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Two Men, Two Acts, Two Results
The Gospel According to Paul
By
J.A. YOUNGBERG
Bible Teacher
Foreword by
LEWIS SPERRY CHAFER
Published by
J.A. YOUNGBERG (1939)
3242 Isla Vista Drive
San Diego 5, California
Foreword to Second Edition
Mr. Youngberg possesses the rare gift of a theological mind.
Added to this is the equally important fact that he is a tireless
student of the Sacred Text, and, in addition, he accepts the doctrines
set forth in the Scriptures without theological prejudice or bias. No
man-made theories have been handed down to him which he must accept
and in conformity to which he must interpret the Scriptures. The Word
of God is the most self-adjusted and harmonious of all the writings in
the world. They originate with God and they are worthy of Him.
Naturally, the Bible sustains and explains itself. The secret of a
right understanding of it is to allow it to speak for itself. God's
truth must mold the human thought and not the human thought the truth
of God.
Mr. Youngberg has presented a vast array of the most essential
features of God's grace. The title of the volume is itself revealing
as to what it contains. To every Bible student and sincere witness for
God, I commend this most valuable book.
LEWIS SPERRY CHAFER
Dallas, Texas
Preface
Many years ago I heard the late Dr. James M. Gray say,
"Consecutive gospel preaching will result in the salvation of souls."
This book is an attempt to so present the Gospel of Grace. The
substance of it has for the past several years been taught in Bible
Conferences and Classes.
The Lord has blessed it to the salvation of precious souls. Many
Christians have been stripped of legal bondage and entered into the
glorious liberty that only the Grace of God can give. Many of these
have asked for the material in some permanent form. All I have had to
offer was a copy of the chart.
During the past several months I have taught the series in a
Bible Class at the local YWCA. Most excellent notes have been taken by
Miss Marien Kindberg, "my true child in the faith." Together we have
prepared the contents of this book.
We have endeavored to let the Word speak for itself, and not
present our own opinions.
The Purpose of this book is to set forth the Gospel of Grace--the
good news concerning Christ and Him crucified--and that alone. It is
sent forth with the prayer that through the reading of these pages
many will be led out of darkness into the glorious light of God's
Love, and that the Lord's people will be further equipped to render
unto Him effectual service, having a more thorough working knowledge
of Ithe Gospel of Grace, so important in true Christian testimony--all
in all that our blessed Redeemer and Lord may be glorified!
J.A. YOUNGBERG, Jamestown, NY, June 1, 1939.
Contents
Introduction
SECTION ONE: ADAM--THE FIRST MAN
Chapter I--The One Act of Disobedience
Adam's Original State; Adam's Responsibility; Adam's Temptation
and Fall.
Chapter II--The Result of Adam's Original Sin Upon Adam and Eve - 15
They Became Involved in the Sentence of Death; Their Eyes Were
Opened; They Became Sinners; They Acquired Guilt; They Were Summoned
into God's Presence; They Were Expelled from the Garden; Their
Authority over Creation Was Lost.
Chapter III--The Result of Adam's Original Sin Upon the Race
Man Became a Sinner by Imputation; Man Became a Sinner in Nature;
Man Became a Sinner in Action; Man Is Now a Sinner by a Judicial
Reckoning.
Chapter IV--The Result of God's Judgment Upon Adam's Original Sin
Total Depravity; Enslavement to Sin and to Satan; A Blinded Mind;
Corrupted Affections; Death--The Penalty of Sin; Creation Subjected to
Vanity.
SECTION TWO: THE LAW
Chapter V--The Law
Conditions Before the Law; The Nature of the Law.
Chapter VI--What the Law Could Not Do
Prescribed Duty--Provided No Motive; Demanded Obedience--Could
Not Make Obedient; Required Righteousness--Could Not Make
Righteous; Revealed Sin--Could Not Remove Sin; Enslaved--Could Not Set
Free; Condemned to Death--Could Not Give Life; Made Nothing Perfect.
Chapter VII--"Wherefore Then Serveth the Law?"
To Give the Knowledge of Sin; To Stop Every Mouth; To Bring Under
Judgment to God; To Give to Sin the Character of Transgression; To
Curse and Condemn; To Minister Death; To Lead to Christ.
SECTION THREE: CHRIST--THE SECOND MAN
Chapter VIII--The Incarnation
Biblical Reasons for the Incarnation--To Reveal God; To Reveal
Man; To Provide a Mediator; To Provide the Sacrifice for Sin; To
Provide a Merciful and Faithful High Priest; To Destroy the Works of
the Devil; To Fulfill the Davidic Covenant; To Provide the Head of the
Church.
Chapter IX--The Virgin Birth
Reasons for the Necessity of the Virgin Birth--That Prophecy
Might Be Fulfilled; That Christ Might Be Entitled to the Throne of
David; That Sinners Might Have a Saviour.
Chapter X--The One Act of Obedience
Things Accomplished by Christ's Death on the Cross--Imputed Sin
Dealt With: Sin in Nature Dealt With; Sin In Action Dealt With;
Pre-Cross Sins Dealt With; Satan Judged; Law Ended; Redemption
Accomplished; Reconciliation Accomplished; Propitiation Made; The
Ground of Justification Accomplished; Peace Made; The Means of
Perpetual Cleansing Provided; The Sting of Death Removed; A New and
Living Way Consecrated; The New Covenant Confirmed; The Covenant of
Redemption Confirmed; Those Who Were Afar Off Made Nigh; The Blessing
of Abraham Released; The Way Opened for God To Exercise Both Justice
and Mercy; The Sanctified Forever Perfected.
Chapter XI--Christ's Burial and Resurrection
"He Was Buried;" "He Rose Again;" Biblical Reasons for the
Resurrection--Because He Was the Son of God; To Fulfill Prophecy;
Because the Ground of Justification Was Accomplished; To Bestow
Resurrection Life; To Impart Resurrection Power; To Be the Head Over
All Things to the Church; To Be the Firstfruits and the Pattern.
Chapter XII--The Ascension and Session of Christ
The Two Ascensions; Christ's Present Ministry--He Is Bestowing
Gifts to the Church; He Is Interceding for His Own; He Is Advocating
for His Own; He Is Preparing a Place for His Own.
SECTION FOUR: THE RESULT OF THE ONE ACT OF OBEDIENCE
Chapter XIII--The New Creation in Christ Jesus
Chapter XIV--Service and Reward
Footnotes
Introduction
TWO MEN, TWO ACTS, AND TWO RESULTS
I Cor. 15:45-50; Rom. 5:12-21.
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which was spiritual, but that which is
natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
The first man was of the earth, earthy: the second man is the
Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is
the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear
the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed
when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them
that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who
is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through
the offence of the one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and
the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many.
And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the
judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is from many
offences unto justification.
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they
which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ.
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
* * *
These two extended passages of New Testament Scripture form the
basis of the message of this book. Two men, Adam and Christ, are
clearly in view in both passages. The Apostle Paul contrasts the two
in a most logical and convincing way. He brings out the completeness
and the far-reaching results of Christ's work by contrasting it with
the work of Adam.
Briefly stated, the two men are Adam and Christ; the two acts,
Adam's disobedience (Gen. 3:6) and Christ's obedience (Phil. 2:8); the
two results, condemnation and justification (Rom. 5:18).
Adam was a type of Christ, in that he was a representative man;
he stood for the race, he contained the race, he was the race. He was
without a parallel until Christ, the Second Man, the last Adam, came.
He was "the figure of him that was to come."
Note also how the Apostle Paul applies a most important principle
stated so many times in the first chapter of Genesis, "after its
kind," "after their kind."
SECTION ONE
Adam--The First Man
CHAPTER I
THE ONE ACT OF DISOBEDIENCE
Adam's Original State
And God said, Let us make man in our image, and after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created
he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was
very good (Gen. 1:26-28, 31).
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul (Gen. 2:7).
The Mosaic record of the creation of man calls to mind the words
of the Psalmist, "The heavens, even the heavens are the Lord's; but
the earth hath he given to the children of men" (Psalm 115:16).
The creation of man took place on the sixth day, and was
undoubtedly delayed until that time in order that the earth might be
prepared for his reception.
Man was created unfallen, sinless, and innocent, but not
positively holy as was Christ (Luke 1:35), for Adam had the capacity
to sin.
As recorded in the Scriptures, man was created in the image of
God. This was in the image of Elohim, the creative name of God, and
not in the image of Jehovah, His redemptive name. To be like his
Redeemer is the hope of the true believer for the future.
Was the image moral, intellectual, or physical?
Since a moral image of God involves a full moral likeness in the
divine glories, perfections and attributes of Deity, it cannot be said
that man was created in the full moral image of God.
Was the image, then, of full intellectual likeness? No, for
although the first man was an intellectual giant, he did not possess
the perfect knowledge that he would have had, had he been
intellectually like unto God.
This makes it obvious that the image was physical. To this it
will be objected that no man can see God and live, and that God is a
Spirit. It is true that no man can see God in His essential being and
live--but we believe that Christ originally took creature form in
order to create, and that it was in the image of Christ, the Creator,
that man was created. Note carefully the contents of the following
quotations from the Scriptures: "And he said, Hear now my words: If
there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto
him in a vision, and I will speak unto him in a dream. My servant
Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I
speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and
the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not
afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" (Numbers 12:6-8); "And unto
the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of
God" (Rev. 3:14); "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness:
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Psalm 17:15).
The Revised Version renders the last word of this verse "form."
In the fall, man lost this form to some extent. The fall affected
man spiritually, mentally, morally and physically.
Adam's Responsibility
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which
is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat
(Gen. 1:28, 29).
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of
Eden to dress it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man,
saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen.
2:15-17).
Man was not to spend his time in idleness. Work was prescribed
for him. Under the terms of the Edenic covenant, which conditioned the
life of man in his unfallen state, he was responsible to do certain
things.
To multiply and replenish the restored earth with a new order of
beings.
To subdue the earth to human uses.
To have dominion over the rest of creation.
To dress and to keep the garden.
To refrain from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
From Genesis 1:29 it is evident that man was to be a vegetarian.
The work prescribed for man was of the easiest kind, and served
merely as an agreeable recreation. He was put in the garden of Eden,
where nature appeared in all her loveliness--a garden which God
Himself had planted, and in which grew "every tree which was pleasant
to the sight, and good for food."
In the midst of abundance man experienced no present want, and
felt no anxiety with reference to the future; for unconscious of
guilt, he looked up with confident expectation to the goodness of his
Creator.
Negatively, there was but one restriction imposed upon man in
this perfect environment. God strictly forbade him to eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. The penalty for violation of God's
commandment was death, "For in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die." Thus the Edenic covenant was conditional.
Adam's Temptation and Fall
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of
the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto
her husband with her; and he did eat.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they
were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
aprons (Gen. 3:1-7).
The Temptation
Since Adam was created upright, and possessed no sin nature, when
Satan brought his proposition to him, it was a test rather than a
temptation, as we speak of temptations.
No testing is complete apart from three distinct features;
neither would Adam's testing have been complete had it not measured up
to those requirements.
In order that a testing be fair and just, the real issue must be
understood. Since Adam's testing involved the eating of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, this tree became the issue between God
and man. God had instructed Adam concerning this, so that in his
testing he was well aware of the issue before him.
Also in a fair testing, he who is tested must possess perfect
freedom to act. This point was also included in Adam's testing. Being
a free moral agent, he had liberty to do as he pleased, either to obey
or to disobey the express commandment of God.
Finally in a just testing there must be the full knowledge of the
consequence of failure. God had from the first made it perfectly clear
to man that he had full permission to eat of every tree of the garden
with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and
that in the day he should eat thereof he would surely die (Gen. 2:17).
Satan was permitted to tempt man. "And Adam was not deceived, but
the woman being deceived was in the transgression" (1 Tim. 2:14).
He tempted him not to anything morally wrong, but it was that man
might become an independent being, "Ye shall be as gods knowing good
and evil." This calls to mind the words of James, "Then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death" (James 1:15). That Satan told the truth when he
said, "Ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil," is evident from
what God said after Adam had sinned, "Behold, the man is become as one
of us, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:22).
The Fall--The Act of Disobedience
Being upright and free from a sin nature man would not have
sinned, and he did not sin apart from the tempter. The words of the
tempter were a mixture of truth and lies, such as is always his way of
deceiving his victims. When he said, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil," he spoke the truth, but when he said, "Ye shall not
surely die," he lied.
Adam fell from desires which in themselves were not sinful.
However, his one act of disobedience involved the repudiation of God
and His word, and the exercise of self-will--the very thing that Satan
had done, and which had been the cause of his fall. We read, "How art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou
cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou hast
said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isa. 14:12-14).
CHAPTER II
THE RESULT OF ADAM'S ORIGINAL SIN UPON ADAM AND EVE
1. They Became Involved in the Sentence of Death.
For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Three aspects of death are revealed in the Scriptures--physical,
spiritual, and eternal or the second.
Spiritual death is separation from God. This aspect of death Adam
experienced when he ate of the forbidden fruit. Through his sin man
lost the favor of God, and became incapable of loving and serving his
Creator.
Physical death is the dissolution of the union which obtains
between the body and the spirit. Adam did not experience physical
death immediately, for he lived on to be nine hundred and thirty
years. Though he did not die immediately, his body became mortal. The
seeds of mortality were sown in his constitution; a change took place
in his body. It was now subject to internal disorders, and external
injuries; it was exposed to the wasting influence of the elements. It
was doomed to decline in vigor and activity, to feel the infirmities
of old age, and at last to sink into the grave--"And he died" (Gen.
5:5).
The second death is the lake of fire, "prepared for the devil and
his angels" (Matt. 25:41, Cf. Rev. 20:10, 14, 15). When our Lord says,
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John
11:26) and "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a
man may eat thereof, and not die" (John 6:50), He evidently refers to
eternal death, the opposite of eternal life. The believer is not saved
from temporal death, for if the Lord tarries death will overtake us,
but thank God the sting of death is forever gone for the believer,
because Christ on the Cross bore the sting of death (1 Cor. 15:55,
56). The second death is not the annihilation of man, but declares him
to be in a state of consciousness, because it is a positive
punishment. It is what one writer terms "a living death." These "shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8).
2. Their Eyes Were Opened, and they knew they were naked.
The fact that their bodies were without a covering they surely knew
before; so then, the opening of their eyes and their knowing that they
were naked must refer to something more than what is usually
considered to be the meaning of the statement.
Instead of acquiring supernatural wisdom, as they had fondly
hoped the forbidden fruit would bestow upon them, they discovered that
they had reduced themselves to an unprotected and wretched condition.
Their original state of sinlessness and innocence was lost, and they
were now exposed to the wrath of their Creator.
This may be inferred from Adam's reply to the Lord's question,
"Where art thou?" Adam did not say "I was ashamed," but "I was afraid
because I was naked; and I hid myself."
They were now conscious of guilt, and wished to avoid a meeting
with their judge, for such was now God's relationship to them. Man
stood before God as a criminal before a judge. Such is the
relationship that obtains between the Lord and every unsaved person.
3. They Became Sinners. Through this one act of sin they acquired
a sin nature, a disposition to sin, thus becoming sinners. They became
sinners because they sinned; the rest of the human family have sinned
because they were sinners.
4. They Acquired Guilt in that they transgressed the commandm
ent of God. "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not
imputed (as guilt) when there is no law" (Rom. 5:13); "For where no
law is, there is no transgression" (Rom. 4:15).
5. They were Summoned into the Presence of God and sentence was
pronounced upon them, by which they were subjected to all the miseries
of life, and finally to death. "Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou
return" (Gen. 3:19).
6. They Were Expelled from Paradise, which was an abode of the
righteous, and not the guilty. "And the LORD GOD said, Behold, the man
is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put
forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
forever; therefore the LORD GOD sent him forth from the garden of
Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the
man; and he placed at the east of the Garden cherubims, and a flaming
sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life"
(Gen. 3:22-24).
7. The Authority God Had Given to Man over the Rest of Creation
(Gen. 1:28) Was Lost Through the Fall, and Satan became "the prince of
this world" (John 14:30), as is revealed in the offer of the kingdoms
of this world to our Lord in the wilderness temptation (Matt. 4:8-10).
CHAPTER III
The Result Of Adam's Original Sin Upon The Whole Race
Every member of the human family entering the world through
natural generation is, through Adam's original sin, constituted a
sinner.
Here we must briefly consider what sin is, and get the correct
understanding of the sin question. Every heresy can be traced to a
wrong conception of sin.
The fall of the human race into a state of sin is the basis and
foundation of the scriptural plan of redemption and of all sound
gospel preaching and teaching.
"Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). "Sin is
lawlessness" is the literal rendering of this sentence. This reveals
the awful character of sin. It is spiritual anarchy. Sin is any lack
of conformity to the infinitely holy and righteous character of God,
as revealed in the Law. We read, "All have sinned and come short of
the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
Here we must distinguish between Adam as the natural head of the
race and his federal headship. As the federal head of the race, he was
our representative. Therefore, his original act of disobedience may
justly be reckoned as ours. This brings us up to the full
consideration of the various aspects or classifications of sin.
Imputed Sin
Man is a sinner by imputation. We read, "Wherefore, as through
one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12).
According to the original, Paul does not say that "all have
sinned." It is not true that all have sinned personally. The innocent
babe does not die because of any personal sins he has committed. But
"all sinned" in Adam, the federal head of the race. Paul uses the
Greek aorist tense that expresses a definite act at a definite time in
the past.
