Now as we come to the
close of this time together in which the Lord has been
bringing anew into view the great end for which we, with
all the saved, have been called - the great end of our
salvation in the purpose of God, a very wonderful end -
nothing other than union with Christ in His Throne in the
government of this universe. I'm sure that you have, as
we've proceeded, become conscious of great need. Perhaps
at times your hearts have trembled in the presence of the
tremendous demands that all this makes. The question may
have been with you: is it possible, can we ever reach
that? The demands, requirements are so great in various
ways if we are to attain unto that high and holy calling.
It all perhaps seems too much for us. We might fear that
we should fail, that we should come short, that we should
not be able to go through. And our fear would probably
have certain factors in it, for it is not just an
abstract kind of feeling. There's certain things that we
feel that we need, we know something of what those things
are.
Now, today we have been
with Paul in his words in 2 Corinthians 4:6 "...it
is God that said light shall shine out of darkness who
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
We have been looking to see what it was that Paul saw in
the face of Jesus Christ. And firstly it was Christ as
the Purpose of God and then secondly Christ as the
Pattern of God.
Now for a little while,
in the third place, Paul saw in the third place Christ as
the Provision of God. Christ as the Provision of God;
that he saw that provision in various ways. The one thing
that I'm quite sure happened to Saul of Tarsus when the
Lord met him on that road on that day and he saw the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, I am perfectly
certain that that was the final blow to all his own
self-righteousness. I am certain that that day the bottom
was knocked out of all his self-assurance. Whatever he
had thought of himself - and he tells it, what he thought
of himself - he tells us in his letter to the Philippians
what he thought of himself; he included the whole sum of
his former assets with "concerning the
righteousness which was of the law: blameless"
the bottom was knocked out of that on the Damascus road.
He'd had a very great sense of his own righteousness and
the righteousness which was of the law. And from that
moment when he saw the face of Jesus, there was no man on
this earth more uncertain about his righteousness. And
from that time onward this whole question of
righteousness to commune took on a new tone for him. What
a lot he writes about it! Have you ever tried to gather
up all that Paul wrote about this matter of
righteousness, justification? One big question with him,
one big matter; it seemed in a sense to overshadow
everything else... If ever he, as Saul of Tarsus and as a
traditional Jew had thought that he had a standing with
God that was quite acceptable and quite good and quite
unquestioned; all THAT went on the Damascus
road. Why, right at the end, right at the end of his
life, when he's writing his last letters before going to
be with the Lord he said that "my aim, my one
aim is that I may be found in Him, not having a
righteousness that is of mine own but the righteousness
which is of God by faith".
It is a TREMENDOUS
thing this matter of standing with God, acceptance with
God, being able to have fellowship with a holy God. What
an undoing of the past, an emptying out of everything
upon which he had rested. A starting all over again with
one big question, one big issue, one big quest - how
shall a simple man dwell with a holy God? But the answer
he found in the face of Jesus. Yes, looking into the face
of Jesus he saw that all the righteousness that he
needed, all the righteousness that ever God needed for
him and in him - Jesus was, for Paul, the Righteousness
of God.
Now, dear friends, I
know that is very elementary Christian teaching but you
know what I have been repeatedly emphasizing during these
days, that it is NOT sufficient for us to have
our Christian doctrine. When it comes to the end, the
theories of Christianity, the doctrines and the teachings
and the interpretations and all the systems of Christian
truth are not going to get us through. They are not going
to get us through. It is only as these matters in Christ
really are rock under our feet in the day of the tempest
that we'll get through and this is such a matter. It's
always arising. This evil one in this universe called the
Accuser of the brethren, is ever and always on our track
to undercut this whole matter of our standing with God,
our position with a holy God. And we perhaps find this
one of the biggest battlegrounds in our Christian
experience. Let me put it like this - perhaps I'm only
suggesting things to you that you've never thought of,
but whether you have put it in this way or not, and I'm
only putting into language perhaps what has troubled your
hearts without defining the trouble - let me put it like
this: if we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, if He
atoned for our sin, if we are no longer seen by God in
ourselves by nature but in Christ, if we have received by
faith in Him remission of our sins; then why are we dealt
with by the Lord as though we were sinful creatures? Why
do we suffer for our wrongdoing, our mistakes, our
faults, our errors, our breakdowns? Why do we suffer if
He suffered for it all? Why does it seem that WE
have to atone for the things that we do wrong if He
atoned for it all? Now I'm perhaps suggesting to you
something you've never thought of, but isn't it just like
that? That when we're in suffering, in adversity, in
affliction, there sometimes comes a cloud between us and
the Lord and immediately there's an accusation: "THIS
is judgment on you, this is punishment, this is because,
because of this or that". Have you never met that?
