciation of Christ, then we reach Him in the holiest; His presence is realised by those who appreciate Him. There is not a moment when a saint may not enter the holiest. The Hebrews is a general epistle to the saints, a kind of appeal to them to take up their privileges. It would be a great thing if all answered to it. We must keep the two things distinct -- the holiest and the meeting.

Worship would really flow from the consciousness of the presence of Christ. The holiest is the apprehension of Christ as the One in whom the purposes of divine love are brought into effect; and entrance into the sanctuary individually would qualify us for coming together in assembly. We enter the holiest individually, but in order that we should bring the good of all that we have learned into the assembly. The priest should be well fed, so that he may be kept in efficiency. Christ will be where He is appreciated, and you really learn to appreciate Him by coming into the holiest. Many have an idea they will get into tune by coming to the meeting; if people go on anyhow during the week, they will come into the meeting according to where they are.

The apprehension of many may be very small, but they should come together in affection toward one

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another and toward Christ; and Christ engages His presence. If you come to the true idea of the assembly, it is what is typified by Aaron and his sons, every saint in priestly grace; but that is quite a different thing from the actual state of those who come together, yet it is perfectly right that they should come together as brethren; and the Lord assures His presence.

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THE HEAD -- THE BODY -- ALL THINGS

Colossians 1:15 - 18

There is really only one idea in headship. Christ is "head over all things to the church, which is his body". The only thing standing in direct relation to the Head at the present time is the church. But Colossians shows that the reconciliation of all things is dependent upon the Head. We want to get at the idea of the Head in the full sense; not only is Christ Head of the body, but He is Head over all things. Even at the present time He is Head of all principality and power, and He is the Head, too, of every man, though every man has not been brought into relation with the Head. These are the two things -- what is in the mind of God and what is made good in men. We want to look at the divine side and see what God has ordained. The divine thought in connection with the Head is to establish a system: the system is derived from and maintained in the Head. There is a vast system of blessing which is established in the Head; we need diligence to enter, by the Spirit of God, into this vast system of which Christ is the beginning and Head. God will set aside the present system, begun in a man, but who was only a figure of Him that was to come, and bring in that system of which Christ, the Sun of righteousness, is the Centre.

The fathers had the promises, but they all died; Israel had the tabernacle and brought it into the land, but the people were carried away beyond Babylon; dominion was established over the gentiles in Nebuchadnezzar, but he made a golden image and lost his dominion. In all these things you see divine appointment, and all will be gathered up in Christ the Centre and Head of every family. All are named of the

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Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that no divine appointment ever falls to the ground. God will "head up all things in the Christ". Christ is both King and Head; He holds the dominion and the kingdom; but at the same time He is Head, and everything takes character from Him. Headship is thus wider than "the body". Christ said, "the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world". There will be bread (satisfaction) for the world -- for every circle connected with Christ. He is the bread of life for the whole universe. People little know what the effect will be of everything being set in relation to the Head. Goodness will prevail universally; there will be no self-seeking then; everybody will be bent on benefiting another; everything will take its character from Christ. Christ did not come into the world to acquire anything; He took the lowest place to dispense divine bounty. To get free of the world system we must have the divine system in view, and we can only get that in view by holding the Head. The divine idea is that the body takes its character from Christ the Head; and if it derives its character from Christ, it will be the expression of Christ down here. Holding the Head is holding Him as the universal Head -- Head of the great system in which God will display His glory. Our thought of the Head is often too limited. Christ is spoken of as Head to the body, as being made Head over all things. "Ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power". The point in coming into the holiest is that we enter into the secret of God -- all that which God intends to display in Christ -- the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of that system in which God will be glorified. Every one of us ought to be set with purpose of heart to enter into this; it would have a very profound effect upon us if we did enter into it -- wisdom would have entered into our hearts and understanding would be pleasant to

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our taste. God will bring about a true commonwealth, and the Head of that is Christ. We need to get into the thought of the divine commonwealth. If man could bring about a commonwealth by philosophy, how long would it last? Its defect would be that it would lack a head. In a certain way antichrist will be the head of a system, but it will not last long. Christ's headship over all things is in abeyance now, but His headship over the body is really in exercise. The church alone recognises that He is Head.

The most perfect type of the church is Eve. Adam was set over all things before she was brought to him; she was really of Adam's body, taken from Adam and then united to him. The moment you get the body in relation to the Head you have two thoughts -- derivation and union. In the system of which we have been speaking everything is out of death, and on the ground of resurrection. The church is out of death, Israel will be out of death, so with the nations -- it will be life from the dead. When everything is put in relation to Christ, it must needs be on the ground of resurrection. The divine system is opened out in the beginning of Colossians 3, and what comes out in that chapter is the practical result of holding the Head, namely that the sensibilities and graces of Christ pervade everybody. Adam got the knowledge of good and evil, but had no standard by which to determine what was good and what was evil; it is a point of profound moment that Christ is the absolute standard. God's command to Adam in the garden was not a mere arbitrary prohibition -- man was not competent to take up the question of good and evil. The goodness of God sought to deter him from touching it because he was not competent. Now that we have in Christ a perfect standard, we need to have our senses exercised to discern everything according to Christ. When you get to the establishment of the divine system, good will be dominant and all evil will be held in abeyance;

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that will be the effect of the coming in of real power and authority; all good will be connected with the Head -- He will be the standard. There is no third system; if we are not under the influence of divine things, we must be under that of the world. We have received the Christ, and we want to walk in the light of that system of which He is the Head, and in which everything must take its character from Him who is Head. It would give people a very different thought in passing through this world if they got hold of the fact that God created it to be the sphere for the display of Christ. The system of things around us is that which began with Nebuchadnezzar; it is marked by the ascendancy and glory of man. In Ephesians 3 the apostle prays that we might be "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith", that we might apprehend the whole expanse of the vast system of which Christ is Head. The heart of the saint should desire to take in, not simply what Christ is personally, but all that is identified with Him in the wisdom and goodness of God. The more we appreciate Christ personally, the more we appreciate the things that belong to Him and in which God will be glorified. God created all in Christ for the glory of that blessed Man, and all is taken upon the ground of reconciliation, that others might have part in it. We want a truer conception of the greatness of Christ. Christ in us, the hope of glory; the church is now in view of all that will come out by-and-by; it is because the church is so marked by defection that we do not see Christ, the hope of glory, in it. As a matter of fact, the glory of man is so before people that it hinders them from seeing the glory of Christ; they will have a man by-and-by, antichrist. No one, if he considers the gospels, can help being struck at the absolute contrast between every thought of Christ and every thought of man. Every thought which came out from

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Christ was a contrast to what man thought: man's thought is to exalt himself; Christ was content to take the lowest place to dispense divine bounty to men. Now He is dispensing it from on high in the way of gifts; they are the expression of divine bounty.

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THE FAMILY AND TEACHING

1 John 3:1 - 14

What has been before us is the truth as presented to us by Paul; the truth as presented by John runs pretty much parallel to it. Paul speaks of the house of God, where God dwells by the Spirit, and John gives us the same in its moral features, as a family or household. In verses 3 and 4 you get the privileges, in the latter part of the chapter the tests. The first two chapters of this epistle present the common platform of christian fellowship and the stages of growth into which the apostle divided the saints. Chapter 3 is privilege: "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God", that is, the place of privilege. So in the gospel, chapter 1: 12, "As many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God". It is probably in contrast to what belonged to Israel as a nation. The children of God compose the house of God; the habitation of God is His family, composed of Jew and gentile, "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit". A house is a common thought in Scripture; we get, for instance, David's house, or the house of Onesiphorus. It has been said that John does not give us the beginning of the gospel; the prominent thought in the mind of John is state. He does not look at people simply as accepting the proclamation and receiving the Spirit, but as born of God by the revelation of Himself in His Son. You arrive at the same point in Paul, for the Spirit given is the Spirit of God's Son; but John begins with, "As many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God". Every christian has really been begotten by

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the revelation of God in love. In that way God has been pleased to come in, in order to undo the work of the enemy. There have long been the children of the devil in the world, and the answer to it on the part of God is to bring in the children of God. The question really is, as between God and the devil -- What is going to meet the children of the devil, but the bringing in of the children of God? The children of the devil have to be made manifest, and this is consequent on the introduction of the children of God. The children of the devil are marked by lawlessness, the children of God by righteousness; they are like planets, kept by rule in their orbit, in contrast to wandering stars. The Spirit of God has lifted up a standard against the enemy. Christ was that in perfection. "Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself". It is wonderful that God has come out in the revelation of Himself in love, to beget children to Himself. Those born of God must have been affected by His love, therefore such must have received the Spirit. The moral feature of the generation is righteousness, the acceptance of obligation -- "we ought" -- and what proceeds from this is love; if you are begotten of God's revelation, you partake of God's nature.

Christianity is in large measure a question of the way in which God has been pleased to come out to meet the power of evil, that is, the children of the devil could not be manifested as such, until a perfect standard of right and wrong was brought in, and that is Christ. The two generations are now contrasted: "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil". There was the same opposition previously between what was of God and what was of the devil; but the generations did not become manifest until the perfect standard was brought in in Christ, and is now brought to an issue. "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one". If we could look at things as God sees them, we

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should be able to divide the world into the two classes. The point is that the children have been manifested, but all people are not yet declared; the time is coming when all will be made manifest. All is consequent on the introduction of Christ as the perfect standard. The sifting has begun already, and it will work out until the final determination in the new heavens and the new earth and the lake of fire, but the sifting is going on. "Again I write a new commandment to you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is passing, and the true light already shines". There is a great system down here of which the moral characteristics are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; we can all judge of it. There may be a covering of christianity, but underneath we can see all the principles of the world, and whatsoever is of the world is not of the Father. We can detect the world by what John says of it, and we can even find it in ourselves, for the principles of it are there, and we are only delivered from these principles by the love of the Father; love is the contrast of lust and pride. In chapter 4 the great thought is divine teaching. It runs in a way parallel with the new covenant; so John speaks of manifested love: "In this was manifested the love of God toward us". All this is used as an incentive to love one another, because God is to have His expression in us. "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us", that is, in the way of expression.