To impute means to reckon over to. It is expressed in the words
of Paul when he says, "If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought,
put that on mine account" (Philemon 1:18).
Imputed sin is the primary reason why man is lost. He is born
dead in sin, a child of wrath, a son of disobedience (Eph. 2:1-3). He
is born into a lost estate, a condemned race. He is therefore lost
because of what he is, rather than because of what he does. But
remember, he does what he does because of what he is.
Teaching on this aspect of sin has been sadly neglected. Many
know nothing about it, and not a few boldly deny the fact of imputed
sin. Socinians and Pelagians, and their present day successors, deny
that Adam was the federal head of his posterity, and thereby deny the
fact of imputed sin. Arminians admit that the whole race was injured
by the first sin of the first man, but at the same time refute the
proposition that Adam was their proper representative. It is the one
aspect of sin that needs to be emphasized again and again.
Many seem to think that while they are not quite good enough to
go to heaven, they most certainly are not bad enough to go to hell.
But there is no such person. Man is either good enough to go to
heaven, or else bad enough to go to hell. The Bible does not recognize
any intermediate ground.
Some years ago a friend asked me to pray for her unsaved
relatives, and then she added, "It is impossible to reach them with
the Gospel." Was it because they were so bad, that she said this? No,
they were so good, humanly speaking, that they could not see that they
were lost and in need of a Saviour. Such people need to know the truth
under consideration.
But some one asks, "How can it be possible that we sinned in
Adam?" Look at the Scripture parallel, "Levi also, who receiveth
tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his
father, when Melchizedek met him" (Heb. 7:9, 10). Levi was the
great-grandson of Abraham and was not born until about a hundred and
fifty or a hundred and sixty years after the incident referred to in
this Scripture. In the same sense, we were in Adam when he sinned, and
so we all sinned in him.
The Apostle Paul evidently anticipated objections to what he says
in Romans 5:12 "that all sinned," for six times in the remaining
verses of the chapter he repeats what he has already declared in verse
twelve.
"For if through the offence of one many be dead."
"For the judgment was by one to condemnation."
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one."
"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation."
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners."
"That as sin has reigned unto death."
This naturally raises the question of infant salvation. If all of
the race are constituted sinners in Adam, how can children who are
incapable of believing the Gospel be saved?
Dr. Chas. Hodge, in his commentary on Romans, says on this
question, "If without personal participation in the sin of Adam, all
men are subject to death, may we not hope that without personal
acceptance of the righteousness of Christ, all who die in infancy are
saved?"
This question will come before us again, when the finished work
of Christ on the Cross will be considered.
Sin In Nature
Man partakes by inheritance of Adam's fallen nature. We read,
"And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his
own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth" (Gen. 5:3).
Paul says, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19).
This is a sinful constitution, a disposition to sin. It is a common
belief that man becomes a sinner when he commits his first personal
sin. This is not absolutely true, for man is a sinner from the moment
he is born. David said, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin
did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5).
However, he does, at the time that he commits his first personal
sin, become a sinner in another aspect--in action.
It is because he is already a sinner by nature that he sins in
action. A man lies because he is a liar. He steals because he is a
thief. Just so, a man sins because he is a sinner.
Many years ago while doing gospel work in the mountain districts
of Southern California, I asked a group of children if it was ever
necessary for their parents to tell them to be good. They all answered
in the affirmative. Then I asked them if it was necessary for their
parents to tell them to be naughty, and the answer was a loud "NO."
Then when I asked why this was so, a ten-year-old boy answered, "We
are all born crooked." He was right. "The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?" (Jer. 17:;9).
This evil principle we inherit from Adam mediately through our
parents, who have themselves received it from the succeeding
generations from Adam. It is in the Scriptures called:
The Flesh--"That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). This
does not refer to the tissues of the body, but all that the
unregenerate man is--body, soul, and spirit.
Concerning the flesh we are definitely told that "the flesh
profiteth nothing" (John 6:63). "Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom.
8:8, 8). "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no
good thing" (Rom. 7:18).
The Natural Man--This refers to all that are unchanged or dead
spiritually. Literally it reads, "the psychical man." The soul is
Satan's objective and sphere of activity. Too often psychic
manifestations are mistaken for manifestations of the Holy Spirit. "By
their fruits ye shall know them."
The natural man may be refined, cultured, kind, a model citizen,
sweet, eloquent, and even severely religious, but he "receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1
Cor. 2:14).
Our Old Man--We read that "he is corrupt according to deceitful
lusts" (Eph. 4:22), and that "our old man is (was) crucified with him"
(Rom. 6:6).
The Heart--We are told that, "The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). "And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually" (Gen. 6:5). "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies"
(Matt. 15:19).
Many talk about a change of heart, but this is not scriptural.
The old heart (the power to reason) is not changed or made over in
salvation. Man is created anew in Christ Jesus when he becomes a
Christian.
We have often heard evangelists urge their unsaved hearers to
give their hearts to God. As if a lost sinner could do such a thing!
And if he could what would God want with the evil thing? No, God is
the bestower of a new heart--the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
The Outward Man--Of him we are told that "he perishes" (2 Cor.
4:16). Since the outward man is in this verse placed over against and
compared with the inward man, it evidently refers to all that man is
in his unregenerate state. It is one of the designations of the sinful
nature with which man is burdened as long as he is on earth.
The Carnal Mind--"The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7).
In Romans 5:10, the unregenerate man is said to be an enemy of
God. However, an enemy may be conquered and become the best friend of
his conqueror; such is the blessed experience of the saved. But here
is something that goes deeper. "The carnal mind is enmity against
God"; it has always been so, and it never will be anything else. The
sin nature can not be changed. Therefore the old sin nature, that the
believer still possesses, is and will ever continue to be just as evil
as it was before he was saved, for "that which is born of the flesh is
flesh." Thus we see how deep-rooted this evil principle is. It is
incurably evil. Since the old sin nature was crucified with Christ,
and is therefore judicially dead, the Holy Spirit is free to come in
and take control of it. It is through the indwelling ministry of the
Holy Spirit that the believer has the victory over sin. Paul writes,
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1, 2). For the child of
God is provided a means whereby he may have the victory over every
enemy.
Sin--We must distinguish between "sin" and "sins." "Sin" is the
tree; "sins" are the fruit. In Romans 1:16 to 5:11 it is "sins," the
fruit of the sin nature, that are dealt with. The precious blood of
Christ is the only cure and remedy for this aspect of sin.
"The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). Paul does not say "the
punishment of sin is death." Too often these two words are considered
to be identical.
A man may be hired to commit a crime. He commits it, and he
receives his pay for his evil deed; that is his wages. Then he is
arrested, tried, convicted of his crime, and sentenced to pay a fine
or serve time in prison; that is his punishment. The wages of sin is
death; the punishment is over and above that.
The sin nature is personified by the Apostle Paul. He likens it
to a cruel master, a merciless tyrant, and such it is. The unsaved are
the bondslaves of sin. Paul writes, "Know ye not, that to whom ye
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye
obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants (bondslaves) of sin, but
ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you" (Rom. 6:16, 17).
A comparison of Romans 3:21-26 with Romans 6:6-10, will
definitely reveal that the blood answers to "sins," and the Cross to
"Sin."
This disposition to sin is the possession of all who have come
into the world through natural generation--the one exception being our
Lord Jesus Christ. Many have attempted to improve the sin nature by
patching it up in one way or another, even to the extent of making it
religious. Religious flesh is one of the greatest curses of the church
today, if not the greatest.
This aspect of sin is responsible for all the terrible crimes
that men are guilty of. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies"
(Matt. 15:19). "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are
the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23). "A man's heart deviseth his way"
(Prov. 16:9). "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov.
23:7).
One is not responsible for possessing a sin nature, but one is
responsible for the outworking of that nature when the age of
accountability is reached.
In the light of this faithful testimony of Scripture concerning
the sin nature inherited from Adam, it is difficult to understand how
men, who say they believe the Bible to be the Word of God, can then
believe that man is born into this world with what they term a "divine
spark." God's testimony regarding man is one hundred per cent against
such teaching.
When a person claims to have gotten rid of the sin nature, he
thereby claims equality with the Lord Jesus Christ, and is according
to the Word, deceived, for we read, "If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).
Note that John writes his epistle to "my little children" and not
to the unsaved, as many, if not all eradicationists contend. He does
not say the believer must sin, but since he possesses a sin nature, he
is liable to sin. The source of sin in the believer is the fallen
nature inherited from Adam. In another section of the book we shall
see what God has done with the sin nature.
Sin In Action
"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
This is sin of commission and omission. It is against the revealed
will of God--a failure to act in accordance with His infinitely holy
and righteous character. This aspect of sin renders man a sinner in
thought, word, and deed, when he reaches the age of accountability. It
is in the Scriptures described by the following terms:
Transgression--This means a breaking over or the overstepping of
the Law, which is God's boundary between good and evil.
"According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my
transgressions" (Psalm 51:1); "Neither transgressed I at any time thy
commandment" (Luke 15:29). "For where no law is, there is no
transgression" (Rom. 4:15); "Why do ye also transgress the commandment
of God by your tradition?" (Matt. 15:3).
Man is a rebel by nature and that nature breaks out in open
rebellion against God and His holy Law.
Iniquity--This is an act inherently wrong whether definitely
forbidden or not. It gathers into itself the thought of perverseness,
crookedness and that which is warped and bent out of shape.
"We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done
wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and
from thy judgments" (Dan. 9:5).
"Who forgiveth all thine iniquities: Who healeth all thy
diseases" (Psalms 103:3).
"And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched
thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged"
(Isa. 6:7).
Error--This is a departure from that which is right in deed or in
doctrine.
"Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth, and the spirit of error" (1
John 4:6).
"Who can understand his errors" (Psalm 19:12).
Missing the Mark--This is a failure to measure up to the divine
standard--God's character. "All have sinned and come short of the
glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
Trespass--This is against the infinitely holy and righteous
character of God. It is an intrusion of self-will into the sphere of
divine authority. God is outraged by every sin, whether it be that of
a sinner, or a saint.
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses" (Col. 2:13).
Lawlessness--"Sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4). Personal sins
persisted in become lawlessness. It is spiritual anarchy.
Unbelief--"Of sin because they believe not on me" (John 16:9).
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not
is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).
Unbelief is an insult to the divine veracity. No wonder we are
told that "without faith it is impossible to please him" (Heb. 11:6).
It is the easily besetting sin (Heb. 12:1), and the one all condemning
sin (John 16:9; 3:18).
Sin As a Judicial Reckoning
This is a dispensational aspect of sin, and is the result of the
divine reckoning against the whole race.
Before the Cross there was a positional difference between the
Jew and the Gentile. Morally there was no difference, because they
both sprang from the same common stock and were sinners by imputation,
in nature, and in practice.
By the judicial reckoning all were brought down to the same level
and all differences between them were done away. This truth is summed
up in the words of the Apostle Paul when he writes, "What then? Are we
better? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are all under sin" (Rom. 3:9); "But the scripture
hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe" (Gal. 3:22).
When Paul says, "All are under sin," he does not mean that all
have sinned in the same degree, or that all are guilty of the same
crimes, for we know they are not. But he does mean that the best
moralist is as much lost and undone as the one that is guilty of the
worst of sins.
We do not say their punishment will be the same if they go out of
this world in their lost condition, because the lost will be judged
according to their works as we read, "And I saw the dead, great and
small, standing before the throne. And the books were opened; and
another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and
death and hell (hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and
they were judged every man according to their works" (Rev. 20:12, 13).
We repeat that death in its every aspect is the "wages of sin,"
and the punishment is over and above that.
The judicial reckoning of sin also means that God absolutely
refuses to credit man with any good works done before he is saved. We
are saved by grace, and grace does not recognize any works as
meritorious in salvation.
The positional difference, which obtained between the
Circumcision and the Uncircumcision before the Cross, will be seen by
a comparison of Rom. 9:4, 5 with Eph. 2:12. In Paul's letter to the
Romans we read, "Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for
ever. Amen." To the Ephesians he writes, "That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without
God in the world."
The Jew had all the advantages and blessings; the Gentiles had
nothing. Through the Cross this difference was removed. This does not
mean that the Gentiles were raised to the level of the Jews, but
rather that the Jews were placed on a level with the Gentiles; from
the two classes, now on the same level, God saves all who believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and makes of the two "one new man," which is
the Church, the body of Christ.
This important truth is also found in the Gospels, and because it
has been ignored by many, and denied by not a few, it has led to
hopeless confusion--promises made to Israel as God's earthly people,
have been transferred to the church.
The difference that obtained between the Jew and the Gentile is
revealed in the words of our Lord when He commanded His disciples,
saying, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into a city of the
Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel" (Matt. 10:5, 6). At another time Christ said, "I am not
sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 15:24).
Why were the Gentiles shut out in this way? This is a fair
question. According to the Scriptures man had utterly failed during
the first three dispensations: the first ended in wilful disobedience
on the part of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1-7); the second ended in moral
perversion (Gen. 6:1-8); and the third ended in organized rebellion
(Gen. 11:1-4).
In the first chapter of Romans it is three times stated, "God
gave them up" (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28), but however, not until they had
completely turned away from Him. We read, "Because that, when they
knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but
became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and
changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping
things" (Rom. 1:21-23). "Wherefore God gave them up."
Abraham lived amongst an idolatrous people when he was called to
leave his country. We are told, "Joshua said unto all the people, Thus
saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of
the flood (river) in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and
the father of Nachor: and they served other gods" (Joshua 24:2).
During the present dispensation of Grace, God does not deal with
Israel as a nation. He deals with both Jew and Gentile alike as
individuals. They are all "under sin," and all that are saved have
been saved by grace, through faith, "Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5).
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel: whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an
apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles" (2 Tim. 1:9-11).
CHAPTER IV
The Result of God's Judgment Upon Adam's Original Sin
It is clearly revealed in the Scriptures that God came down in
judgment and pronounced His righteous sentence upon Adam. We read,
"For the judgment was by one to condemnation" (Rom. 5:16). Since this
has to do with Adam's first sin, we are not concerned with the sins he
committed after he became a sinner.
Some contend against this aspect of truth, and say that God came
down only in love, seeking for Adam, just as He today seeks the lost.
Yes, God is love, but do not forget that He also is a "consuming
fire," and that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a
living God." Remember, too, that every judgment results in either the
condemnation or the acquittal of the accused one.
The extent of the penalty indicates the proportion of guilt. So,
in the divine judgment upon Adam because of his sin, the proportion of
his guilt is revealed in the following results:
1. Total Depravity
"Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all
ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a
natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in sin, is
not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare
himself thereto" (Westminster Confession).
The doctrine of total depravity, which declares that all men are
dead in sin, with no ability whatsoever with reference to that which
is good, is not to the liking of the natural man, and especially not
to the moralists. It does not mean that all men are equally bad, nor
as bad as they could be, But it does mean that since the Fall, man
rests under the curse of sin, that he is prompted by wrong principles,
and that he is wholly unable to love God or to do anything that merits
salvation. Concerning this Paul writes, "What then? Are we better than
they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are under sin; as it is written, There is none
righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is
none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they
are together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no,
not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they
have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood:
destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have
they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom.
3:9-18). This is God's photograph of the unregenerate, and it is by no
means a flattering one; but it is the one that is absolutely true.
Since the Fall, man has been utterly indisposed to that which is
good, and wholly inclined to that which is evil. His will is biased
against God, and instinctively and willingly he turns to that which is
evil. His will is controlled by his sinful nature. There is much talk
about the free-will of man, and the placing of man's will over against
God's sovereign will. Man is a free agent, but when he possesses no
will with reference to that which is holy, but only to that which is
evil, it is manifest that the natural man possesses no ability to be
willing to exercise holy volitions.
On this subject, Luther, in his "Bondage of the Will," declares,
"Free-will is an empty term, whose reality is lost. And a lost
liberty, according to my grammar, is no liberty at all."
The natural man can, through what is termed "common grace," be
kind; he can love his family and his fellow men and so be a model
citizen. He may give all his possessions for the benefit of his fellow
men, and many other noble deeds may be credited to him; but they are
all worthless, and in no way merit salvation, because these deeds are
not of faith.
The unregenerate are in a state of rebellion against God. They
must give up their rebellion and turn to God from their sins--the
result of trusting in Christ for salvation. Saving faith is produced
(by the Holy Spirit) in the individual, and is therefore to be classed
as a gift of God. "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness"
(Rom. 4:5).
Our Lord said, "For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit;
neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is
known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a
bramble bush gather they grapes" (Luke 6:43, 44).
Before the tree can bring forth good fruit it must be made good.
So also, before a lost and guilty sinner can do any good deed that is
acceptable in God's sight, he must be created anew in Christ Jesus.
But, even then, it is not possible for him to produce any
righteousness through his own efforts. If anything of value, in the
sight of God, is to be produced, it must be wrought in him and not by
him. We read, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3, 4).
To the Philippians Paul writes, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in
my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For
it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure" (Phil. 2:12, 13).
"But I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the
grace of God which was with me" (1 Cor. 15:10).
2. Enslavement to Sin and to Satan
On this subject there is much said in the Word. Our Lord says,
"Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (bondslave) of sin" (John
8:34). Paul writes, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves as
servants (bondmen) to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey." "Ye
were the servants of sin" (Rom. 6:16, 17). "But I am carnal, sold
under sin" (Rom. 7:14).
