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In Rom. viii. 7 Paul writes: "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be." Here Paul opens up the depth of sin that there is in the flesh. In chapter vii. he had said that in the flesh, there is no good thing. Here he goes deeper, and tells us that it is enmity against God; it hates God and His law. It was on this account that God condemned sin in the flesh on the cross; all the curse that there is upon sin is upon the flesh in which sin dwells. It is as the believer understands this that he will cease from any attempt at seeking to perfect in the flesh what is begun in the Spirit. The two are at deadly, irreconcilable enmity.See how this lies at the very root of the true Christian life (vers. 3, 4) : "God condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous¬ness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." All the requirements of Gods law will be fulfilled, not in those who strive to keep and fulfil that law—a thing that is utterly impossible,—but who walk by the Spirit and in His power live out the life that Christ won for us on the cross and imparted to us in the resurrection.
Would God that His children might learn the double lesson. In me, that is in my flesh, in the old nature which I have from Adam, there dwells literally no good thing that can satisfy the eye of a holy God! And that flesh can never by any process of discipline, or struggling, or prayer, be made better than it is! But the Son of God in the likeness of sinful flesh—in the form of a man—condemned sin on the cross. "There is now no con¬demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Neither did Sennacherib molest the city. He had boasted loudly, but he could not carry out his threats. The LORD is able to stop the enemies of His people in the very act. When the lion has the lamb between his jaws, the great Shepherd of the sheep can rob him of his prey. Our extremity only provides an opportunity for a grander display of divine power and wisdom.
A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned.
Even in this world saints are Gods children, but men cannot discover them to be so, except by certain moral characteristics. The adoption is not manifested, the children are not yet openly declared. Among the Romans a man might adopt a child, and keep it private for a long time: but there was a second adoption in public; when the child was brought before the constituted authorities its former garments were taken off, and the father who took it to be his child gave it raiment suitable to its new condition of life. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” We are not yet arrayed in the apparel which befits the royal family of heaven; we are wearing in this flesh and blood just what we wore as the sons of Adam; but we know that “when he shall appear” who is the “first-born among many brethren,” we shall be like him, we shall see him as he is. Cannot you imagine that a child taken from the lowest ranks of society, and adopted by a Roman senator, would say to himself, “I long for the day when I shall be publicly adopted. Then I shall leave off these plebeian garments, and be robed as becomes my senatorial rank”? Happy in what he has received, for that very reason he groans to get the fulness of what is promised him. So it is with us today. We are waiting till we shall put on our proper garments, and shall be manifested as the children of God. We are young nobles, and have not yet worn our coronets. We are young brides, and the marriage day is not yet come, and by the love our Spouse bears us, we are led to long and sigh for the bridal morning. Our very happiness makes us groan after more; our joy, like a swollen spring, longs to well up like an Iceland geyser, leaping to the skies, and it heaves and groans within our spirit for want of space and room by which to manifest itself to men.
Peter had a little faith in the midst of his doubts, says Bunyan; and so with crying and coming he was brought to Christ.
In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul writes that ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen’. He speaks of the many heroes of faith who continued believing, although they did not receive the promises. Because they had seen the promised works of God from a distance, they were not disheartened. By faith, they gained approval from God. Abraham was deemed to be righteous because of his faith alone. He left his country and sojourned in the Promised Land as a stranger. However by faith, he already possessed it. Abraham believed that he had a son long before Isaac was born. He was not deterred by delay or contrary circumstance. When he contemplated the weakness of his own flesh, his faith did not weaken. Further to this, he was able to offer his son on the altar whilst still believing the boy would be made into a great nation. Faith was indeed the substance of his life.
Faith is substantial, because it originates in God. By faith, the worlds ‘were prepared by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things that are visible’. Jesus Christ was the Word and all things were created by His word. He said, ‘“Let there be light” and there was light’. In Isaiah, we read that the word of God has the capacity to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. It goes forth from His mouth and does not return empty. The word accomplishes that which He desires. It has the capacity to call forth its own substance. For this reason, faith in the word is the substance of all things.