In confessing Jesus Christ come in flesh you have the thought of another man brought in; all for God is set forth in Him -- it is headship really. Nobody truly confesses "Jesus Christ come in flesh" who connects christianity with this world. "Jesus Christ come in flesh" is the reality of Christ having become man. If you have the Son of God as man, you have the Head and beginning of another world. It is an

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absolute moral impossibility that Christ could connect Himself with this world. When the Son of God comes in, by the very fact of His being man, He becomes the Head and Centre of another system.

The tabernacle was anointed before the priest; God always had in view a system of things which Christ should fill. God had in view a universe of bliss and the One to fill it. The spirit of antichrist is the opposite of confessing "Jesus Christ come in flesh". It is a point of the last moment that God has been pleased to bring Christ in. He has come in as the test of everything here (John 3:18, 19) -- not to be the consummation of things that existed, but the true outset of everything. Hence you get the children of God manifested and the children of the devil: "To this end the Son of God has been manifested, that he might undo the works of the devil". He has revealed God perfectly, and the true character of the world and its prince is manifested. If we apprehend what the children of God are, we ought to be in rigid separation from the system in which the prince of this world operates, and for that we must be in the enjoyment of the privileges and blessing attaching to our position. It is a wonderful thing to be in righteousness. "This is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment". Righteousness is not exactly nature; it is, so to say, a rule and relative, and being righteous is the apprehension of where you are relatively to God, to Christ, and to the brethren and the acceptance of the obligations. The outcome of it would be practical righteousness in the way of love to God, to Christ, and to the brethren.

There is a great defect amongst christians on the point of righteousness. They poorly understand the relations in which they are placed by God. The star must travel in its own orbit; that is being righteous; then you get the practice of righteousness. The thing

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that would come out down here would be love to the brethren.

What you get through this epistle is Christ as the measure of everything. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure ... he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous".

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THE WITNESS

1 John 5:1 - 21

We were seeing this morning that the new covenant makes evident the terms on which God is pleased to be with us in our course down here. It is essential that we should understand where we live. We cannot live without surroundings; this comes out in the preceding chapter. We live in the atmosphere of divine love, in what God is toward us; we do not live in the world really: we are dead to the world, and we reckon ourselves "alive to God in Christ Jesus". It is not only that we are loved, but we have a capacity for entering into, and thus answering to, that love. We are nurtured in divine affections, and the effect is love to God and love to the brethren; and as thus formed God dwells in us. He has given us of His Spirit. It is in that way, too, we are separated from the system of lust and pride: in the knowledge and enjoyment of divine love. There are three points in connection with this in chapter 4. First, the great expression of love; you must go back to the death of Christ for that. "God ... sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins". Then the apostle goes on to say, "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us"; that comes out in the way of discipline and care. Then the way love is perfected with us, so that we may have "boldness in the day of judgment", as at the end of Romans 8"I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord". "As he is, so are we in this world". In that way love is perfected with us. Chapter 4 unfolds to us the teaching of the

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Spirit -- divine teaching is by the Holy Spirit; but the chapter puts it in the way of divinely-given doctrine, hence we can communicate it in that way. No one could give us any sense of divine love but the Spirit of God. "He hath given us of his Spirit"; we partake in that way of His character. All this is preparatory to the witness. Before we can understand very much about the witness we must be separated from the world system. If you are not separated from the world by the knowledge of divine love, you are not properly fitted to take your place in the witness. The early disciples were practically separated from the world, and abiding in the love of God. The witness is totally marred when people are worldly; the witness is of One who is going to set aside the whole world system: of Christ, the last Adam, the great Head, who is appointed to bring to an end the whole world system. First you get the victory over the world in believing on the Son of God, else you are not fit for the witness. The Spirit then bears witness to us; then we read, "He that believeth ... hath the witness in himself". In having the witness in himself one becomes part of the witness: holding forth the word of life is the character of the witness. We have to apprehend that things which belong to God's ways down here are, for the moment, preserved in the church; they have not lapsed. Eternal life was promised in the Old Testament, and even before the world; it was to come to pass in Christ; but Christ is rejected, and eternal life is here by the Son in the church. Sonship, God's house, the flock, and the shepherd are all thoughts connected with God's ways down here. They are taken up in the church; none of them has lapsed. When the church comes out as the heavenly city, it is the exponent of all God's ways. We are being educated for that. "Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious"; she is the crown of God's ways. This

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shows what an extremely important moment the present is. This is He that came by water and by blood. Christ is not spoken of as being the Head of the new creation, but Head over all things of the wide creation. He comes in by water and by blood because sin has come in. As last Adam, He comes in as the One who has accomplished redemption, not only to bring in moral cleansing, but expiation also -- there is the blood as well as the water; this is the ground on which He takes the place of last Adam. The great point in the chapter is the witness to Him, and we have our part in that witness. We should be a witness to the great Head of God's system -- the One who is going to fill all things; but He is hid for the time being. The Spirit is here as witness to Him, and we have the good that is in the Son. "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life"; hence we are a witness to Him. It is a great thing to have the Son; nobody but the Son of God could meet the state of things that had to be met down here: death, which is universal, and dearth; you have a picture of it in the prodigal; the world is a scene of dearth morally. Christ is the answer to these two things. He has complete authority and power over the domain of death, and there is all the goodness of heaven in Him to meet the state of dearth down here; the Spirit answers to thirst, and Christ Himself to hunger. If you enter the sanctuary and get instructed in the secret of God, then you come out in witness here. In Ephesians 3 you survey the "breadth, and length, and depth, and height", and then in chapter 6 you enter on conflict. If we have to stand here in testimony and conflict, we need to be instructed in the secret of God. The church goes into heaven in order that it may be fitted to come down from God out of heaven. The heavenly city is to be the light of the universe; "the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it". Paul was

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caught up to the third heaven that everything might be assured to him. The one who can stand here in testimony is the one who has been into the sanctuary: you judge of things around you in the secret of the sanctuary. It is great encouragement to have the light of the mystery as learned in the sanctuary; then you hold fast the profession of faith without wavering. The apostle laboured to bring the saints to the knowledge of the mystery.

All is progress through this epistle; fellowship is the starting-point. When a person is converted he is brought into christian fellowship; that connects itself in a certain sense with profession. To come to full growth is to reach the apprehension of that system of which the Son of God, the last Adam, is the Head; the conclusion we come to is that "we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one".

There is another world now: Christ is the real starting-point, and we belong to that world. Christ is entirely outside of the world system; He has a world of His own. It is a most solemn thing for christians to be connected in spirit with this great world system, instead of with Christ entirely outside it. The vessel of witness has been obscured by the world; if you had a perfect lantern with a perfect light in it and daubed the glass with mud, the light would be obscured; the church has become so obscured by the world that the light is feebly seen.

We want unity in order to witness; you cannot get unity except in divine affections, in what flows from the knowledge of divine love; you cannot get it by doctrine or ecclesiastical order, all that breaks down. Love is perfected in us when unity is realised. Sanctification leads to unity; the more separated we are to Christ in heaven, the more unity is seen on earth. Where the Son of God is possessed, there is unity; you cannot say you have the Son except in divine affections; Christ is in the affections of the soul.

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You have the Son in all that He is for the Father's glory; you could not measure the scope of that. "The Son of God has come". He brings in everything with Himself. He comes with unlimited power over the domain of death, and is the bread of God to meet the moral dearth that is here. We often think of the Father and the Son simply as divine Persons; we want to see the distinctive glory of each, according to divine counsels; that is what is meant by "hath the Son". "All things are delivered unto me of my Father" -- all thus centres in the Son. John did not write these things until the witness had failed; as long as the Spirit of God is here there is always hope of recovery; He recalls us to all that is essential. You are free of the wicked one and the world; and you have got an understanding to know Him that is true.

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A UNIVERSE FOUNDED ON THE REVELATION OF GOD

1 John 2:18 - 29

The "last time" here spoken of is the time of antichrist -- when he will be manifested. Men are being tested at the present time by the headship of Christ, and until man sets up a rival head, which is antichrist, God does not interfere in judgment.

Would you say the antichrist is not yet fully developed?

The scripture says he is to be revealed in his own time. The man of sin cannot be revealed until after the apostasy; but then morally you get many antichrists now; as the apostle says to one who has eyes to see, "even now there have come many antichrists". I think the pope is an antichrist at the present time. Luther and others were not very far wrong when they spoke of the pope as being antichrist. It is rivalry, "I am come in my Father's name and ye receive me not; if another will come in his own name, him ye will receive", John 5:43. Men have the spirit of antichrist at the present time; there are many, but the person of antichrist is not here yet, for the church and the Spirit are here, and the truth cannot be set aside so long as that is so: "He who restrains now until he be gone". The antichrist assumes to be wisdom in rivalry to Christ, the true head of every man, who is wisdom.

"Ye have the unction from the holy one". The effect of that was that they were shut up to the Holy One, who is Christ. They were complete in what they had got -- "ye know all things".

Verse 22. The denial of the Father and the Son is really the denial of christianity, and so too the denial that Jesus is Christ. The denial of the Father and the

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Son is connected with the revelation and the denial of Jesus as the Christ is the denial of headship; but the two go together for headship depends on revelation. I suppose the liar denies the Father and the Son, but it does not put it like that here, "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son". The two stand or fall together. A person cannot deny one without the other. A man who does not admit the truth is a liar. The antichrist is a liar. A unitarian is a liar, because he lies against the truth.

But a unitarian does not set up a counterfeit.

I strongly suspect he sets up man's mind. These people here went out from among them (verses 19). I suppose it referred to such philosophic agnostic people.

Who is the "us"?

The christian circle. Not exactly the apostles. It is more general. This scripture shows that one who does not acknowledge the Father and the Son is a liar. A unitarian does not acknowledge the Son, he has not the Father, because there is no meaning in 'Father' except as a relative term. The idea of the name 'Father' in Scripture is relative to the 'Son', just as Son is relative to the Father.

Will you please say a word in connection with the babes, young men and fathers, spoken of in this chapter?