It's like that always. There's always present this voice
of accusation in the presence of adversity and suffering
and difficulty, laying at our door because of, well you
see, we were wrong in this and in that... Isn't that a
problem? We have got to get VERY clear on this
matter of our standing and of the provision of
righteousness in Christ to undercut the work and the
power of Satan and for our own salvation in the day of
adversity.
If trouble is coming, if
suffering is coming, if we are going to have difficulties
and adversities; there's going to be plenty of room for
accusations and condemnation, plenty of ground for the
enemy to work on. But we have got to be absolutely clear
on this matter of the provision of righteousness in
Christ in order to get through. There are two things to
say about this. One is we must understand the meaning of
righteousness. What is righteousness and what is
unrighteousness? It's an important thing for us to
understand that. And the other thing is we have got to be
able to cut clean in between the matter of our training
and discipline and transformation; and the judgment of
God. There's a great difference. Those are two different
realms altogether. Let's look for a moment at this matter
of righteousness.
What is righteousness?
Or, what is unrighteousness? Our translation of the word
is rather unfortunate; especially the Authorized Version
is very misleading. In 1 John 3 in the old version it is
stated "sin is the transgression of the law",
well of course the transgression of the law is sin, but
it doesn't say that and it doesn't mean that. If you look
at a better translation (the Revised will help you) a
more correct, accurate translation is "Sin is
lawlessness". Lawlessness! That is
unrighteousness. Now we can take an illustration from the
Old Testament because John takes this illustration there
in that very chapter. He brings in, he introduces Cain
and Abel. And he says Cain was of that lawless one. Now
if you look back in the Old Testament to Genesis 4 you
find this: "Now, now in the process of time,
Cain brought his offering..." and then you have
the story of what happened: brought his offering, built
his altar, presented it to the Lord and got no acceptance
whatever. No standing with God. God absolutely ignored
the whole thing. And then that tremendous controversy
between Cain and the Lord. But Abel brought his offering,
built his altar, presented it, and the Lord signalized
his acceptance by the fire. Abel got through. John says
he was of that lawless one, Cain. "In the
process of time..." and the context will show
you that there had been plenty of time for light to be
given and the light was that standing before God,
acceptance with God, was on the basis of another life
given to God. Symbolized in the blood. That was the
light, the light had come. But here is a man who is a
lawless one of the evil one, you see?
The evil one is called
by Paul "that lawless one". That
lawless one would NOT accept the light, be obedient to
the light; refused to come under the law of any kind,
especially the law of the blood of the Lamb. No standing;
that's unrighteousness. And the very essence and core of
unrighteousness is not that you are an imperfect or
sinful man or woman, it is a matter of your will in the
presence of Light. Now that's what Paul teaches, it's the
reaction of our will when light has been given!
Unrighteousness is lawlessness; refusing light. Don't you
see that with all their pretended, assumed, claimed,
proclaimed righteousness; the whole nation of Israel was
set aside and rejected. Why? Lawless! They refused the
Light. "This is the condemnation, that Light is
come, and man loved darkness rather than light."
Because they are of that lawless one. That's
unrighteousness.
Now, in the face of
Jesus Christ what have you got? Ah, just the most perfect
and utter opposite to the lawless one. The One
yielding... it's the Lamb, you see, it's the Lamb -
submissive and yielding and meek and lowly - amenable to
the will of God. "Not My will but Thine".
One who is wholly and utterly under the will of God. No
lawlessness. No rebellion. No independence. No
superiority. Nothing whatever that came across His
submission to the will of God. He became obedient unto
death, yay the death of the cross. There is your great
Abel. Now note: the writer of the letter to the Hebrews,
as you well know, said "By faith Abel offered a
more excellent sacrifice than Cain WHEREBY witness was
borne unto him that he was righteous". The
whole matter of righteousness for standing, dear friends,
is not what we are as big or little sinners, for remember
by nature Abel was no better man than Cain, no better man
than Cain. He was of the sinful fallen race just as his
brother. And it is not that we in ourselves are better,
are good, are an improvement on someone else whom we
would call Cain. No! We're all on the same ground. You
know it as well as I do that there is just as much
lawlessness in us by nature as there is in anybody by
nature. But! Light is given. And we act toward the light
with our wills and are submissive and surrendered to the
will of God. And that is righteousness, that is
righteousness. No lawlessness. That brings us into a
standing with God because that is Christ. That is Christ!