Jesus is the Lamb of the burnt offering and He is also the Passover Lamb
who redeems the church of the firstborn. From our perspective, He is firstly a sacrifice for sins. However, from the Father’s perspective, He is redeeming us to the position of a firstborn son. Sin is not the Father’s preoccupation. The Father’s preoccupation is bringing forth the firstborn.
When God the Son emptied Himself to the Father’s bosom, He was the Lamb slain for the Father’s house. We must behold the Lamb in two primary ways by which He establishes us as the church of the firstborn, a royal
priesthood, and a holy nation. He is both the Passover Lamb and the Lamb for the burnt offering.
The Scripture is filled with the accounts of the burnt offering. This is the
most fundamental of all offerings. In this way, the Son offered Himself to the Father without spot or blemish. He gave Himself as an offering and
sacrifice to God to be ‘the Lamb slain’ of the burnt offering. The blood of the Passover Lamb redeems us to the position of the firstborn so that we can offer up spiritual sacrifices. We recall the words of the Lord, ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn … let My son go that he may serve Me.’ Likewise, Israel is the first of His harvest and holy to the Lord. The nation of Israel undertook a three-day journey to make sacrifice in the wilderness. In the
same way, Abraham journeyed three days to Mt Moriah. We are redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. This
is our reasonable priestly service. The aroma of the burnt offering is the ascending memorial of sons who have been redeemed and called by name.
It is interesting how the word ‘evangelist’ is dealt with in Scripture. There is the ascension gift ministry of the evangelist, but more than this, we must understand that there is the ‘work’ of evangelism. Paul said to Timothy, ‘Do the work of an evangelist’. There is an evangelistic work that is given to newly born again Christians. God gives everyone an opportunity to go and find a worthy house. And because we are sent of the Lord and it is written in our name, the Spirit greatly rejoices and Christ rejoices in the Spirit. Wherever the messenger word touches a son of peace, the Holy Spirit becomes active, working miracles and giving life. This is what we are praying for and believing will happen in the days ahead. We are looking to find worthy houses and impart to them a blessing of peace, such that there is an explosive work of the Holy Spirit in their house. The Holy Spirit will fall upon these people and upon their houses, and upon their friends and relatives who come to their house, just like it happened in the house of Cornelius. We are all sent of the Lord to go and bring forth fruit. What we are to do is written in our name. The impact of finding a son of peace is quite amazing, because somewhere in his name, before he knew it, his works were written. The blessing of peace that rests upon his house is the word of the messenger and the illumination of the Holy Spirit upon it. When his eyes are opened to his name, he is indeed most blessed. Jesus said to the disciples after they returned from this work of evangelism, ‘Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see’. This is the miracle of evangelism.
What does it mean to be born again? To be born of water is to partake of Christ’s supernatural obedience. Remember that the obedience of Christ equals the righteousness of God. When we are born from above, we are born again with Christ. We are born again in Christ. Christ died for us and then He was born from the dead. He cried, ‘It is finished!’, and then the Father reached down His arms and drew Him out of ‘many waters’. So, He was born out of, or brought up from, the torment, the pain, the suffering, the chastening of the cross. He was born from the dead. When Christ was born from the dead, we were born from the dead with Him. We don’t have a separate new birth apart from Him. It’s not that He died so that we could be born again. He died, and when He came back from the dead, we were born from the dead with Him and in Him. It is essential that we understand this. It’s not just Christ answering judicial questions of law between the Father and the Son. He did not merely take the punishment of law as our substitute, on our behalf. We were dead in trespasses and sins and, because of Christ’s atoning work, the Father forgives us and allows us to be born again and come back into relationship with Himself. The cross is a ‘birthing place’; the place where we come back from death with Jesus. Paul called this an ‘out-resurrection’. This work belonged to Christ who accomplished it as a ‘living sacrifice’. We are not born again apart from being in Christ, and we are not born again apart from the process of coming back from the dead with Him.