The chapter is extremely interesting to me, it is the only chapter in the epistle where you get the "I", with the exception of chapter 5: 13. I think the chapter brings out the measure in which different classes of saints were in accord with the apostles. The peculiar point in accord with the fathers was that they knew him that was from the beginning; with the young men, that they were strong, and had the word of God abiding in them, and they had overcome the wicked one; and the point in accord with the children was that they knew the Father. This is a kind of

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parenthetical chapter taking up the saints on the ground of their accord with the apostle, and his doctrine. No doubt it contemplates a kind of progress in connection with the apostolic ministry. It gives admonition and warning against the dangers which peculiarly beset different classes. One form of danger besets the young men, another the children. The young men were stable in regard to the doctrine, but the snare was the world. The danger in regard to the children was the spirit of antichrist -- they were not settled and stable in the truth. They knew the Father, and the great point in knowing the Father is that you know what has come out (in revelation) but to know Him that is from the beginning (which was the case with the fathers) you have to go "in". There are the two things and a great many people hold the first. They are content with what has come out, and they do not "go in". Christ has come to bring the light of God into the world and they get the benefit of that light, but there is a step further, and the point is to go in and if you do not go in you will never get the knowledge of Christ -- the sent One.

Why is there no warning to the fathers?

Because they knew him that was from the beginning. The great point is knowing what Christ is for God -- not simply what He is for us, and if people get hold of that they will get Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, and will be pretty sure and stedfast. It corresponds very much with the end of Ephesians 3.

You are to know Christ as ascended, and that is the great point in John's gospel. In chapter 3 13, "No one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven"; chapter 6, "if then ye see the Son of man ascending up where he was before"; chapter 20, "I ascend to my Father and your Father".

In the three addresses you get what is characteristic of the three classes, but if you take the sum total you really get what is true of the apostle. I think you

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want the sum total, one need not be content with a third of it.

In verse 14 he says, "I write to you". All that is characteristic. Afterwards he says, "I have written" -- he then brings in warnings because it indicates his present apostolic care. He says, "I have written" twice. It is very interesting to see how he settles the two sides. You want to overcome the wicked one, and you also want to know what God is going to bring in, that is, Him that is from the beginning. Overcoming the wicked one is in connection with the world's system here, more particularly with antichristian doctrine. The "beginning", I think, is the revelation. There is to be a universe founded upon the revelation of God, but where are you going to get the man? "Him that is from the beginning" is the Man. What would the holiest have been if there had not been the ark of the covenant? If God revealed Himself, as He has been pleased to do, there would be no meaning in it, if there were not to be a universe founded upon the revelation. The universe must be evolved, and is founded upon Him who is from the beginning.

I suppose the 'fathers' would be those who had known the Father and the Son according to John 17.

Yes. They have got the Man -- the One who has gone in and the One who is coming out again. I would not be content with the thought of Christ having gone in, if it did not involve the thought of His coming out. When the light comes in, and God shines out according to what He is, everything must be established in righteousness -- that all depends upon the beginning. He has come out, not simply that everything might be revealed, but that everything might be established in righteousness, and that is entirely dependent upon the Sun of righteousness. "Him that is from the beginning" would involve the full revelation of God, and that is the point the

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'fathers' arrive at. I do not think that Genesis 1 is the beginning. God is the beginning. God was then giving intimations of the way in which He intended to come out, but you may depend upon it, that the real beginning is the revelation of the Father in the Son. Everything that came out antecedent to that was antecedent. The real point of departure was when God came out in revelation in Christ. That is the real beginning of light -- "God is light". All the service of Christ down here upon earth was to make the Father known -- "He that has seen me has seen the Father".

Does verse 20 refer to their capacity in the Holy Spirit?

Yes. It would not be mere natural capacity, nor is it intelligence. "Ye know all things" is conscious knowledge. Every christian has the Spirit of truth, and ought in that way to be able to detect what is not truth. Every christian knows more than what he has been taught, for there is what one may call instinctive knowledge. So in reading Scripture, what you understand is really what you have already got by the Spirit of truth, only you get it in divine order, for which you are very thankful. Men may study Scripture all their days, and get nothing from it. Everything lies in the Spirit. In John 14 He is the Spirit of truth. Hundreds of times in my life have I come to Scripture and attentively studied an epistle without seeming to get a single bit of light, simply because I was giving my attention to something which I wanted in my soul. You never get anything until you are ready for it.

Do you not sometimes see things in Scripture, and say, 'I do not know what that is', and pray about it?

Yes, and God gives light upon it -- you really get it through the Spirit of truth -- "Ye have the unction from the holy one". My impression is that you really have the thing in principle before you

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get it intelligently. J.N.D. said divine things were learned in a different way from human things. In divine things you have to know the thing before you can learn it, in human things you have to learn before you can know.

How would that apply to Timothy -- from a child he had known the holy Scriptures?

You want Scripture for doctrine, for reproof. It is a test. It is a point of being thoroughly furnished, to know the scripture.

Verse 24. What was that which they had heard from the beginning?

I think it was the revelation, the light -- the revelation of the Father in the Son. They were complete in regard to the unction, and also in regard to what they had heard from the beginning.

The young men and the babes were being tested, the former by the world and the latter by those anti-christian teachers, and God allowed it. God does allow us to be tested, and the great point is to come out of the testing sound. It is a serious thing to be tested.

Verse 25. Is "eternal life" connected with the world to come?

Yes, and at the present time it lies in the sphere of knowledge, in the power of the unction. By-and-by it will come out publicly. The present moment is a peculiar one, for the One who is eternal life is ascended above, and therefore everything depends upon knowledge at the present time. That is what the Lord meant, what He said, in John 17, "This is the eternal life that they should know thee". The "only true God" is revealed, and the sent One of the Father is above.

What does the word 'promise' in verse 25 exactly refer to -- does it correspond with what the apostle Paul speaks of, the promise of eternal life?

Yes. It was intimated all through that God would bring this in -- the promise of life in Christ

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Jesus. Everything was pointing on to the revelation of God, and the moment the revelation of God comes in you get the Sun of righteousness and an end of the rule of sin and death. "Sin reigns by death", but supposing you can get righteousness established as the bond of the universe, then there is an end to the reign of sin by death. The "promise" refers to what God had before Him.

If a system is evolved in Christ, Christ must characterise the system. I think the character of man at the present time is really derived from the devil, but when Christ establishes the moral universe and comes out as the Sun of righteousness, things will derive their character from Him.

What is continuing in the truth of it -- you do not let it slip? It has been remarked that the word 'this' in verse 25 refers to what we have in principle in verse 24.

Yes, that is so.

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A CIRCLE OF WHICH CHRIST IS THE CENTRE

1 John 3:1 - 24

The great bulk of christians today cannot be said in any true sense to have eternal life. You get a description of the people in whom it abides in this chapter. They are also spoken of in the gospel, "He that believes on the Son has life eternal", and I do not think that it is characteristic of all christians that they are believing on the Son. The apostle writes these things that they may know that they have eternal life, and you must therefore give attention to what comes out in the epistle.

Believing on the Son is faith in a kind of way in the Son of God, who has been disallowed of men and chosen of God. You get an idea of it in John 9. In chapter 8 Christ Himself had been thrust out, then in chapter 9 the blind man is excommunicated, and there in the outside place He found the Son of God. The great bulk of people at the present day are all entangled in a worldly christianity which is a complete falsification of things. In John 17 the Lord says, "For their sakes I sanctify myself".

There is a difference between apprehending Jesus as Lord, and as Son of God. In 1 Peter 2 you get both: "If indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good". Then, "To whom coming, as a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious" -- there is a step in advance.

If one was challenged as to whether he had eternal life he should be prepared to meet the challenge -- otherwise he would not help others much. I think to a certain extent some deceive themselves. They credit themselves with having something which they really know nothing whatever about. That is not the

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idea of christianity, christianity is intelligence -- it comes out very plainly in this epistle; and in the last chapter we read He has given us an understanding to know Him that is true. Verse 20 would be a very good illustration of what you would expect to find in a person who has eternal life.

In chapter 3 there is a circle in association with Christ marked by two things, namely, the practice of righteousness, and love for the brethren, and in that circle I should say eternal life abides. One great point in regard to eternal life is that you have passed out of death. What is characteristic of eternal life is Christ -- He is the true God and eternal life. I think eternal life is really Christ coming into the world, and bringing in all the light of God, and setting aside the power of evil. The apostle begins the epistle by referring to what they had witnessed in Christ Himself.

This first epistle is written that they have intelligence: "He has given us an understanding that we may know him that is true". In Ephesians also you get the full knowledge of the Son of God and the riches of the full assurance of understanding, and in chapter 3 the apostle prays, that ye "may be fully able to apprehend ... and to know the love of the Christ".

You can only come into contact with divine Persons as you are formed by divine Persons. You cannot come into contact with Christ by mere natural understanding. No one can really know God except he loves -- every christian loves if he is formed in the divine nature. I do not think you get the knowledge of Christ until you enter the sanctuary, that is, the knowledge of what Christ is to God. On that I think depends the knowledge of eternal life.

Whatever has come out by Christ or in the death or resurrection of Christ is for every man upon earth, but if you are going to apprehend what Christ now is for God, you will have to "go in" -- with that eternal life is connected. There is many a real believer who

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believes in Christ and what Christ is to them as He is presented to them, but I do not think they have any apprehension of what Christ is for God. That is a matter of growth and progress, and the soul would be put upon another platform. God would not only have men to enjoy the light which has come out by Christ but would have them to enter into the sanctuary to see what His thought is in regard to the world, because eternal life is God's thought in regard to the world. It involves that you entirely break with the present world, the lifting up of the Son of man brings that thought in. There are three steps in God's approach to man: (1) reconciliation; (2) new covenant; (3) proclamation; but men must of necessity take up these things in the inverse order. Yet God really begins with the point of reconciliation. If there is purpose and energy on the part of man to go in, he must take things up in which God has come out.

The knowledge of divine Persons which we have now is morally greater than anything that will be known in the millennium. It is impossible that you could confer a greater privilege upon me than that of entering into your friendship.