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world
(age), according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we
all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh and
of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath even as others"
(Eph. 2:1-3).
"Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake
kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the
cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners" (Isa.
14:16, 17).
"And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the
devil, who are taken captive by him at his will" (2 Tim. 2:26).
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage" (Heb. 2:14, 15).
"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the
servants (bondmen) of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of
the same is he brought into bondage" (2 Peter 2:19).
"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil" (Jer. 13:23).
"For when ye were the servants (bondmen) of sin, ye were free
from righteousness" (Rom. 6:20).
Redemption implies bondage. The words employed in the original
text reveal this very definitely. If you are fortunate enough to
possess a Scofield Reference Bible you will find a most helpful
explanation of this truth in Dr. Scofield's comment on Rom. 3:24. *1
3. A Blinded Mind
Knowing that man is a captive of his, and unable to do anything
to merit salvation, and that it is the Gospel that is the power of God
unto salvation, Satan has blinded the minds of the unsaved. We are
told, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In
whom the god of this world (age) hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor. 4:3, 4).
Herein is revealed one of the most fundamental truths in relation
to all evangelistic efforts. Though Satan is not omniscient, he does
know many things, and one of them is that the Gospel of Grace is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. He therefore
does everything possible to keep lost sinners from hearing the Gospel.
He has placed a veil over their minds so that they do not understand
the good news of salvation. Note, "For the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the
power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). They may be perfectly normal with
reference to temporal things; but it is foolishness to them that there
is salvation in believing in Another One and what He has done.
It is reasonable to believe that one is saved by good works. But
God says, No, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man
should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9).
Until this veil is removed, man cannot intelligently exercise
saving faith. The only one that can remove this veil is the Holy
Spirit. He uses the Gospel of Grace in his convicting ministry. Of
this our Lord says, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is
expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And
when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on
me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no
more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John
16:7-11).
These verses contain the very core of the Gospel of Grace, which
is the power of God unto salvation. The word translated "reprove"
means to unveil or to bring to light the true facts regarding God's
plan of salvation.
Much harm has been done by forcing men to make decisions before
this work of the Spirit has been accomplished. When it is
accomplished there will be no need of employing the unscriptural
high-pressure methods that have been resorted to in order to get some
kind of results.
We can trust the Holy Spirit to do His work in this respect as in
every ministry of His in relation to the salvation of lost sinners.
4. Corrupted Affections
"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even
their women did change the natural use into that which is against
nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working
that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain
God in their knowledge, God gave them up over to a reprobate mind, to
do those things which are not convenient" (Rom. 1:26-28).
This is evidently a summing up of the various incidents related
in the Old Testament Scriptures. But we find many of these things
spoken of in the New Testament, and about those "having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof."
5. The Penalty of Sin--Death
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die" (Gen. 2:17).
"Wherefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned" (Rom. 5:12).
"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive" (1 Cor. 15:21, 22).
When Adam sinned the seeds of mortality were sown in his
constitution, and in the course of time he died. All of Adam's
children were born after he was expelled from the garden of Eden,
after he became a sinner. We read, "Adam lived an hundred and thirty
years, and he begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and
called his name Seth" (Gen. 5:3).
Man is born dead in trespasses and sins. He is dead spiritually;
his body is mortal. He is subject to physical death as soon as he
enters this world. He is also under the sentence of the second death,
the lake of fire, which is eternal separation from God. "But the
fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murders, and
whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have
their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is
the second death" (Rev. 21:8).
6. Creation Subjected to Vanity
When He had finished His work in creation, "God saw everything
that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).
In the works of man, language has been strained to its limits to
portray the beauty of creation, and especially the Garden of Eden.
The Psalmist says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament showeth his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). "All things were
created by him, and for him" (Col. 1:16).
"God pronounced His work good, because sin had not entered to mar
its beauty, and disturb its order. The heavens were resplendent with
the glory of their Maker, and the earth was full of His praise. The
trees and the herbs of the field displayed His wisdom and goodness;
the inferior animals were perfect in their kind; and man placed at
their head, was enlightened by reason, and adorned with every moral
excellence. There never was so lovely a sight as our world bearing the
recent impress of the hand which fashioned it. The memory of its
original state conveyed down by tradition, suggested to the heathen
poets their descriptions of the golden age, when earth spontaneously
yielded its fruits, the manners of its inhabitants were simple and
virtuous, and life flowed on smoothly in innocence and peace. The
whole creation declared the glory of God; and man as the priest of
nature, gave a voice to its silent homage, and offered up to the
universal Parent, the pure sacrifices of adoration and thanksgiving."
(Dick)
Surely, it must have been a most beautiful scene to behold! Even
the animal life was beautiful within its realm. Many beautiful scenes
have been produced by the ingenuity and skill of man, but none can
ever approach the original creation in its pristine beauty.
This wonderful creation which was made for the Son of God and the
sons of God was plunged into darkness and ruin through the one act of
disobedience of the first man, Adam. Because of this, his one sin, God
said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of
it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat of the herb of the field; in the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the
ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 3:17-19).
Paul describes the present condition of the earth as "the bondage
of corruption." He says also that creation groans under the pains of
unavailing labor, pangs that bring forth nothing. The blight of sin
rests upon the whole creation, and will continue to do so until the
present order is by power redeemed and delivered "into the liberty of
the glory of the children of God."
There are many Old Testament Scriptures that speak about the
redeemed earth and the conditions that will then obtain. We read, "The
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom
abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of
Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon,
they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God"
(Isa. 35:1, 2).
The whole chapter (Isa. 35) is descriptive of the redeemed earth,
such as it will be during the Kingdom Age, when our Lord will occupy
the throne of His father David, and rule over the house of Jacob.
SECTION TWO
The Law
CHAPTER V
The Law
Introductory Remarks
In section one we have definitely and positively seen that man's
condition apart from the divine remedy for sin is a state of utter
helplessness and hopelessness--a situation beyond human repair.
Through the years, men, conscious of their lost condition and
undone estate, have tried various remedies for their plight. These
attempts bring to mind the words of the Apostle Paul when he says,
"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3). This he says about his own
kinsmen, the Jews: but many others are occupied with the same futile
efforts.
Today, to some under conviction of sin, comes an exhortation to
"forget about it, you are not so bad that you need be so concerned."
Another one says, "You must assert your better self (whatever that
is); fight against the evil you are tempted to do." "Clean up your
past and start all over again," is the advice of many. Some one else
suggests that the troubled one busy himself with social service.
Along comes another, a very solemn appearing one, who suggests to
the afflicted one that, if he but spend more time saying his prayers
and engaging in religious activities, all will be well.
Many are the remedies prepared and advocated by all kinds of
religious quacks.
A Christian to many of these is one who has been born in a
so-called Christian land. Others, in an effort to become Christians,
endeavor to imitate Christ; to be His followers, to stand for His
ideals and to follow His example.
Perhaps the most common of all is the old, old remedy, "Do the
best you can to keep the Ten commandments, and to live according to
the Sermon on the Mount."
This seems very reasonable and appeals to the flesh, because it
gives man something to glory in, but not before God. This is but an
attempt to establish a righteousness of his own, and in so doing, he
does not submit to the righteousness of God.
Because of the almost universal confusion and uncertainty
prevalent today concerning the true and scriptural teaching about the
Law, it is of the utmost importance and very necessary to be informed
as to its true character and purpose.
When the Apostle Paul writes, "Moreover the law entered," he
implies that there was a time when there was no Law; when he writes,
"It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made" (Gal. 3:19), he reveals that the Law was a
temporary institution. We shall consider this subject under four
sub-divisions.
Conditions Before the Law
When Adam sinned in the garden he transgressed the express
commandment of God. That is why the Apostle Paul refers to his
original sin as a transgression, which means an overstepping of the
Law, the divine boundary between good and evil. He also makes it known
that there was no Law from Adam to Moses. He says, "Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after
the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that
was to come" (Rom. 5:14). Some see in this statement of the apostle a
reference to infants only. However in another place Paul says, "For
where no law is, there is no transgression" (Rom. 4:15).
That God and His demands were the same we do not question for a
moment; also that sin was as sinful from Adam to Moses, as it now is
and ever will be, we are sure no one will question. God cannot demand
less during one age than in another. He is immutable; His infinitely
perfect character does not change. When we say there was a time when
there was no Law, we refer to the Mosaic Law.
The Law in any form whatsoever is a reflection of His inherent
Law--His infinitely holy and righteous character.
To prove that Adam's original sin was imputed to his posterity,
Paul says, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression."
The Nature of the Law
"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for
the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for
unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,
for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with
mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if
there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine" (1 Tim.
1:8-10).
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just,
and good. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold
under sin" (Rom. 7:12, 14).
The Law is unrelated to faith. Paul writes, "This only would I
learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by works of the law, or by the
hearing of faith?" (Gal. 3:2). Paul wrote the Epistle to the Galatians
as God's answer to legalism.
Law and works are inseparably linked together; Israel's blessings
were conditional. When Moses restated the Law, he said to the people,
"Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments,
which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them
in the land whither ye go to possess it: that thou mightest fear the
LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I
command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of
thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged" (Deut. 6:1, 2).
In the Epistle to the Galatians we read, "Knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for
by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Gal. 2:16). "For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which
are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10).
The Law was given to Israel as God's covenant people, and not to
make them such. Before the Law was given Israel was under grace. God
said to them, "I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto
myself" (Exodus 19:4). The only responsibility imposed upon man under
the Abrahamic covenant was that he remain in the place of
blessing--the Land, Palestine.
God proposed the Law, and Israel accepted it. They said, "All
that the LORD hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8), thus taking an
impossible merit system in exchange for pure grace. It was given to
that nation as God's rule of life for His earthly people.
Under the Law God said, "If you will be good, I will bless you."
Under grace He says, "I have blessed you, now you be good."
The Law was given by Moses, who also was its chief exponent (John
1:17). It came by the disposition of angels (Acts 7:53). Paul says,
"It was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (Gal. 3:19).
As it was given the first time, the Law contained only the Ten
Commandments. Have you ever stopped to consider what would have
happened to Israel if the Law had remained in its original form?
Without any provision in the Law for the forgiveness of sins, the
nation would soon have perished.
When Moses received the Law the second time there was added to it
the means by which a transgressor could be forgiven. It was in three
parts: the Ten Commandments, expressing the holy and righteous will of
God (Ex. 20:1-26); the judgments, governing the civil or social life
of Israel (Ex. 21:1-24:11); the ordinances, governing the religious
life of the covenant people (Ex. 24:12-31:18).
Remember the Law was, and is, as inflexible as God's infinitely
holy and righteous character. Under the Law it was not a matter of
trying to keep the Law. The one who did not obey it had to suffer the
consequence. The ordinances prescribed the offering the sinning
Israelite was to provide when he sinned. But there were sins for which
there was no offering or sacrifice. There were some things from which
man could not be justified by the Law of Moses (Acts 13:39).
CHAPTER VI
What the Law Could Not Do
We have seen that the Law is holy, just, good, and spiritual;
also we are absolutely sure that it has accomplished its God-given
purpose. But note some things it could not do:
1. It Prescribed Duty, But Provided No Motive
The Ten Commandments disclose man's duty toward God, and also his
duty to his fellow men.
In the Judgments, the portion of the Law that governed the civil
life of Israel and in the Ordinances which governed the religious life
of the nation, one finds duty prescribed in the minutest detail.
However, the Law provided no motive to do what was commanded, but
rather excited the passions of the natural man. Paul says, "For when
we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death" (Rom. 7:5); "But
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead" (Rom. 7:8).
2. It Demanded Obedience, But Could Not Make Man Obedient
"For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the
doers of the law shall be justified" (Rom. 2:13). Since no one ever
did do the Law, no one was ever justified by it.
This obedience had to be no less than one hundred per cent
perfect. God could not accept anything less. Some one has said, "The
law is a stern taskmaster," and so it is. But although the Law
demanded obedience of man, it could not make him obedient. Forbid a
child to do something which he has never thought of doing, and at once
he will long to do it. A story is told about a man in a city of Italy,
who had never been beyond the confines of the city in which he was
born and had lived all his life. This man declared that he had no
desire whatsoever to leave the city. The ruling governor heard about
the man and what he had said, and sent him a strict order forbidding
him ever to leave his beloved city. From that time on to his dying day
he wanted to go. "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought
in me all manner of concupiscence."
3. The Law Required Righteousness, But Could Not Make Man
Righteous
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit" (Rom. 8:3, 4).
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one
that believeth" (Rom. 10:4).
The Mosaic Law as the rule of life for God's earthly people
demanded righteousness and that no less than one hundred per cent
perfect. The Law was absolutely inflexible in its demands, and not a
sort of an accordion affair that could be adjusted to suit the
individual. It could not justify nor make man righteous, for we read,
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that
we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of
the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified"
(Gal. 2:16); "I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if
righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal.
2:21); "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be
justified in his sight" (Rom. 3:20).
4. The Law Revealed Sin, But Could Not Remove It
Just as a ray of sunlight will reveal dust on a piece of
furniture, so the Law reveals sin. The brighter the sunlight, the
clearer the dust is revealed. This is also true concerning the Law,
for we are told, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust,
except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7).
The Law no more creates the sin than the sunlight creates the
dust, Neither can the Law remove the sin any more than the sunlight
the dust. But thank God, there is a mighty power that can remove
sin--"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." "Unto him that
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5).
5. The Law Enslaved Men, But Could Not Set Them Free
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal.
5:1).
The Epistle to the Galatians is God's answer to every form of
legalism. Judaizing teachers had come into the churches in Galatia
teaching them that it was necessary to add the works of the Law to the
finished work of Christ on the Cross. Again and again we find it
stated in the Scriptures that legalism is an enslaving yoke. The
message of Galatians is very much needed in our time. Everywhere one
finds the Lord's people struggling under the "yoke of bondage." In
Gal. 4:9 we read, "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather
are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements,
whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" In the Book of Acts we
read what Peter declared when the apostles and the elders met in
council at Jerusalem. "And the apostles and elders came together for
to consider of this matter (circumcision). And when there had been
much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren,
ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the
Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe.
And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the
Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us
and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye
God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they" (Acts
15:6-11).
These verses plainly teach that the Law enslaves men, but there
is no word that tells us that the Law could liberate those in bondage.
Not one had fulfilled the high and holy demands of the Law for the Law
is an impossible merit system.
Legalism denies the finished work of Christ on the Cross. It robs
the believer of his liberty and hinders him in his spiritual progress.
It produces stunted Christians.
6. The Law Condemned to Death the Best of Men, But Could Not
Give Life
When the Apostle Paul asks the question, "Who is he that
condemneth?" (Rom. 8:34), he evidently has the Law in mind. We have
seen in a previous chapter that God's judgment upon Adam's original
sin resulted in the condemnation of all men. Then the Law came in and
confirmed this judgment and its results. James says, "For whosoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
all" (James 2:10).
When a certain lawyer stood up and tempted our Lord, asking,
"Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25), he
was by the Lord brought face to face with the Law and its demands. He
answered correctly when he was questioned concerning the Law, and to
his answer the Lord replied, "This do, and thou shalt live."
He had not met the requirements of the Law; he could not meet
them and so could not receive life through the Law. We are told, "For
if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law" (Gal. 3:21).
7. The Law Made Nothing Perfect
The Law prescribed duty, but provided no motive; it demanded
obedience, but could not make man obedient; it required righteousness,
but could not justify; it revealed sin, but could not remove it; it
enslaved men, but could not set them free; it condemned and killed the
best of men, but could not give life. No wonder the apostle says, "The
law made nothing perfect."
There was nothing wrong with the Law. It was as perfect as the
author of it. Paul reveals the reason for the inability of the Law
when he says, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh." The trouble was with the flesh and not with the
Law. The flesh is powerless for that which is good. The natural man is
a total failure with reference to righteousness.
I may have a lever strong enough to raise an object weighing many
tons, but if my fulcrum is of cardboard I cannot accomplish my task
though the lever be perfect.
CHAPTER VII
"Wherefore Then Serveth the Law"
Since it is so clearly revealed in the Scriptures that the Law
could not justify, save, nor make man good--in other words that the
Law was not given as a cure or remedy for man's lost condition, many
ask, "Why then the Law?"
Remember, it was given as the rule of life to a people already
chosen by God. It was not given to give life nor to make them a
covenant nation.
When God proposed the Law, Israel said, "All that the LORD hath
spoken we will do." Did they do it? No. Could they do it? No, never.
Did God expect them to do it? No. Why then the Law?
According to the Scriptures, the Law was given for certain
specific purposes. Note some of them:
1. To Give the Knowledge of Sin
The enormity and heinousness of sin are made conspicuous by the
Law, inasmuch as sin makes even that which is in itself good, an
incentive to evil. We read, "But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence" (Rom. 7:8).
Note carefully the faithful testimony of the following verses of
Scripture: "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound"
(Rom. 5:20); "Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not
known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Rom. 7:7);
"That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful" (Rom.
7:14); "For by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20).
Paul says, "For without the law sin was dead (Rom. 7:8). It was
through the Law that he discovered how very much alive sin was. Apart
from the knowledge of the true purpose of the Law, sin was apparently
inactive and unobserved and he was very much pleased with himself as
his words in Phil. 3:6 reveal. There he says, "Touching the
righteousness which is in the law, blameless." This is what he refers
to when he says, "For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (Rom. 7:9).