The whole matter of righteousness in the case of Christ
in His acceptance with God as our representative was not
that He was not made sin, for He was; it was that He so
utterly and completely yielded Himself to the known will
of God by faith in God, whatever that meant, whatever
that meant; faith in God. He did the will of God and He
stands.
You see, that is the
meaning of baptism. In baptism, a figure of the Cross,
where He, humbling Himself and being obedient unto death
can... what does He say about it? "Thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness". How?
Obedient unto death! Humbling ourselves, then the heavens
are opened: "This is my beloved Son".
See? Justified, accepted, standing with the Father. It's
an attitude of will. If you are stubborn, rebellious -
you will not, you just WILL not - then you are
out of the running, you are out of court. For no matter
what we may be as faulty, sinful creatures, in this
matter of standing - mark you, I'm talking about standing
now - we stand on the ground of a righteousness that is
not our own at all. It's that righteousness perfected in
Christ which God accepts for us. He is made unto us from
God, Righteousness.
Now, let me say this in
passing on. I doubt whether there will be a more fierce
battleground for the Lord's people at the end than this
one. It's an amazing thing; I recently read again the
life of such men, two men, Dr A J Gordon, one of the most
saintly men, certainly one of the men most greatly used
in his time, one of a few men who walked with God in
those days. And then the other, A T Pierson, another one,
same kind, men who walked with God. And a third one, A B
Simpson. Here you have three spiritual giants. Well, out
of the three, at any rate two of them, right at the end
of their course here on this earth, had the most terrible
battle of all their lives on the question of their
acceptance by God, their standing with God! They passed
into a time of such awful darkness as though all the
forces of evil gathered around them and quenched the
light and raised this question of their acceptance. Thank
God that in both cases before they went they got through
and the light returned. But it’s significant!
It’s significant that this is THE
battleground. And dear friends, whether it comes like
that to us or in any other form, and in any other way,
you and I need to be absolutely assured of this matter:
that our standing is not on the ground of what WE
are but on the ground of what Christ is.
It is so easy for us to
sing “Not what I am O Lord but what Thou art”
but when it comes to the test we forget all about that
and we go down under what we are. We know what we are.
Now let me finish this bit for the moment by saying, that
in the end, in the end we are just going to be forced
back upon Christ without any alternative. The Church will
be forced back on Christ. You and I will be forced back
on Christ! We will have no other ground on which to
stand. And if, if then, we are not sure about Him and
what He is for us to God, it’s going to be a sorry
lookout for us. But Paul looked into the face of Jesus
Christ when all his mighty structure of
self-righteousness had collapsed, the bottom had fallen
out of that whole system of righteousness by works, he
looked into the face of Jesus and saw a Righteousness
that would carry him right through. He saw all the
Righteousness that he needed and one that would never
collapse. Yes, Christ is God’s Provision in the
matter of righteousness.
But then there’s
another phase and I know what you’re all thinking
about this, “Yes but what about this other phase of
what we are after all and our failures and all this. We
are that we ought not to be and are not that we ought to
be… are we to ignore that?” Not a bit, not a
bit. You see that was one of the charges that the Lord
brought against two churches in Asia: “Thou hast
there those that hath the doctrine of the Nicolaitans”.
And that doctrine was “Well, you’re saved!
You’re saved, by grace... do as you like, live as
you like, doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll be
saved alright. Once in grace always in grace,
doesn’t matter what kind of life you live, you can
be worldly, you can sin, do anything, you’re saved
alright, nothing can alter that. None will pluck you out
of the Father’s hand.” And He said “Which
thing I HATE!” Which thing I hate: condoning wrong,
not reckoning with evil in your life. Oh yes, it
doesn’t mean that, but there’s all the
difference, dear friends, between judgment, condemnation
as out of Christ, without His righteousness; and the work
of God in what the writer calls 'chastening', that is
child training... child training. Now here you have it:
“But we all with unveiled face reflecting as a
mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into the
same image from glory to glory as from the Lord the
Spirit”.