If you get a person who practises righteousness and loves the brethren, that man is in conditions in which he will most surely live for ever. It is entirely dependent upon moral consideration. That is what you get borne out in this chapter -- "he that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous", and love of the brethren is a proof that he has passed into life. Christ is life, and this chapter really contemplates a circle of which Christ is the centre. He is presented as Son of God, and "he that has the Son hath life". Eternal life is connected with "not perishing" (John 10:28) because the sheep are given into the hand of the Father and will never become apostate. I do not think it goes further than that. A person who apostatises

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is lost for ever. No true christian would do that. There is a sin unto death -- God takes him away in discipline. It is death of the body. In chapter 2 the apostle has dealt with the saints in different stages; now he contemplates them (chapter 3) on another ground -- in association with Christ. There is a circle here upon earth composed of those who are born of God, but their privilege is association with Christ. It is in that circle where eternal life abides. Chapter 3 brings out the circle, and the next chapter brings out the light in which the circle abides. In John it is more children instead of "sons" (verses 1). It is a term of endearment and the thought is that we may be brought morally into association with Christ; "now are we children of God".

It is a wonderful thing to be able to say "He that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous" (verses 7). It is clear that you come on the ground of life. What the world wants is righteousness; it has lawlessness. When you get righteousness established as the law of the moral universe then you can understand that death and Satan's power will be completely abolished. When in Psalm 90 they desire that the beauty of the Lord may be upon them, it is consequent upon righteousness having been established.

With regard to becoming God's righteousness in Christ, Christ was made sin that the sons might be to the satisfaction of God in regard to righteousness. They are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.

When you contemplate what Christ is for God as the Centre and Head of the divine system it helps you wonderfully, because you get an idea of that which Christ is going to establish as the law of the universe of bliss. In regard to us, it has begun in a way, because we have the apprehension of Christ as Head, and we are righteous as He is righteous. Grace has put us in relation to Christ, like the earth has been put in relation to the sun. Hence we are righteous

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even as He is righteous. It all depends upon the apprehension of Christ as the Head and Centre of God's system. Christ is the expression of God's righteousness and at the same time He is our righteousness.

It is a wonderful thing to take into account that there is a circle here upon earth properly composed of all christians in which eternal life abides. I think that is a great point to apprehend.

We shall not get on a bit unless we see that it is the privilege of saints to enter the sanctuary to apprehend that which Christ is for God -- the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. All that demands exercise because the going in must take place through exercise. A man may leave all that is outside in a kind of way, but he must be more or less morally in the thought of God if he goes in. You come under the influence of the love of God; you are formed in the divine nature and that prepares you for going in. Christ attaches the heart to Himself and so you are encouraged to go where Christ is. You will find Him there as the Mediator of the covenant and the Minister of the sanctuary and the great Priest -- as the One who is competent and ready to establish everything that is for God.

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THE FULL LIGHT OF GOD

1 John 4:1 - 21

Chapter 3 gives us what one might call the first principles of eternal life. It brings Christ in, "He has been manifested that he might take away our sins; and in him sin is not" (verses 5); you get the outlet from sin, for we abide in Him, and in the latter part of the chapter you get the outlet from death. There is an outlet from the state of sin and death into righteousness and life -- they are the two salient features of eternal life. The first principle one properly knows is righteousness, then there is love to the brethren, and then he comes into the full light of God, and that you get in chapter 4. When you come to consider the position of man as he is down here in the world, the first thing which he must come to is righteousness, then love. It is set forth in that order in Romans. In the end of Romans 6 you get "righteousness" and "holiness". What is the difference?

Righteousness is your relative position, holiness is what you are, so to speak, in nature. Righteousness is what is right, and the real seat of what is right lies in the nature of God, because the nature is the standard by which everything is judged. Every principle must take its colour from the nature of God.

Will you again tell us the difference between righteousness and holiness?

Holiness lies in nature -- God's nature is characterised by holiness. Righteousness is very much more an attribute. Righteousness on our side is in our relation to Christ. He is the Sun of righteousness and there is nothing that is righteous according to God except as it stands in relation to the Sun of righteousness. What stands in relation to Christ is righteous, "He that practises righteousness is righteous,

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even as he is righteous". Righteousness has existed as long as God has existed, and judgment of evil is only a detail. Righteousness does not always suppose the presence of what is unrighteous.

You must have someone in relation to God to get the thought?

Yes. Men or angels or any company -- yet the principle is there. Perhaps the time was when there were not exactly the conditions in which that principle came into operation. Righteousness came out in the fact of God forbidding to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the righteousness of Adam and Eve was to remain where they were in the place where God had set them. What the serpent said to the woman was assailing the rights of God, and was in order to detach the man and woman and to bring them into lawlessness. Holiness would not be so much the question of rights as a nature abhorrent of all evil that comes in -- a nature which repels it.

How do you connect it (righteousness) with the new heavens and new earth?

Everything will be in its place, just as in the solar system every planet moves in its ordained orbit in relation to the sun, so in the new heavens and the new earth every family is in its just orbit in relation to Christ. But then, that has already begun, "He has been manifested ... whoever abides in him, does not sin". "He that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous", 1 John 3:5, 6, 7. If we abide in relation to Christ, we are righteous even as He is righteous.

In what sense does it say in Romans 3, "that he should be just" (righteous)?

The rights of redemption were with God and have come in in Christ, and God is justified in all His ways. The point is "to declare his righteousness". The moment you apprehend that redemption

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was the right of God, and that God has brought His right into effect in Christ, then you see God vindicated in all His ways. "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus". The greatest possible maintenance of rights is in redemption.

Do you make a distinction between redemption and salvation?

Yes. I think God took up His rights as Redeemer, and exercised them in relation to Christ, so that man might get salvation. It is for all men, because Christ is Head for every man -- He is available to every man and really the test of every man. If men refuse Christ it is at their peril. The thought of God in regard of salvation is that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. When it is evident that man would not have Christ, however, then you get the apostle labouring on the part of the elect, but the thought of the elect did not come out until Christ was rejected by gentiles. The thought comes out in Timothy.

I do not think we lose anything by seeing the broad platform on which God has placed everything by redemption. I think we get a very much better standing-ground for the gospel -- "the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared".

In chapter 4 the Spirit is introduced. The great point is light, and you want the Spirit to detect the false lights. The point of the Spirit is to lead you into the true light. You could not detect all the false lights in the world except by the Spirit of God -- "Believe not every spirit" the apostle says, and that is especially applicable at the present day. A man who was once in fellowship wrote to me only a few days ago stating that he thought the solution of every difficulty in Scripture would be found by seeing that Christ was not God, but was born of God, and

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brought numbers of scriptures to prove it. I think he was a very false light. The real solution of every difficulty lies in the fact that Christ is God.

Does the word 'spirit' here go so far as to take in demons?

Yes. No doubt all kinds of agnostic thought came in the church in early days, and I should think there was a good bit of the devil mixed up with it.

What would be unfolded in the confession of "Jesus Christ come in flesh"?

I think what is before the mind of the Spirit is the reality of the incarnation. Christ has become a real man so that He can become the centre of the divine system and that men can be in relation to Him. You have no real expression of grace except in the living bread come down from heaven, and if the incarnation is not real, so that He could give His flesh for the life of the world, everything must fall to the ground. I think the worst form of error in the present day is that Christ took human nature with a limitation of knowledge. It was put forward by a leading man, a bishop in the English church.

If you get the genuine confession of Jesus Christ come in flesh, I think it would prove to be of God -- there must be a divine foundation there. You get the entire breakdown of christianity if you have not the incarnation. Righteousness and salvation could not be in the first man and if you have not another man you have nothing. All the wisdom of God is bound up with the introduction of another man, who has been placed in connection with men as Head of all men. It breaks down from top to bottom if you have not another man. If He is not God redemption is gone because God had the right of redemption, and it was only in Himself that He could give effect to redemption. Therefore if Christ be not God, redemption is gone. He must carry out the right of redemption

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Himself. He could not exercise the right of redemption with another -- He must exercise it Himself.

Will you please explain a little what you mean by the right of redemption?

I think it is to take up all the encumbrances and liabilities under which His inheritance was. Man had come under liabilities by sin -- death and curse and judgment -- and God Himself takes them up by Christ. The result is that living water is imparted to those who are His.

Verses 2 and 3. I strongly suspect that these tests have reference to the apostate Jew. The spirit of antichrist comes out, and it is rather striking that antichrist sets himself up to be God. Antichrist is really man in his lawlessness, in the hands of Satan, setting up a rival to Christ. I do not think that people were far out when they spoke of the pope as antichrist; I think you see almost every feature of antichrist in the pope.

I have thought that the difference between the gospel and the epistle of John is that the gospel takes up man where he is, and shows the quickening power of God in regard to him and then he finds good -- the living bread; whilst the epistle shows what the eternal life is into which he is to enter. Take for instance a new-born child, it must not only have food and nourishment, but the life of the child is dependent upon certain conditions into which the child is born, that is, there must be light, warmth, air and so on -- they are necessary conditions of life. So in the gospel of John you get all that is necessary for the state of the persons and in the epistle you get all the conditions of life.

If you go back into all time, there is a something which led men after God -- what name have we to call that something -- it is 'life', and if so what is the difference between that and the condition in which life is spoken of in the New Testament?

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If Scripture called it life we might, and if not we need not.

I suppose that was life in the soul?

Well, it was not death.

If you talk about life, it is the person, and I do not think you could get that far in the Old Testament. There was the fear of God, which was the great characteristic feature of Old Testament saints. They had a certain knowledge of God but in a very limited way, because God had not come out. Until God came out, I do not think you could talk much about life. J.N.D. said, 'Life is power to enjoy the position in which I am placed' -- that is what life is. Life is dependent upon God having come out. We cannot enter relationship with God until God has come out. What makes all the difference in regard to christianity is that the "darkness is passing and the true light already shines". The gift of the Spirit was the fruit and result of God having been revealed. One great object of the Spirit in coming was really to maintain the revelation which came with Christ, but it does not add to the revelation. The Spirit is life, because the presence of the Spirit in the believer keeps the heart in the full love of God -- it keeps the heart in the sense of divine love and enables you to respond to that love.

Would you not connect life first of all objectively in Christ with faith?

Yes, because life is in Christ, but you are only in Christ by the Spirit. Life is in Christ because He is the last Adam -- a life-giving spirit.

I think it would be helpful if the mind would make the distinction between the state of the believer as wrought of God, and alive unto God; and the conditions into which the believer is brought as being alive. I think one is the gospel and the other is the epistle -- you must have both. Life is the ability to enjoy what God is -- the ability to live.

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What did you mean when you referred to the light of God in connection with this chapter?

God having come out fully in every bearing in His love (see verse 7).

Do you think there is a shade of difference between life and eternal life?