Note the four results of the coming in of the commandment, when
he, Paul, saw the holy and spiritual character of the Law: it excited
his evil passions (Rom. 7:5); it produced the knowledge of sin (Rom.
7:7); "For sin, taking occcasion by the commandment, deceived me"
(Rom. 7:11); the Law slew him (Rom. 7:11). "For I through the law am
dead to the law" (Gal. 2:19).
2. That Every Mouth May Be Stopped
Man likes to be under the Law because it gives him something to
glory in, something to boast about--not before God, but before man.
The incident of the rich young ruler related in the Gospels
(Matt. 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23), serves well to
illustrate this purpose of the Law. We see here one who, as he himself
declared, had observed every point of the Law from his youth up; yet
concerned about his spiritual state, he came to Christ earnestly
seeking to perfect his ways. He approached Christ on legal ground,
saying, "Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Christ
answered the young man by referring him to the Law. In answer" to the
young man's second question, "What lack I yet?" Christ showed him that
he had not fully kept the Law. Neither was he ready and willing to do
so, for he went away sorrowful--silenced by the Law.
Note that the young man asked what he should do to inherit
eternal life. What we inherit belongs to us by right and title; it is
legally ours. No one inherits eternal life; it is the gift of God's
grace.
Another incident shows how those appealing to the Law were
silenced by it. "And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a
woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they
say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very
act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned:
but what sayest thou?" (John 8:3-5). After He had stooped down and
written on the ground, He said, "He that is without sin among you, let
him first cast a stone at her" (John 8:7). Then when He had again
stooped down and written on the ground, the woman's accusers were
silenced. We are told, "And they which heard it, being convicted by
their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest,
even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing
in the midst" (John 8:9).
3. The Law Was Given To Bring Man Under Judgment to God
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to
them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God" (Rom. 3:19).
We have seen that the Law detects sin, and reveals it in its true
character, and that it strips a man of his own righteousness, and
silences his mouth.
Here we see the sinner as a criminal at the bar of justice, with
no one to plead his case. He is adjudged guilty of the greatest crime
in the Universe--SIN. No excuses for past failures avail, and no
promises for future reform are considered. He stands there a helpless,
hopeless, and speechless criminal; and but for the mercy of God would
be forever banished from His presence.
4. The Law Was Added Because of Transgressions
"It was added for the sake of defining sin" (Weymouth). The Law
defines sin, and gives to it the character of transgression. "Because
the law worketh wrath: for where no law is there is no transgression"
(Rom. 4:15). Adam's original sin was a transgression. He had a
definite command to refrain from eating of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. That is why Paul says, "Them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression" (Rom. 5:14).
In a certain town there was no law against riding a horse on the
sidewalks. Later, a law was passed against such an act. It was just as
dangerous to pedestrians and just as injurious to the walk before the
law was passed as afterwards. But while it was an offence before, it
was not a transgression until there was an express commandment to be
broken. So sin was in the world before the Law was given, but it was
not a transgression until after the entrance of the Law. It came in to
reveal and not to remove sin; not to keep from sin, but because sin
had already entered.
5. The Law Was Given To Curse and Condemn
"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a
blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I
command you this day: and a curse, if ye will not obey the
commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which
I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not
known" (Deut. 11:26-28).
Though Israel had promised to do all that the LORD had spoken,
she was not able to do it, and was therefore under the curse and
condemnation of the Law.
Regarding the Law and its ministration the Apostle Paul says,
"For if the ministration of condemnation be glory" (2 Cor. 3:9). This
he says about the Law engraved with letters on stone--the Ten
Commandments--and not the ceremonial Law as some would have us
believe. To the Galatians he writes, "For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of
the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10); "Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13).
6. The Law Was Given To Minister Death
"But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in
stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not
stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance,
which glory was to be done away" (2 Cor. 3:7). "The letter killeth" (2
Cor. 3:6).
"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment
came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained
to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me" (Rom. 7:9-11). And, "For
I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God"
(Gal. 2:19).
When Paul's words in Romans 7:10 are rendered, "And the
commandment was ordained to life" it is evident that the words "was
ordained" have been added by the translators because they are in
italics. From the whole body of truth regarding the Law we know that
the Law was not ordained to life, but to death.
With reference to when and where the Law slew Saul of Tarsus men
are not agreed. Some say it was when he was on the way to Damascus to
persecute the believers there. Others contend that it was when he was
alone with the Lord in the Arabian Desert.
But one place is revealed where it could and did actually come to
pass; that place was the Cross. It was on the Cross that "our old man
was crucified." It was there that the Apostle Paul and all other true
believers were slain by the Law.
We have already seen that the Law could not give life, but could
only curse, condemn and kill. Therefore the believer is dead to the
Law, and it was the Law itself which killed him. He is dead to the
Law, not through suicide, but through execution. We are told, "That if
one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Cor. 5:14).
7. The Law Was Given To Be a Tutor Unto Christ
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ"
(Gal. 3:24).
Some consider this ministry of the Law in relation to Israel to
be practically that of a truant officer conducting Israel to Christ.
SECTION THREE
Christ--The Second Man
CHAPTER VIII
The Incarnation
Introductory Remarks
In our previous studies we have seen that sin entered the world
through one man, that Adam's original sin was not mere lawlessness in
character, but actual transgression, and that his original sin is
imputed to every member of the Adamic race, so that all are
constituted sinners.
It has also been demonstrated that man has no ability whatsoever
to redeem himself, or to do any righteous deed that in any way merits
salvation. His life as a sinner counts for nothing but sin in the
sight of God. With reference to righteousness, man is a total failure.
All his good deeds are as "filthy rags." He is always evil with no
compensating good whatsoever.
The Law was given, but not as a cure or remedy for man's lost
condition. Instead of being a means of bringing man back to God, it
made his case all the more hopeless, because it clearly revealed his
inability to measure up to the high and holy demands of an infinitely
righteous God.
On this dark background God paints His marvelous story of
redeeming love. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life."
It may appear to some from what we have seen in the preceding
chapters, that God was defeated. But such is not the case. God could
not be defeated for, "He worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will."
We have noted that man's estate as a sinner is beyond repair as
far as human help goes. Yes, it is so bad that instead of attempting
to patch up the old Adamic line, God starts an entirely new thing by
putting forth "the Second Man"--the Lord from heaven.
The Incarnation
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3).
What the Law could not do--justify, save, nor make man good--God
could, and did do, when He sent His own Son into the world.
When sin entered the world, God at once announced the coming of
the "Seed of the woman"--the Redeemer. Of Him and His coming it was by
the Old Testament prophets predicted that He should be both God and
man, divine and human. We read, "For unto us a child is born, unto us
a Son is given" (Isa. 9:6). "A child is born" speaks of His humanity;
as man He began to be when He was born in Bethlehem. "A Son is given"
tells of His deity; as God He always was. His coming into the world
was a miracle, as we will see more fully in another connection.
"But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law" (Gal. 4:4).
The Biblical Reasons for the Incarnation
1. The Son of God Became Incarnate To Reveal God to Man. "No man
hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (John 1:18). The word
translated "declared" means "to lead out," "to make visible."
Concerning Him we read, "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the
light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can
see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Tim. 6:16).
Christ came in the flesh that He might bring God within the range
of human vision. This He did so perfectly that He could say, "He that
hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).
He came in the flesh that He might make God known as Father. He
said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou
hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes. Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the
Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" (Matt. 11:25-27). Note
the blessed result of knowing God as Father--"And ye shall find rest
to your souls." Have you so learned to know Him? If not, listen to the
words of our Lord, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your
souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:28-30).
Christ came in the flesh to manifest the love of God. Sometime
ago I decided to make a study of God's love. In vain I searched the
first four books of the Bible for some direct reference to the love of
God. But when I turned to the New Testament I was even more surprised.
I found that the first direct reference to God's love is John 3:16.
(There is but an incidental allusion to God's love in the Gospel
according to Luke.) Since "God is Love" we know that He loved, and
still loves with an everlasting love. The measure of God's love is
revealed in the letter to the Romans, where we read, "For when we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more
then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved
by his life" (Rom. 5:6-10).
Christ came in the flesh to enthrone grace. "For ye know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2
Cor. 8:9); "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, and righteously, and godly, in this present
world (age); looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13). "Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
2. The Son of God Became Incarnate in Order That He Might Reveal
Man. In the Gospel records are revealed the moral glories of our
Lord--what He, during the days of His flesh, was as God's ideal
man--and as such He is the example for the believer. Peter says, "For
even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps" (1 Peter
2:21). In this same line of truth Paul writes, "Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5).
According to the Apostle John, "He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6).
While here on earth among men, our Lord walked in the light; He
walked in perfect love; He walked in righteousness; He walked in the
power of the anointing and in total dependency upon the Holy Spirit.
Following His example does not save. It is for the saved ones
only that He is the example.
3. The Son of God Became Incarnate To Be the Mediator Between God
and Man. We read, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:3).
A mediator is one who intervenes between two persons at variance.
By the entrance of sin into the world, man and God were separated so
that mediation between them has ever since been a necessity.
Moses was the mediator of the covenant which God made with Israel
at Sinai; therefore, the Law is said to have been given "in the hand
of a mediator."
Job recognized the need of a mediator when he said, "For he is
not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come
together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman (mediator) betwixt
us, that might lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9:32, 38).
The union of the divine and the human natures in one person,
theologically called "the hypostatical union" is the ground of perfect
mediation.
4. The Son of God Became Incarnate To Provide the Sacrifice for
Sin. "If a man sin he shall bring an offering." "Without the shedding
of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22).
As sinners we needed a sacrifice for our sin and our sins. God's
infinitely holy and righteous character and His government demanded,
and that absolutely, inflexibly, and eternally, that your sin, and my
sin, be duly and fully punished, for infinite justice must be met and
satisfied as regards all sin.
Through sin, all were shut up to judgment. Guilty and unable to
provide any offering that was acceptable in His sight, we were going
to certain punishment, for we read, "And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). Such was man's
plight. If anything was to be done for him, God only could do it. The
whole human family were condemned criminals and positively unable to
atone for their crimes. A hopeless case! Yes, apart from God's
gracious provision in Christ Jesus.
You remember the story recorded in the twenty-second chapter of
Genesis. Abraham, in response to God's command, was on his way up the
mountain when Isaac turned to his father and asked about the lamb for
the burnt offering. Abraham answered, "My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for the burnt offering" (Gen. 22:8). Thanks be unto
Him! for when we had nothing to bring, He in infinite love and mercy
provided the lamb for the burnt offering in the person of His own Son.
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John
1:29). "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes we are healed" (1 Pet.
2:24). "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3).
Personally, I accepted that sacrifice for my sin and my sins more
than thirty-eight years ago. That sacrifice is still efficacious and
ever will be; therefore I need never seek for any other sacrifice and
neither need you. Brother, believe it; sinner, receive it!
"By His immaculate sacrifice, the covenant is confirmed, its
promises are sure to His spiritual seed, and there is no condemnation
to those who believe in Him" (Dick).
"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the
purifying of the flesh: how much more shall not the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb.
9:12-14).
5. Christ Came in the Likeness of Sinful Flesh To Be a Merciful
and Faithful High Priest. "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to
be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people" (Heb. 2:17).
The sinner needed the sacrifice for his sins; the believer needs
the priest. Christ coming in the flesh supplied both needs: On the
Cross He did everything necessary for the sinner's salvation; His
great high priestly ministry as Intercessor and Advocate is for His
own.
Concerning His high priestly ministry we read, "Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us" (Rom. 8:34). "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25).
"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us" (Heb. 9:24). "And if any man sin, we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he
is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for
the whole world" (1 John 2:2).
6. The Son of God Became Incarnate To Destroy the Works of the
Devil. "For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might
destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). "Forasmuch then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil; and to deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage"
(Heb. 2:14, 15).
In the Old Testament we read that he opened not the house of his
prisoners (Isa. 14:17). Paul says, "And having spoiled (stripped or
disarmed) principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:15).
7. The Son of God Became Incarnate To Fulfil the Davidic
Covenant. "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his
kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:31, 32). In His glorified human
body He will appear and reign as "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS"
(Rev. 19:16).
His right and title to the throne are absolutely established by
the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. Had this not been absolutely
certain, His bitterest enemies, the Pharisees, would have made use of
the fact when they sought for something against Him.
In the Old Testament we read, "Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon
his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with
justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this" (Isa. 9:7). "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD,
that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the
earth" (Jer. 23:5).
8. The Son of God Became Incarnate To Be the Head Over All Things
to the Church. "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him
to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the
fulness of him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:22, 23).
The church is "the mystery which was kept secret since the world
began" (Rom. 16:25). To the Apostle Paul was given the complete
revelation concerning this mystery (Eph. 3:1-7).
The church, which is His body, is, as we will see later in our
studies, the supreme product of the death, burial and resurrection of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word makes a distinction between the first principles of the
teaching of Christ and the deep things of God. The first is concerning
God's purpose in the earth--the Messianic Kingdom, the mediatorial
reign of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the throne of His father David.
The deep things of God are concerning God's purpose for heaven--the
Church, the heavenly company, "the bringing of many sons unto glory."
CHAPTER IX
The Virgin Birth
Three Reasons Why the Virgin Birth of Christ Was Absolutely Necessary
1. It Was Necessary in Order That Prophecy Might Be Fulfilled.
Three Old Testament prophecies and one in the New Testament
absolutely demand that the Messiah be born of a virgin. "The Scripture
cannot be broken" (John 10:35).
In the Old Testament we are told, "And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15).
This prophecy has always been interpreted to refer to Christ, who
would finally overcome Satan, and then set up His Kingdom on the
earth. The word "seed" (Greek "sperma") when used in the Scriptures
concerning human beings, always refers to the father and not the
mother, with this one exception.
The Messiah must be both the son of David, and of the seed of
David. The word "son" may express natural, or blood relationship, but
it may also express merely legal relationship. Saul called David "my
son," evidently on the ground that David was his son-in-law (1 Sam.
24:16) and not a real son by blood. Joseph was a son of David; Christ
was the legal son of Joseph and therefore the son of David. Since Mary
was a direct descendant by blood from David (which a careful
comparison of the genealogies of our Lord in Matthew and Luke will
reveal), it is therefore evident that to be the seed of this woman was
to be of the seed of David.
This is in keeping with the prophecy in Isaiah, "Behold, a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel"
(Isa. 7:14). According to Matthew this prophecy was fulfilled by the
birth of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:22).
We also read, "For the LORD hath created a new thing in the
earth, a woman shall compass a man" (Jer. 31:22). The virgin birth of
our Lord was a new thing in the earth. It was something that had never
before been, and has never since been repeated.
Being the legal son of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and of the
seed of David on His mother's side these prophecies were fulfilled.
This harmonizes with the New Testament prophecy, in which the angel
said to Mary, "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring
forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God" (Luke 1:31, 35).
2. The Virgin Birth of Christ Was Necessary That He Might Be
Entitled to the Throne of His Father David.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God disclosed a bar and a ban upon
the royal line of Judah. Jeremiah says, "Is this man Coniah (Jeconiah,
Jehoiakin) a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no
pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast
into a land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, hear the word
of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD: Write ye this man childless, a man
that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall
prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in
Judah" (Jer. 22:28-30). Coniah was the last king in the royal
succession to occupy the throne of David. He was not childless, for
we are distinctly told that he had children. We read, "And the sons of
Jeconiah; Assir, Salathiel his son" (1 Chron. 3:17); "And after they
were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel" (Matt. 1:12).
The title to the throne of David must descend through the line of
Coniah. There was no other way. But note, that every natural
descendant of this man was barred from the throne. In order that
Christ might occupy the throne of His father David He must establish
His legal right through the line that rested under the pronounced
curse.
He must be a son of David: through the male line of succession,
so that He might occupy the throne of David, but in order that He
might escape the curse pronounced upon that line, He must not be the
seed of Coniah. Christ was the son of David and also of the seed of
David. For in Matthew 1:16 we read, "Jacob begat Joseph, the husband
of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ." He was of
the seed of David on his mother's side.
Joseph was the husband of Mary (married by divine direction)
before the birth of Christ. This made Christ the legal son of Joseph,
without being of the seed of Joseph--the son of David but not of the
seed of Coniah.
Thus we see how Christ, being born of a virgin, met all demands
of prophecy, and at the same time escaped all the bars of prophecy,
thus securing an unmistakable title to the throne of His father David.
3. The Virgin Birth Was Necessary That We Might Have a Saviour.
In the first section of this book we have shown by the writings
of the Apostle Paul that the whole human race sinned in Adam (Rom.
5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22). Adam was the federal head of the race; when he
fell, the whole race fell in him.
Adam was also the natural head of the race; therefore every one
descending from him by natural generation is a partaker of his fallen
sinful nature (Rom. 5:19; Gen. 5:3).
This once and for all barred all the natural descendants of Adam
from the work of redemption from sin, for we read, "None of them can
by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: For
the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever" ("It
must be left alone for ever")--(Psalm 49:7, 8), and so it had to be as
far as mere man was concerned.
Therefore, if man was ever to be saved, some one had to come into
the human race, who did not come under any of the various aspects of
sin.
However, in order to be the sinner's substitute it was necessary
for the Redeemer to be a real man, a kinsman; but to be an adequate
substitute He had to be "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from
sinners." This our Lord would not have been had He been the natural
son of Joseph. He had to be man in order that He might die as the
sacrifice for sin; He had to be God in order that His death might be
efficacious. Being born of the virgin Mary, it was possible for Christ
to be our Saviour.