When the Lord
disciplines us - and He does - that does not mean that He
has put us under judgment, under condemnation. It means
that He is just going to make good IN us by this
discipline, what is true ABOUT us in Christ. All
His disciplines are transformatory. You may not think so,
sometimes you think they’re making you worse; it
does seem like that but wait a bit, wait a bit...
there’s something gracious coming out of it,
something beautiful. You meet more of Christ in those who
have the hardest time. Saints I mean, real saints are the
people who seem to have had the hardest handling by the
Lord. It’s like that. He is developing the character
of Christ by what seems to be hard dealings; hard
dealings. He’s very faithful, very faithful. He
knows... He knows what we perhaps would not believe, and
His dealings with us are really going to be in the
direction of transformation. This is what happens with TRUE
believers. It doesn’t happen with unbelievers, if
they are dealt with hardly they go from bad to worse and
Paul says here when we are dealt with hardly we go from
glory to glory! And though it may not seem like it or
appear like it, it is true, it is true.
We cannot speak very
much about ourselves and our goodness and the grace of
God in us, but we do know just a little, that something
has happened to us through our sufferings and our
afflictions to change us a bit from what we were. At any
rate we say this: where would we be today, where would we
be today if the Lord hadn't dealt with us very
faithfully? Very faithfully. But, you see, you must keep
this line between the two things, that of judgment and
condemnation, and that of child training, discipline and
transforming.
Now then, what is the
provision here for the standing? He’s made the
provision in the face of Jesus Christ, of Righteousness.
Do you notice the last clause of the verse just quoted:
“as by the Lord the Spirit”. Thank the
Lord for that, the Spirit has got this thing in hand; the
Holy Spirit is the Custodian of Glory! The Holy Spirit is
the divine Provision to change us; He’s at work upon
it, it’s in His hands. If we wonder however we are
going to be reconstituted according to Christ, not only
justified in Christ but reconstituted and conformed to
His image; leave it with the Holy Spirit. He’s taken
it in hand and He’s going to do it and He will do
it. Don’t get back onto the ground of rebellion.
While you hold your ground of faith in Christ, the Holy
Spirit will do it alright; make no mistake about it.
“As by the Lord the Spirit.”
Now, I want to hurry to
a close. The third question that arises, it arose for
Paul and it arose very quickly for Paul... he was hardly
off the Damascus road before the question of endurance
began to be raised. Now, well, you see to begin with he
had been the official envoy of the Jewish rulers and
their commissioned agent to persecute the church and blot
out everything to do with Jesus of Nazareth. And he was
about his business very thoroughly and he represented the
attitude and the spirit of those in Jerusalem who had
sent him on this business. He was the very embodiment of
them. He turned right round; on the side of the
Christians what does he meet? Well, of course he’s
got to meet what he’d been giving the others. He got
to meet all that of which he’d been a part as now
against him and that pursued him down the years wherever
he went. Oh, the wickedness of it, the suffering those
Jews caused him everywhere… and there were other
kinds of suffering. The enemy, the great enemy, was ever
on his track. He knew physical suffering, yes, very much
physical suffering. He knew treachery, oh yes, every kind
it's certain, he gives us the catalogue. Christians are
very, very real on how shall we get through? In the
presence of persecution, in the presence of affliction,
suffering, and adversity, trial of every kind; how shall
we get through? “And he said unto me: My grace
is sufficient for thee and My strength is made perfect in
weakness…” Jesus; the Provision of God to
get through. "Christ in you the hope of
glory…" He looked into the face of Jesus
and was ever looking into the face of Jesus with this
question: Can I go through? Shall I get through? Shall I
fail? Shall I breakdown? And ever came back from that
Face: “My grace is sufficient for thee”.
I remember how Mr Spurgeon put that, he said the little
fish, the little fish in the mighty ocean... wondering
how he’s going to cope and the mighty ocean says:
'Little fish, my waters are enough for you'. Little,
little fish… be he Paul the apostle or anyone else:
“My grace is sufficient for thee, My strength is
made perfect in weakness”. The answer of the
face of Jesus to every need; Paul saw it all.
You
see how I’ve had to hurry through it and merely skim
the surface, but go away not with the exposition, not
with the buildup of evidence, but just with the glorious
fact: in each, in each case, each respect which proved, PROVED
to be sufficient for that man, and if it could be
sufficient for HIM, it can be sufficient for us.
Righteousness? Yes, not our own but Christ’s, that
we may stand before God. And in the daily need of being
changed, the Holy Spirit given to us and ever present
with us to work through our difficulties and trials to
change us into the same image and in our sufferings and
afflictions the Holy Spirit ministering grace to us. The
grace of the Lord Jesus, all sufficient grace.
May we
see the face of Jesus, may we see the Answer that comes
back to all our need as we look into that face. May the
Lord make this time together really to prove to be a time
of looking into His face and being changed.