Yes. Life is undoubtedly used in Scripture as the state of the believer. We live in the Spirit, and the Spirit is life; but I think you must admit that there must be certain things which practically constitute life to us. Supposing there were no atmosphere, no sun or rain, all life would expire. You are dependent upon conditions which really are your life. So you cannot speak of a person having eternal life unless they are out of death in spirit. You pass out of death into life and I cannot imagine a person doing that except in fellowship of the death of Christ. You do not do it as an actual thing, and you can only pass out of death into life in the spirit of your mind, and so it is "he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood" all along the way. Chapters 5 and 6 of John deal, I think, entirely with the state of the persons who have eternal life. John 5:24 is a characteristic condition, and describes the kind of person who has eternal life.

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THE GOSPEL OF GOD

If you study the early part of the Acts of the apostles, you will see that the great object in the preaching was that those who believed might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. What gave occasion to the first preaching was the descent of the Holy Spirit; they had to account for it. So, too, in Samaria. The apostles went down when they heard that Samaria had received the word of God, and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. So, too, Cornelius. Peter spoke words whereby they might be saved. While he yet spoke, the Holy Spirit fell on them. The point was that they might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So, too, at Ephesus. They had believed, and when Paul came down he laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came on them. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the great end of the gospel.

There are two parts in John's gospel -- the personal work of Christ, and the coming of the Comforter. Christ removed what hindered the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The great end in preaching has been being saved. The great end, according to Scripture, is the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 8 we find the functions, the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. It is to place us in relation to God according to the pattern of the Man who has entered in -- the Forerunner. This involves the most amazing change in us -- the transformation of saints from the earthly to the heavenly order. You must be constituted of that order. Christ, the second Man, is the pattern, and the Holy Spirit works according to that pattern. The end will be that we shall bear the image of the heavenly. This could not be unfolded to us if the Holy Spirit had not come.

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"WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT!"

Hebrews 2:9 - 12; Hebrews 9:11, 12, 24; Hebrews 10:19 - 25

It is important in studying Scripture to remember that we see things as they are before God, and in this point of view to recognise not only what God is toward man but what man is before God. The evangelist has to present the first; he can enlighten; he can do no more; but the other side is also constantly presented in Scripture, namely, what believers are to God. The truth is greatly obscured in our minds by the attempt, so common in man, to measure what God is toward us by what we are toward God. But no! We must first learn what God is toward us in grace. The first lesson must be learned before what we are toward God can be really known in the soul. We apprehend both in our Lord Jesus Christ. He presents God in grace to man, and at the same time man before God. Everything takes its blessed character from what He is in His own Person as Son; but I am not for the moment touching on what He is in His own Person as divine. We get in Scripture the truth of His Person, but we also get Him presented in what He has become for the will of God. In this aspect He presents God to man, and man to God, and we need to know both. The two thoughts are conveyed in the expressions last Adam and second Man. As last Adam He stands absolutely alone, a life-giving Spirit. As second Man He is the first and pattern of a company. To us (christians) we read there is "One God the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him".

Why is Christ thus presented? Because the grace of God toward us is ministered mediatorially through our Lord Jesus Christ -- everything comes to us in that way. Paul and Silas say to the Philippian jailer,

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"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved". They present Him as the object of faith. I might say that He could not be an object of faith if He were not divine, but He is presented as Lord. He has secured all for God's glory, and all is now administered through Him. Romans 5 presents what God is to the believer, and at every point you find it in the expression, "Our Lord Jesus Christ". It presents what God is to the believer mediatorially through our Lord Jesus Christ. This answers in a sense to Hebrews 2. In Romans 6 you get the other side, what Christ is, as man, to God: "In that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God". This answers to the truth of Hebrews 9. The position of head of a family illustrates what I have said in a measure. In his true place he, as head, represents God to his house; and in his honour or disgrace his house shares; but on the other hand he is one with them as before God.

If you study the epistle to the Hebrews, you will see that chapter 2 is God's thesis -- the divine proposition -- what God has proposed to Himself to accomplish, that is, to bring many sons unto glory. We do not reach this till chapter 10. There is a long gap between -- much to be learnt as to ourselves, and as to Christ -- but there (chapter 10) we reach God's great purpose for us. That chapter brings the believer on his side to where God is already in chapter 2. Chapter 9 shows us the place Christ has taken on our part, in heaven in the presence of God. Correspondingly in chapter 10 we have boldness to enter into the holiest. But more as to this further on. Is it the purpose of God to have sons, and the sons not to enter into it? It is a poor son who does not appreciate the wisdom and respond to the love of his father. God's love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given to us, and we have boldness to enter the holiest. God gets His part now. When I

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have reached this I have entered into the apprehension of God's glory and His love -- God's thought towards me. The holiest is the scene of God's unalloyed satisfaction in man. I enter now into the light of the Father. The Trinity is engaged in the revelation. There is the Father's thought, and the Son makes known the counsel of the Father's will. He says, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren". Thus we have in verse 12 the communion of Christ in the divine proposition. He takes a place there on behalf of God, and the Spirit makes it good in us. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit. In this way we are brought practically into the truth of the divine proposition presented in chapter 2: 10.

Now, in chapter 9: 11, 12, we find the other side of the truth -- Christ has entered into the holy place once. See the difference! It is not the point here that He came out. He did come out. We find that in chapter 2. But here He has entered in. He has entered in to the entire satisfaction of God, on ground on which we can go in. How could we enter if there was not a Man there? Who would be bold enough to enter first? Christ has gone in first, and we can be bold to go in. On earth He presented man to God in the place of man's responsibility. Now having borne the judgment on man, He presents man to God, according to the counsel of God. It is no longer Man in solitary perfectness on earth, but living to God, as raised from the dead -- the second Man -- the Man of God's purpose, to God's eternal satisfaction on the ground of what He has accomplished.

We have further in verse 24 that He is entered "into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us". This is different from "entered in" in verse 12. There He entered into the holy place. Here He has entered into heaven for us, while we are yet on earth, but heaven is thus our place. He appears there for us.

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We have thus the first step, Christ has entered in; and in chapter 10: 19 we have boldness to enter in. Now we have come on our part to the divine proposition of chapter 2. We are "sanctified by the will of God". God's will was to put us in the priestly place -- as sons -- and Christ has "perfected for ever them that are sanctified". The question of responsibility perfectly and eternally settled and not to be revived, we have boldness to enter; and when you enter the holiest, you enter the scene of divine glory -- where all is of God -- to respond to the love that has brought you there. The glory of God is His effulgence in the accomplishment of the purposes of His love. In one sense He has all His purpose accomplished in Christ. But He will have it accomplished in us. Christ has entered in for us. The love of God has accomplished all for His own satisfaction, and we accept it and respond to it. If you speak of sons before God, you must see Christ raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, the firstborn of many brethren, and you go in through that new and living way, which He has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. May God give us to be able to say in regard to saints, "What hath God wrought!".

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LETTERS

ISLINGTON, N.
November 2nd, 1867.

My Dear Brother, -- Will you pardon a few lines from one in years and the faith much younger than yourself, and whose only excuse must be the thought and wish to serve in love God's saints?

I have seen your letter to -- -- and am constrained to write to you what I judge and have no doubt is, in the main, the truth as to the points you raise. If I understand you, you sum up the whole penalty due on God's part to sin and sinners in one word, namely, the judgment pronounced to Adam -- 'death'. You connect with this what Paul says of the gentiles -- "dead in trespasses and sins" and you sum up the work of Christ in grace in the same one word 'death'. Now the evil of this is, that what is pronounced as a penalty against sin, namely, death, is confounded with what is a moral condition ("dead in trespasses and sins") which is a very different thing; and more than this, in connecting the work of Christ with it, there is a fear of connecting Him with our moral condition, which, even when in our position (that is as a Man in flesh) and as "made sin" by God, He was apart from entirely.

I find that, in the main, two results of Christ's death and blood-shedding flow out to man, namely, present reconciliation to God, and remission of sins; and moreover it proved God's righteousness in passing over sins before Christ died. Now all this is connected with this world. Sin existed -- by man it entered into the world -- death also as the result -- death passed over all, for all have sinned. Now if while still in this world I am reconciled to God, it must be by foreclosing the existence in which I have sinned against

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Him. This the gospel offers to me, telling me that I have died with Christ -- the consequence is that even here by a new life, in the power of faith and of the Holy Spirit, I find an entrance into a new and heavenly order of things, into which Christ has entered as Man, and which Scripture calls the new existence ("newness of life"). But the ground of this is that the first existence ("life of flesh") as before God with its sins, is closed. Again if I were a Jew looking for life in the earth and blessing, I should see that the sins of the people whereby they had forfeited life, had brought death to Christ, and as a consequence of His death, that the penalty of death was lifted off from the people, and they established in life and blessing on earth, their sins forgiven, because Christ had suffered the penalty. Now all this is connected with grace triumphing over the power of Satan in the very scene where Satan has corrupted God's creation, and lorded it, by the power of death, over God's people. It does not go beyond this world. The believer sees an end of the first Adam existent in the death of Christ -- stands reconciled through it to God, and is in a new life as a heavenly thing in the face of the world. The Jewish nation hereafter, with the penalty of death lifted off, are established in life and blessing, sins being forgiven, in the presence of Christ -- but all within the limits of this world -- complete triumph over Satan, and the power of death, through the death of Christ.

But for certain purposes I find that Old Testament scripture mostly limits itself to this world, because it reveals God's ways in it. Except for glimpses I find but little light on what is beyond, so death, which is but the beginning of the assertion of God's absolute rights over the sinner, is seen as the end of sin. It is the breaking of the link with life in the scene with which, mainly, God and Scripture are there viewed as dealing. But when I come to the New Testament scripture and see the eternal life entered upon the

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scene, and speaking of a life right above and beyond this scene by its very nature, I find that though He can warn the Jews that they will die in their sins, yet He speaks in the same gospel of results of sin, beyond death, this is resurrection to judgment. Again, I find the truth declared, "it is appointed to men once to die, and after that the judgment". Again I find men raised from the first death, judged, put under the second death, and death cast into the lake of fire. Again, I find the revelation in the gospel, of the judgment of the secrets of men's hearts by Jesus Christ and of wrath of God from heaven, upon all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men; again, that God will reward every man according to his works -- indignation, wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man that doeth evil. Here I find God dealing with sin and sinners according to the exigencies of His own nature; but, although the works for which they are dealt with were done in this world, yet the action and dealing and results are eternal, and beyond altogether the course of this world. Hence the certainty of eternal punishment. The freeing me from the assertion of God's rights upon me in this world (that is death), so that I can consider myself dead with Christ, or if I were a Jew might count upon life on earth, could not be, unless these eternal consequences had been met by Christ, and sin and sins dealt with in Him according to the exigencies of God's holiness. The consequence is that I find a class of texts referring to Christ in regard to sin and sins (the latter having more especial reference to the act of God's people before Christ died) in connection with which death is not expressly mentioned, and these are the passages that connect sin with Christ. I will quote those which occur to me.