We have already noted that His virgin birth was predicted in the
Old Testament, and that the words of the angel as recorded by Luke
revealed how it would be accomplished. We read, "And the angel said
unto her, The Holy Ghost [Spirit] shall come upon thee, and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke
1:35).
Paul's statement, "God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh" (Rom. 8:3)), clearly and positively teaches the
pre-existence of our Lord, and His virgin birth. Note how carefully
Paul guards his words in the statement. Had our Lord come in sinful
flesh, He himself would have been in need of a Saviour.
To the Galatians Paul writes, "But when the fulness of time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5).
Concerning the body of our Lord we read, "Wherefore when he
cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me" (Heb. 10:5). Our Lord's body
was especially prepared for Him. The angel referred to Him as "that
holy thing."
CHAPTER X
The One Act of Obedience
"For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19).
In Romans 5:18 the Apostle wrote about "the righteousness of one"
and the result thereof. It is important to note that Paul does not say
the many righteous acts. Every act of our Lord was infinitely
righteous; yet one is singled out from among all the rest, and this
one righteous act was the one that brought salvation to lost sinners.
Many say that it was not absolutely necessary for the Lord Jesus
to die on the Cross; God could have saved lost sinners through some
other means. Others claim that it was through His life of perfect
obedience that we are saved. His infinitely perfect life does enter
into our redemption for just as the Old Testament offerings had to be
perfect both outwardly and inwardly, so Christ as our Sacrifice was
the "Lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19).
Our Lord "knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21), and He committed no sin; He
was therefore the one and the only one that was qualified to suffer in
the place of sinful men. In that aspect His life of perfect obedience
does enter into our redemption from sin. But, and if, our Lord had
lived on in the flesh in infinitely perfect obedience up to this very
moment, we of the Gentiles would still be without a Saviour.
Concerning the Gentiles we are told, "That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without
God in the world" (Eph. 2:12). We also read, "Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing
of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Gal. 3:13,
14).
These Scriptures reveal the absolute necessity of the death of
Christ on the Cross, by the Apostle Paul designated as the supreme act
of obedience on the part of our Lord. He writes, "And being found in
fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8).
Our Lord's obedience unto death is the one righteous act of the
Second Man that reaches unto all unto justification of life, and is
placed over against the one offence of the first man that reached unto
all men unto condemnation.
This one righteous act is what Paul refers to when he defines the
gospel that he preached--"that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). Apart from this one righteous act there
is no gospel--no hope for guilty, lost, undone sinners.
Things Accomplished by the Death of Christ on the Cross.
Before looking into the things that the death of Christ on the
cross accomplished, we shall briefly sum up what we have so far
considered.
Sin, the most awful thing in the Universe, entered the world
through Adam, the first man. His original sin is imputed to the race;
every child of Adam is a partaker of his fallen nature and is
therefore predisposed to sin. Sin so degrades man that he has no
ability whatsoever to do that which is good in the sight of God. Man
is not only a sinner, he is dead in trespasses and sins, and can
produce nothing but sin.
The Law was given to Israel, but not as a cure or a remedy for
man's fallen and lost estate. It was not given to justify, to save nor
to make man good. In that respect it was and still is a total failure.
The Law is good only when lawfully used, and we have seen from the
Word what its true purpose is. The Law could not rescue man from his
lost estate, because "it was weak through the flesh."
Christ, the Eternal Son of God, came into this world in "the
likeness of sinful flesh." He became man, primarily that He might die;
He was born for that very purpose. He was the Lamb provided by God the
Father and as the Lamb of God went all the way to the Cross where He,
the "Second Man," gave Himself as the sacrifice for the sin and the
sins of the first man and his posterity. He had to become man in order
that He might die but He had to be God in order that His death might
be efficacious as the sacrifice for sin. The Cross was both the
supreme manifestation of God's love and the supreme manifestation of
sin.
And now, we are ready to look into the things His death once and
for all accomplished. The Scriptures indicated on the Chart are but a
few of the many that will be considered.
1. On the Cross There Was a Dealing with Imputed Sin -- John 1:29
-- "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
The sin that entered through the first man and which was imputed
to the rest of the race was taken away by the Second Man when He, as
the Lamb of God, died on the Cross.
He was the burnt offering, which typifies Christ offering Himself
without spot to God in pure delight to do His Father's will even unto
death. His sacrifice was voluntary for He said, "No man taketh it (His
life) from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I
received of my Father" (John 10:18).
Through the sacrifice of Christ as the Lamb of God provided for
sin, God was glorified concerning sin. This aspect of the death of
Christ is the ground upon which the innocent child is saved. He dies
because he is guilty in Adam, but is saved, not as some teach, on the
ground of innocency, but because Christ as the Lamb of God took away
the sin of the world.
2. On the Cross There Was a Dealing with Sin in Nature -- 2 Cor.
5:21 -- "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Here the reference is to the sin nature that every one
possesses--what man is in Adam. It has in view Christ's death for sin,
not sins. Christ did not descend by natural generation from Adam and
so He was not involved in Adam's sin. He was "holy, harmless,
undefiled and separate from sinners" (Heb. 7:26). On the Cross, He was
made what we were that we might become or be what He is.
It is not said that Christ was made a sinner but that He was made
sin. There is a vast difference between the two terms. God loves the
sinner but He abhors sin. And yet His own and only beloved Son was
made sin that we might become in Him the righteousness of God.
His death was a judgment upon every aspect of sin. Paul says,
"God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh." (Rom. 8:3). The old sin nature was not
only judged and condemned but it was also executed, for we are told
that "our old man is (was) crucified with him" (Rom. 6:6). We were
identified with Christ on the Cross; had we not been there, He never
would have been there because He was the Sinless One. He had no sins
to suffer for and was therefore deathless--beyond the reach of death.
We also read, "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we
thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Cor.
5:14). Paul uses the Greek aorist tense, so the last phrase should
read, "then all died."
From these Scriptures we learn that our Lord's death on the Cross
was for sin, but it was also unto sin. Sin, the old nature, is
therefore judged, condemned and executed--judicially dead. And so, we,
as believers through the Cross have been delivered from sin, the cruel
master by whom we were held in bondage. "Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:11).
3. On the Cross There Was a Dealing with Sin in Action -- 1 Peter
2:24 -- "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed."
This refers to sins, sin in action. Sin is what we are in Adam,
our sin nature; sins are the outworking of that nature and so what we
ourselves do. Sin is the tree, sins, the fruit.
Christ, as the trespass offering in a very special way, took care
of sin in action. Note carefully that Peter says, "That we, being dead
to sins." Paul tells us that our death with Christ was "unto sin." The
believer is therefore dead unto sin and sins; the shackles of sin and
sins are for ever broken. Being "dead to sins" does not mean that
Christians can no longer sin, but it does mean just what Paul says
when he writes, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin" (Rom. 4:8). Here Paul speaks about the one that God has declared
righteous through faith in Christ. "But to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness" (Rom. 4:5).
One of the immediate results of Adam's original sin was that he
acquired guilt. The whole race was condemned in him. Paul, in the
Epistle to the Romans, in speaking of the full result of the Gospel of
Grace, asks, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It
is God that justifieth" (Rom. 8:33). No, God will never reverse His
verdict. The justified one is cleared of all guilt, past, present and
future. The believer has entered into a new relationship with God. He
is no longer dealt with as a judge deals with a criminal, but rather
as a loving father deals with his child. He will chasten His sinning
child, but never condemn him with the world, "For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world"
(1 Cor. 11:31, 32). The result of this judgment is stated in verse 30
where we read, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and
many sleep" (have died).
4. On the Cross There Was a Final Dealing with Pre-Cross Sins --
Rom. 3:25 -- "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
(passing by) of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."
When Paul says God "passed by" sins, he does not imply that He in
any way made light of sin, for God can not do that. The cross of
Christ is a manifest token that this is impossible. On the cross there
was a final dealing with the sins of the Old Testament saints. We are
told, "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament
(covenant), that by means of death, for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the first testament (covenant), they
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance"
(Heb. 9:15).
Before the cross, animal sacrifices were offered to atone for
(cover) their sins. But it was not possible for the blood of these
sacrifices to take away sins; it only covered them. God forgave their
sins on the ground of what was to be accomplished by Christ on the
cross. There all sins that had been but covered before were completely
blotted out. This is clearly revealed in the Scriptures. "For the life
of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that
maketh an atonement for your soul" (Lev. 17:11). The Hebrew word
translated "atonement" means "covering." Theologically the word
"atonement" has been used as the term covering the whole sacrificial
and redemptive work of Christ. This is not altogether correct
according to the Scriptures. Much more than "atonement" was
accomplished by the cross of Christ. We read, "For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb.
10:4); "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat
down on the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:11, 12).
The legal sacrifices covered the offerer's sins and secured for
him divine forgiveness. They were forgiven on credit; God, so to
speak, gave them a promissory note. This was redeemed on the cross of
Christ.
5. On the Cross There Was a Spoiling Judgment Upon Satan and the
Powers of Evil -- Col. 2:15 -- "And having spoiled principalities and
powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in
it"--The Cross.
When the LORD God pronounced sentence upon Satan way back in the
Garden, He said, "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above
all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt
thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen.
3:14, 15).
For centuries Satan has ruled the world (kosmos) as a usurper
without right and title. He is still the "prince of this world" (John
14:30); and "the god of this age" (2 Cor. 4:4). Before the cross he
had a strangle hold on the Gentiles since they had no way of approach
to God whatsoever. Christ was manifested that He might destroy the
works of the devil (1 John 3:8). This was accomplished on the cross.
Our Lord referred to it when He said, "Now is the judgment of this
world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31),
and, "Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged" (John
16:11). "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil" (Heb. 2:14).
On the cross Satan was stripped or disarmed of the power of
death. He is defeated, a conquered enemy, and under the sentence of
death. In God's own time he will be cast into the lake of fire, the
place especially prepared for him and his angels (Matt. 25:41; Rev.
20:10). For we read, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false
prophet, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev.
20:10).
6. On the Cross the Law Came to An End -- Rom. 7:1-6 -- "Know ye
not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law
hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which
hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he
liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her
husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to
another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be
dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the
motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to
bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law,
that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness
of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one
that believeth" (Rom. 10:4).
The Law was not given as a permanent institution; for we read,
"It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made" (Gal. 3:19).
This plainly teaches that the Law is done away with for that
person who exercises saving faith. This does not mean to merely quit
sinning in action, for if every unsaved person would cease sinning and
never commit another sin as long as they lived, that would not make
one more Christian. For, if one who has broken the Law suddenly begins
to keep it, that does not take care of the Law that has already been
broken. The Law is not established until the full penalty of the
broken Law is paid in full. Christ established the Law by paying the
penalty of the Law and that to an infinite degree.
When a sinner exercises saving faith--ceases from his own work
and trusts in Christ for salvation--he is justified, declared
righteous, and we are told that "Law is not made for a righteous man,
but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners,
for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of
mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile
themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured
persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound
doctrine" (1 Tim. 1:9, 19).
Paul calls the Law "the ministration of death." It was given to
Israel and was the means by which the old creation was slain. Paul
says, "For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God" (Gal. 2:19).
Sin and the Law are inseparably linked together in the
Scriptures. When the Law killed the old man it drove him out of its
realm, beyond its reach. "For he that is dead is freed from sin" (Rom.
6:7).
The Scriptures clearly teach that the Law is done away with both
as the means of justification and as the rule of life and conduct for
the one who through faith in Christ has been justified from all
things, "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is
come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Gal. 3:24,25).
The believer is not under the Law, but under grace. Concerning
this Paul says, "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are
not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14). The grace rule of
life is the heavenly standard; it warrants a heavenly walk of a
heavenly people right here on earth.
Before the cross the Mosaic Law was the divine rule of life for
God's earthly people. The Kingdom Law will be the rule of life during
the Millennium. Between the two legal rules of life stands the
heavenly, a rule of pure grace.
The moral and spiritual values of the Law are carried over into
the teachings of grace, but always and absolutely without the
meritorious feature. All but one (the fourth) of the Ten Commandments
reappear under grace, but without the meritorious feature.
Between the Word of God and modern theology there is an absolute
contradiction with reference to the Law. Modern theology says we are
under the Law as a rule of life. The Word of God says, "But after
faith is come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster" (Gal. 3:25).
With which do you agree?
While it is true that the Law by means of death drove the sinner
out of its realm and beyond its reach, there are many who today are
under the Law. Who are they? and why are they there? Many say the
Jews, to whom the Law was given, are still under the Law. Others
believe the unsaved are under the Law. Neither answer is correct.
Before the cross Israel was under the Law, and as God's covenant
people enjoyed all the privileges and blessings. There was between the
Circumcision and the Uncircumcision a vast difference positionally
(not morally). Concerning Israel Paul writes, "Who are Israelites; to
whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and
the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose
are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who
is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen" (Rom. 9:4, 5). Concerning the
Gentiles he says, "That at that time ye were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world"
(Eph. 2:12).
The cross completely eliminated this difference; not bringing the
Gentiles up to the level of the Jews, but rather by bringing the Jews
down to the level of the Gentiles. They are all "under sin" (Rom. 3:9)
and judicially dead (2 Cor. 5:14). All must come to God through faith
in Christ. Paul says, "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin,
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might come to them that
believe" (Gal. 3:22).
Neither are the unsaved under the Law. There is no rule of life
for a dead person. The issue between God and the unsaved is not how
they are to behave themselves, but what they do with Christ. Preaching
a rule of life to the unsaved is as unreasonable as going into a
mortuary and telling the lifeless bodies that may be there, how to
conduct themselves. No, the message to the lost is the Gospel of God's
grace, which reveals to lost and undone sinners how they may obtain
life.
It is the one who voluntarily places himself on legal ground by
trusting in his works to justify or to keep himself justified and so
complements grace that is under the Law. We read, "For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law" (Gal. 5:3).
It is just as much out of place for a Christian to put himself
under the Law, and so be under the Law and grace at the same time, as
it is for a woman to have two husbands. There are many who are guilty
of spiritual polyandry.
To apply the "by works" principle to the unsaved is to be guilty
of preaching "another gospel"; and to apply the same principle to the
saved is to encourage them to "fall from grace."
The cross brings to an end all that man is, and all that he can
be or do by nature. It ends his life and reckons him dead before God;
a dead man, whose death was the death of one guilty of the greatest
crime in the Universe. To impose the Law upon the one that God has
declared righteous in Christ is but to resurrect the criminal. "Do we
then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish
the law" (Rom. 3:31).
7. On the Cross the Work of Redemption Was Once and For All
Accomplished -- 1 Peter 1:18-20 -- "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were
not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your
vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifested in these last times for you."
To redeem means to loose, to set free or deliver by paying a
price. Man is "sold under sin" (Rom. 7:14); he is under the sentence
of death (Ezek. 18:4). Redemption is by blood and by power. It is
wholly of God both in type and antitype. When the Lord called Moses He
said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in
Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I
know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand
of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good
land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus
3:7, 8). "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." Note that God said "I am come down," and that it
was He who loved, and gave His all for our redemption.
Redemption is through a person, and this person must be a kinsman
of the one that is to be redeemed. We read, "If thy brother be waxed
poor, and hath sold away some of his possessions, and if any of his
kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother
sold" (Lev. 25:25). "After that he is sold he may be redeemed again;
one of his brethren may redeem him; either his uncle, or his uncle's
son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family
may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself" (Lev. 25:48,
49).
But in order that he be able to redeem, the kinsman must not in
any way be involved himself. Christ our Redeemer met this requirement
for He was "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners." A
redeemer must also be willing to redeem. Our Lord said, "No man taketh
it from me, but I lay it down of myself" (John 10:18).
The redemptive work of Christ includes the redemption of the body
(Rom. 8:23); the whole creation (Rom. 8:21); the kingdoms of this
world (Dan. 2:44, 45; Rev. 11:15); and the heavenly realm (Rev.
12:7-12).
8. On the Cross the Work of Reconciliation Was Accomplished --
2 Cor. 5:19 -- "To-wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation."
Reconcile means "to change thoroughly from." It is accomplished
by removing the cause of disagreement or disharmony. It is to restore
peaceful relations between two persons at variance. In the business
world the word reconcile is often used with reference to the balancing
of accounts.
As redemption is toward sin, so reconciliation refers to the
effect of the death of Christ upon man.
It was accomplished on the Cross ("And you, that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he
reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy
and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight" Col. 1:21-22) and it
was while man was yet an enemy ("For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life," Rom. 5:10).
In his letter to the Colossians Paul says, "For it pleased the
Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in
heaven" (Col. 1:20).
"The things on the earth" refers to man. This is clear from other
portions of Scripture. "The things in the heavens" is by some taken to
refer to the fallen angels. One statement of Scripture, however,
excludes, this view. We read, "For verily he took not on him the
nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham" (Heb. 2:16).
In order that He might become the author of eternal salvation, we are
told that, "in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation (propitiation) for
the sins of his people" (Heb. 2:17).
The true meaning of the words of these two verses we understand
to be that the Son of God interposed for the deliverance of men, and
not of angels. He became man in order to provide salvation for men; He
did not become an angel in order to save the angels.
If not the angels, what then in the heavens could be the object
of His work of reconciliation? May we not in this statement see that
there was through the death of Christ a reconciliation between the
attributes of God? His holiness demanded, and that eternally and
inflexibly, that the guilty sinner be punished for his crime. His love
yearned to save and to bless the sinner.