"God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh".

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"He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him".

"He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself".

These as to sin and now as to sins -- "When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down".

"Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many".

"Who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God".

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree".

To whom did He offer Himself, to death or to God? Now what strikes one in all these passages is that though they may end in death, they refer to some distinct dealing between God and Christ, where sin was dealt with in Christ, according to all the claims of God's nature, and as to the guilt of it, finally and eternally put away -- and what confirms me in the faith of this is the finding that there was a moment when Christ was forsaken by God. It is this that makes sure and eternally secure to me, the present results of His death and blood shedding, and secures too, triumph for man over Satan, and the eternal putting out of God's sight of sin, and a creation in righteousness and true holiness.

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE,
GREENWICH, S.E.
1900.

... And now I will try and answer your enquiries, and will begin by showing in a few words how, as it appears to me the subject of life is presented in Scripture.

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From Adam to Moses death reigned universally (Romans 5:14), then the law came in which (though ordained to life) was the ministry of death (2 Corinthians 3:7). In Habakkuk 2:3, 4, we have the idea presented that Christ might tarry as to His coming, but ever to be waited for; and in the meantime the just shall live by faith. (This we see made good in Romans and Hebrews). Then Christ came that the sheep might have life and might have it very abundantly. Death was annulled and life and incorruptibility brought to light. Then the Spirit was given (John 20) as a breath of inward life, to be a well of water in saints, making good in them what Christ had acquired for them by redemption. They now live in the Spirit as children of God. As regards saints in the millennium the coming of the Lord will release the elect from the presence of death, they will be placed by Him under the new covenant and the law written in their hearts. Thus I judge they will live in a regenerated earth.

Underneath all that I have said in all dispensations was the work of the Spirit in new birth. A craving for God (which proved moral affinity) was begotten by God's power in man's soul, and faith enjoyed some degree of light from God. I have no objection (and this is well known) to its being said as has been commonly done, that souls in such a condition were spiritually alive (as a human expression) but it is to me incontestable that what Scripture designates as "life" is connected always with an entirely new footing for man acquired for him and administered by Christ in which he is released from the pressure of death. We pass out of death into life.

Such expressions as "born again", "born of God" as in the epistles I do not identify exactly with what the Lord says to Nicodemus in John 3, and for the reason that when the epistles were written the gospel had been preached, and the spiritual origin of saints

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is traced back to that. The Lord speaks in John 3 as things stood then and in reference to the kingdom.

I trust you are all well and remain with our love in the Lord.

Affectionately and faithfully yours,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE,
GREENWICH, S.E.

Mr. Henry Taylor. February 27th, 1890.

My Dear Brother, -- In reply to yours of 25th I send a line to try and explain what I mean by 'mixed conditions'. The truth is that a christian is of new creation before he has done with the old; he is heavenly before he has done with the earthly; he has eternal life before he has done with his responsible life as a man down here. Hence while on the one hand we are a new creation in Christ where old things have passed away and all things have become new, on the other hand we have to run a race, to continue in the faith, to see that sin and flesh do not reign in us. In Ephesians we see our new creation state, in Romans our responsible life as still here in old creation condition and circumstances, but justified and indwelt by the Spirit. This makes the mixed condition, and it is of all moment to see these things in their distinctness or we fail to see either the true character of the new creation order -- or to appreciate the grace by which we are supported in our responsible life while here. It is somewhat like a dissolving view; the new picture has come on to the scene before the old has completely passed away.

I trust this may help to make the matter plain.

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

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GREENWICH,
October 23rd, 1891.

My Dear Brother, -- I certainly owe you an apology for not having written sooner -- but I have been very much occupied one way and another since I saw you at Birkenhead. As far as I remember the brother was not right in his having pressed on you 'obedience' that is to the judgment (so called) arrived at by Bexhill. Now I need hardly say that no one can rightly call in question the decision of a meeting on any matter properly within its jurisdiction. We do not 'deny' the decision of the meeting -- but we recognise the authority of our Lord -- and, further, any meeting is justified in protecting itself by declining to receive into its fellowship a person coming from a meeting lying under strong suspicion of sheltering evil -- but one meeting has no sort of authority to pronounce an authoritative judgment on another meeting -- and call on others to obey -- for the Lord is equally in both meetings, and it is an invasion of His rights. It may become manifest that the Lord has left a particular meeting and no one should then receive from or commend to it, but even then no one would venture to pronounce authoritative judgment though it is true we virtually refuse it by declining to receive from or commend to it.

Bexhill presumed authoritatively to reject Greenwich and they expect every other meeting to bow to what they have done. They had nothing before them but what was before everyone else. If this principle were to be admitted, any unsatisfactory meeting which chose to be first in the field might pronounce on the most momentous questions and issue a decision which is to bind every assembly on earth. It would be worse than popery.

A brother within an assembly is to hear what the assembly says, but I do not see that the assembly has a

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voice of authority on matters lying outside its jurisdiction, and if not the admonition to you to obey has not much weight, we ought strenuously to resist false ecclesiastical principles.

Very glad you are having cheer at St. Ives. With love in the Lord,

Yours affectionately,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

GREENWICH,
February 24th, 1892.

Dear Miss White, -- I am glad to answer your letter to the best of my ability.

The term 'eternal life' in the New Testament is evidently taken up from the Old, and what was in the minds of the Jews. John 5:39 is a clear proof of this. In Psalm 133:3 we learn it is blessing, promised for Israel, commanded of God in Zion. I believe the main thought of it to be liberation from the power of sin and the penalty of death. Israel will enjoy this in the kingdom (for which they will be born again). We have it in the relationship of children with the Father, for which not only are we born again but Christ lives in us in the power of the Spirit. The blessing is revealed in Christ who has annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light, but I can see no such idea in Scripture as its being an essential title of the Son.

In the gospel of John the Lord is never said to be 'eternal life' for the reason, I believe, that He is presented to us in the divine aspect of His Person -- "The Word became flesh".

In the epistle He is seen mainly on the mediatorial side as Man (the apostle declared what was from the beginning, seen, heard and handled) -- and in chapter 5,

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where the Spirit is spoken of as witness (to His glory as last Adam) we find Him called "the true God and eternal life", and it is the only time He is spoken of as "eternal life". There is in Him the full revelation of the blessing. He is it, and we have it in Him risen and glorified.

In Him was life in John 1 is what characterised Him as a divine Person and I do not care to mix that up with what is given us; though it be perfectly true that what He is as Man is morally what He ever was as divine and thus is also true in us for He is our life. It appears to me in the main to be a question of rightly dividing Scripture. There is one essential difference between Christ and us, and that is that He has life in Himself; and we live as having been made alive (in our souls) by His power.

Believe me,

Affectionately yours in Christ,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE,
GREENWICH, S.E.
February 26th, 1894.

My Dear Brother, -- I hasten to answer your letter, and to express my sympathy with you in the very trying condition of things existing at St. Ives. I had not heard, till a day or two ago, of the activity of evil that was going on there. At the same time I must say that it appears to me very sad to witness the lightness with which saints can be carried away from a fellowship which they have enjoyed for long by attacks on supposed statements of some brother which they have not concerned themselves to examine. I do not think that it bears witness to a soul under the influence of grace.

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As to the points referred to in your letter I can only say that Mr. H. in his own ignorance is appealing to the like ignorance of others -- and himself deceived is seeking to deceive others.

The 'monstrosity' referred to a sentence of Major Macarthy and simply meant that is was a monstrous statement. It was that the Lord never ceased to be the exhibition of eternal life from the babe in the manger to the throne of the Father. This sentence has been so much discussed that I do not think I need say anything as to it.

As regards the babe in the manger being God manifest in the flesh, the matter arose thus. A sister (Miss Kingscote) wrote to ask me if I would admit that that blessed babe was God manifest in the flesh. I answered that I wholly objected to such a method of treating Scripture -- in putting together passages of scripture which have no immediate connection and making them thus combined a kind of article or test of orthodoxy. In Luke 2:7 we read that Mary brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, and I, with every christian, hold that the babe was the Son of God. In 1 Timothy 3:16 we read God has been manifested in the flesh -- that is, as I understand it, has been made manifest; the light and grace and character and works of God have been made manifest in flesh -- as Christ as Man -- hence I can understand that the world is guilty in having both seen and hated both Christ and His Father -- I maintain the truth of the two passages -- but I do not believe that the one is the synonym of the other. As to the idea of death being the only punishment of Old Testament sinners I never said or thought anything of the kind. It is true that in the Old Testament death is because God's governmental dealings are in view, but I should hold in regard to all that it is appointed to men once to die and after that the judgment.

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I think this persistent effort to make out evil is very terrible and certainly not of God. It appears to me to constitute the life of those who have left us. I trust that in spite of all you may be much encouraged.

With love in the Lord,

Believe me,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

10, CROOMS HILL,
GREENWICH,

Dr. Roberts. May 10th, 1900.

My Dear Brother, -- I thought you might be interested to know that I had a capital journey home yesterday, without being at all ill. I found all well at home. I am sorry for the little friction that occurred in Dublin, and trust that the brothers in Rathmines may be wise in dealing with the Colonel, though it is clear to me that his spirit is all wrong. My impression is that the crucial point is the question of the communication of life. This is put for the work of the Spirit in the believer. I judge that eternal life is the energy of life in Christ which can hold all evil in control, so that man should not be affected by it. It is evident that this is not communicated to anyone, but in the presence of Christ man is able to abide in perfect sense of divine blessing and security from evil. I am unable to find any scripture which connects the idea of eternal life with heaven.