The cross of Christ removed every obstacle, so that God is now
infinitely free to do everything He desires for both the sinner and
the saint.
9. On the Cross the Work of Propitiation Was Accomplished -- Rom.
3:25 -- "Whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past, through the forbearance of God."
"Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation (propitiation) for
the sins of the people" (Heb. 2:17).
Christ, by means of His death, made propitiation; He also is our
propitiation. This work of His tells of the effect of His death upon
God. God is now propitious toward the sinner. He could not save the
sinner apart from blood. In the Old Testament, only the sprinkling of
blood on the Ark of the Covenant could change it from a seat of
judgment to a mercy seat. So the shed blood of Christ provides a
righteous basis upon which an infinitely holy God can meet and commune
with sinful man. In Hebrews 9:5 we read, "And over it the cherubims of
glory shadowing the mercy seat; of which we cannot now speak
particularly."
This is one of God's marvelous provisions for our salvation and
safekeeping. We are told, "Herein is love, not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our
sins" (1 John 4:10); "And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world"
(1 John 2:1, 2).
In and through the Cross of Christ God's holiness was vindicated
rather than His wrath appeased.
10. On the Cross the Ground of the Sinner's Justification Was
Accomplished -- Rom. 4:25 -- "Who was delivered for (because of) our
offences, and was raised again for (because of) our justification."
Had He not been delivered up because of our offences we would
have had to be delivered up because of them. If this is not
substitution, words do no longer have any meaning. The words, "He was
raised again because of our justification" mean that the ground of our
justification was accomplished by His vicarious death. The ground of
our justification was accomplished once and for all, because then
every obstacle was for ever removed and every condemnation that had
come upon man because of sin, was perfectly and righteously taken care
of. Every demand of infinite justice had been met.
Justification is a judicial term. It is the act of declaring
righteous. A judgment will result either in condemnation or
justification. God's judgment upon sin could result in nothing but
condemnation. Concerning this we read, "God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh"
(Rom. 8:3). But when the sinner with the heart believes unto
righteousness, he is justified, declared righteous in Christ, and is
clothed with a robe of righteousness that is infinitely perfect.
Concerning the redemptive work of Christ as the ground of the sinner's
justification, Paul writes, "Being justified freely (without cause) by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 2:24).
Justification is not progressive nor is it something one receives
in portions. A child of God is no more justified after years of
devoted service than he was the day he was saved. It is not something
that takes place in the nervous system nor in the emotional nature of
the individual, but rather something that takes place in the mind and
reckoning of God.
11. On the Cross Peace Was Made -- Col. 1:19, 20 -- "For it
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And having
made peace through the blood of his cross."
Peace is the logical result of reconciliation, the enmity having
been removed. Sinners are often called upon to make their peace with
God. This has already been accomplished once and for all on the
cross--"Having made peace through the blood of his cross."
We are told that, "He is our peace" (Eph. 2:14) and that "He came
and preached peace" (Eph. 2:17). "Therefore being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).
In his letters to the Colossians and to the Philippians Paul
speaks of the "peace of God." This is not the same as the "peace with
God" that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ. All that have been
justified have peace with God. But it is not true that all that have
peace with God enjoy the peace of God. It is in the measure that we
come to know God as our Father that we will experience the peace of
God. Note carefully the context of the words of our Lord, "Come unto
me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"
(Matt. 11:28). It is the Lord Jesus who makes God known as Father, and
that knowledge produces rest of soul.
Note what the peace of God does for the one who has learned to
bring everything to Him. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7).
It will safeguard the heart and mind of the believer just as an army
will garrison a city that is the objective of an enemy. Wonderful
provision that has been made for all sinners saved by grace!
12. On the Cross the Means of Perpetual Cleansing Was Provided --
1 John 1:7 -- "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin."
This is addressed to the Children of God, and it speaks of the
need of perpetual cleansing. Sin is not reckoned as guilt to the one
that God has declared righteous in Christ, but it does defile the
justified one. God cannot have fellowship with a defiled child of His,
but He can and will cleanse, upon one condition, which is "if we walk
in the light."
Walking in the light will reveal that we have sin. The one who
says he has no sin is deceived. The full revelation concerning walking
in the light is given to us by John when he writes, "If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not
sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John
1:8-10).
We repeat, that walking in the light will reveal that we are
still possessors of a sin nature, and that we have therefore sinned.
This will be followed by honest confession, and upon that one
condition God forgives and cleanses.
In the Old Testament this aspect of the work of Christ is
typified by the sacrifice of the red heifer (Num. 19:1-22). The ashes
of the burned animal were mixed with water and sprinkled on the people
as a means of ceremonial cleansing. Ashes speak of a finished
redemption, applied in water--the Word of God.
13. On the Cross the Sting of Death Was Removed -- 1 Cor. 15:55,
56 -- "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The
sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law."
These verses speak of another blessed accomplishment of the
cross. Christ bore the sting of death; it is therefore for ever gone
for the believer. If the Lord tarries, death will overtake us, but the
death and resurrection of our Lord have forever removed its sting.
Many years ago I had a painful experience. Now as I look back
upon it I find it serves to illustrate this particular truth.
It happened on a beautiful summer day at a Sunday School picnic
in western Washington. I was walking along with a friend when suddenly
something hit me on the top of my head. I reached up to remove it and
found a bee. Immediately, I released it. My friend remarked,
"Well--that bee will never sting again."
"Why not?" I wanted to know.
"Because its sting is gone," he replied.
"But where is it?"
"It's in your head," he answered--and that was not difficult for
me to believe.
Just so, though death may overtake us, the sting of death is for
ever gone, for the believer, because Christ bore it on the cross.
No wonder the Apostle Paul speaks about death as he does when he
says, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand" (2 Tim. 4:5).
The Greek word translated "departure" is a nautical word, which
refers to spreading the sails, weighing the anchor and sailing out
into the wide open sea. That is the way Paul looked upon death. He did
not think of contraction but rather expansion, and that of the most
wonderful kind.
This same thought is found in his letter to the Corinthians,
where he says, "For we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God, an house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 5:1).
Death holds no fear for the believer, for when his time on earth
is over, he will enter into a far better realm with the precious
promise that one day his body will be raised again and be glorified,
and so be with the Lord for ever.
14. On the Cross a New and Living Way Was Consecrated -- Heb.
10:19, 20 -- "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."
In the Tabernacle the veil separated the holiest from the holy
place and the outer court. The high priest only could enter within the
veil, but not without blood.
When our Lord died on the Cross the veil in the temple was rent
in twain from the top to the bottom. This signifies that a "new and
living way" is open for all believers into the very presence of God
through Christ our High Priest and Mediator. Apart from Him we have no
access to God, for it is through the shed blood of Christ that the way
is open and consecrated for us. We read, "And having a high priest
over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed With pure water" (Heb. 10:21, 22).
What a wonderful privilege it is, that we, unworthy as we are,
can come into the presence of an infinitely holy and righteous God,
and that we can so come with boldness.
15. On the Cross the New Covenant Was Confirmed -- Heb. 9:15-17
-- "And for this cause he is the mediator of a new testament
(covenant), that by means of death, for the redemption of the
transgressions under the first testament (covenant), they which are
called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a
testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the
testator. For a testament (covenant) is of force after men are dead:
otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."
Here the apostle compares and contrasts the new covenant with the
old, the Mosaic. The Mosaic covenant was sealed with the blood of the
animal sacrifices. The New Covenant was sealed and confirmed with the
blood of Christ. He said, "For this is my blood of the new testament
(covenant), which is shed for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28).
The Mosaic covenant was made with Israel and, according to the
plainest of teaching in the Old Testament and in the New, the New
Covenant was to be made with the same people. In the Old Testament we
read, "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I
took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which
covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the
LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in
their hearts; and will be their God, and they will be my people. And
they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the
least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will
forgive their iniquity, and will remember their sin no more" (Jer.
31:31-34).
During the Kingdom Age, God's earthly people will be under the
New Covenant, and enjoy its blessings. God never made any covenant
with the Gentiles for they were "strangers to the covenants of
promise" (Eph. 2:12).
The child of God is not related to Him on the basis of any
covenant that He has made with man; he is related to Him by birth.
Believers are born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23).
Have we then no part in God's blessings? Of course we have, but
they are secured for us under another covenant, of which we will now
speak.
16. On the Cross the Covenant of Redemption Was Confirmed -- Heb.
13:20 -- "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting (eternal) covenant."
Are not "everlasting" and "eternal" identical in meaning? No,
something may begin today and go on for ever--that is everlasting. But
that which is eternal in the true and full sense of the word is
something that always was and always will be. It is from eternity to
eternity. But, some one will say, "I received eternal life at such and
such a time." Yes, indeed, but remember, the life you received when
you were saved was the life of our Lord, who is before all time. When
you with the heart believed unto righteousness you were by the Holy
Spirit joined to the Lord. His life became your life, just as when a
tender shoot is grafted on to a tree. If the operation is successful,
the young branch will become a part of the tree; it will take part of
the life of the tree that is past, that which is present, and also
that which is future. Our Lord said, "At that day ye shall know that I
am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).
The death of Christ was the confirmation of the eternal covenant.
This covenant is sometimes called the "Covenant of Redemption" and is
referred to as the "Before all time Covenant." It is the covenant that
Paul speaks of when he writes, "Brethren, I speak after the manner of
men; though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man
disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one,
And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant,
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make
the promise of none effect" (Gal. 3:15-17).
This covenant was not made between God and man, but between the
Persons of the Godhead, and it is concerning the salvation of man. It
is now in force and has been ever since Christ's death on the cross.
This covenant secures for ever for the believer "every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." It provides far more and
greater blessing than the Mosaic Covenant provided for God's earthly
people before the cross, and also far greater blessings than the New
Covenant has in store for God's earthly people in the yet future
Kingdom Age.
17. On the Cross Those Who Were Afar Off Were Made Nigh -- Eph.
2:13 -- "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ."
When Paul says, "ye who once were afar off," he refers primarily
to the pre-cross position of the Gentiles? They are said to have been
"afar off" (Eph. 2:17) as compared with the Jews. But there is a vast
difference between the nigh position of the Jews as God's covenant
people, and the nigh position of the one who today is "in Christ."
Through the animal sacrifices and the whole sacrificial system of
Judaism, the covenant people had access to God, but the Gentiles had
no way of approach to Him.
Note also, that we have been "made nigh by the blood of Christ."
No works of our own, however good they may have been, could bring us
nigh to God.
This is one of the exalted positions into which every believer is
brought when he is saved. He is then made as nigh as he ever will be
in time or eternity. But just how nigh are we? We are in Christ,
members of His body, and therefore just as nigh to God as Christ, His
own and only beloved Son, is. Oh, but we are not worthy of such an
exalted position! No, praise God, He deals with us according to His
mercy and grace and not our merits.
When James writes, "Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh
unto you" (James 4:9), he refers to the experimental aspect of
nighness. Every position of the one that is in Christ has its
corresponding experience in life. This is what James refers to.
18. The Death of Christ Released the Blessing of Abraham -- Gal.
3:13, 14 -- "Christ hath redeemed from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come to the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of
the Spirit through faith."
The blessing promised to Abraham is, "And in thee shall all the
families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3); "the promise of the
Spirit" is a reference to the words of Joel when he says, "And it
shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh" (Joel 2:28).
The finished work of Christ--His death, burial and
resurrection--opened the floodgates of divine love and grace to the
Gentiles. He loved the Gentiles before, but the cross removed the
hindrances which prevented the exercising of His love toward them, so
making it possible for the blessing promised to Abraham to flow to
them. God could not save them apart from blood. "Without the shedding
of blood there is no remission" (Heb. 9:22).
God is said to stretch out His arms ready to receive all who come
to Him by Jesus Christ. No one needs to beg God to save him. Too often
this legalistic feature has been imposed upon the unsaved. God is not
unwilling to save sinners. "But," says some one, "I was saved when I
prayed and asked God to be merciful to me." Yes, many have been saved
when they prayed, but it was not because of their prayers they were
saved. Many have prayed and did not get saved. The writer is one of
them. A lost sinner is saved when he with the heart believes unto
righteousness. The sinner is justified by faith, and the sinning child
of God is forgiven and cleansed when he confesses his sin. The Apostle
John writes to "my little children" when he says, "If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
19. On the Cross It Was Made Possible for God to Exercise
Absolute Justice and Mercy at the Same Time -- Rom. 3:26 -- "To
declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just,
and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
In this verse is revealed the solution of one of the greatest
problems, if not the greatest, that infinite wisdom has solved. How
could an infinitely holy and righteous God declare a guilty, vile
sinner righteous and yet remain just?
Justification is a court matter and has to do with the relation
of the accused one to the law. If someone has violated the law and is
brought into court to answer the charges preferred against him, the
judge that tries the case cannot exercise justice and mercy at the
same time. If the violator of the law is sentenced to pay the full
penalty of the broken law, there is no mercy. If the judge is lenient
with the guilty one, and "lets him off easy," he does not exercise
justice. It is not what the judge feels or thinks, but what the law
says. The law is established when the penalty of the broken law is
paid in full, and not until then. Christ on the cross endured the full
penalty of the broken Law, when He once and for all met every demand
of infinite holiness against sinners. It was on the cross that the
broken Law was established.
Many years ago in a western court, a son of the judge was brought
into court on a charge preferred against him. There father and son
faced each other--the father on the bench as the judge and his own
child before him as the accused one. The boy pleaded guilty and was by
his father sentenced to pay the full penalty of the law. That was
justice. But no sooner had the father pronounced sentence upon his
child, than he stepped down from the bench and paid the fine he had
sentenced him to pay. That was mercy. So today, because the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the substitute for sinners, died in our room and in our
stead, "the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God" (1
Peter 3:18); every charge has been met, and God is infinitely free to
do anything He desires for both sinner and saint. Every act of God in
connection with our salvation is an act of infinite justice made
possible by the cross of Christ.
20. On the Cross the Sanctified Were Forever Perfected -- Heb.
10:14 -- "For by one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are
sanctified."
This is in sharp contrast with the result of the animal
sacrifices of the Old Testament economy, which merely covered sin for
the time being. His precious blood shed upon the cross will never lose
its efficacy. This perfection refers to the believer's position in
Christ.
All these things that we have considered were accomplished once
and for all when our Lord died on the cross. They represent what God
has done for our salvation. Through them every obstacle has been
removed. Through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, man has
been brought into a new position before God--not a saved, but a
savable one. Jew and Gentile alike "are under sin." All merit is
excluded. Every condemnation which divine righteousness could impose
because of sin, and every human obligation has been disposed of. Every
work of man has been set aside, and salvation is now offered to the
guiltiest of sinners, as a gift of God's grace and upon the one
condition of saving faith, which is to cease from one's own works and
rest one's all in the finished work of Christ on the Cross.
Saving faith deposits one's eternal welfare and destiny into the
grace of God. This is a definite act of the heart (the power to
reason), "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness" (Rom.
10:10). Have you so with the heart believed and received the gift of
eternal life?
When salvation is made to depend on anything else than believing,
the Scriptures are violated and the whole plan of salvation by grace
is confused and made of none effect. Believing is the opposite of
doing something in order to be saved. The Gospel of grace does not
teach that the sinner must "believe and be baptized," "believe and
pray," "believe and make restitution," "believe and repent," or
"believe and confess." No, the sinner is saved by grace through faith
plus nothing. To impose the principle of works as a condition for
salvation is to place the individual on legal ground. Remember the
words of Paul, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Rom.
4:5). "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he
that hath entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own
works, as God did from his" (Heb. 4:9, 10).
CHAPTER XI
Christ's Burial and Resurrection
"He Was Buried"
In the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul gives us the
definition of the Gospel that he preached. He says, "For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Cor.
15:3, 4).
Here we must make a distinction between the condescension of our
Lord and His humiliation. When the Son of God, the Lord of Glory, came
to this earth in the likeness of sinful flesh, it was condescension on
His part; when He, on the Cross, was made a curse for us, and finally
His body was placed in the tomb, He had reached the lowest depths of
humiliation.
"Our Redeemer stooped low indeed when He assumed our nature, but
lower still when He submitted to be laid in the grave. This is the
last degree of humiliation. All the glory of man is extinguished in
the tomb. If we viewed his prosperity with an eye of indifference, we
now pity him; if his splendor excited our envy, the feeling dies away
and hostility relents, when he, who like a flourishing tree spreads
his branches around, now lies prostrate in the dust? Who is this that
occupies the sepulchre of Joseph? Is it a prophet or a king? No; it is
one greater than all prophets and kings, the Son of the living God,
the Lord of heaven and earth; but there is now nothing to distinguish
Him from the meanest of the human race; the tongue which charmed
thousands with its eloquence is mute, and the hand which controlled
the powers of the visible and invisible world is unnerved. The shades
of death have enveloped Him, and silence reigns in His lonely abode."
(Dick)
Not only was His body placed in the tomb, but He also descended
into Hades. "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also
descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" (Eph. 4:9).
The significance of our Lord's burial was typified by the scape
goat, upon whose head the high priest laid his hands and confessed the
sins of the people, thereby transferring their sins to the animal that
afterwards was sent away into the wilderness. Concerning this we read,
"And when he hath made an end of reconciling (making atonement) the
holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he
shall bring in the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon
the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of
the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their
sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send Tiim away
by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear
upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall
let go the goat in the wilderness" (Lev. 16:20-22).
In the chorus of one of our great gospel hymns the truth is
stated when we sing, "Living, He loved me; Dying, He saved me; Buried:
He carried my sins far away; Rising, He justified freely forever; One
day He's coming--oh, glorious day."
The humiliation of Christ manifests the greatness of His love and
the riches of His grace, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).
It was for us, men, and for our salvation, that He became man,
and abased Himself to the dust of the earth. He drew a veil over His
glory, that He might remove
our reproach. He groaned and died that we might be redeemed and
rescued from our lost estate, and that He might one day take us to be
with Himself.
Let us learn humility from His example. Pride should forever be
renounced by those who are His. He says, "Learn of me, for I am meek
and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt.
11:29). Paul writes, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8).
"He Rose Again the Third Day"
It was when the apostles preached and taught the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ, that they encountered their fiercest
opposition.
The importance of our Lord's resurrection is definitely stated by
the Apostle Paul when he writes, "Now if Christ be preached that he
rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no
resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead,
then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found
false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he
raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise
not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: and if
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; and ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of
them that slept" (1 Cor. 15:12-20).
All four of the Gospels record the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was foretold by the Old Testament prophets, and also
predicted by the Lord Himself. The Epistles explain it.
Biblical Reasons for the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ
1. He Was Raised Again from the Dead Because of Who He Was
He was the Son of God, the Lord of Glory. He was the "Lamb
without blemish and without spot." He was "holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." Therefore He
was not subject to death, it had no claim upon Him. He died because He
was made sin, and our sins were laid upon Him. His death accomplished
everything necessary for our redemption; therefore death could no
longer hold Him.
This is what Peter speaks about on the Day of Pentecost when he
says, "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death:
because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David
speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for
he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my
heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (hades),
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Acts
2:24-27).
Being the Messiah, His resurrection was necessary to vindicate
His character from the charges His enemies had filed against Him. He
was accused of being an imposter and a blasphemer. His resurrection
proved that He was "the Son of God" (Rom. 1:4).
2. He Was Raised Again from the Dead That Prophecy Might Be Fulfilled
God's covenant with David (2 Sam. 7:8-17) is concerning the King
and the Kingdom. It was confirmed with an oath (Psalm 89:3, 4, 35-37),
and secured for ever "an house," the Davidic family; a "throne," a
symbol of royal authority; a "kingdom," a sphere of rule, and a
"king." God said to David, "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou
shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set thy seed after thee, which
shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He
shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of
his kingdom for ever." This refers primarily to Solomon and his
kingdom, but its final fulfilment will be realized in and through the
Messianic Kingdom.
David had prophesied concerning the resurrection of Christ (Psalm
16:9, 10). Concerning this Peter says, "Therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of
his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on
his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell (hades), neither his flesh did see
corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are
witnesses" (Acts 2:30-32).
"Unto you (Israel) first God, having raised up his Son Jesus,
sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his
iniquities" (Acts 3:26).
3. He Was Raised Again from the Dead Because the Ground
of the Sinner's Justification Was Accomplished
God permitted His death, because He required His life as the
sacrifice for the sins of the people; He restored it to show that the
demands of infinite justice were for ever satisfied. Hence the
Scriptures say, "And declared the Son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4);
and that the God of peace brought Him again from the dead through the
blood of the everlasting covenant. By this event, God acknowledged Him
to be His Son, and gave a solemn assurance that the demands of
infinite justice had for ever been satisfied. Paul asks, "Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34).
4. He Was Raised Again from the Dead to Bestow Resurrection Life
He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24).
The Apostle Peter in his first epistle declares that the
resurrection of our Lord is the means of the new birth. He says,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).
In his second sermon he speaks of our Lord's resurrection in
relation to the healing of the lame man. He says, "But ye denied the
Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead;
whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath
made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by
him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all"
(Acts 3:14-16). The Apostle Paul says, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye
also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should
be married to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that
we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Rom. 7:4).
We are joined to our risen and glorified Lord. It is through this
union with Him that we have eternal life. "He is our life." We read,
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me"
(Gal. 2:20); "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:3, 4).
5. He Was Raised from the Dead to Impart Resurrection Power
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is God's standard of
power today. Paul writes, "The eyes of your understanding (heart)
being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in
Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places" (Eph. 1:18-20).
Satan, who is next to God in power, did everything he possibly
could to hinder the coming of our Lord into the world; when Christ
came, he did his utmost to destroy Him and to keep Him from going to
the cross. When the body of our Lord was placed in the tomb, it was
officially sealed and soldiers were placed there to guard it, to make
it absolutely sure that Christ would not be raised from the dead; but
in spite of all Satan's efforts to the contrary, God raised His Son,
our Lord, from the dead.
Today, God exercises this power in our behalf; we are the special
objects of His mighty power. It is through this power that we are to
live and walk to His glory and honor. It is the power for service and
fruitbearing. "Even so we should walk in the newness of life."
6. He Was Raised from the Dead to Be the Head
Over All Things to the Church
"And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of
him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:22, 23).
Christ is said to be the "head of the corner" (Acts 4:11); the
head of the body (Eph. 4:15); the head of every man (1 Cor. 11:3) and
the head of the church (Eph. 5:25).
He is now the head over all things to the church as His body. In
the future He will be the head of the church as the husband is the
head of the wife.
7. He Was Raised from the Dead to Be the Firstfruits and
the Pattern of the Saints of This Age
We are told, "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become
the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by
man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own
order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christs at his
coming" (1 Cor. 15:20-23).
Concerning Christ as the pattern, Paul writes, "For our
conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil.
3:20, 21). The Apostle John says, "But we know that when he shall
appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John
3:2).
The Lord Jesus Christ was also raised from the dead to be
related to the heavenly company of redeemed ones as: the last Adam,
the federal head of the new creation (1 Cor. 15:45); the Head of the
body with its many members (Eph. 5:30; Col. 1:18; 3:15); the True
Vine, in whom the saved ones are branches (John 16:1-16); the
Foundation and Chief Cornerstone upon whom believers as living stones
are "builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit"
(Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Cor. 3:11); the great High Priest, under whose
authority believers as priests minister (Heb. 2:17; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9);
the great Shepherd of the sheep (John 10:1-30; Heb. 13:20); and
finally, in the future the Bridegroom of the Church, which is now His
body (John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:1-3).
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ goes beyond all
dispensational bounds and is eternal in its results. It is by the
theologians classed as one of the major divine undertakings. It is
the proof positive that all that was accomplished by the cross of
Christ, to an infinite degree satisfied the eternal demands of divine
justice. It is the pledge of our resurrection. His glorified body is
the pattern of what our present bodies will be transformed unto.
"The resurrection of Christ vindicated His character from the
aspersions of His enemies. It demonstrated, at the same time, that He
had accomplished the work which His Father appointed Him to perform,
and had obtained eternal redemption for His people. It gives an
assurance to those who believe in Him, of a future triumph over death
and the grave. He arose as their representative, and they shall also
rise after His example, and through His merits and power." (Dick)
We conclude this chapter with the following words:--"Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:3-5).
CHAPTER XII
The Ascension and Session of Christ
The ascension of our Lord is recorded by two of the Gospel
narrators. "So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was
received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God" (Mark
16:19). "And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up
his hand, and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them,
he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:50, 51).
"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken
up; and a cloud received him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9).
A comparison of John 20:17 where we read, "Jesus saith unto her,
Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;
and to my God, and your God," with Luke 24:39 where He said to His
disciples, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me
have," reveals two ascensions of our Lord.
On the morning of the resurrection day Christ ascended into
heaven, in fulfilment of the wave-sheaf type, the sample and earnest
of the mighty harvest that was to follow. So, also, having
accomplished the sacrifice for sin, it was necessary for Him to
present His blood in heaven. We read, "Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption." And, "It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be
purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these" (Heb. 9:12, 23). Read the context; it will do
your heart good.
When our Lord ascended the second time--after forty days of
post-resurrection ministry--He began His present ministry in behalf of
His own. Concerning this we read, "Who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3); "But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on
the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12).
Note that our Lord ascended in His glorified human body and that
He now occupies the place of power and honor. He is the man in glory.
The man Christ Jesus has left the earth, and entered into that
invisible region of the universe where God sits on the throne of His
Majesty. To believers, it is a source of consolation to know that He
has not laid aside their nature, but retains it in His glorified state
and position. They can look up to Him with confidence, in the full
assurance of His sympathy, and see, in His exaltation, an earnest of
their future glory.
The right hand is the place of honor. It is so reckoned among us,
and was so accounted by the Jews. When Solomon's mother came to him,
"he sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's
mother; and she sat on his right hand." In the position given to our
Saviour in heaven, He is invested with great dignity and glory. The
words of His intercessory prayer reveal the glory that is His, "And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17:5).
The right hand is the emblem of power. This is the general idea
which is suggested, when hands and arms are attributed to God, because
it is with our hands and arms that we exert our strength. The right
hand is most commonly used. The sitting of our Saviour at the right
hand of God signifies therefore that He is exalted to the place of
authority and dominion. "Hereafter," He said to the members of the
council, "shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matt. 26:64).
The fact that when He ascended He was received of His Father is
the proof that His earth-ministry was accepted. The fact that He sat
down reveals another important truth--that His work was finished. In
the earthly tabernacle no place was provided for the high priest to
sit down. That was because his work was never finished. When Christ
ascended He sat down as the evidence that the work He came into this
world to accomplish was once and for all completed.
But note, it was on His Father's throne that He sat down, and not
on His own. This proves that He did not set up His kingdom on the
earth, when He came the first time, but that He is now "expecting,
till his enemies be made his footstool" (Heb. 10:13). Then will the
kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord; and He shall
reign for ever. The angel told Mary, "He shall be great, and shall be
called the Son of the highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of his Father David: And he shall reign over the house of
Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32,
33).
Scripture clearly teaches that He is not now establishing His
kingdom-rule in the earth, but rather that He is taking out a people
for His name. It is in behalf of this called-out people that our risen
and glorified Lord is now ministering.
Our Lord's present ministry in behalf of His own is fourfold.
1. He Is Bestowing Gifts to the Church
"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on
high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men. ... And he
gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers" (Eph. 4:7, 8, 11).
Note the purpose of these gifts. They are "For the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12, 13). The true
purpose of the ministry is to provide the saints with the equipment
necessary for the rendering unto the Lord effectual service. When the
saints are so equipped they will no longer be "children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."
2. He Is Interceding for His Own
Concerning this ministry of our Lord we read, "Who is he that
condemneth? Is it Christ, who died, yea rather, who is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us?" (Rom. 8:34).
"But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them" (Heb. 7:24, 25).
Our Lord began this His ministry of intercession, while here on
earth. He said to Peter, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy
brethren" (Luke 22:31, 32).
In His high priestly prayer, He prayed not only for His
disciples, but also for all that should believe on Him. He said, "I
pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me; for they are thine. ... I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the
evil. ... Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word" (John 17:9, 15, 20).
This ministry of our Lord has to do with the weakness, and the
helplessness of the saints who are on the earth. He knows their
limitations, and the power and the devices of the evil one with whom
they have to contend. We read, "For ye were as sheep going astray, but
are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" (1 Peter
2:25).
3. Christ Now Appears for His Own in the Presence of God As Advocate
As Christ's ministry of intercession is that the saved ones might
not sin, so His advocacy is for the saved one who has sinned. We read,
"For Christ is not entered 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" (Heb. 9:24). An advocate is a lawyer, one
who pleads and espouses the cause of another one in the open courts.
We need an advocate because we have an accuser--Satan, called "the
accuser of the brethren." It is when the child of God sins that Satan
appears as the accuser, and it is then that the Lord Jesus Christ
advocates for the sinning one. We read, "My little children, these
things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the
propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1, 2).
He does not excuse our sins, nor does He ask God to be lenient
with them. But since He is the propitiation for our sins He pleads His
own precious blood shed for them. What He does is infinitely righteous
in every respect.
Through our Lord's ministry as Intercessor and Advocate, the
child of God is secure for time and eternity.
4. The Lord Jesus Christ Is Now Preparing a Place for His Own
In His farewell message to His own He said, "Let not your heart
be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3). This is the first reference to
our Lord's coming for His own--the saints of this dispensation. His
own going back to the Father as the glorified man in a very special
way enters into this work of His. He is now the man in glory. His
going there has opened the way for those who will be glorified with
Him.
SECTION FOUR
The Result of the One Act of Obedience
CHAPTER XIII
The New Creation
Through the Apostle Paul, God has given us two great bodies of
Truth. In the Epistle to the Romans the Gospel of Grace is unfolded in
a systematic way. Romans is The Gospel according to Paul. Concerning
this body of truth, he writes, "But I certify you, brethren, that the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither
received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:11, 12).
On this subject we cite Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh. In his
exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians he says, "By a direct
revelation similar to that which God made known His will to the
prophets of old, Paul was made acquainted with that Gospel which he
was to preach among the Gentiles. He was not sent to the apostles to
be instructed. In the history of his conversion, nothing is said of
his receiving instruction from Ananias or the disciples at Antioch.
Jesus Christ took him under His own immediate tuition, and made known
to him, not only what may be called the abstract part of Christianity,
but its leading facts. He received of the Lord an account of the
institution of the Lord's Supper. He received of the Lord the Gospel
he preached to the Corinthians, 'that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose
again the third day according to the Scriptures.' This statement does
not by any means necessarily infer that Paul knew nothing about Jesus
Christ but what he learned by revelation. This is certainly in the
highest degree improbable. It means that his deep, thorough knowledge
of 'the truth as it is in Jesus' was of supernatural origin."
Through the Apostle Paul's ministry our Lord's prophetic
statement in John 16:12, 13, where He says, "I have yet many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit
of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not
speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak:
and he will shew you things to come," was in a very special way
fulfilled. The other body of truth, of which Paul is the revelator, is
concerning "the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that
filleth all in all." The church is the New Creation in Christ. The
Epistle to the Ephesians is the special revelation concerning the New
Creation, but the Apostle Paul speaks about it in his other epistles
also. He says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature (creation): old things have passed away; behold, all things
have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17); "For in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature" (creation) (Gal. 6:15); "For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10); "Having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments, in ordinances; for to make
in himself of twain one new man, so making peace" (Eph. 2:15).
Just as the "Gospel of the Kingdom" is the good news concerning
God's purpose in the earth, revealing our Lord's relation to the
covenant people Israel and the earth, so the "Gospel of the Grace of
God" is the good news concerning the finished work of Christ--His
death, burial and resurrection. The truth concerning the New Creation
reveals the full result of the Gospel of Grace.
When Paul says, "for to make in himself of twain one new man," he
does not refer to the saved individual as such, but rather to the
whole company of the redeemed ones of this age. The New Creation is
the supreme product of the finished work of Christ. It is eternal and
infinite in glory.
The Old Creation is Adam, the first man, and every child of Adam
in his or her unregenerate state. According to the Scriptures it is
Fallen (Rom. 5:12); Sinful (Rom. 5:19, Cf. Gen. 5:3); Evil (Eph.
2:1-3); Depraved (Rom. 3:9-18); Blinded (2 Cor. 4:4); Dead in
trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1); Lost (2 Cor. 4:3); Energized by Satan
(Eph. 2:2); Judged (John 3:18); Condemned (Rom. 8:3); Executed (2 Cor.
5:14; Rom. 6:6); Under the sentence of the second death (Rev. 20:14,
15).
The New Creation is Christ, the Second Man, the Last Adam, and
every born-again person of the present age. It is the heavenly
company, the supreme product of the sacrificial work of Christ.
Concerning Christ in His post-resurrection position we read,
"Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death
hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin
once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God" (Rom. 6:9, 10).
It is in this, His risen and glorified position, that we as
believers are joined to Him. Paul writes, "Wherefore, my brethren, ye
also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that
ye should bring forth fruit unto God" (Rom. 7:4).
As the last Adam, our Lord is the federal head of an entirely new
race, a new species. "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the
second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy: and as
is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly" (1 Cor. 15:47,
48).
The New Creation is heavenly in its origin; it is heavenly in its
calling; its walk is according to the heavenly standard; and its
eternal destiny is heaven.
According to the Word each member of the New Creation has been
chosen in Christ (Eph. 1:4); predestinated for adoption as a son (Eph.
1:5); redeemed with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19);
delivered from the Law and its curse (Gal. 4:5; 3:13) by an eternal
redemption (Heb. 9:12). He is created in righteousness and true
holiness (Eph. 4:24); he is born from above (John 3:3, 6) of the
Spirit (John 3:6); and the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23); he is
reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:19). He is justified freely by His grace
(Rom. 3:24; 5:1) and is at peace with Him (Col. 1:20; Rom. 5:1). He is
dead to the Law (Rom. 7:4; Gal. 2:19) and passed beyond its reach and
jurisdiction (Rom. 6:7; Gal. 3:25); he is free from condemnation (John
5:24; Rom. 8:1, 34). He is complete in Christ (Col. 2:10); accepted in
the beloved (Eph. 1:6) and perfected for ever (Heb. 10:14). He is
joined to the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17) by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor.