Kindly give my love in the Lord to your wife and sister, I retain the sense of your care of me.

Believe me, your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

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W. Moore. September 12th, 1900.

In regard to what came up in Dublin, I may say that one point pressed on us was the continuance of the thought of eternal life to heaven. In proof of this the verse John 17:3 was quoted, I said that it did not prove anything beyond the present, for it presented the character which eternal life takes for us now, knowledge is a thing for the present, when the perfect is come then knowledge will vanish away, knowledge is that in which there is no progress, and when we know even as we are known, then knowledge will have no place. I only used this to show that the argument drawn from the verse in question is not conclusive. It appears that knowledge is the form which eternal life takes to us in contrast to that in which it will be enjoyed by the saints in the millennium. As to the point of 'communication of life', I see that the Spirit is life, and if this is what is meant by the communication of life, then I have no objection. But antecedent to the communication of the Spirit I cannot see the communication of anything but a work of God in a man by which his eyes are opened, so that he can apprehend a testimony of God. It may be that others mean the same thing as I do, but if so, why do they not drop human forms of expression and adopt those found in Scripture? Scripture speaks of a work in a man, he is born again, or new created, or quickened, I do not see that this is the communication of anything to him, though it may have been spoken of innocently enough in this way. I do not believe it is just to speak of a man being alive to God until he loves, or life is just below the level of the law and if a man loves it is the result of the Spirit having made him acquainted with the love of God. The antecedent work of God is in view of this end.

-- -- --

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22, GRAND PARADE,
ST.
LEONARDS,
May 7th, 1901.

My Dear Mrs. Turpin, -- I thank you very much for your kind note which I received before I left home, but allowed to remain unanswered till I should be here. I am sure too that I appreciate your forbearance in the desire not to add to the work of my wife. She has found her time taken up with attending on me and replying to kind enquirers both at the house and by letter. I am sure that I have the prayers of many of the saints who would gladly see me restored to health again. It may be that the Lord in His mercy in regard to my wife and family may see fit to prolong my life, but I feel that the attack is serious, and the trying symptoms are very unready to abate. I am troubled with a persistent cough, and shortness of breath on the least exertion which makes me feel very weak. We reached this on Wednesday, and I am glad of the change, I can be out more in the air than I should be at home, and this is beneficial. You can understand that it is in measure trying to lead an idle life, but even this may be a necessary exercise for I have felt the danger at times of living on meetings or service. I think that I realise the importance of that which is ministered being life in the soul of the one that ministers. The words of the servant should savour of life. I have tried to fill a gap among brethren, and the time must come sooner or later when one must be withdrawn, and saints will have to learn to depend on the Lord. Many of us have felt the danger of leaning on props, though they may be very good props. You will excuse my sending you but few lines, but I should like to catch this evening's post. With our love in the Lord, believe me,

Affectionately yours in Christ,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

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10, CROOMS HILL,
GREENWICH,
February 7th, 1902.

My Dear Brother, -- I am pleased to answer your letter, and am very glad to see that you seized the thought that I sought to present on Tuesday evening. It seems to me evident that a child is born into certain conditions which are essential to life, and that those conditions are permanent and abiding while, as to the child, changes may come in. And I think that it is thus with us spiritually. The beginning is that one is born again, and then the soul is enlightened through the gospel, then the Spirit is given, and the person lives morally in the Spirit. Thus there is life in the sense that the believer is morally alive to God. This is the state of the believer, but then, as in natural things, the living is dependent on certain conditions which are permanent and abiding and unchangeable, and into these the believer is born and can enter into them morally because he is alive. These conditions are I think found in the epistle of John, they consist in the rule of Christ (as in natural things the earth is subject to the rule of the sun) for Christ is the Sun of righteousness, then in the moral atmosphere which exists among the brethren, and which has its character and impulse in the love of Christ, then in the full light of the love of God in its application to us down here. All these abide and are not subject to change though we may change and pass away from this scene. It is of all moment that we have life, that is in the sense of being alive in the Spirit, the Lord said, "I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly". But this is not the thought which the expression 'eternal life' conveys to my mind. I think that all the difficulty goes when one distinguishes between the fact of a person having life in the sense of being alive, and the conditions which are essential to

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life. The work of the Spirit in us is that which is really life, and it is that which enables us to enter into the conditions in which eternal life consists. The Lord said, "the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life". I entirely go with you in your saying that if we entered more into the reality of eternal life We should not have much difficulty in understanding the doctrine. I hope that I have answered your questions and desiring you prosperity in the things of the Lord, remain,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

4, WEST PARK TERRACE,
SCARBOROUGH,
August 22nd, 1902.

My Dear Broomhead, -- I have been looking for an opportunity of writing to you, as I shall be very glad to know how you are all going on. We have been here a fortnight, the season is quiet, and this holds good as regards the visitors amongst brethren. This is to me rather an occasion of thankfulness, as there is less excitement. We have been having very cold unsettled weather, and at present there is not much sign of permanent change. One would be glad if it were warmer and finer on account of the children, who are constantly getting wet. The Elliotts are at Filey from Croydon, but I cannot think of any other visitors from down south. We have been, and all here, anxious about Miss Lily Forrest, who has had to undergo a severe operation for an internal tumour, she is at a nursing home at Leeds, and so far is doing well. There is also a brother named Denny here from Biggleswade, whose wife has had a paralytic stroke while here. He seems a nice man, but they have been

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fearful of a repetition of the attack. I hope this may not occur. I have seen John Brown a time or two, he seems nice and bright. Things are much the same at Whitby, there does not seem to have been any accessions to the meeting. Young from Hull is there, one feels much for him in his home difficulties, and there does not seem much cohesion in the meeting at Hull. It is difficult to mix oil and water. I hope that the baby is getting on, and that the food is continuing to suit it, also that Mrs. Skeffington is gaining strength. We shall be very glad of a line as to this. I suppose that the departure of Chesterfield is now a fact. I hope that you have been able to make some arrangement to take up his responsibilities. I heard that you had a very good meeting at Croydon for E. J. McBride. We shall all miss him, though I have no doubt that he will be of real service to the saints in Australia. I wish I could have been at the meeting. I hear by the way that a project is on foot for a conference of evangelists, to be put under the auspices of Reynolds and Trench, but to which the presence of such as you and I would not be welcome, as we are regarded, at least I, as not being in sympathy with gospel work. I have said that if the meeting is to consider the truth of the gospel, it would be well to invite those of diverse sentiments, but if the object is to discuss methods of carrying on the work, the meeting is undesirable, as tending to interfere with individuality of service, and in a word looking like a party move. But they will not listen to me. I have not heard from Reynolds as to whether he intends to go, and have not written to him, as I would not influence him in any way. But I am a bit afraid of these evangelists for I think that some of them would be disposed to rule us. A brother told Miss Stoney that the only bond that remained amongst us was the gospel. If he meant by this that the gospel is Christ, and that He is the only bond, I should be inclined to agree, but to say

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that there was never any other. I hope that you are keeping better and that Mrs. Broomhead and your daughters are well, and with our kind love in the Lord, remain,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

-- -- --

4, WEST PARK TERRACE,
SCARBOROUGH.
August 29th, 1902.

My Dear Broomhead, -- Many thanks for your letter to hand this morning. I am very glad to hear a better account of the Skeffingtons, and that there is a reasonable expectation of the baby getting on. I suppose from the fact of your having been away that you are yourself better, and for this I am thankful. I am now sending a line to say that I have written to Morford, and have had a reply to the effect that he will take the preachings for four Sundays beginning with September 21st. Our month here will be up on September 9th, and they will not be content that I should leave before that. I shall therefore be available for Sunday the 14th -- thus there will be the next two Sundays to provide for. I understand that you will be there for the next, and I will count on you to provide for the other. I will not make any arrangement for after Morford, as I would rather leave the matter in your hands. I do not quite understand whether you go away in the next week, or the week after. If the latter I shall possibly see you. We shall be home on the Tuesday. Kindly send me a card before then to let me know when you leave, as I would make an effort to see you. In regard to the proposed meeting of evangelists, I have had a letter from T.H.R. in which he tells me that Pollock wrote him, asking him if he would be present, and he replied that he would not if

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there were the intention of ignoring me, then Pollock wrote to me politely telling me that I was not wanted, but that they would like me to sanction the meeting, so as to enable them to get Reynolds. I think that the latter is firm enough, and sees that it is a party move. Who can they get to invite? for if the invitation does not come from persons having a responsible place in some meeting it is evidently a party move, and I can hardly believe that any brother with anything in any meeting would be content to commit themselves to the intentional exclusion of any. I do not like the business at all, and the less so that it produces a feeling in one's mind that you cannot trust those that are fair enough to your face, for if I were to meet any of these brothers they would be pleasant enough. However, God is over all, and neither they nor I can do anything against the truth. I send you the draft of the reply that I sent Pollock. I may be wrong in my surmise, but I have an idea that Mace is behind it, and I think that A. Cutting is in it. With love in the Lord to Mrs. Broomhead and yourself; believe me,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

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4, WEST PARK TERRACE,
SCARBOROUGH.
September 3rd, 1902.