12:12, 13). He is indwelt by the Spirit who abides for ever (John
14:16, 17) and has been sealed by the Spirit until the day of
redemption (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). He is a citizen of heaven (Phil. 3:20)
and is already seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). He is
sanctified (1 Cor. 1:30); saved (Titus 3:5); eternally safe and secure
(John 10:27-29; Rom. 8:35-39). He is destined for heaven (John 14:1-3;
1 Thess. 4:13-18). "As he is so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).
Whatever is true concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is also true of
every one that is "in Him." This is with reference to the believer's
position in Christ. When we read, "For in that he died, he died unto
sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God," we are reminded
of the fact that our Lord is forever beyond the reach of death. So,
also, has the believer's relation to sin been completely severed.
Words could not be plainer than those used by the Apostle Paul when he
writes, "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that
the body of sin might be destroyed (rendered powerless), that
henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from
sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he
died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:6-11).
These verses reveal our identification with Christ in His death,
burial and resurrection. Being identified with Him as our substitute
we have set before us our judicial union with Christ. Had we not been
on the cross, He never would have been there, because He had no sin
or sins to suffer for. Note that Paul says that we died with Christ
unto sin. This refers to the sin nature, the old man. Christ's death
was not only for sin, but also unto sin. The Apostle Peter tells us
that we are dead to sins. Note his words, "Who his own self bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should
live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter
2:24). When Paul says we are to reckon ourselves dead unto sin, he
tells us to accept as true what God says about us. It is not what we
think or feel, but what He says.
In each case, the nature of the creation depends upon the act of
the head. Paul says, "As is the earthy, such are they also that are
earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly." The full realization of our bearing the image
of the heavenly awaits the day when we who belong to Him, shall be
like Him, because we are going to see Him as He is.
When Paul designates the unregenerate as "the sons of
disobedience," he is not referring to their personal disobedience, but
rather as the natural children of Adam their federal head, in whom all
sinned and are therefore the sons of disobedience.
The individual becomes a member of the New Creation when he is
created anew in Christ Jesus. This is not accomplished by any works of
righteousness, nor by being good, nor by turning over a new leaf as
sinners are sometimes urged to do. Neither is it through any religious
effort on the part of the unsaved. Being baptized and becoming a
member of a local church organization does not save from sin.
No, it is when the sinner "with the heart believes unto
righteousness." He is then joined to the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17) by the
Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 12:12, 13), and is then "blessed with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). We
have already noted some of the many blessings and benefits that
constitute the riches of His grace.
And now, note some things concerning the blessings that the
believer is blessed with in Christ. It is God the Father who bestows
the blessings; they are in Christ the Son, and are not material but
spiritual.
Most of them are not experimental. Justification is not something
we feel in our emotional nature nor in our nervous system. It is a
judicial act of God, and therefore something that takes place in the
mind and reckoning of God. Experiences will follow as the result of
being declared righteous in Christ. I will never forget the day when I
discovered what it meant to be justified. It was years after I was
saved. The Lord used an old brother in the Lord to make it known to
me. Neither are they progressive; it is not something the believer
receives in installments because of any merits of his. Sonship
(adoption), another great blessing, is not progressive. The saved one
is as much a son the day he is saved as he ever will be in time or
eternity. Neither are the blessings in Christ related to human merit,
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph.
2:8, 9); "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5); "Being justified
freely (without cause) by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24); "Who hath saved us, and called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
purpose, and the grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:9, 10).
They are eternal in character, and not something one possesses
one day and not the next. They do not change with the moon, but are
fixed facts, and we are called upon to accept them as such, and to
rest and rejoice in them. They are known only through the Word.
We have already noted that the New Creation is a new race, a new
species. It is the People that the Lord is now taking out for His
name. This is accomplished by the preaching of the Gospel of Grace,
and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. When the last member has been
added to this company of redeemed ones, God's purpose for this age
will be completed. The Lord will come for His own. He said, "Let not
your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my
Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told
you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I
am, there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3). The Apostle Paul tells us how
this will be accomplished. He writes, "For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then
we that are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in
the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). To the Corinthians he writes, "Behold,
I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Cor.
15:51-53). To the Philippians he writes, "For our conversation is in
heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able
even to subdue all things to himself" (Phil 3:20, 21). The Apostle
John writes, "Beloved, now are we the sons (children) of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John
3:2).
The assurance given to us in the Word that our Lord will come for
His own has been the hope and comfort of the Lord's people ever since
He returned to the Father. It has been one of the greatest incentives
in all missionary efforts. Our great missionary leaders have been firm
believers in the soon coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also a
motive for holiness. "And every one that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3).
"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding
joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and ever. Amen" Jude 24, 25).
CHAPTER XIV
Service and Rewards
Through the convicting, regenerating, baptizing, sealing and
indwelling ministries of the Holy Spirit a believing sinner becomes a
child of God, a member of the body of Christ, the true church, which
is now the New Creation in Christ Jesus. When the sinner is saved he
becomes a pilgrim and a stranger on the earth. The Apostle Peter says,
"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11).
From the moment he is born again the saved one is a citizen of
heaven. Paul says, "For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven;
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ"
(Phil. 3:20).
The Christian, then, does not belong down here on earth. Yet God
leaves him here, and that for a very definite purpose.
If believers would be taken home to be with the Lord when they
are saved they would escape many trials, testings, failures and
disappointments. Why then does He leave us here on earth? Is it as
some say, that we shall through our wilderness journey be fitted for
heaven? No! A Christian is no more fitted for heaven after years of
devoted service than he was the day he was saved. There is but one
thing that can make a lost and guilty sinner fit for heaven, and that
is the precious blood of Christ.
Concerning our acceptance with God we read that we are "accepted
in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6); "And ye are complete in him" (Col. 2:10);
"For by one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are
sanctified" (Heb. 10:14). "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30).
His true motive in leaving His own here on earth is that they
might be His witnesses. We are saved for service. "For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10); "This is a
faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good
works. These things are good and profitable unto men" (Titus 3:8).
It is through the members of the body of Christ, the true church,
that the Lord works rather than through man-made organizations. This
service the Apostle Paul calls a "labor of love." Our lives as
Christians should tell for the Lord, and they will if we as members of
His body are rightly adjusted to Him. We are His witnesses in the
midst of sin and the evil in the world" (John 15:27). "A faithful
witness delivereth souls" (Prov. 14:25).
We are also representatives of His. As ambassadors, we represent
the Court of Heaven. A greater honor could be bestowed upon no one.
In His high priestly prayer our Lord said, "As thou hast sent me
into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world" (John
17:17).
Concerning His own mission He said, "For I am not come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9:13); "For even the
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45); "For the Son of man is
come to seek and to save that which is lost" (Luke 19:10).
The Apostle Paul writes at length regarding our service. He says,
"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then
neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but
God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that
watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according
to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are
God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God
which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the
foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed
how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this
foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every
man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every
man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath
built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be
burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet as by
fire" (1 Cor. 3:6-15).
In these verses are revealed several important truths in
connection with our "labour of love." They speak about service, two
classes of building material, judgment and rewards.
Salvation is the gift of God's grace; rewards will be given
according to what we have done after we are saved. "Wherefore we
labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every
one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:9, 10).
The judgment Seat of Christ will not be to determine if those who
appear there are saved, for only believers will be there. The
Scriptures definitely and positively teach that the child of God is
past judgment with reference to sin. Our Lord says, "He that believeth
on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God" (John 3:18); "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death
unto life" (John 5:24); "All that the Father hath given me shall come
to me; and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out" (John
6:37). Paul writes, "For if we would judge ourselves we should not be
judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we
should not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:31, 32).
We must distinguish between the guilt and the defilement of sin.
When Paul writes, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin" (Rom. 4:8), he is referring to the guilt of sin. The context
clearly reveals in a most unmistakable way that he is speaking about
the one that God has justified, declared righteous in Christ. To the
justified one sin is not imputed as guilt. In another place he says,
"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth." No, for then the justified one would have to be brought
into court again and convicted anew, which is a thing that God will
not do with a child of His. He will chasten him, and that even unto
physical death.
However, the result of sin in the life of the believer is most
serious. The Holy Spirit is grieved, and so His indwelling ministry is
hindered. Fellowship is broken; the contact for power and service
destroyed; prayer is hindered, and the joy of salvation is lost. The
sinning one is restored when he confesses his sin. This is
self-judgment. If he refuses to judge himself God will judge him, but
never condemn him with the world. Until the sinning one has judged
himself, he is as a dislocated limb in the body.
It is before the Judgment Seat of Christ that "every man's work
shall be made manifest," and "the fire shall try every man's work of
what sort it is." Fire is a symbol of judgment, and is so used in the
Scriptures. When John the Baptist said about Christ, "He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire," he referred to two different
classes. The chaff, which represents the unbelievers, will be burned
with unquenchable fire.
The purpose of this judgment will be to determine the rewards of
the Lord's servants. At the Great White Throne there will be degrees
of punishment for the wicked, because they will be judged according to
their works. This principle will also apply to the judgment of the
believer's works at the Judgment Seat of Christ; there will be degrees
of rewards.
The Apostle John says, "Look to yourselves, that we lose not
those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward"
(2 John 1:8).
Some one asks, "How may I know if I am building with the kind of
material that will bring me a reward?"
The answer is to be found in the Word of God. Turn again to First
Corinthians, where the Apostle Paul says, "For if I do this thing
willingly, I have a reward" (1 Cor. 9:17).
These words reveal that it is the motive in our service that
determines whether we will receive a reward or not. What we do
willingly is a "labour of love" and such our service for the Lord
should always be.
All true Christian service is committed to a divinely appointed
and qualified people. In the Old Testament the service was committed
to the priesthood. Israel had a priesthood. The Church is a
priesthood. The priests were appointed to render service toward man.
Not until we have first rendered our service toward God are we
qualified to render any service toward man.
Our service toward God is threefold. The first is the service of
sacrifice, which itself is threefold: (1) the sacrifice of self,--"I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable (logical) service" (Rom. 12:1); (2) the
sacrifice of praise,--"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving
thanks to his name" (Heb. 13:15); (3) the sacrifice of
substance,--"But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with
such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. 13:16).
The second Christian service is that of worship which is again of
self, of praise and of substance. It is true devotion to Christ, and
is in and through Him alone.
The third is the service of intercession (1 Tim. 2:1). This is
one of the believer's greatest privileges, and a most important and
effectual service toward God.
Every true believer is constituted a priest. The ministry of the
Old Testament priest was threefold. It was to offer sacrifices for the
people, to go within the veil and make intercession, and to come forth
and bless the people.
Before he could enter upon his ministry as priest he had to be
consecrated. Regarding this we are told, "And Moses brought Aaron and
his sons, and washed them with water. And he brought the other ram,
the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon
the head of the ram. And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of
it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb
of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And he
brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon their right ear,
and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of
their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round
about. And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood that was
upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron and upon his garments, and
upon his sons, and upon his sons' garments with him, and sanctified
Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with
him" (Lev. 8:6, 22-24, 30).
Note that the anointing oil was poured upon Aaron (Lev. 8:12)
before the blood was applied. Aaron was a type of Christ as the
Sinless One who required no preparation for receiving the anointing
oil, the symbol of the Holy Spirit.
The initial washing was once for all. But after that, it was
necessary for the priests to wash their hands and their feet before
they entered the tabernacle to minister. Defilement disqualified the
priests for service. Cleansing was absolutely necessary. So today,
defilement disqualifies the believer-priest for service. The blood of
Christ is the means of perpetual cleansing. The need is clearly set
forth by our Lord when He washed His disciples' feet (John 13:1-11).
When we as priests have been consecrated (consecration is a work
of God and not of man); when we have offered our sacrifices, and have
been within the veil and made intercession, we are qualified to go
forth and be a blessing to others.
Our service toward our fellow man is primarily the exercise of a
gift. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And
there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there
are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh
all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man
to profit withal" (1 Cor. 12:4-7).
A gift is the manifestation of the Spirit. He may recognize the
native ability of the individual, but he is most certainly not
dependent upon it. It is when the child of God is rightly adjusted to
the Lord and to the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit will manifest Himself
in some gift. The exercise of that gift is true Christian service
toward man. And it is when such a gift is willingly exercised that we
have a reward.
The Apostle Paul also discloses the method of his ministry.
Summing it up, he says, "For though I be free from all men, yet have I
made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.... To the
weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all
things to all men, that I might by all means save some.... And every
man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they
do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible" (1 Cor.
9:19, 22, 25).
Here Paul likens the believer's service to a race. He likewise
reminds us of the need of being temperate in all things. He seems to
have been fond of agonistic metaphors borrowed from the stadium and
the arena. He tells how one may be qualified to run in the race,
adding "SO run, that ye may obtain."
Then the Apostle goes on to tell us how he was running in the
race, and how he was endeavoring to keep fit. He says, "But I keep
under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means,
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Cor.
9:27).
When Paul says, "I myself should be a castaway," he is not
concerned with salvation but rewards. No, Paul could say, "I know whom
I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
have committed (my deposit) unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).
Happy are they who can share this assurance with the great apostle to
the Gentiles!
Paul says, "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize?"
In another verse he asks, "What is my reward then?" Whatever it
will be, the New Testament writers use the word "crown" when speaking
about the reward of the believer. They disclose five crowns, and for
what they are given.
The Crown of Life is given to those who endure temptations and
trials, and that love Him. We read, "Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love him" (James 1:12);
"Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold the devil
shall cast some of you in prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall
have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee the crown of life" (Rev. 2:10).
The Incorruptible Crown will be given to those who win in the
race. "So run, that ye may obtain." "Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:1, 2).
The Unfading Crown of Glory. "And when the chief Shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1
Peter 5:4). These words Peter addresses to the elders admonishing them
to so work that they will receive the crown of glory that fadeth not
away. This crown will be given to all who have helped shepherd the
flock of God.
The Crown of Righteousness will be given to "all those who have
loved his appearing." We quote the whole paragraph in order that we
may get the true meaning of the apostle's words concerning this crown.
The advocates of a partial rapture theory have made use of this part
of the Word to prove their position. Paul says, "For I am now ready to
be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me
only, but unto all them that have loved his appearing" (2 Tim. 4:5-8).
Paul could look back upon a very strenuous career. His firm
belief in the imminent return of the Lord had encouraged him all along
the way. Now he was ready for his home going; he therefore looked to
the future and to what he as a servant of the Lord was going to
receive. But note that he says, "at that day"--the day that all
believers will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Not until
then will the Apostle Paul nor any other servant of the Lord receive
his reward; not until then will all the returns of his labor be in.
The Crown of Rejoicing is the crown that will be the portion of
the soul-winner.
To the Thessalonians Paul writes, "For what is our hope, or joy,
or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord
Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy" (1 Thess.
2:19, 20), and to the Philippians, "Therefore, my brethren dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord,
my dearly beloved" (Phil. 4:1).
Paul had spent but very little time in Philippi and in
Thessalonica. But in those places as well as in the other places he
labored, souls had been won for the Lord. Whatsoever was accomplished
through the labors of this faithful servant of the Lord, he gave all
the glory to God. He says, "So then neither is he that planteth any
thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase" (1
Cor. 3:7).
We should strive for a full reward, because the glory will be our
Lord's. "And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him
that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and
twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship
him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the
throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour
and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they
are and were created" (Rev. 4:9-11).
He alone is worthy of this glory, honor and praise. He it was
that brought us up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay,
and set our feet upon a rock, and established our goings. It is the
Lord who originates, inaugurates, advances and consummates the whole
of our salvation.
He saves us, provides us with a working capital and gives us a
reward if we have built with the right kind of material.
The New Creation is heavenly in its calling; its rule of life is
Grace, the heavenly standard. Its conflict is in the heavenlies, "For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12).
The New Creation in Christ Jesus is destined for heaven, the
abode of "God the judge of all," "Jesus Christ the Mediator of the New
Covenant," "an innumerable company of angels," "the spirits of just
men made perfect," "and the general assembly and the church of the
first born."
And now, my dear reader, which one of the two creations do you
belong to? Unless you have put your trust in Christ and accepted Him
as your personal Saviour, yea, as the sacrifice that God provided for
your sin and your sins, you are still a part of the old creation,
absolutely lost and bound for the eternal abode of the lost.
If you have ceased from your own works and with the heart
believed unto righteousness you are a member of the New Creation,
perfectly saved and safe in Christ for time and eternity. Which is it?
There is no intermediate ground.
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his
will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through
Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
FOOTNOTE
*1 Scofield Reference Bible: Romans 3:24, 1 redemption, p. 1195
Redemption, "to deliver by paying a price." -- The N.T. doctrine.
The N.T. records the fulfilment of the O.T. types and prophecies
of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. The completed truth is
set forth in the three words which are translated redemption:
(1) _agorazo, "to purchase in the market." The underlying thought is
of a slave-market. The subjects of redemption are "sold under sin"
(Rom. 7:14), but are, moreover, under sentence of death (Ezk. 18:4;
John 3:18, 19; Rom. 3:19; Gal. 3:10), and the purchase price is the
blood of the Redeemer who dies in their stead (Gal. 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:21;
Mt. 20:28; Mk. 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6; 1 Pet. 1:15);
(2) _exagorazo, "to buy out of the market." The redeemed are never
again to be exposed to sale;
(3) lutroo, "to loose," "to set free by paying a price" (John 8:32;
Gal. 4:4, 5, 31; 5:13; Rom. 8:21).
Redemption is by sacrifice and by power (Ex. 14:30, note); Christ
paid the price, the Holy Spirit makes deliverance actual in experience
(Rom. 8:2). See also Ex. 14:30, note; Isa. 59:20, note; Rom. 1:16,
note.