My Dear Brother, -- The question of illustrations is one that sometimes presents difficulty, for it involves a clear knowledge of that you wish to illustrate. A man that can use simple and telling illustrations is a master of his subject. One has to allow a certain latitude in the use of such things, and to judge of them by whether they make plain the main idea, without looking for perfection in every detail. In the use of them one

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has to consider well what impression they will be calculated to produce on the minds of those that hear them. Now in the particular case to which you refer, the illustration of the Sculptor and the block would probably leave the impression on the mind that the believer was the block on which the Sculptor wrought, and I do not think that you would intend to convey this. I think too that it is too heavy an illustration of a spiritual idea. As regards the truth of things, I think that it is rather that we are formed in Christ, than that Christ is formed in us. The apostle Paul certainly speaks to the Galatians of travailing in birth until Christ were formed in them, but I judge this to mean in the sense of a writing, as in the case of the Corinthians, so that they were distinctly christian, and not half Jews. The formative work of the Spirit in us is, I think, to form us in Christ, that is in the order of material, if one might so say. It gives me the idea of a potter, who forms a vessel in what material he pleases. Hence the illustration of a potter appears to me suitable. The working of things undoubtedly is that He brings the soul under the influence of the effulgence of God in Christ, and we, being affected by this, are morally transformed. Christ creates of two in Himself one new man. The words 'in Himself' are important as bringing in what I have spoken of, that is the idea of a potter. We are acted on, but it is to form us in another. With this comes that of which you speak, the breaking to pieces oftentimes of the earthen vessel. It is in this way the matter presents itself to me, and any thing that serves to illustrate it is welcome, though the work is so strange that it has not many illustrations in natural things. I am very glad to hear of your doings, and sympathise with your difficulties. I can understand what you say as to the mind of the North of Ireland man. One thing is that you will be well instructed in patience, I suppose that you have heard of the proposed conference of evangelists,

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they have behaved shabbily toward me, in proposing to exclude me. I think that they make a mistake, for they ought to maintain that the gospel is the interest of all, and not simply of those that preach it. I dread the thought of a gospel party amongst us. I hope that all your family is well. We are here till next Tuesday, when I return home to start in the following week for America. With love in the Lord, believe me,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

4, WEST PARK TERRACE,
SCARBOROUGH,
September 8th, 1902.

My Dear Brother, -- I am still inclined to think that what expresses the result of the Spirit's work in the believer is the thought of his being formed in Christ. He has to grow up to the Head in all things. This involves a positive formation in him, but of a moral kind, so that it is he that is formed. I understand the expression "Christ in you" in Romans 8 to be dependent on the Spirit of Christ being in us, so that I would say of any one that has the Spirit of Christ that Christ is in him. And of course there is a work antecedent to this, there is the work of the Spirit in new birth, and faith. There is that, looked at abstractly, which is wholly new and of God. It is consequent on this that the Spirit dwells, and renews. But all this renewal I judge to be moral, that is an effect produced on the believer himself. He is transformed. It is a result of the light being presented to him. I see the sovereign work of God at the beginning in new birth,

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and at the end in the raising up or quickening of the body, all between is wrought morally, that is through the effect of the truth. I think that any believer who has the Spirit might identify himself with what is of God in him, and say that he is not in the flesh but in the Spirit and could speak of Christ living in him; and yet he has to be built up in Christ. And this is the effect of the truth being digested into his moral being. He comes to know that the contrary element is himself, and that is the flesh, but then he is not in it, and so judges it as not himself. That is, not his true self with God. I think that what God regards is the individual, it is he that is born again or new created, and in this sense there is danger in being too abstract, though many things can only be apprehended abstractly while things are as they are now.

In regard to what you say as to opposition to the gospel I can only say that it has never come before me, nor do I think that it would be countenanced by any right-thinking people. It appears to me that the gospel is the great interest of all, and that this should be insisted on, and that if prayer is desired in a special way, it should be on the part of the spiritual, and not on the part of the evangelists. Service is essentially individual as the result of gift. Romans 12 is clear as to this, and each servant should carry out his service in responsibility to the Lord, and any banding together of any particular class of servants is highly undesirable, and tending to form a party through some special interest, and there is no such thing properly. May the good Lord keep us. With love in the Lord, believe me,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

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10, CROOMS HILL,
GREENWICH,
December 15th, 1902.

My Dear Brother, -- I am glad to give you such answers to your questions as I am able. There is much difficulty in speaking about quickening as a process, for Scripture never speaks of it in that light. On the one hand divine persons are said to quicken, and certain people are said to have been quickened. Thus it is only spoken of in connection with the One who does it, and the result in the one who is the subject of it. So no one can say much as to the operation in itself, nor is it necessary. We have to judge of persons on other ground, that is as to faith and the possession of the Spirit. Scripture does not seek to bring new birth and quickening together, and the reason may be that new birth never goes beyond earth, and quickening is necessary for heaven. For that we must live in a new state altogether, and so we are said to be quickened with Christ. Hence, so far as I can see, quickening is a work of God in a man by the Spirit by which he can live in the same sphere of affection as Christ. And the thought must go on to the body, so that the state may be complete. Now we are quickened together with Christ. I do not think that you will gain much by mixing this up with new birth, which stands in connection with a man coming under the moral sway of God. Each is looked at as complete in itself and not as part of anything else. This is evident in the Ephesians. I think that if all these expressions are looked at in their moral bearing the difficulty disappears. The difficulty arises from the attempt to construe them in a natural way. Then as to the question of eternal life, Scripture does not appear to connect it either with new birth or with quickening. It appears to be connected with Christ and faith, and the Spirit. The question of a person

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being a christian is determined by the possession of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the One of whom the believer is to reap eternal life. But if the believer has not reaped it, you could not unchristianise him. I do not know that quickening is an expression that applies exclusively to christians, for in a national way it will apply to Israel. They will be quickened out of the dust. But the connection in the New Testament is peculiar, and relates to our being in a state in which we can live together with Christ. I hope that you may be helped with those with whom you are in controversy. With conceit there is little hope. I return your letter as you wish. With love in the Lord, believe me,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

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10, CROOMS HILL,
GREENWICH,
February 13th, 1903.

Mrs. C. A. Markham,
Cranford.

My Dear Miss Mary, -- On my return home from a few days' absence I found your card and was very glad to be reminded of you. I felt a sensation of regret that we did not avail ourselves of the opportunity of seeing the place of your work. It looks pleasing enough in the picture, on the bank of the river. I hope that you are prospering in every way, and that in spite of the temptation that college life must present, you are able to keep your head above water.

There is no doubt that in these days the young are exposed to a good deal that tests their faith in going through the educational courses. Unbelief seems almost to be taken for granted, as though lawlessness of mind could be right. Man may be a very intelligent

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being, but he did not acquire his own intelligence, and he is but a creature, with limits placed on him beyond which he has no right to transgress. However, the common idea is that there is nothing in the universe on which the mind of man may not exert itself, and that the idea of revelation is an absurdity. I earnestly trust that you may be kept simple in faith ...

With kind love to yourself, and all at home, believe me,

Affectionately yours in Christ,

F. E. Raven.

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10, CROOMS HILL,
GREENWICH,
March 20th, 1903.

Dr. Roberts.

My Dear Brother, -- I send just a line to acknowledge receipt of your kind note, and will ask you on my behalf to thank the brothers at Dublin for their invitation to me to visit them when in Ireland. I will not give any definite answer at present as my arrangements are not sufficiently defined as yet. I will be prepared to leave the matter in the hands of Mr. Malcolm Greeves, and will mention the matter to him this evening as he is in London. I thank you much too for your kind offer of hospitality, as to which I will defer any reply for the moment, I can only say that I hope that we may find you better than you were last year. I am curious to see if Boyd will be allowed to come to Dublin, and if so, how his ministry will be accepted. I hear that he has been very well received in Edinburgh, though some there might not be in entire sympathy with him. He is a valuable man. I hope that Mrs. Roberts is well, and with love in the Lord, remain,

Your affectionate brother,

F. E. Raven.

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LETTER FROM MISS W. VESEY

Extract from a letter of Miss W. Vesey: written to her sister in Ireland during Mr. Raven's last visit to Manchester, February -- March, 1903.

A lovely meeting on Sunday. F.E.R. spoke of 2 Kings 3. The three kings were in danger of perishing for lack of water and being swallowed up of Moab -- the world in its pride. Elisha is called in -- the man who has the word of the Lord. Elisha represents the Lord in resurrection power -- He comes over Jordan, the right way, bringing healing and life in his hand. Elisha had gone out of the land of Jordan -- Israel, in a sense, died in him, and Elisha returns and all his miracles speak of life-reviving power. So here the land was full of water, when they had wandered seven days and found none, and all was brought about without either wind or rain. Of course I could not take notes at the breaking of bread, so I am only giving you his thought about it from memory. He said people go on happily and apparently enjoying truth too -- their circumstances are favourable and they live in them. Then when sorrow or change comes the very people who seemed the happiest and the brightest are proportionately cast down and depressed and they cry out in bitterness of spirit. Alas! there is no water. Whereas the land is full of water, but you must get outside yourself, outside the wind and the rain of this world and get into another scene. Not the life of flesh, but the life expressed in these words, "Because I live ye shall live also". But the water was blood in the eyes of the Moabites. For the world it appears like death. To refuse the world, not to find our resource here, not to live in what they live in, is death in their eyes, and so it is, and must be if we are not living outside ourselves. The secret of doing so is

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"Abide in me". Keep in the circle of divine affections. Let it be the consolation of your heart to know consciously where He dwells. "Master, where dwellest thou?". "Come and see". It was much in the same line as the afternoon reading yesterday, the subject of which was Ephesians 2 quickening. It was a lovely reading and seemed to go to my very heart. He is greatly insisting on the Lord's doing priestly work in Luke's gospel. The priest's lips must keep knowledge and it was at his mouth they were to seek the law, for He is the Messenger -- Malachi 2:7. This seemed to be the keynote of his teaching. No one can be an effective teacher unless he is a priest. He must have access to God if he is to help others.

In the evening he preached on Luke 14 and 15, connecting it with his former lecture on the parable of the two debtors and the good Samaritan. He brought out beautifully the distinct character of the progress of the four parables. The first two showing the Lord's coming to our side, and bringing to us all the resources of heaven, speaking of what was in God's mind for man to the Pharisee though he despised Him, and bringing in oil and wine, comfort and cheer and care to the poor man who fell among thieves. But then in chapters 14 and 15 He takes the other side. "The Great Supper" -- the celebration of righteousness -- the house to be filled -- God's salvation fully established in resurrection power and then in chapter 15 the complacency of the Father in having the son suitable for Himself. The oil and the wine was the grace suited to man here, but the shoes and the ring, the best robe and the fatted calf was what was suitable to the Father, so that He might be able to say, "It is meet that we should be merry". He connected all this with the unfolding of God's purpose in Ephesians 1, dwelling particularly on the "Beloved", insisting most earnestly upon our making what is said there of us

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reality for us. Everything that is set forth for us in Christ, if it is to have any real power or reality, must be made true in us by the Spirit of Christ. It was a very powerful lecture.

This morning's reading was very very nice and quiet. I did not see anything of F.E.R. except a passing word with him at the meetings. ---- says that it is his exceeding lowliness that attracts him.

He looks very grave and isolated, except when he is actually preaching or teaching.